Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Platform: PC-98
Released in JP: July 29, 1994

This game has unused music.

POLICENAUTS FOR PC-9821

BEYOND DREAM

IMPORTANT NOTE : There are tons of spoilers in this article, so if you plan to play this game one day on a PC-9821, or on another machine, you might not want to read it. This article will probably remain unfinished.

Policenauts is the kind of game, that you play for 10 minutes, then drop your pad telling yourself 'I want this to last forever ... but it's gonna end. And I'll have to live with it'. That's exactly what I felt when I first played the Saturn version (with the Lightgun) of this masterpiece. I stood in front of BCP HQ for ages listening the XA track looping again and again, or investigating Karen's CD collection for hours.

I can also remember sitting in a theatre watching Lethal Weapon 4, I jumped off my seat almost screaming when I noticed that there was a red laser aiming device on Mel Gibson's gun, just like Jonathan's ! My girlfriend thought I went nuts.

Long after I played the PSX version and explored religiously the PSX Private Collection and 3DO Pilot Disks. They are particularly informative about the new CGs, anime and additions to these versions.
Unfortunately, this game was not released outside Japan, which is a shame since tons of fans signed petitions in the US and Europe to ask it to Konami. Policenauts is often referred as Kojima's favourite creation.
When I heard that this game was first made for PC-98 computers, I was already fascinated by these legendary machines. But back then, there were very few emulators, so it took me a few more years to realize that the dream might come true.
I built this website to promote PC-98 gaming and spent days and night on WinMX to gather and sort games. And one fine day I was contacted by RaiRai who lives in Japan and became the biggest game supplier of this site.
He sent me Policenauts (a copy at first and then an original game) together with finely tuned boot disks. My goal was achieved ! At that time I was thinking about emulating the game to play, but it became clear that it would be difficult : the only emulator that can run it at a decent speed is T98-Next, but the PCM samples are so badly emulated that any normal human will turn the speakers off.
I would have played any other game without sound , but not Policenauts. I decided to buy a PC-9821 to run this game properly. I actually bought 2 because the first one was broken. For the second one, thanks to RaiRai's wise advises, everything went well.
7 years after playing the Saturn version, I could finally explore the original.

This article is not pretending to be the ultimate reference about this game but more a fan's tribute and an analysis of the PC9821 version.

OLD L.A. 2040 - Earth is now reffered as 'Home', and there is snow in California, it might be an anticipation vision about climatic changes due to pollution.

If you don't know anything about this game or if you want to know more, I suggest you read this Wikipedia article. If it's a walkthrough you are looking for, one of the best around is surely on the U.K. Policenauts Resource. You will learn most of the plot in these two websites ... and eventually look at Konami's Official Policenauts Website.

I first played the Saturn version and was blown away by the experience. Many fans talk about this game as an 'experience'. I think it is, really. It was the first time that I paused the game to listen the music for ages. Policenauts musics were composed by Tappy (jazz musician), Ika-Chan and Motoaki Furukawa. On Tappy's website you will learn (if you look closely) that Karen theme is more than inspired by a NHK drama ... Ika-Chan composed Snatcher themes and is apparently still working for Konami.

I consider the Saturn and PSX versions visually identical except for the bonuses and since the PSX version is quite well emulated, I used it as a base for comparisons. Unfortunately, I do not own the 3DO version, and I never seen it running so I can't talk about it. The PC-9821 version is in 16 colors and the screen resolution is 640x400 and is my favourite, the other versions have true color graphics and a screen resolution of 320x240. The anime made by AIC and the cheap CG scenes were not present in the PC-9821 version, all graphics are pixel drawn.

The introduction explains the plot and the player finds himself in Jonathan's office. Some details like the empty beer cans, the Marlboro cigarette pack and the sticker on the answerphone have been added to the most recent versions, there are description for these if you click on them, but no spoken speech.

The on-line database (an in-game system allowing the player to access specific definitions and explanations of terms in the game) found on PSX is missing in the PC-9821 version. Not a big loss for me ;).

This CG is puzzling me because usually, in Ideo Kojima's game intros there are references to his other works. I still remember my surprise when I heard the 'doop-doop doop-doop-doop' in Metal Gear Solid intro.

Here, I can see the words 'sports', 'billiard', 'MOC', 'liqueur', and a word that looks like 'Lucey'.

Even this weird 'Eyes Eyes Soloscot' sign doesn't ring any bell ... Anyway I was quite surprised by the fact that there is snow on the road but not so much on the pavement (usually it's the contrary), I understood later that this allows Jonathan to notice the footsteps in the snow.

Lorraine Hôjô is about to get out of the old fashioned car, to enter Jonathan's Office. Here are a few shots of his 'agency' taken from the intro sequence :12345. Jonathan's Office is a mess just like his life at this point.

This page shows the PC-9821 and PSX titles.

Lorrainealso looks a bit older in the PC-9821 version. Not much to say about their meeting, Lorraine is leading Jonathan on a case after the death of her husband. While leaving, Lorraine is badly injured by the explosion of her car, in front of Jonathan's eyes.

Very instructive CG (the 2 screens of the shooting scene have been merged).

First, check out the 'Circo Porto' advertising sign : As this page and this page mentions, Konami has a chain of arcade accross Japan. The CG seems to indicate that Tokugawa Corp. now owns the chain. Other Konami games like Parodius contain 'Circo Porto' references.

Second, there is a porno theatre in front of Jonathan's. We can read 'open tensai adues (adults) only'. I found references to 'Debbie does em all' which is a porno flick, but nothing about 'Who will be first' and 'Star Angel'.

Third, two brands are mentionned on top of the shops : Piemonte Ravioli which is a genuine shop in New York, and Alleva is also one of the oldest Italian stores in NY. Make sure you look at the 'Contact Us' section of their web site and compare it to the above CG, for me it's a proof that the artists took New York as a base to design Old L.A.

In the next scenes, Jonathan will fight the criminal in a back-street, before he escapes with a bike.

Back to the crime scene, Jonathan will see Lorraine die in his arms. He has now to leave for space, facing his cosmophobia, to start investigating.

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POLICENAUTS FOR PC-9821

BEYOND DREAM by Ben 2006

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