From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A-Train
A-Train
A-Train A-Train
The "New Town" scenario in A-Train 1.0 for Macintosh
Take the A-Train III (known internationally as "A-Train")
is the 1992 computer game, and the third game in the A-
Train series. It was originally developed and published by
Japanese game developer Artdink for Japan, and was lat-
Cover art er published by Maxis for the United States.
Developer(s) Artdink Overview
Publisher(s) Maxis (USA), Ocean Software (Europe) The game places players in command of a railway com-
Platform(s) PC, Mac, Amiga, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, pany. There are no rival companies; the player controls
FM-7, Mega Drive, MSX2, NES, Sharp X68, the only one in the city and the game is resultingly fairly
PC Engine, Nintendo DS, Virtual Console open-ended. A-Train III is the first game in the series to
use of near-isometric dimetric projection to present the
Release date(s) 1985~Present
city, similar to Maxis’s SimCity 2000. There are two types
Genre(s) Vehicle Simulation Game of transport that the player’s company can take: passen-
Mode(s) Single-player gers or building materials. The former is more likely to be
profitable, but building materials allow the city to grow.
Media/distribution
Media distribution Cartridge or floppy disk, Compact Disc Wherever the building materials are delivered, they
System requirements can be taken and used to construct buildings for the city.
A-train 3 (Windows 98/2000/XP) A-Train I and II (DOS, Windows These start with houses, but eventually, as an area grows,
3.1) roads, and shops and other buildings are built. These can
provide extra revenue for a passenger service, but also
A-Train (A列車で行こう, Ē Ressha de Ikō, lit. Let’s Take the allowing the city to develop and grow can be seen as a
A-Train) is a series of Arcade train simulation video goal in itself. As well as the buildings built by the comput-
games, originally developed and published by Japanese er, in response to the materials being present, the player
game developer Artdink in Japan. The first game in the can construct their own buildings, such as ski resorts and
series was published in 1985.[1] The first release in the hotels, and make profits from them if the conditions are
United States was Take the A-Train II, published in 1989 right.
by the Seika Corporation under the title Railroad Empire. Artdink ported the A-Train III along with the editor
However, the most well known U.S. release is Take the A- to Windows 95, and published both titles as a package as
Train III, published in 1992 by Maxis as simply A-Train. the 3rd ARTDINK BEST CHOICE title in Japan.
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A-Train
Editor white limited edition’ (純白夢幻限定版), available in
7-Eleven, includes 10 postcards of Taiwan and Japan rail-
CONSTRUCTION,
A.III. MAP CONSTRUCTION known internationally as A-
road scenes, and A-Train 20th Anniversary clipboard.
Set,
Train Construction Set is an editor that can change ex-
isting saved games, or to build landscapes from scratch.
It comes with 6 sample maps. Maxis also published A- A-Train HX
Train Construction Set with A-Train as a single package
A-Train HX (A列車で行こうHX, A Ressha de Ikou HX) is a
in Europe, without the Ocean Software label.
railroad simulation for the Xbox 360 and Windows. It is
the latest installment of the A-Train series, supporting
Maxis distribution and ports high definition graphics (720p resolution) and Xbox Live
The game was tremendously popular in Japan,[1] thus support for uploading and downloading maps and leader-
motivating Maxis to license it for US distribution as A- boards. It is also the first title published by Artdink under
Train, available for DOS, Macintosh and Amiga platforms. the A-Train name on the Japanese market.
It was released in October, 1992, though it sold poorly.
Even the release of an add-on pack for the game failed to Gameplay
stir up any real support amongst the gaming community.
The gameplay is similar to A-Train 7, but it has a full 3D
The game was the first major failure from Maxis.[citation
view that was previously used in A-Train The 21st Centu-
needed]
ry. However, it comes with map editor as a standard fea-
In spite of the PC version’s commercial failure in the
ture. Custom maps can be shared through Xbox Live. Ad-
US, Maxis later released a PlayStation version in 1996,
ditional Xbox Live features includes leaderboards which
based on Artdink’s AIV: Evolution Global. The PlayStation
contain "Total Capital", "Population" and "Time to 1 Tril-
was a relatively new platform at that point and the game
lion Yen" categories for each map. The Xbox Live fea-
suffered many limitations, such as requiring an entire
tures can be used with an Xbox Live Silver account.
memory card (expensive at the time) to store a single
Artdink offered over 150 types of trains for sale in
map. Like the PC version, it proved unsuccessful.
Xbox Live Marketplace, based on real-life Japanese
trains. The game itself comes with the following trains
Reception designed by Artdink: AR3 (Commuter), AR4 (Express),
The game was reviewed in 1992 in Dragon #187 by Hart- AR5 (LimitedExpress), AR7 (LimitedExpress), ARX (Limit-
ley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" edExpress), U-Shape (Subway), DC4 (Cargo), EC6 (Car-
column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.[2] goExpress), 186Exp (SuperExpress), Linear (SuperEx-
press). Each additional train costs 50 Microsoft Points.
A-Train 7 Achievement points features are also supported.
A-Train 7 is a railroad simulation for PC platform. It is the Windows version
successor of A-Train 6. Marketed as the 20th anniversary
The Windows port of the A-Train HX includes all the
title for the A-Train series, it revives the urban develop-
train types from A-Train HX (including Xbox Live Mar-
ment game play that had been missing since A-Train 5.
ketplace trains), plus new East Japan Railway Company
trains (12 trains), Artdink trains (AR8), Europe trains (14
Expansions trains), for a total of 200 trains. There are 10 maps in the
Train, Map, Diagram construction expansions were sepa- game.
rately released. Each expansion is sold separately, or all 3
bundled with the basic game. Train construction adds the Marketing
ability to build custom trains, and included 62 pre-built
Before the release of Taiwan version, publisher TTIME
real-life trains. Map construction adds the ability to build
Technology held a paper train model contest for winning
custom maps and terrains, and included pre-built cities
the game.[3]
Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe.
Diagram construction adds the ability to extensively
customize train schedules, and included 4 pre-built train
Reception
types. A7 Bench Mark Test is a benchmarking program Eurogamer reported that they liked the music in A-Train
based on A-Train 7, available separately on the official HX, but concluded that "A-Train HX is badly designed,
site. poorly presented, overly complicated and utterly te-
dious" giving it a score of just 2/10.[5]
Taiwan version Official Xbox 360 Magazine gave it a slightly better
score of 3/10, however they still called it "The most con-
The international Chinese versions, released by Unalis
fusing train wreck of a game ever".[6]
Corporation, include postcards. In addition, the ’pure
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A-Train
See also xbox360/929251-a-train-hx/index.html. Retrieved
2011-12-13.
• Success Corporation - released A-Train IV [5] Gibson, Ellie (2008-06-18). "A-Train HX (Xbox 360)".
Eurogamer. http://www.eurogamer.net/
References article.php?article_id=154233&page=2. Retrieved
2008-12-09.
[1] ^ Kevin Gifford (2009-02-18). "Take the A-Train To [6] http://www.oxm.co.uk/game.php?id=9965
Your DS". 1UP News. 1UP.com.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172863.
Retrieved 2009-03-14. External links
[2] Lesser, Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk (November 1992). • Artdink A-Train HX Website
"The Role of Computers". Dragon (187): 59–64. • Official Website
[3] 鐵道紙模型比賽圓滿落幕！ • FreeTrain, an open source A-Train project.
[4] "A-Train HX Gamerankings Review".
Gamerankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A-Train&oldid=466305898"
Categories:
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