Discussion the Game Preservation Society interviews Rika Suzuki (scenario writer that worked on Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk)

[Krvavi Abadas]

(for some reason they blocked the ability to embed the video, so here's the direct link)

there's plenty of other notable projects she's worked on, some of which even miraclously managed to get localized even back in the 90s.
but as the video notes, that pair of DS adventure games is what she's mainly known for outside of japan.

---

this is part of the series of videos the GPS is doing, if you missed the first one. you really should check it out. It's about the developer (Yuichi Toyama) behind the original Herzog and MUSHA.

 

[Dunban]

That's pretty cool! Loved hearing about her full story. She clearly had a long history at Riverhill Soft before founding Cing. It looks like she's been working on mobile games since Cing closed. I wonder what are the chances of Nintendo reaching out to her for a new game.

 

[Hero of Legend]

Is it true that Cing wanted to ask Nintendo to buy them before shutting down, but waited too long? Remember this bit floating around but can't remember for sure.

 

[Krvavi Abadas]

Around the late 2010s, in some blog of the Internet, an Aussie named Jason Harley would figure out the formats of Hotel Dusk (more or less), and eventually Last Window's in 2020. These Reverse Engineering findings were major for me, but I lacked the knowledge and the support to understand them for a long time. The author's GameTools set was the closest I could get at seeing signs of life here, but complex ones. Eventually time passed, I started manually ripping the sprites, then I checked again the blog, and to my surprise, a YouTube video in 2023 was in the blog! This correlated with the fact that he also had a GitHub which he would frequent. After asking there, a new repo would open: KyleHyde. A set of tools for formats of the Kyle Hyde Saga. If you have some knowledge in C#, I recommend you check it out.

(link)

figured it would be best to put this here rather than making a new thread for it. i'd highly recommend reading the whole post for more info.
people are currently trying to find who the original actors depicted are. this is the current listing as of this post.

• Betty Meyer - ???
• Charles Jeunet - Dario Baergamini
• Dylan Fitchar - Daniel Bodin (?)
• Ed Vincent - ???
• Frank Raver - Dick Cropp
• Margaret Patrice - Cynthia Cheston
• Rachel - Elena Takenouchi
• Sidney Reagan - Antun Percic
• Tony (Steve) Wolf - Ninezero
• Will White - Anthony White

 

[Dekuman]

Love these games. This was at a time when Nintendo pivoted to the casuals. Hotel Dusk kind of got grandfathered in as a touch generations game, but it wasn't going to do millions and NoA in their infinite wisdom declined to localize The Last Window and Trace Memory R and basically abandoned the adventure game genre that found a great home on the DS.

I imported The Last Window at least, but I'm still so bitter about how NOA and Nintendo as a whole treated the IPs that helped establish DS' identity. It's another black mark in the mid to late 00s Nintendo. And something they haven't done with their Switch audience.

/rantover

 

[Gingerbread Man]

Love these games. This was at a time when Nintendo pivoted to the casuals. Hotel Dusk kind of got grandfathered in as a touch generations game, but it wasn't going to do millions and NoA in their infinite wisdom declined to localize The Last Window and Trace Memory R and basically abandoned the adventure game genre that found a great home on the DS.

I imported The Last Window at least, but I'm still so bitter about how NOA and Nintendo as a whole treated the IPs that helped establish DS' identity. It's another black mark in the mid to late 00s Nintendo. And something they haven't done with their Switch audience.

/rantover

Here in Europe, they distributed Another Code R in local bookshops, fully localized in 5 languages. It really feels like a different time. Famicom Detective Club, in contrast, only got a digital release, and only in English.

I don't think the CING games were ever popular among the general public, but they really tried. Layton, on the other hand, managed to become an established name among non-gamers.

 

[Dekuman]

Here in Europe, they distributed Another Code R in local bookshops, fully localized in 5 languages. It really feels like a different time. Famicom Detective Club, in contrast, only got a digital release, and only in English.

I don't think the CING games were ever popular among the general public, but they really tried. Layton, on the other hand, managed to become an established name among non-gamers.

I think Layton got popular because of its pick up and play element and it being more of a puzzle game, so it hit a slightly different demo.

I never had illusions that a narrative driven adventure game would be a blockbuster, but Hotel Dusk was full 3D exploration and it along with Trace Memory R probably had a future on 3DS. Recall Fire Emblem didn't break out until the 3DS entry, there's no telling if Nintendo had stuck with it, if they'd have their own narrative heavy adventure game as a fan favorite. It's a genre they are weak on, and what could have been.

 

[Instro]

Is it true that Cing wanted to ask Nintendo to buy them before shutting down, but waited too long? Remember this bit floating around but can't remember for sure.

The basic story from Suzuki and a couple others is that at the time Nintendo was no longer interested in publishing their narrative/ADV games, which is what ended their partnership. When Cing subsequently ran into financial difficulties Nintendo rejected buying them outright.

 

[Brofield]

I'm so glad I had the chance to buy an imported copy of The Last Window, but man I don't even know what it would take to revive Kyle Hyde's story with Cing having gone bankrupt.

The first game was a treasured Christmas gift and as the tale unfolded in game around Christmas time, I always enjoyed coming back to replaying it at least three or four times those subsequent years between Christmas to New Year's.

I don't know who owns the license now, but I hope it'll get revived some day on Switch, even if as a digital download only. In the meantime I look forward to checking out this interview!