IbizaPocholo
NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
Left 4 Dead, a hit game by Valve, was not popular in Japan due to the lack of PC gaming users. In partnership with Taito, they created an exclusive arcade adaptation called Left 4 Dead Survivors. The game was controlled using a mouse and a nunchuck-like device and ran on Windows 7. The game replaced the original survivors with four new characters and used a Survivor point system for purchasing playtime. The game included all campaigns, including Left 4 Dead 1, and offered local and countrywide matching through the Nessica service. The game was discontinued in 2017, but the game files were dumped online, allowing players to run the game on their home computers.
Valve partnered with Taito to bring Left 4 Dead to a wider Japanese audience, leading to the creation of Left for Dead: Survivors, a Japanese exclusive arcade adaptation of Left 4 Dead.
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Left for Dead: Survivors uses a unique controller consisting of a Razer DeathAdder mouse and a nunchuck-looking device for movement, jumping, and crouching.
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The game runs on Taito Type X3 arcade hardware, which is a Windows 7 PC, making it relatively simple to run the game on a home computer.
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Left for Dead: Survivors features four new characters and Survivor Points (SVP) that players can purchase to play the game rather than a traditional lives system.
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All campaigns, including Left 4 Dead 1 campaigns, are playable, and all difficulties are selectable.
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The game supports local matchmaking with multiple cabinets, and when it was online, it had a Countrywide and Clan matching system handled via the Nesica service.
Over 20 new weapons were added in the arcade version, some of which are existing weapons but with remixed properties.- The arcade version features arcade-specific weapons and new melee weapon skins that can be unlocked by the Nesica profile system.
The entire game has been rewritten and redubbed into Japanese for the new survivors, including character and world building-related lines.- The arcade version provides an alternate universe story of Left 4 Dead 2 following mostly the same plot line, with a fascinating take on the world of Left 4 Dead.
Even bit parts like Virgo and the cola guy are voiced in Japanese in the arcade version.
When playing the Left 4 Dead 1 campaigns in the arcade version, you play as a new group of survivors, and the Left 4 Dead 1 survivors are still present on the bridge and voiced in Japanese too.
Instead of the usual results or end campaign credit screen showing statistics, the arcade version shows a screen that tallies your score and clear time.
The Japan-only arcade version of Left 4 Dead wasn't very popular, but still had devoted players.- The arcade cabinet for the game had a unique control scheme and allowed for co-op play.
There were gameplay differences between the arcade version and the original PC version of Left 4 Dead.- The voice acting for the Japanese version of the game was done by different actors and had some changes in the script.
One player, known as "chami Star Emoji Haruka," dominated the final rankings by killing over a million zombies during the game's three-year lifespan.- The game's documentation in English is very limited, and the video's creator spent hours researching to make the video.
