TM Network: Live in Power Bowl

TM Network: Live in Power Bowl
Cover art
Publisher(s)	CBS Sony Group
Designer(s)	Muchiuchi Kodama Hiroyuki Nakada Toboketa Okamoto Toshichan Zama
Composer(s)	TM Network Toshichan Zama
Platform(s)	Family Computer
Genre(s)	Modern first-person adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

TM Network: Live in Power Bowl (TMネットワーク ライブ イン パワーボウル) is a Japanese-only Nintendo Family Computer game featuring the then-popular J-Pop group TM Network. The song used as the background music is Come On Everybody from their album Self Control (using the 8-bit sound chip of the Family Computer). During the final level, real live images are reproduced at a level that the Family Computer is able to comprehend.

Story

A Soviet satellite launches nuclear weapons to South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China on December 26, 1999. This is considered to be the result of a losing game after something bad happens to the player.

The story starts on New Year's Eve in the year 1999. The player is enjoying the morning lounging around in his room generally doing nothing. After turning on his computer, he suddenly acquires information that the strategic defense satellite "Colosseum" has picked up some nuclear weapons being fired. These nuclear weapons are being fired at a rapid pace between two forces (presumably the Americans and the Russians). Without knowing it, World War III is breaking out in front of the player. A nuclear blast mysteriously sends the player back to December 22, 1989. The nuclear war will not be prevented and civilization will destroy itself unless the player can manage to get the TM Network band to a concert for world peace even if he has to drive a truck to get them to their destination.

Gameplay

Interacting with the game

Using his musical influence inspired by rock music, the player must persuade the world to declare global peace so that the nuclear war never happens. Using an interface that is utilized in graphic adventure games, the player interacts with the various members of the all-male band and various strangers. These people include the security guard, the office lady, and normal citizens of Japan. While some action components exist in the game, Live in Power Bowl: TM Network is mostly an adventure game in the vein of the classic time travel stories. However, the player has to watch how much information they let out. If he tells the wrong person that he is from 1999, then the game ends with him going to prison and the world is destroyed anyway due to World War III. Japanese literacy is required, as the entire game is in Japanese with only a few words of English spoken.

The game also includes a maze using 3D computer graphics (although not related to the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron game 3D Maze) and mini-games such as car chases.

An in-game picture of a Japanese prison, circa 1989. If the player tells the wrong person that he is from the year 1999, he will be locked up until the game ends.

Trouble regions

There are problem spots where non-Japanese players can get stuck in an unwinnable situation. For example, after talking to the salaryman in a normal manner to get in and withholding the fact that the main character is actually from the year 1999, the player has to retrieve a briefcase. The briefcase, however, is stuck near the salaryman. Using the phone doesn't work and the player has to get the briefcase before the salaryman wakes up; confronting the player in a possible angry showdown. This point in the game has stumped the most amount of people who cannot read the Japanese language. Due to its severe difficulty level and emphasis on paying attention to Japanese text clues, most Westerners would end up being frustrated during their first sitting.

Characters

• Murata - He is a manager of the TM Network band who decides what the group has to do.
• Mark - He is the son of the "Coliseum" developer.
• Mitsouko - He is the journalist in this story.
• The Hero - He is a boy came back in time from 1999 with an Extreme Performance Computer called "MUE."

External links

• TM Network Live in Power Bowl Pictures Template:Jp icon
• Additional Information about TM Network Live in Power Bowl Template:Jp icon