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Old 24-04-23, 04:44   #1
mizuno_suisei
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Default Unique Japan release

I've always considered myself the biggest fan of the Japanese dubs and their releases. I thought I had everything..

I've been clued onto what seems to be a unique release from Japan. TR5+TRLE, but including some levels marketing Japanese brands (Yodabashi Camera) for example.

A youtuber has uploaded video walks but has not replied to any comments for more info/Where to obtain.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...fFderKJWConXjc

Doing some googling in both English and Japanese only results in duplicates of the same news release about it, but that's all the information it really contains.

Would love some more info behind this if anyone knows
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Old 24-04-23, 05:15   #2
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Wow I never saw this before ! It is exclusive tutorials levels to Japan ? That is really cool !

thank you for sharing !

If you ever found it, would you consider sharing the prj, wad, tga and tr4 files with everyone ?

Last edited by CheshireBitch; 24-04-23 at 05:22.
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Old 24-04-23, 10:33   #3
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Holy moly, I was just about to message you about this! Treeble and I are working on finding out more about these levels - I can PM you the info we have so far if you want, I'm not sure how much I should post here because I suspect any links I type up will automatically be removed...

I talked to Tartan already, he no longer has the files and the place he downloaded them from is gone now. I'm planning on contacting as many people as possible and turning this into a crowdsourcing effort; if/when we get the maps we will make sure they're uploaded publicly and preserved as they rightly should be.
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Old 24-04-23, 10:56   #4
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Wow, thanks so much Ejecta, I hope you will all succeed in founding the original files !!
Do we already have an idea who/which company did these maps ??
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Old 24-04-23, 11:13   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CheshireBitch View Post
Wow, thanks so much Ejecta, I hope you will all succeed in founding the original files !!
Do we already have an idea who/which company did these maps ??
The articles we found suggest that the maps were created by the late Troy Horton, a producer at Core Design. We can't know this for sure though.

Logically speaking, the maps must have been created by one person or a group of people working together; they were then distributed for the first production line of a special Japanese edition of TR5 at four different store chains in Tokyo: LaOX, Sofmap, T-ZONE and Yodobashi Camera. You would have had to have bought the game four different times to get all four maps, so the odds are truly against us...
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Old 24-04-23, 15:38   #6
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Wow, yeah that is a really long shot... especially when you consider how unpopular TR was in Japan...
at least we got the videos, it's something !

Thanks for the information about who probably made the maps, so it's core design ! I thought maybe it would have been a different dev (kinda like capcom did the PS1 adaptations to the japenese market)
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Old 24-04-23, 16:51   #7
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Thanks to all involved for putting feelers out and keeping us updated
It's hard to do anything helpful without speaking Japanese but we're here on the sidelines cheering
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Old 24-04-23, 16:53   #8
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Exactly, I attempted to look into it myself as well. But without knowing the language I wasn't even sure what I was looking for in the majority of cases.

And I don't know anyone from that part of the world who could help me look either.

Looking forward to any more information!
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Old 25-04-23, 11:30   #9
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Its amazing we are still finding unique levels from a game that is now decades old.

I hope someone can supply the data files for us all to play them
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Old 25-04-23, 18:52   #10
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This is what I posted about the levels on the trlenet forums, minus the links:
Quote:
Treeble and I are officially on the hunt for some promotional tutorial levels that were bundled with a limited edition of TR5 in Japan following its release there in January 2001. Here's what we know so far:

*There are four different maps for four different stores in Tokyo: LAOX, Sofmap, T-ZONE and Yodobashi Camera. To collect them all, you needed to buy the game four different times. They may or may not have been created by the late Troy Horton at Core Design; this may have been a misinterpretation of a press release on the part of the reporters. We have no way of knowing unless we somehow find out more.
*Each level would have been on an additional third disc to the main game and the Level Editor, which was then sold alongside the first batch of the 'Japanese Big Box' collector's edition of Chronicles (on Tartan's disc database, it's the one at the bottom of the table). Treeble theorises that this disc would have been given to the buyer over the counter at checkout, rather than bundled with the game directly. Either way, it's on a separate disc to the rest.
*Not every copy of this particular limited edition comes with one of these discs, only the very first ones that were produced; not every store in the chains had them either. On auction/reseller sites, if a map isn't mentioned in the item description then it's safe to assume it's not one of the 'limited limited edition' ones...

I found out about these levels in 2019 after watching Tartan play them on his alternate channel, cosa nostra; I finally worked up the courage to message him about it directly about a week ago, after some encouragement from Treeble. Sadly, he deleted the files after playing them and the website he got them from isn't available anymore. If nothing else, we still have video evidence that these levels existed.

We've been getting some useful information from Tartan and Alphonse over at the Level Builders' Forum, and we've been messaging other people who may know more or can at least signal boost. Here are some websites that talk about the promotion: GAME Watch, 4Gamer, ITmedia, Eidos JP Press Release, some screenshots from a fanpage ...

If you know anything about these levels or know somebody who might know something, then please get in touch. If you have any skill with search engines and translation software then it would be helpful to look on auction sites using the info above.
So please, do contact either myself or Treeble if you find out anything that could be useful. These levels are so old and so rare that we really do need all the help we can get!
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