Sumio Mondo
Member
- Developer: Grasshopper Manufacturer (Original) / Active Gaming Media (Remake)
- Publisher: Playism (PC release)/NIS America (PS4 release only)
- Platform: PS4
- Genre: Visual Novel/Adventure
- Price: $49.99 (Limited Edition), $29.99 (Regular Edition)
- A Suda 51 Trip, Music by Masafumi Takada
F.A.Q:
What is this game?
A visual novel/Adventure game originally released for the original PlayStation back in the late 1990s. It is Goichi Suda's directorial debut at Grasshopper Manufacture re-released into HD for the first time, a game development company well known for releasing such games as Killer7, No More Heroes series, Killer is Dead, Lollipop Chainsaw, Shadows of the Damned and most recently, Let It Die.
Can I jump into this game with no knowledge of any of the other games either from Suda or Grasshopper Manufacture?
Absolutely. No need to have played any of the other games at all.
What is ”Kill The Past"?
Please see the section below titled ”Kill The Past.
If I enjoy games such as Ace Attorney, Danganronpa and other visual novel/Japanese adventure games will I enjoy this game?
Most likely.
Considering Suda games such as this gave birth to the like of Kodaka wanting to enter the game industry (who mentioned in his talk with Suda rather like a fanboy that he waited with his friends for games from him and was a big influence on his work), I'd say so. If you're the type to enjoy reading lots of text such as those games, this should be no different since 95% of this game is spent reading. Fans of visual novels and story heavy adventure games should definitely play this game. It's full of twists, character development and weirdness. It's a cult classic in Japan for a reason.
Fire Pro Wrestling Special when?
There is an English fan translation of Fire Pro Wrestling Special in the works (one of Suda's Fire Pro games that he worked on as a writer/planner at Human Entertainment).
Why hasn't Killer7 gotten a HD remaster yet?
Beats me. We're better diverting our attentions to Capcom since they seem to be the ones sitting on their hands about it, Suda himself has made it pretty obvious he'd love to do it. Better off pestering Capcom for it if you want it to happen.
Is this voice acted?
No, text only.
How does Flower, Sun & Rain relate to The Silver Case?
Play the game and find out.
What are the additional scenarios included exclusively in this PlayStation 4 version?
They basically consist of one new scenario written by Suda himself called ”Whiteout Prologue" & one new scenario by Masashi Ooka called ”Yami".
Whiteout Prologue
A short-but-sweet prologue that occurs years after the events in The Silver Case, and links the story and builds up the lore to Suda 51's episodic sequel, The Silver Case: Ward 25.
Yami
A slightly larger scenario that takes place months after the last chapter of the game, serving as a conclusion of the initial game.
This occurs during the Placebo section, where you see the murder mystery investigation from the viewpoint of freelance journalist, Tokio Morishima.
New Scenarios Screenshots:
Source (from NIS America):
http://nichegamer.com/2017/04/13/pair-of-new-story-chapters-for-the-silver-case-fully-detailed/
I have finished the game and wish to discuss spoilers freely
Please visit the spoilers topic here:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1309167
PC OT by cj_iwakura is here:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1290329
OT Co-Authored by cj_iwakura who did most of the work, thanks to the PC |OT|
The Silver Case was originally released for the PS1 in 1999. It was Suda51's first game with his new studio, Grasshopper Manufacturer, formed after he left Human Entertainment.
The Silver Case was made with an extremely small team, so the film window system was a result of the game's financial limitations. Though major story developments are told through copious amounts of text, still artwork, animation clips, and even live action footage serve as visual aids.
Although there are references to his earlier Syndrome games from Human Entertainment, The Silver Case is largely standalone, and would mark the start of a series that would later come to be known as the Kill The Past series.
The story that begins here will continue in Flower, Sun, and Rain and end with the tale of the Killer7.
Not to mention that maybe, just maybe, the success of this could lead to a localization of the sidestory sequel, Ward 25.
1999 - the "24 Wards". A string of mysterious serial killings plagues the city. The detectives of the 24 Wards Heinous Crimes Unit have their eyes on one man: Kamui Uehara, legendary serial killer and assassin of a number of government officials 20 years prior in the now-famous "Silver Case". However, nobody knows who - or what - Kamui really is.
Has he really returned? Who is this infamous serial killer?
The player takes control of the protagonist - a member of the Special Forces Unit known as ”Republic" - from a first-person perspective. The primary story, Transmitter, consists of five chapters. A secondary chapter, Placebo, is told from the perspective of a journalist attempting to piece together the myriad truths of The Silver case.
HD Remake
Original Version
HD Remake Opening (Akira Yamaoka remix of The Silver Case theme)
Original Opening
The Silver Case MAD (Live Version) (Beware of Spoilers)
The Soundtrack
The Physical Release
http://store.nisamerica.com/silver-case
[NSFW]
* • Collector's Box
* • The Silver Case for PS4™
* • Hardcover Art Book (40pgs., 5.25" x 6.75")
* • Soundtrack (34 tracks)
* • Poster (18" x 24")
* • Bonus: Manga (20pg., 6" x 8.4") (packaged separately)
Base game by itself here for $29.99:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N1JM9RO/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Avatars
GameSpew
90
Sociological questions about mental illness and crime, unethical romantic relationships, and mysterious world building all combine into a game that demands you to think in ways many others do not.
Digitally Downloaded
80
It is a testament to Suda's forward thinking that all these years later The Silver Case manages to succeed in its storytelling. This is especially true in terms of the way it builds quirky characters and a quality hardboiled detective plot. The Silver Case takes a little time to find its footing, but it finishes more strongly than it begins, and is a real treat for genre fans.
RPG Fan
80
The Silver Case instead shows us a side of Goichi Suda that Western audiences are largely unfamiliar with: one of restraint and fearlessness towards experimentation, before his reputation preceded him. Despite being nearly two decades old, The Silver Case feels like Grasshopper's freshest work to date.
Kill The Past
Kill The Past is a ”series" not in the classical sense at all. Mostly what ties these games together are similar themes that often stray into the psychological and surreal. These games often scratch the itch for something out there and ”different" (or ”crazy" or ”bizarre"). Suffice to say, these games by Suda were a big influence on such writers and directors in the industry as Kodaka of Danganronpa fame and SWERY of Deadly Premonition fame.
Common themes and imagery that have been consistent with each and every game include - imagery of the moon, the political, the psychological, horror imagery, brainwashing, unintelligible/gibberish voices, the weird and the unknown, serial killers (of which there are many), changing narratives (different plotlines; some that tie into the main narrative, others that are independent to the main narrative and end abruptly), characters that speak directly into the psyche of the main character, plot lines that end explaining nothing, constantly changing presentation (The Silver Case and Killer7 feature unique art styles in each chapter) and finally main characters who are hiding from their past and have to face it head on.
Some games are tied together more fully though, such as The Silver Case and Flower, Sun & Rain which starts off as an original game before revealing that the game is actually a sequel to The Silver Case.
The saga mainly consists of various games, these include but are not limited to:
Moonlight Syndrome
Opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OiALe1OXPI
Released in Japan only for the original PlayStation in October 1997. This was a survival horror game much in the same ilk as Human Entertainment's previous works such as Clock Tower and Twilight Syndrome (side scrolling survival horror adventure game). This is Suda's follow up to Twilight Syndrome which has a plot which drives off a cliff into the surreal and psychological. The basic premise is that a mysterious death causes the already fragile mental state of the deceased's brother to crack and start stalking a girl who resembles his beloved sister. What follows is a trip into psychological hell. This was the last game Suda worked on at Human Entertainment before departing to establish Grasshopper Manufacture. See cj_iwakura's topic here for the lowdown on Moonlight Syndrome:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1047448
Fans of Suda's works will be happy to note that fans are currently working on an English fan translation for this game (including GAFs own cj_iwakura).
Fan translation progress here:
https://izzeybee.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/suda51s-moonlight-syndrome-translation-project/
The Silver Case
This was Suda's first game after he established Grasshopper Manufacture, as previously noted. The game was followed up with two sequels:
Flower, Sun & Rain
This was originally a PS2 game before finally ending up in English speaking territories on the Nintendo DS. The basic premise is that a ”Sumio Mondo" known as a ”Searcher" (basically a private investigator hired to search for things and people) must traverse to the tropical island of ”Lospass Island" with his beloved ”Katherine" (a steel suitcase that he keeps all of his puzzle cracking devices in) and uncover the mysteries of the island and stop the terrorist plot to blow up a plane that happens every day. Soon after arriving he is greeted by a variety of strange characters, finds himself stuck in an infinite time loop (Groundhog Day-style) and finds that not everything is as it seems. As he uncovers the mysteries, he finds himself face to face with his dark past that must be unravelled to finally find peace not only for himself but for everyone else on the island. Suffice to say, the last third of the game was a real mindfuck that even the most die hard fans are still to this day debating over what it all meant. It didn't help matters that the direct prequel The Silver Case was never released into English to establish past events and characters, which now ties up some of the loose plot points from this game. The game features an amazing musical score by Masafumi Takada that remixes various classical pieces, some of which are nice for easy listening and others which are just batshit crazy. The reception of this game meant that Kill The Past had to go away for a while since the DS/3DS version of The Silver Case was cancelled. The game was not received favourably upon release by the gaming press but has a small cult following that has patiently waited for the prequel's release (The Silver Case).
You can see a great topic devoted to this game here (once again by cj_iwakura):
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=472502
The Silver Case: Ward 25
A mobile only sequel again only released in Japan. Not much is known of this sequel except that it retains the same visual novel adventure game style of the original Silver Case game and is a direct sequel featuring much of the same cast as the original, with much of the same staff returning to the project including Suda as writer and director, Takada as composer and Ooka as co-writer. Suda has been wearing a Silver Case: Ward 25 T-Shirt frequently whenever he has been at press events or promoting The Silver Case and spoken freely with Japanese fans about this game being next on his list of games getting a revival, so most fans are now assuming we will be getting this game next. Please ensure that you support The Silver Case so that this can be a reality!
Killer7
The first of the ”Kill The Past" releases that we got in English. Released for both GameCube and PlayStation 2, the game stars the ”Killer7", an elite force of assassins that hunt each of their Targets for their clients with no questions asked. In time they will discover much about themselves and those who they are hunting and become embroiled in a political conspiracy that threatens to destroy everything. There's not many games more multi-layered than this as it makes blink and you will miss them references to both Moonlight Syndrome (one cutscene) and Flower, Sun & Rain (Ed McAllister). The game retains the changing presentation art styles in each chapter that The Silver Case started and this time instead goes for an adventure game meets FPS on-rails gameplay framework to engage the player. The game features a beautiful surreal & realistic cel shaded art style that still looks great to this day. Suda was writer, director and designer of this game and it shows in spades. This is one of the most confident and tightest game experiences around.
The game, much like most of Suda's games (directorial or simply produced by him) has become a cult classic and Suda himself has noted it as one of his proudest achievements. Takada once again provided music for Suda for this game, that is in my opinion, one of the best game soundtracks in existence.
Here is GAF's OT (allllll the way back in 2005) for Killer7:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54164&page=10
The Future of Kill The Past?
The Silver Case: Ward 25 being ported and re-released into HD may become a reality if Suda continually teasing the game is anything to go by (wearing Ward 25 t-shirts at GDC, talking about it to both English and Japanese press as being next on his list).
Suda has also spoken about thinking about doing another game starring some of the cast members of The Silver Case, pondering in one interview where they will be in their lives all of these years later. He has also spoken about wanting to return to making more games in the saga in general and to look forward to future announcements.
Also, Suda has hinted that the upcoming No More Heroes 3/Travis Touchdown game he and Grasshopper are making may tie into the saga in some way. We shall see.
Suda also made note of the fact that if The Silver Case was a success we would see Flower, Sun & Rain getting a remake.
Final thing:
PLEASE KEEP ALL SPOILERS HIDDEN. This is a spoiler free territory. Don't spoil the game for others. Thank you.
Special Thanks
cj_iwakura, for allowing me to use the wonderful PC OT as the benchmark for this OT.
Suda51, for staying crazy and for keeping his promises to his fans. And of course for making these games. Shine on, you crazy diamond.
Grasshopper Manufacture staff old and new for crafting such amazing games.
Masafumi Takada for his divine music soundtracks.
NIS America for bringing the PS4 version with the additional scenarios to us.
Playism & Active Gaming Media, for the localization miracle of the century.
The Official Site
And you, for supporting GHM's old school insanity.
It's time to go to work, Catherine! The search culminates here!
