Tokyo Game Show 2024 Previews #2

We attended Tokyo Game Show 2024 and played some exciting titles of all sizes! The previous article covered four big-name games, but in this one Brando shares his impressions of four smaller surprises — indie games on the show floor, most of which are already playable in some form today! All release dates and platforms listed are current as of October 27, 2024.

Time Crisis

The 1995 classic light gun shooter is coming to modern televisions, on a plug-and-play AI-powered light gun console.

Release date TBD, official site says “Design and performance are subject to change.”
Official site: https://www.tasseidenki.co.jp/gaime

Technology company Tassei Denki (part of Dashine Electronics) was at TGS, showing off their mini plug-and-play light gun console, the “GAIME” , running the original arcade version of Time Crisis (preinstalled, licensed by Bandai Namco Entertainment) on a modern non-CRT TV. The console has a physical “AI-powered” light gun with built-in cameras and sensors, with an optional physical pedal for the authentic “RELOAD” experience. It’s $89.99 for the base version (no pedal), or $119.99 for the pedal plus extras.

So how well did it work?

It was… subtly different. Fun and technologically impressive, but maybe not quite there for purists eyeing the $120 price tag?

I don’t have much experience with light gun games, but the staff at the demo booth were impressed that I made it to stage 3 within the time limit, so I at least did better than others who tried it that day.

The aiming reticle is onscreen at all times, which is different than the old light guns where you had to actually aim down the sights, and you would only know where exactly you’d been aiming when you pulled the trigger and the screen flashed to calculate what you hit. The constant reticle makes it noticeable when you quickly pivot your aim from one side of the screen to the other, since unfortunately there’s a visible lag before the cursor catches up to the spot you’re physically targeting. When you’re mostly aiming in the same spot, it’s less noticeable since minor adjustments only slightly change your position. And maybe it gets better as you get more used to it, or maybe the “AI-powered” gun can adjust better with more input data, but more hardcore players might find issue with the latency if they’re used to quickly switching targets across the screen. The official website advertises “LOW INPUT LAG”, but doesn’t say exactly how much. For more casual enjoyers who just want to revisit an old classic without digging a CRT out of someone’s garage though, this should fit the bill! I’m excited to see how this technology turns out.

Pico Park 2

PICO PARK is back with all new levels! Play with 2-8 players locally or online in this co-op action-puzzle game!

Released already, play it today!
Official site: https://picoparkgame.com/en/pp2/

Sitting down with 7 strangers and laughing with them throughout the chaos that ensued during our 15 minutes together might have been the most fun I had at TGS this year.

Like the first Pico Park, this is a wonderful, whimsical, cooperative puzzle action game for 2-8 players, either locally or online. Or both — two people can use one keyboard, since there’s only about 5 buttons needed per person. Simple to pick up and play, this is a great party game all around. If you have friends with $9 and like fun, you should get it. If you like fun but only have $5, you should still get the first Pico Park, because 2 is essentially more of the same. No paid shilling here, just unpaid shilling, since this is a fun one.

Dome-King Cabbage

Dome-King Cabbage is a visual novel about a cloud-person named Mush nervously making their way to a job interview. Mush has to grapple with their ability to perceive the world through the lens of a monster-collecting RPG.

Release date TBD, for Steam and Nintendo Switch
Official site: https://cobysoft.co/

Even after playing the 10~15 minute demo, I’m not sure what this was, but man, it’s an experience.

The demo starts, and throws you into an intro sequence brimming with claymation animations, traditional animations. stop-motion figure animations, real world photography, personal diary entries, miniature dioramas, popping colors, flashes, filters, psychedelic camera effects, and who knows what else, blended together in a strange yet captivating package.

Visual novel? It’s visual alright. I think most of my active gameplay was walking around a short, traditional 2D RPG sequence though. There are homages and parodies and subversions throughout, keeping things interesting for us veteran Gamers who think they’ve seen everything.

A familiar “Pick 1 of 3 monsters” scenario gag

One thing to note, for players who like their games to hurry up and let them start Doing Things: there are some long stretches of time in this game where you don’t do actively do anything, you just watch whatever crazy art project unfolds on screen. I think the intro sequence went on for about 5 minutes before I started checking my watch. If that doesn’t turn you off and you want more right now, there’s a demo version you can play today at https://cobysoftco.itch.io/dome-king-cabbage-chapter-0 !

MotionRec

MotionRec is an action game where you progress through stages by recording and replaying your own movements.

Slated for release in 2025, for Steam
Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2602230/MOTIONREC/
Free Pico-8 version: https://donutshunter.itch.io/motionrec

This game has one of the coolest mechanics I’ve seen in any 2D indie pixel-art puzzle-platformer in recent years. You can record any movement, like walking horizontally across the ground, and then replay that movement later, like to make your character move across a pit too wide to jump across. Record yourself standing still on an elevator platform moving straight up, and suddenly you can fly straight up anywhere else, at the press of the replay button. Simple, but has potential for really clever applications. There’s also collectibles throughout the levels, and timers to challenge your speedrunning abilities. Best to experience this one yourself — you can play the free Pico-8 version today, at the above itch.io link! Things get really crazy in that version, where you can also reverse your motions (not shown in the TGS demo). I’m looking forward to the full release of the brushed up version shown at TGS!