Dezaemon 3D review - The N64 Japanese Eye

Dezaemon 3D is a 3D shoot-'em-up construction kit developed and published by Athena for the Nintendo 64 exclusively in Japan on June 26, 1998.

The fifth entry in the Dezaemon series, Dezaemon 3D allows players to create 3D shoot-'em-ups (similar to RayStorm). Unlike the previous two entries, players can no longer save their custom content into an external memory source.

This game includes three sample games (one of which is hidden): Solid Gear (a sci-fi space shooter), Usagi-san (a comical shooter), and Ramsie (a 3D port of the game of the same name from Dezaemon 2).

[Larry]

I think it was more of the case they wanted to make bigger shoot em ups so most were released on the PlayStation, just like with RPGs.

But I love stuff like this,   I ploughed months into Shoot 'em Up Construction Kit on the C64 and the Amiga.

[someoneelse]

It's always a joy when researching a game to find one of my favorite youtubers has reviewed it.

[davy_K]

I have the Sega Saturn version of this and it's the same deal - the designer is all in Japanese - however the Saturn version has a decent guide over at gamefaqs.com for non Japanese readers - even with that I haven't delved too deep as even with a translation, creating something worthwhile would require a great deal of time.

the Saturn version also has a hidden game (it has 2 actually), one of them being a version of Campsie.

N64 would have been pretty good at STGs (Bangai-O is proof). It has a fast processor and because STGs are small then the cartridge format wouldn't have been an issue. I guess it's just that STGs were out of fashion at that time and that would have meant risking a expensive cartridge release with not much chance of large sales which is a shame - I've always been a fan of the genre.

[VJFranzK]

Remember Blast Works shmup maker on Wii!

[unrealggecko]

Wow, I was reading the Hardcoregaming101 article of this series a few hours ago :D

[Mohammedreal]

I remember the original game on the Famicom via a pirated multi-cart, and this one isn't so bad but it's a shame that it's locked behind the N64DD.

[HarpnX]

Some of the sound effects especially the lock on noise right at the end of the video are identical to those used in Raystorm on the PS1, that boss also looks like it could have been lifted straight from Raystorm too.

[CommodoreFan]

cool looking game, but I think the reason we did not get more 2D/2.5D shooters on the N64 is because companies wanted to make more use of 3D worlds on the N64, and besides I think at least in the west gamers had been bombarded with shooters threw out the 80's and threw to the mid 90's that they had been kind of burnt out on them during that time, and FPS like Duke, and Quake where really the big thing, as I know me, and my friends would spend hours on Quake III Arena on the computers in our computer class at school, and no our teacher gave little care long as we all got our work done early, and we did. 

[dembonesTV]

I hope someone makes a reliable translation. I think I could really get into building a shmup level

[AguyinaRPG]

I think part of the shmup abandonment has to do with framerates. At the end of the SNES lifespan, and throughout that of the Turbographx, you see a great deal of effort put into putting loads of bulelts on the screen at once. With the which to 3D, it became more difficult, and ultimately was on the downward trend, so there are very few truly great 3D shmups, thus why something like Ikaruga has become legendary.

[EspireMike]

Did you make all of the intro/outro motion graphics for your videos? They're great!

[ruekurei]

Lol I was reading EGM, with coverage on the 64DD and how they were essentially going to have normal users do development on the console, kinda like XBOXONE does kinda. Something about Mario Factory, and that there was an SNES CD system that would have been doing something similar as well. Can't seem to find info on that stuff outside of that magazine though, not even any info on that Mario Factory thing.

[HipsterBlackMetalOfficial]

Damn, the japanese games have way way better graphics than the US n64 games.
Only US game that has this amount of detail is Mace The Dark Age

[drgribb]

How difficult is it to import/enter in designs from other players? If I could follow someone's instructions online to port their creation into my cartridge, then I could see that making the game worth picking up for sure!

[Toschez]

I had one when I was a kid. Even if you were a native, this ‘game’ was pretty darn daunting, you needed to have creativity and understanding in all aspects of game making, from modelling, texturing, music, game design, 3D motion design, etc. Even if you could enjoy 2D Dezaemon titles, this one was a lot tougher.

[jeterjr]

I love this series. Thanks for the video.

[kitime]

To (hopefully) unlock the RAMSIE minigame (I also read the HG101 Article and decided to figure this one out!):

This is my interpretation based on several translation variants from Athena's (now dead) site:

1. In the GAME EDIT menu, set the 57th wallpaper to blue. #(not 100% on this one).

2. Go to the "Enemy Editor", select the motion settings.

3. Select the "leftmost basic motion setting".

4. Then, a speed setting will appear - there is a hidden option 5cm~ BELOW "6" within the menu.

5. On hover, a message should appear - "RAMSIE" Cassette: C ↑ ↓ ← ↓ ↓ ↓ ↑ ↑

6. Return to the first GAME SELECT screen, place the cursor on the picture of the cassette and press the "C buttons" (as in the above message): [↑ ↓ ← ↓ ↓ ↓ ↑ ↑] - I am unsure if the message needs to be seen first.

7. The Cart changes from Dark Gray to Light Grey.


8. Press "A" on the N64 cart icon to play the hidden minigame!



This should *hopefully* work to unlock the RAMSIE minigame - if it does (or if it doesn't), let me know!

Most of all: Have fun! :)

[Super_Mario]

I'd love for a Starfox game where you could make your own levels

[depression]

Glenn! Zoinkity and I released our translation patch for Dezaemon 3D this week! Any chance of a re-review now that the game is fully playable in English? In 1998 there was a competition in Japan to make the best game with the software! Sadly we don't know who won, but wouldn't it be awesome to run a similar competition with your viewers? I'd love to see what they can make! I hope everyone enjoys the patch!

[gustavocve]

is this game worth getting for the pre-made games only?