John Romero's Daikatana
- John Romero's Daikatana (2000 on Nintendo 64)
- John Romero's Daikatana (2000 on Game Boy Color)
Description official descriptions
Hiro Miyamoto is a martial arts instructor and a member of an ancient clan of fighters. One day he learns that Kage Mishima, a sworn enemy of his clan, has gained possession of the Daikatana, a magical sword that allows its bearer to travel through time. As a result of Mishima's quest for power, a devastating disease is threatening humanity. Hiro and his friends must venture into different time periods, retrieve the sword, and defeat Mishima.
Daikatana is a first-person shooter using the Quake II engine. The game is divided into four episodes of several levels each, each episode taking place in a different time period: far-future Japan, ancient Greece, Dark Ages Norway, and near-future USA. The game uses cutscenes and text to tell the story. Two AI-controlled characters accompany Hiro throughout the quest, helping him in battles and also requiring protection. In addition to several different firearms, the Daikatana itself, which the player acquires in Episode 2, can gain experience and grow stronger as it is used. The game includes a multi-player deathmatch mode.
Spellings
- 大刀 - Japanese spelling
Groups +
Screenshots
Promos
Videos
Add Trailer or Gameplay Video +1 point
See any errors or missing info for this game?
You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.
Credits (Windows version)
165 People (140 developers, 25 thanks) · View all
Lead Design | |
Producer | |
Lead Programmer | |
Programming | |
Level Designer | |
Localisation Lead | |
Script | |
Art Director | |
Lead Artist | |
Artist | |
Package Design | |
Sound Director | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 57% (based on 49 ratings)
Players
Average score: 2.6 out of 5 (based on 83 ratings with 12 reviews)
The Good
Without a doubt in my mind, this is the biggest disappoinment in the history of PC Gaming.
Three years in development. Developed by the creator of the first person shooter. Action/RPG gameplay. The Quake 2 engine. So what's wrong with it? Ion Storm developed it or way too long! If it made its original release date, Daikatana would have been an innovative, fun game. Reason one: Graphics were excellent. Reason two: First game to play with two buddies that help you through the game. Reason three: Find-the-key, kill everything gameplay was still passable as a good game. Reason four: RPG elements. Reason five: exciting multiplay deathmatch
Three years later, classic games like Half-Life, Rainbow Six, Deus Ex, System Shock 2 and Unreal Tournament alll have these features and were revolutionary while Daikatana stays the same, but with buggy gameplay and stupid AI. Well a few parts are good about Daikatana,
like some of the Greek levels are good.
The Bad
Well, the part that is the worst is the first level. You roam a swamp, searching the ground and air for evil flies and frogs, killing them using a sluggish bee-shooting gun! What? this is fun? In the more interesting levels, all the enemies do is like 'blow up' when you kill them. Multiplay is boring and lame, lag-filled fun, just as 'fun' as the maps. I cannot think of how I could recommend it when there are so many better games out there.
The Bottom Line
Load up mine sweeper, and play it on the hardest difficulty. Then, turn off your monitor and you will have the experience the numb gameplay of Daikatana. Fun isn't it? Then you'll reconsider why you bought/considered buying this garbage.
Windows · by Dragoon (106) · 2000
The Good
The gigantic levels are very well designed and there are lots of puzzles to solve in them. The weapons are very creative, and the game can be considered an First-Person RPG, because you can level up your stats, such as Speed, Acro, Power and Attack, and even your Daikatana.
The story is so great that the game can be turned into a book (there is a rare comic book by TopCow, released with the game), or even a movie (if Uwe Boll don't direct it). You are a martial arts trainer called Hiro Miyamoto, and you receive a visit from an unknown guy called Toshiro Ebihara, that says you have a mission to save his daughter Mikiko and a mystic sword called Daikatana, forged by the ancestors of Hiro. I really should say it's at least epic and creative!
The Bad
Even if the Sidekicks help you to not being alone while playing the game, they are annoying because of their defective A.I. Seriously, the A.I. is so bad that the sidekicks can get stuck in lots of spots, specially in stairs, they just keep going up-down-up-down, that really pissed me off.
There are some slight graphics slowdowns, they happen most frequently when you're exposed into a fog effect or light. Also, if you're playing the game in the Windows Xp or later (I play it on Seven) you have to patch the game to version 1.2, because the game keeps crashing very often.
The Bottom Line
Don't let the critics let you down. Even if there are problems with the game, it is an underrated gem of the PC. It is very fun to play it and soon you feel in the story. One more thing: play the Windows version, not the N64 one, which is bad, ugly and slow.
Windows · by >>GuKankuro>> (26) · 2010
Reminds me of Quake Arena 2, and I like it!
The Good
This game's developer was involved in the creation of Wolfenstein 3D (a classic first person shooter). The bad news is that he seemed to forget how it became so popular. Daikatana is pretty dark and creepy like it's supposed be. There is a range of 25 weapons, 64 monsters, four different time periods, all of which are shared within 24 levels.
The Bad
When I said the game was dark, it really is dark, I have to keep squinting sometimes just in order to see what's in front of me (usually in a dark place). Another problem I have with this game is that it was a delayed release. The developer John Romero believed that the entire game could be finished in just seven months, intending to release it in 1997. The game was eventually released in 2000 and many people said that it was using the "old fashioned" 3D engine used for Quake 2.
The Bottom Line
Overall, this game is satisfactory and playable. John Romero's Daikatana is a pretty creepy and amusing first person shooter. While summing up this game, it has proven to be pretty original and creative.
Windows · by Arejarn (7352) · 2008
Discussion
Subject | By | Date |
---|---|---|
Should I try it? | Unicorn Lynx (181679) | Dec 30, 2011 |
incite PC gaming's Daikatana preview / interview video | Foxhack (32094) | Aug 19, 2007 |
Trivia
Advertisement
Long before Daikatana was released, an ad for it was run in several magazines stating "John Romero's Gonna Make You His Bitch." Needless to say this upset quite a few folks.
Daikatana Deathmatch
In April 2007, a fan team released Daikatana Deathmatch (DKDM), a multiplayer-only modification stripping the game from all the single player parts to reduce the file size for players who only want the multiplayer part. It still requires a full copy of the game to play. The link can be found in the related links section.
Development
Daikatana was in development for 3 years, exactly. The reason for the long development cycle was the switch to the Quake II engine. Romero decided to switch because of its colored lighting, among other graphical goodies, but when he finally received the source code, it was nothing like he pictured. Overall the story of the game's development and Ion Storm in general is as epic and profound as anything in the game. Check the related links for The Story of Daikatana.
Dialogue
The characters' sound files used in this game are not encrypted in any way. They're ordinary mp3 files which can be found in the data/sounds/voices folder of the Daikatana directory. There's quite a bit of unused dialogue in there which never made it into the full game. It seems the enemies and the player's two sidekicks were supposed to have more ambient dialogue (e.g. combat taunts, waiting sounds) than what was eventually used.
Dopefish
There are four Dopefish hidden in the game, one per time period.
German Windows version
In the German version enemy blood was colored grey, gore effects were removed and various human enemy modes changed, e.g. into robots or with an added mask to hide their face. A detailed list of changes can be found on schnittberichte.com (German).
Nintendo 64 version
The Nintendo 64 version misses violence in comparison to the original Windows version, e.g. purple instead of red blood. The PAL version was even cut further: the blood was replaced with sparks and civilians are immortal.
References
In the lobby of the Mishima Funeral Home/Crematorium, there's some solemn funeral-type music playing. This is really a slowed down version of the famous e1m1 music from DOOM.
Remix
As the sounds and dialog are not encrypted, one creative mixer was able to rearrange the dialog, add a little fake stuff here and there, add some bump-and-grind music, and came up with a long MP3 that sounds as if the two guys in the game were "engaging" the female sidekick. Computer Gaming World called it "the ONLY redeeming feature of Daikatana".
Sales
Daikatana sold 200,000 copies and had budget of over $10 million.
Awards
- Computer Gaming World
- April 2001 (Issue #201) – Coaster of the Year
- PC Powerplay (Germany)
- Issue 03/2005 - #8 Biggest Disappointment
- Issue 02/2006 - #7 Hype Disappointment
Information also contributed by Alan Chan, bkaradzic, Kalirion, Kasey Chang, Sciere, WildKard and Zack Green.
Analytics
Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings and price history! (when applicable)
Related Sites +
-
Daikatana Deathmatch
A modification that strips the game from all the singleplayer content, to reduce the file size for multiplayer-only. It still requires a full copy of the game to play. -
Daikatana News
Daikatana news and info -
Daikatana v1.3 Unofficial Patch
Unofficial patch which fixes many bugs and adds new features. -
Matt Chat 55
Video interview with John Romero about the development of John Romero's Daikatana -
Planet Daikatana
Contains news, articles, FAQ, and media -
Something Awful review
A humorous review on Something Awful (PC demo) -
The story of Daikatana
From Gamespot: This Behind the Games feature gives us the inside look at Daikatana and the tragedies and triumphs behind one of the most talked about games in history. -
Wikipedia: John Romero's Daikatana
Information about John Romero's Daikatana at Wikipedia
Identifiers +
Contribute
Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.
Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Matthew Bailey.
Additional contributors: Trixter, Andrew Hartnett, John Romero, Sciere, Ms. Tea, DreinIX, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, Frank Sapone, aKro.
Game added June 18, 2000. Last modified August 2, 2024.