Universal Museum
| Release Date: |
June 1996 |
 |
| Number of Discs: |
1 |
| Packaging: |
Standard Case |
| Number of Players: |
1 |
| Simultaneous Players: |
1 |
| Languages: |
Japanese |
| Controllers: |
Standard Pad |
| License: |
Commercial |
| Publisher: |
Ask Kodansha |
| Developers: |
Nihon Syscom |
| Genre: |
Board Game |
|
Screenshots |
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 |
 |
|
Review |
| By:
davyk |
This is a very odd
game that I purchased purely out of inquisitiveness
around all things Japanese - the game itself isn't odd
but the whole package is - the game's cover features a
rather presentable young Asian lady in a bathing suit
which has no connection with the gameplay at all. She
also makes an appearance on the back page of the manual.
Maybe she is associated with the game subject in
advertising material in Japan? This game emulates
Pachislo machines; the Japanese equivalent of the
one-armed bandit (also called fruit machines in the UK).
With a pachislo machine you enter 1 to 3 coins, pull on
a small lever and 3 reels start spinning. There are 3
stop buttons that when pressed stop the associated reel
from spinning. The window in which the reels appear
shows 3 symbols on each reel at a time. How you win
depends on the number of coins you have deposited - the
more coins you gamble, the more symbol combinations you
have covered:
Reel 1 2 3
-----------
Row1 A B C
Row2 D E F
Row3 G H I
-----------
1 coin - win on D,E,F only
2 coins - win on A,B,C D,E,F G,H,I
3 coins - as for 2 coins plus A,E,I and G,E,C
This setup is similar to Vegas slots but there you must
enter up to 5 coins to cover all the combinations and
you don't get the chance to stop the reels yourself.
There is no single jackpot payout on Pachislo machines.
Instead you get what is called a 'BIG WIN'. When this is
activated, the machine goes into what I can only call an
'automatic win' mode when every spin is guaranteed a
win. This will carry on for a few minutes. The machine
goes mad at this point risking its fuses by flashing all
of its lights and making a fair amount of noise!
Universal Museum (or to give it its wonderful full name
- Big Ichigeki! Pachi-Slot Taikouryku Universal Museum)
emulates 12 different machines. From what I can see it
only really amounts to slightly different graphics but
from looking at the manual (all in Japanese) there are
textual descriptions associated with each machine name
so they must have differences. I get the impression that
in the world of pachislo this game is quite a big deal
as there are all sorts of logos in the manual and on
screen during the intro sequence - implying that there
was some effort put into obtaining official licences.
There are 3 save slots for saving your progress. When
starting a new game you select a difficulty level 1 - 6
(default 3). My internet research into the subject
reveals to me that this mirrors a setting on actual
pachislo machines - with 1 being the most difficult.
Despite having control over stopping the reels, it
doesn't seem to be a straight test of skill - the delay
in the button press and the reel stopping seems to
change but there does seem to be a pattern to it. My
guess is that the difficulty level affects this.
You can slow the reels right down to a crawl in the
option mode and there are other artificial aids to play
that make it all seem to be a bit of a science. It all
comes across as very hardcore and I imagine these aids
would be a big help to someone who actually knows what
they are doing. On the other hand I could be talking out
of my backside and the whole interactive part of this
game is a trick to fool players of the real machines out
of their money.
At any time you can enter the comprehensive option mode
in which you can (among other things):
* Add more credits
* Set reel spin speed (8 levels!)
* Toggle ''Show all reel'' - when this is on; you get a
display showing each reel in its entirety beside its
matching window with a pointer that moves as the reels
spin - showing what part of the reel is currently in the
window.
* Toggle display of last big win (I think!)
* Show stats : displays loads of stats screens and
graphs (see one in the supplied screenshot). I have been
able to work out what most of them mean (basic coins in
- out and percantages etc.) But there are other screens
I haven't a clue about.
* You can also 'save' the current contents of the reel
window for some reason (??!!)) and there's a facilty to
mark the current symbols in the window so you can see
them as they go by in subsequent spins.
* There is also an option that when activated sometimes
shows winning combinations at the top right corner of
the screen while the reels are spinning. Haven't a clue
what its all about ! I must say I enjoy playing a game
like this because figuring out what is actually going on
can be quite a challenge.
* Bafflingly there is an auto play mode(!) I have seen
the equivalent in UK fruit machines - activated by
pressing what is mystifyingly called the "George"
button.
You can also select the background music track which
consists of a few Japanese examples of elevator music.
Mercifully you can switch it off giving you a chance to
hear the decent spot effects generated by the machines.
I can't say that this game comes recommended to
everyone, but to those with an interest in this type of
thing it certainly gives you plenty to chew on. There
are 12 machines and the option mode gives you endless
opportunities to fiddle around.
|
|
Breakdown |
|
Gameplay: |
6/10
If you like this sort of
thing then its great as you can twiddle with the machine
setup in the options section and there are reams of
statistics produced as well, otherwise it's hard to get
excited when its not real money! |
|
Graphics: |
4/10
Fairly straightforward. Nice
and clear and get the job done. |
|
Sound: |
4/10
Japanese muzac with the
usual plinks and plonks you get from this type of
machine. |
|
Longetivety: |
8/10
Plenty to keep you busy if
you into this type of thing. |
|
Originality: |
4/10
There's the novelty of
sampling some Japanese "culture" for want of a better
phrase. |
|
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|
|
Overall: |
6/10 |
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