Derby Owners Club

Derby Owners Club
File:DOCWE.jpg Derby Owners Club World Edition Marquee.
Developer(s)	Hitmaker
Publisher(s)	Sega
Platform(s)	Arcade
Release
Genre(s)	Horse racing
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Arcade system	Sega NAOMI

Derby Owners Club is a horse racing simulation arcade game made by Hitmaker and Sega. The format of the game is a player uses one of several consoles (called satellites) at the arcade to train horses, and then races them against 11 other computer AI horses or any number of other players (up to between 3-7 others, depending on location and format used) on tracks and G-1 races.

Game specifications

General

• Format - Eight player satellites are situated in a stadium-like configuration in front of two side-by-side 50" monitors that display the main action in a large 16 X 9 "letterbox" format. Each satellite contains the basic control elements and a 19" monitor so players can interact with their horses independent to the rest of the players. The games overall foot print is quite flexible and can fit into areas as small as 16' W x 19' D x 8' H, (for two rows of four satellites) to 12' W x 24' D x 8' H, (three rows of satellites in a two, three, three configuration). (4 Satellite systems also available through arcade game brokers).
• Rating - AAMA video game rating of Green, Suitable for All Ages.
• Game System - Sega's Memory Card Reader and Dispenser Technology, (MCRD). (similar system used on Segarosso's Initial D Arcade Stage games.) coupled with the Sega NAOMI (New Arcade Operation Machine Idea) arcade system board.

Specific

• Hardware : Naomi Based
• CPU : SH-4 64-bit RISC CPU (200 MHz 360 MIPS / 1.4 GFLOPS)
• Graphic Engine : PowerVR (PVR2DC)
• Sound Engine : ARM7 Yamaha AICA 45 MHz (with internal 32-bit RISC CPU, 64 channel ADPCM)
• Main Memory : 32 MByte
• Graphic Memory : 16 MByte
• Sound Memory : 8 MByte
• Media : ROM Board (maximum size of 168 MBytes) / GD-Rom
• Simultaneous Number of Colors : Approx. 16,770,000 (24bits)
• Polygons : 2.5 Million polys/sec
• Rendering Speed : 500 M pixel/sec
• Additional Features : Bump Mapping, Fog, Alpha-Bending (transparency), Mip Mapping (polygon-texture auto switch), Tri-Linear Filtering, Anti-Aliasing, Environment Mapping, and Specular Effect.
• Notes : Each 8 player "GAME" uses 10 NAOMI II units, 1 for each of the 8 "Satellite's" and 2 for the main screen. These are all linked together in a network. Player's data saved on HitMaker removable card system. Cards are playable on any other HitMaker system in the same or other locations. As a side note, a 4 player "GAME" uses 6 NAOMI II units. 4 "Satellites" and 2 for the main screen. The minimum number of satellites is 4 and the maximum is 8.

Gameplay

File:DOCCards.jpg

Some of the official DOC cards, with pictures of famous Japanese and Hong Kong race horses.

Players act as both owner, trainer, and jockey at each satellite console. Utilizing either pre-purchased memory cards or breeding via the console or the use of retired dam and sire cards, players then can train their horses to gain "blips" in the horses abilities (Start, Corner, Competing, Out of Box, Tenecious, and Spurt) and these blips can be agumented by foods rewarded by how the person plays the training segment well or fails. The horse is then matched up with other horses in the races and the player can now race the horse, utlizing either whipping or hold buttons. Depending on where the horses finish, they are awarded a purse respective of their placing. Back at the stables, the owner must now gauge how their horses personality is after the race, and act accordingly via 4 options. The horse either gains or suffers hearts through the actions.

Strategy

Given the nature of the game, many websites and players have developed numerous amounts of media dedicated to the breeding, training, and racing of horses. Much of it focuses on the Whip Points, where if players whip at the right times according to their horses ability and personality, they can take advantage of the race and win. Successful racers have also spent a large portion of time looking into the different breeding lines.

Glitched horses

Many players have exploited the game, and the most notable are "glitched" horses. The most famous have been the Double Circle horses, where Hong Kong Breeders used DOC2000 Horses and used them in DOCWE machines to breed. The stats of the horses are nearly halfway, yet these horses age quicker than normal computer bred counterparts. To Compare, a 7 race DC horse would be equivalent to a 12 race computer bred horse. Most DC horses are either Grey or Special Colored Horses. Pairs (Dam and Sire) used to command above $40 (more if they were "Specials"), but as of late, pairs of all types command less the $10. While shunned by serious players, some still are raced for fun, used as money sluts (where players repeatedly race the Japan Cup for its huge purse (2,500,000 purse) to gain a high spot in the total Earning Rankings), or used as training aides to newbie players.

A more extreme example has been Gelding Horses with astronomical purses (260 Million and 155 million purses have been reported) that have never been raced. In DOC, there is no option to have a Gelding (thought there are computer horses in the game that have gelding status). The glitch is thought to be associated with tampering of the card reader. WE version of DOC has glitch horses which will complete most tracks in under a minute, beating any record easily.

However, since the release of the EX version in 2006 most of the serious glitch horses have been eliminated.

Non-Sega owner cards

File:Derby3rdPartyCard.jpg

Third Party DOC 2000 Card

Original Horse Owners' Cards had both Sega and game logo on them. But as the cards got printed, just like paper in a printer, machines ran out of blanks. After a while, a third party cards began to surface, containing none of the original logotypes. These cards were most likely printed in China, and were either used there, or shipped with the machines overseas. In both cases, original and third party, cards are made of paper, not plastic.

Game list

Derby Owners Club 2000 (DOC2000)

DOC 2000 was released into Asian markets in 2000. 1,000 units were eventually produced. The game used Japanese and Hong Kong racetracks (e.g. SEGA racetrack in DOC is loosely based on the Sha Tin racetrack in Hong Kong) plus Grade 1 (G-1) races at both countries (with Japan gaining most of them). Initially, the game proved so popular that players sometimes ended up sitting at the satellites for up to 8 hours and businesses had to create a reservation system and lounges for players to wait in. The success of the game ended up allowing Sega and Hitmaker! to release the DOC World Edition (DOCWE), using the DOC2000 hardware and software.

Derby Owners Club World Edition (DOCWE)

The English port of the DOC2000 game released in 2001. Most of the software was rewritten in English and certain races were also americanized (the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) and the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) were renamed American Oaks and American Derby respectively). However, many of the races still hark back to the Japanese G-1 races (the Japan Cup Dirt, the Japan Cup, the Mile Championship and the Sprinters Stakes are notable examples).

Many of these systems were installed in restaurants and other sports bar style settings (like Dave & Busters, GameWorks and Jillian's) and truck stops (TA, Petro, and Flying J).

Derby Owners Club World Edition (DOCWE-EX)

The English version of DOCWE with new horses and horse handicapping in every race. This version took out the glitch horses that were sold on ebay and added some very powerful horses.

In doing so, SEGA broke the Competing training level. The EX upgrade is designed for newer players to be more compettitive with each other after breeding horses.

Derby Owners Club 2

Released in Japan in 2002, the game added new features (such as washing horses) but the ability to breed horses with retired Dam and Sire cards was eliminated, reportedly due to the enormous amount of processing power used by the system.

External links

• Great site about the Game - FREE Horse Cards and copyrighted information about the game
• Derby Owners Club Racing Community Forum
• Derby Owners Club Unofficial Fan Club
• Find Locations to race in your area - National List