LSD: Dream Emulator | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Asmik Ace Entertainment |
Publisher(s) | Asmik Ace Entertainment |
Producer(s) | Osamu Sato |
Designer(s) |
|
Programmer(s) | Yoshinori Maeda |
Artist(s) |
|
Composer(s) | Osamu Sato |
Platform(s) | PlayStation |
Release |
|
Genre(s) | Exploration game |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
LSD: Dream Emulator is a 1998 exploration game by Asmik Ace Entertainment, released for the PlayStation. In LSD, the player explores surreal environments without any objective. If they touch anything in the environment, such as walls, creatures or objects, they will be warped to another setting. The game was conceived by Japanese artist Osamu Sato, who rejected the idea of games, and wanted to use the PlayStation as a medium for creating contemporary art. The game's concept is based on a dream diary kept by an Asmik Ace employee for over a decade.
The game received a limited release in Japan, alongside a soundtrack and a book composed of excerpts from the dream diary. LSD quickly fell into obscurity, but in years since has experienced a resurgence in popularity due to its eccentricity being a point of discussion on numerous gaming forums, as well as several Let's Play commentators. The game was also released on the Japanese PlayStation Store in 2010. Critics have praised its psychedelic and whimsical qualities, and LSD has been cited as one of the most experimental video games of all time.
LSD: Dream Emulator is an exploration game that has been described as a "playable dream" [1] [2] in which the player explores surrealistic environments without any overarching goals. [1] [2] [3] Gameplay takes place in a first-person perspective in a 3D environment with the player's control limited to moving frontward and backward, turning, strafing, running, and looking behind. [1] The game is played in levels or "dreams" lasting up to ten minutes. The player begins each dream in a random area where they can begin exploring. By walking into any object or walking through certain tunnels, the player will be transported to another setting. [1] LSD has several static and defined environments to explore including a Japanese village, a field, a city, houses, and a factory, among others. [3] While the environments are static, the default textures are sometimes swapped and they may also be populated with random objects, animals, and characters roaming about to add variety. Each dream ends after ten minutes in which the character wakes up, or ends early if the player interacts with certain objects or dies. [1]
After each dream, one day passes in the game, and the dream the player just experienced is marked on a graph. The graph rates dreams in relation to being an "Upper", "Downer", "Static", or "Dynamic" dream. As a player plays through more and more dreams, the game adds more variety to the dreams by changing textures more often. This results in the environments becoming more surreal and psychedelic over time. Sometimes when starting a new dream, a video is played instead of a playable dream. After a number of in-game days, a "flashback" option appears on the main menu which allows the player to experience an abbreviated version of the last dream they played. There is a humanoid figure, also known as the Gray or Shadow Man, which may appear in some dreams that, if touched by the player, prevents them from using the flashback option and undoes any progress made in the current dream. [1]
LSD: Dream Emulator was conceived by Osamu Sato, a Japanese multimedia artist. [4] Sato started his art career in photography and writing music in the 1980s, before turning to digital graphic design and computer art by the 1990s. [5] In the 1990s, he began experimenting with CD-ROM technology, creating animated 3D videos with a dimension of interactivity. Although these projects resembled video games, Sato's intent was not to create games, but to use game platforms as a means of creating contemporary works of art. [4] Sato's first such project was funded by Sony Music Entertainment Japan and released in 1994, titled Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong Nou . [4] [5] It was released in Japan and the United States. Because Eastern Mind was released in the United States and received some awards, Sato was able to source funding for his next project which would become LSD. [5]
Sato still rejected the idea of video games and wanted to use the PlayStation game console as a medium for creating art and music. [5] He chose the PlayStation as a platform because he felt Sony was already embracing elaborate concepts while he felt Sega and Nintendo had greater reputations as toy companies. [4] Sato got the idea for LSD after playing racing games. He found racing games difficult and boring since he was not a skilled player, and so he imagined the possibilities of smashing the car into a wall and transporting the player to another dimension. He thought it would be more enjoyable for players like him that were unskilled at other games. [4] [5] From there, he got the idea of creating an imaginary world with the same irrationality and easily forgettable nature as dreams. He did not give the game any objectives because, according to him, they are not essential in video games since even natural human existence cannot be reduced to simple objectives. [4] For inspiration, Sato pulled ideas from a dream diary written by Hiroko Nishikawa, a game designer at Asmik Ace Entertainment, who had been writing in the diary for about a decade. [1] [3] [5]
As Sato is also a musician, he composed the game's soundtrack using samples to create around 500 musical patterns. He felt this approach more closely resembled the chaos of a dream state in contrast to full drawn-out melodies. [1] [4] [5] He was particularly influenced from music coming out of England's Warp record label. Initially he was going to include more pentatonic scales and melodies to give the game an Asian flair, but he came to realize this was not necessary after seeing the international success of Japanese producers like Ken Ishii, who was later included on a remix soundtrack featuring some of the game's music. [5] The title "LSD" is a reference to the drug of the same name, lysergic acid diethylamide, in a bid to attract the hippie and psychedelic subcultures. [5] The acronym was not given any single interpretation in the game. Instead, there were many interpretations in the game such as "in Life, the Sensuous Dream" and "in Limbo, the Silent Dream". Sato felt this represented the chaos and confusion of dreams. [4]
The game was released in Japan on October 22, 1998. [6] Sato had hoped for an American release as with Eastern Mind, but he had no further say in localization. [4] [5] [7] LSD sold few copies and now is rare to find on secondary markets, selling for high prices when it becomes listed for sale. [1] [2] It was re-released on the Japanese PlayStation Store on August 11, 2010. [1] [6] [8] LSD was released as a standalone game and in a limited edition set which came with a bonus CD titled "Lucy in the Sky with Dynamites" and a book called "Lovely Sweet Dream". The CD contains about an hour of acid techno music and the book is composed of excerpts from Nishikawa's dream diary. [1] The book has English translations of many dreams and illustrations provided by a wide variety of artists. [1] [9] Sato was adamant about releasing a special soundtrack, so a double-disc soundtrack compilation titled LSD and Remixes was issued alongside the game. It features remixes by Ken Ishii, Jimi Tenor, μ-Ziq, and Morgan Geist, among others. [4] [10] Sato released a new version of the soundtrack in 2019 with redone tracks. [11]
LSD: Dream Emulator quickly fell into obscurity after release due to its limited availability and the eccentric nature of its content, but it gained an avid cult following in subsequent years. [1] [2] [3] The cause of its growing interest among Western audiences years after its release is a mystery to Sato. Motherboard wrote that its popularity is due to the internet, primarily from appearances on humor blogs like Cracked.com and YouTube Let's Play video curators who feed off the game's quirky qualities. [2] Hardcore Gaming 101 concluded that the popularity of LSD is a testament to the consumer demand for hallucinogenic and experimental games. [1] Enough people contacted Sony about LSD that they re-released it on the Japanese PlayStation Network in 2010, generating even more interest. Sato has noticed young audiences visiting his art exhibits because they heard about him due to LSD's online popularity. [5] English indie rock band Alt-J received permission from Sato directly to use a screenshot from LSD for the cover art of their studio album, Relaxer (2017). [5] [12] In 2011, a fan began developing an unofficial remake made in the Unity engine for personal computers, with a public alpha version being made available in 2014. [13] [14]
Regarding the quality of the game itself, Kill Screen called LSD "one of the most unnerving and unpredictable weird video games ever made." [3] Hardcore Gaming 101 said "there has never been another video game that so effectively conferred the feeling of an actual dream," and continued saying that the game is somewhat dated but is still worth experiencing. They compared the game to the comic series Little Nemo and The Sandman , the film Dreams , and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as a work of art designed to emulate dreams. [1] Red Bull Music Academy called it one of the most "experimental titles" in all of gaming. [5] An English fan translation was released in 2020. [15]
Asmik Ace, Inc., formerly Asmik Ace Entertainment, Inc. is a Japanese film production and distribution company. In the past, the company has distributed video games. It was formed in 1997 through a merger between the Asmik Corporation and Ace Entertainment, both in Japan. The name Asmik comes from its three founding companies: Ask, Sumitomo and Kodansha. The company is headquartered on the third floor of the Lapiross Roppongi building in Minato, Tokyo, and is a wholly owned division of Jupiter Telecommunications (J:COM).
Tobal No. 1 is a 1996 fighting video game developed by DreamFactory and published by Square for the PlayStation. The game was DreamFactory's first release, as well as Square's first release on the CD-based console. Tobal No. 1 marks Square's first incursion into the fighting game genre, although an adventure-like quest mode is also part of the game.
Wild Arms, stylized as Wild ARMs, is a media franchise developed by Media.Vision and owned by Sony Computer Entertainment. The franchise consists of several role-playing video games and related media. Since the launch of the original Wild Arms title in 1996, the series has gone on to encompass several media, including toys, manga, mobile phone applications, and a 22-episode anime.
Star Ocean is a franchise of science fantasy role-playing video games developed by the Japanese company tri-Ace and published by Square Enix.
Sonic Gems Collection is a 2005 compilation of Sega video games, primarily those in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The emulated games span multiple genres and consoles—from the Sega Genesis to the Sega Saturn—and retain the features and errors of their initial releases with minimal edits. Player progress is rewarded with demos of other Sonic games, videos, and promotional artwork spanning the history of the Sonic franchise. While its 2002 predecessor, Sonic Mega Collection, comprises popular Sonic games, Gems Collection focuses on more obscure games, such as Sonic CD (1993) and Sonic the Fighters (1996). Other non-Sonic games are included, but some, such as the Streets of Rage trilogy, are omitted in the Western localization.
Ace Combat 2 is a 1997 combat flight simulation video game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation. It is the sequel to Air Combat and the second in the Ace Combat franchise. The player controls one of 24 different fighter jets through 21 different missions with certain objectives to fulfill, such as protecting a base from enemy fire, intercepting a squadron of enemies, or taking down an aircraft carrier.
Dead or Alive 2 is a 1999 fighting game developed by Team Ninja and published by Tecmo. It debuted in arcades in 1999 and was later ported to the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 home systems in 2000. It is the second main entry in the Dead or Alive fighting series following the original Dead or Alive (1996). Several enhanced editions of the game were released, including the updates Dead or Alive 2 Millennium and Dead or Alive 2 Hardcore.
Cho Aniki is a Japanese video game series originally developed by Masaya and published by NCS Corp. The first game was released in 1992 for the PC Engine system. The game's sequels and spin-offs later appeared on the Super Famicom, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, WonderSwan, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. Mainly consisting of side-scrolling shoot 'em ups in the vein of Gradius, the Cho Aniki series is best known for its homoerotic overtones, wacky humor and vivid, surreal imagery. Most of the games have never seen release outside Japan.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a 1992 platform game developed by Sega Technical Institute (STI) for the Sega Genesis. Players control Sonic as he attempts to stop Doctor Robotnik from stealing the Chaos Emeralds to power his space station. Like the first Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), players traverse side-scrolling levels at high speeds while collecting rings, defeating enemies, and fighting bosses. Sonic 2 introduces Sonic's sidekick Miles "Tails" Prower and features faster gameplay, larger levels, a multiplayer mode, and special stages featuring pre-rendered 3D graphics.
Another Century's Episode is a 2005 third-person shooter video game published by Banpresto in Japan for the PlayStation 2. The player controls a mech from one of nine different anime robot franchises to destroy opposing forces before they steal a prized energy source for devious purposes. The game is divided into several different missions, where players use their mech and arsenal of weapons to fulfill mission objectives, ranging from destroying enemy machines to protecting a specific target.
Fatal Fury: King of Fighters, known as Garō Densetsu: Shukumei no Tatakai in Japan, is a 1991 head-to-head fighting game originally released by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home platforms. Fatal Fury was ported to other platforms including Super Nintendo in 1992 and Sega Genesis in 1993, published by Takara. Fatal Fury was SNK's first fighting game for the Neo Geo system and served as the inaugural game in their Fatal Fury series. The three playable characters are the Bogard brothers Terry and Andy alongside their friend Joe Higashi. In the story they oppose their nemesis Geese Howard, the host of "The King of Fighters" tournament where the player must use to defeat enemies until becoming the champion and reach Geese.
Ace Attorney is a visual novel adventure video game franchise developed by Capcom. With storytelling fashioned after legal dramas, the first entry in the series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, was released in 2001; since then five further main series games, as well as various spin-offs, prequels, and high-definition remasters for newer game consoles have been released. Additionally, the series has been adapted in the form of a live-action film and an anime; it is the base for manga series, drama CDs, musicals and stage plays. The player takes the roles of various defense attorneys, including Phoenix Wright, his mentor Mia Fey, as well as his understudies Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes who investigate cases and defend their clients in court. They find the truth by cross-examining witnesses and finding inconsistencies between the testimonies and the evidence they have collected. The cases last a maximum of three days; the judge determines the outcome based on evidence presented by the defense attorney and the prosecutor.
RPG Maker, known in Japan as RPG Tsukūru, is a series of programs for the development of role-playing video games (RPGs) with story-driven elements, created by the Japanese group ASCII, succeeded by Enterbrain, and then by Gotcha Gotcha Games. The Japanese name, Tsukūru, is a pun mixing the Japanese word tsukuru (作る), which means "make" or "create", with tsūru (ツール), the Japanese transliteration of the English word "tool".
Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams is a scrolling shooter video game developed by Success and originally released in Japanese arcades in 1991. The first installment in the Cotton series, players assume the role of the young witch Cotton who, alongside her fairy companion Silk, sets out on her broomstick on a quest to defeat several monsters and get her Willow candy. Its gameplay mainly consists of shooting mixed with role-playing game elements using a main two-button configuration. It ran on the Sega System 16 hardware.
Guilty Gear Xrd is a fighting video game sub-series by Arc System Works and part of the Guilty Gear series. Guilty Gear Xrd was developed using Unreal Engine 3, with cel-shaded graphics in place of the series traditional hand drawn sprites. Following the storyline of the last game in the series, Guilty Gear 2: Overture, it introduced seven new characters.
Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax is a 2D arcade fighting game developed by Ecole Software and French Bread and published by Sega. The game celebrates the 20th anniversary of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Bunko imprint, featuring various characters from light novels published under the imprint. The game was first released in Japanese arcades in March 2014, and later released on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita on November 13, 2014. The console version was released in North America and Europe in October 2015. The game's theme song is "Belief" by Mami Kawada.
Osamu Sato is a Japanese digital artist, photographer, and composer. His first work was the ambient music album, Objectless (1983). His first work in the video game industry was Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong Nou, which first released in Japan for Classic Mac OS in 1994, and in North America for Microsoft Windows the following year. In 1998, he produced and composed the music for the video game LSD: Dream Emulator on the PlayStation, which later became his most recognizable work outside of Japan.
Detroit: Become Human is a 2018 adventure game developed by Quantic Dream and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was released for the PlayStation 4 in May 2018. Quantic Dream released a port for Windows under license from Sony in December 2019. The plot follows three androids: Kara, who escapes her owner to explore her newfound sentience and protect a young girl; Connor, whose job is to hunt down sentient androids; Markus, who devotes himself to releasing other androids from servitude. The player's choices affect the course and outcome of the story.
Eastern Mind: The Lost Souls of Tong Nou is a 1994 point-and-click adventure game by Japanese artist Osamu Sato. The plot follows a man named Rin whose soul is taken by the island of Tong-Nou. Rin travels to Tong-Nou to fulfill the lives of nine creatures and regain his soul. Whenever Rin dies, the player chooses what creature Rin will be reincarnated into.
Fatum Betula is a 2020 video game by Texas-based independent developer Bryce Bucher. Described as an "atmospheric exploration game with light puzzle elements", the game is an open-ended adventure game inspired by the aesthetics of fifth generation video game consoles. The game was included in the 2020 horror game compilation Haunted PS1 Demo Disc by Irish developer Breogán Hackett. Following its release on Windows, Baltoro Games ported the game for release on the Nintendo Switch in 2021 and the Xbox One and Xbox Series in 2022.