The Net Yaroze is a development kit for the PlayStation developed and manufactured by Sony Computer Entertainment as a promotion to computer programming hobbyists, first released in Japan in June 1996 and later across Europe and North America in 1997. [1] [2] [3] The following list contains games and demos developed and/or released for the Net Yaroze. [4]
Conceived by PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi, [3] the kit was retailed at around £550 in Europe and US$750 in North America; The package contained a special black-colored debugging PlayStation unit, a serial cable for connecting the unit to a PC and a CD containing PlayStation development tools, among other items. [2] [3] [5] [6] [7] However, the Net Yaroze lacked many of the features an official PlayStation SDK provided and its primary RAM size was the same as the consumer model; Game code, graphics, audio samples and run-time libraries were limited to fit in the 2MB of primary RAM, 1MB of VRAM and 0.5 MB of sound RAM, since the unit will not play user-burned CDs, a necessary restriction to prevent piracy and ensure that the Yaroze program would not compete with the official PlayStation SDK. [2] [3] [7] [8] The Yaroze could only be purchased via mail order, although Sony also provided it to universities worldwide. [5] [7] [8] [9] [10] Though it lacked regional lockout, three regional variations exists: The European/Australian version boots in PAL mode, while the Japanese and North American versions boot in NTSC mode. [6]
Around 1000 units were sold in Europe and North America respectively but more were sold in Japan. [10] [11] Many games and demos made by hobbyists on the Net Yaroze were released on various demo discs that came along with magazines such as the Official UK PlayStation Magazine and PlayStation Underground . [4] [7] Sony set up an online forum where users could share their homemade games, programming tips and ask questions to Sony's technical support staff. [2] [3] [5] [6] Dedicated Usenet groups, with access restricted to Yaroze members, were maintained by Sony and homepage hosting was also provided. [5] [12] [13] The access was restricted according to the kit's region of origin, which made collaboration between users in different territories impractical. [5] [12] Other games were also distributed online by their authors.
There are currently 125 games and demos on this list. [a]
Title | Genre(s) | Developer(s) | Year | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
A Dog Tale | Platform | Ira Rainey | 1997 | [14] [15] |
A Farewell to Kings | Cards | David Johnston, Rob Steward | 1999 | [16] |
Adventure Game | Action-adventure | Robert Swan | 1998 | [17] [18] [19] |
Ai no Yōsei Tomomi-chan | Sports | Kazunari Ishida | 1997 | [20] |
Air Bob | Sports | K. Okada, H. Endo, J. Suehiro, M. Taniguti | 1998 | [21] |
Alien Looter | Shoot 'em up | Ben James | 1998 | [4] |
Amateur Wars: Special Edition | Shooter | Nick Ferguson | 1998 | [22] |
Aozora | Demo | David Johnston | 1999 | [23] |
Ape-ocalypse Now | Strategy | Alex Mole | 2002 | [24] |
Arena | Simulation | Tom Madans | 2004 | [25] |
Asobu Rakugaki | Platform | Hideki Kubo, Mineko Kubo | 1998 | [26] |
Ball Blaze | Racing | Gareth Musgrove | 1998 | [27] |
Between The Eyes | Racing | Lewis Evans | 1997 | [28] [29] [30] |
Bike Simulation | Simulation | Olly Read | 1998 | [31] |
Bill's Shooting Game | Shoot 'em up | Takuya Iwano | 1997 | [32] |
Blitter Boy – Operation: Monster Mall | Shooter | Chris Chadwick | 1998 | [17] [30] [33] |
Blockz | Puzzle | Daniel M. Johnson | 1998 | [19] |
Bloodlust | Platform | David Johnston, Mike Goatly | 1999 | [34] |
Bom | Racing | Peter Hardy | 1998 | [27] |
Bom! | Demo | Peter Hardy | 1998 | [31] |
Bouncer 2 | Arcade | Scott Evans | 1997 | [30] [35] |
Brain Dead | Demo | Olly Read | 1998 | [27] |
Breach | Shoot 'em up | Ben James | 1997 | [4] |
Break 3D | Arcade | Lewis Evans | 1997 | [36] |
BugSplat | Action | John Wojcik | 2001 | [37] |
Car G1 | Racing | William Docherty | 1997 | [36] |
Car Tag | Maze | Matthew Follett | 1998 | [31] |
Cars | Racing | Stuart Ashley | 1997 | [38] |
Cat Game | Arcade | Ryunosuke Taki | 1997 | [38] |
Chronicle | Action-adventure | Sidhe Interactive | 1998 | [39] [40] |
Clone | First-person shooter | Stuart Ashley | 1997 | [29] [30] [41] |
Come Baa | Simulation | Nick Slaven | 1998 | [17] |
Decaying Orbit | Shooter | DragonShadow Industries | 1999 | [42] |
Defender | Shooter | Ben James | 2001 | [4] |
Down | Platform | Andy Weissl, Dennis Brinkhuis | 2002 | [43] |
Engine 6 | Demo | Derek Leigh-Gilchrist | 1997 | [36] [38] |
Fatal Fantasy VII | Adventure | Team Fatal | 1997 | [44] |
Feedback | Demo | John Rocati | 1997 | [36] |
Fire | Demo | F. Javier Ventoso Reigosa | — | [45] |
Flag | Demo | Alex Amsel | 1997 | [36] |
Flying Man | Shooter | Jamie Lewis | 1998 | [27] |
Flood | Puzzle | David Johnston | 1999 | [46] |
Fujiyama | Demo | — | 1997 | [38] [47] |
Funky Beans | Puzzle | Kazunari Ishida | 1997 | [20] [48] |
Gas Girl | Platform | Koji Yoshikawa | 1998 | [38] [47] |
Gasgar vs. Gasgar | Sports | Gregg and Rob Gorczowski | 1998 | [4] [49] |
Gem Hunter | Maze | Casper Nielsen | 1998 | [31] |
GIT | Puzzle | Edward Cawley | 2004 | [25] |
Gravitation | Racing | James Shaughnessy | 1998 | [30] [50] |
Harrier Attack | Shooter | Ben James | — | [51] |
Haunted Maze | Maze | Edward Federmeyer | 1998 | [30] [52] |
Henapon | — | T. Tezuka | 1997 | [53] |
Hipower Battlers | Fighting | Kazunari Ishida | 1997 | [20] [54] |
Hover Car Racing | Racing | Richard Smithies | 1998 | [30] [55] |
Hover Racing | Racing | Shuichi Kitaguchi, Tomokazu Sato | 1997 | [26] [47] [56] |
HSFK | Third-person shooter | Cobra Developments | 1997 | [36] [44] [57] |
Insects | Puzzle | Yukio Iijima | 1997 | [47] |
Invs | Shoot 'em up | Philippe-André Lorin | 2002 | [58] [59] |
It's Vegetable | Shoot 'em up | KBO | 1996 | [60] |
Jeff | Platform | Alex Mole | 2002 | [61] |
Katapila | Platform | Ben James, Elliot Lee | 2004 | [62] |
Katarsis | Puzzle | F. Javier Ventoso Reigosa | 1999 | [45] |
Kyūkyoku Senki Gikadiver | Shoot 'em up | Go Watanabe | 1997 | [63] |
Laydion Limit Breaker | Racing | Hideki Hara | 1996 | [60] |
Le Collage | — | Cocotte | 1997 | [64] |
Little Wing | Arcade | Hironao Kawabata | 1998 | [26] [65] |
Magic Castle | Roguelike | Kaiga | 1998 | [66] |
Magic Forest | Action | Ben James | — | [4] |
Mah Jongg | Puzzle | Gerhard Rittenhofer | 1998 | [30] [67] |
ManicX | Maze | Tuna Technologies | 1997 | [36] [38] |
MicroDemo | Demo | F. Javier Ventoso Reigosa | — | [45] |
Mi ni Ikuzo! Hedgehog | Platform | Kiyoshi Sakai | 1997 | [68] |
Morph | Demo | F. Javier Ventoso Reigosa | — | [45] |
Mud 'n Blood | Action | Nick Ferguson | 1998 | [69] |
Nana Tan | Shooter | Yosuke Kuroda | 1997 | [38] |
Opera Of Destruction | Shoot 'em up | James Pretorius | 1998 | [19] [70] |
Pandora's Box | Puzzle | Christoph Lurig, Torsten Ventzke | 1999 | [19] [71] |
PingPing | Sports | Matthew Verran | 2004 | [62] [72] |
Pokris | Puzzle | Ryonosuke Taki | 1997 | [73] |
Pssst | Action | Gary Gould, Steve Knock | 2001 | [19] |
Psychon | Run and gun | Ben James | 1998 | [30] [74] |
Pushy IIb | Puzzle | Richard Fred Williams | 1998 | [30] [74] [75] |
RACE | Racing | Robert Swan | 1998 | [31] |
Robot Ron | Shooter | Matthew Verran | 2002 | [25] [76] [77] |
Rocks 'n' Gems | Puzzle | Gerhard Rittenhofer, Manfred Tucmandl | 1998 | [30] [19] [78] |
Roller | Action | Matthew Verran | 2004 | [25] [79] |
Sam The Boulder Man | Puzzle | James Hobden | 2002 | [80] |
Samsaric Asymptotes | Shoot 'em up | Philippe-André Lorin | 2004 | [25] [59] |
Sandstorm | — | Omar Nabil Metwally | 2001 | [81] |
Shroud | Shooter | Ben James | 2002 | [80] |
Snave | Shooter | Lewis Evans | 1997 | [36] |
Snowball Fight | Sports | James Rutherford | 1998 | [19] |
Sound 2 Light | Demo | Colin Adams | 1997 | [36] |
Sphere | Puzzle | Peter Dollachan | 2002 | [82] |
Squeak | Puzzle | Ben James | 2004 | [83] |
Squib | Shoot 'em up | Alex Mole | 2001 | [84] |
Star Fighters | Shoot 'em up | George Bain | 1998 | [85] |
Star Guardian | Shoot 'em up | Kazunari Ishida | 1997 | [20] |
STG01 | Shoot 'em up | Hideki Hara | 1997 | [60] [86] |
StoneGate | Fighting | F. Javier Ventoso Reigosa | 1998 | [21] [45] |
Super Bub Contest | Puzzle | Alex Herbert | 1999 | [19] [87] |
Super Mansion | Survival horror | Tomokazu Sato | 1997 | [32] [49] |
Super Snail | Platform | David Johnston, Mike Goatly | 1999 | [88] |
Surf Game | Sports | Mark Theyer | 2001 | [19] |
Tan Tank | Shooter | Team Spirit | 1997 | [38] |
Tan Tank 2 | Shooter | Team Spirit | 1998 | [63] |
Tank | Shooter | Paul Wightmore | 1998 | [31] |
Tanx | Strategy | Stuart Macdonald | 1999 | [42] |
Technical Demo X2 | Shoot 'em up | Aaron Gandaa, Steven Sheehy | 1999 | [19] |
Terra Incognita | Action-adventure | Team Fatal | 1997 | [73] [89] |
The Appointed Station | Shoot 'em up | Syuntarou Yoshikawa | 1996 | [47] [48] |
The Incredible Coneman | Maze | Lars Barstad, Per Ivar Pedersen | 1998 | [30] [90] |
Time Slip | Platform | David Johnston, Mike Goatly | 1998 | [70] [91] |
Total Soccer | Sports | Charles Chapman | 1998 | [30] [92] |
Tokui Waza | Fighting | Omar Nabil Metwally | 2001 | [81] |
Tokui Waza 2 | Fighting | Omar Nabil Metwally | 2001 | [81] |
Tunnel Vision | Action | Casper Nielsen | 1998 | [27] |
Turismo Del Mundo | Racing | Omar Nabil Metwally | — | [81] |
Video Poker Simulator | Cards | Scott Campbell | 1999 | [93] |
Wabbiiiiit! | Action | Antony Hilton | 1998 | [27] |
War! | Shoot 'em up | Derrick Anthony Bailey | 1999 | [94] |
Wanisan Shooting Game | Shoot 'em up | Wanisan | 1997 | [47] |
Yaroze Rally | Racing | Harvey Cotton | 2001 | [19] |
Yarozians | Shoot 'em up | John Wojcik | 2001 | [76] |
Z2 | Action | James Pitts | 1998 | [95] |