Topic: Japanese Rail Sim 3D: Journey in the Suburbs #1

I didn't get to play much last night, but it didn't seem so incredibly easy to me! (Maybe you're really good at this game @Windy). I wasn't failing left and right, but I only played for an hour and ended up unlocking one thing on easy (not counting the thing that is unlocked from the beginning).

If it unlocks MORE stuff on the higher difficulties like you said @Donjwolf, well, I'll at least be playing for a long time.

Also, I don't know if this matters to other people, but it's also very atmospherically soothing (just like Airport Hero). The sound and presentation really make the game something special (for me, anyway).

So I was talking to my fiancee last night about this game when I got my first A, who said, "Hey, don't all the Sonic Powered games have S-Ranks?"

Not saying this one will, but...

I got this game right after trying to demo. It's strangely very fun to me. Only played a few sections of the full game but so far it's all awesome and as @World said, very soothing, especially when laying on the horn!

How many blocks does this take up? A random forum stranger that isn't me wants to know, so I want to be nice and help out.

@Donjwolf I don't have my 3DS on me so I can't give exact block size, but it's just a little over 3,000 blocks!

Hey thanks. I gave that guy your answer. I'm sure that helped.

@Donjwolf If they ask for an exact number, I got a chance to check my 3DS and it's 3,123 blocks.

Thanks again. I'll just tell the guy before he even asks so your searching will not be in vain ;3

I now have my settings to hard and best I can do is so far is a C Rank. Im playing the Operating Records section which lets you take each track one at a time. im glad I didnt finish any of these on easy or Normal so its like a new game. so hard is very hard and will test your train driving skills. if you want a Challenge switch your game to Hard or Normal Right from the Get go. this game is a lot of fun. I hope it sells a bunch so that Sonic Powered will make us more of these titles. one of the coolest Sims I've ever played for sure.

I also read somewhere in the game that the Route you drive is 71km in length which would be 44 miles in US measurement. you just really feel like your driving a train Now I wish for a coast to Coast Amtrak train Sim. if I could write a game I would love to do a title like that.

Support Sonic Powered and Buy this title! we need more of these!

I said in earlier post I wish I had got this on sale. you know what? its worth it either way. so whatever you decide if your interested in driving a train you will like the game whether you got it on sale or not.

oh my god I just thought of something. there is a Route up the California Coast from Los Angeles to Seattle. would that be an awesome game?

Decided to try the demo and it looks pretty interesting, but I definitely won't become a train operator any time soon haha. I'm a little interested in it since it's kind of close to where I stayed when I went in exchange to Japan, but I'm not sure if I will get it. Maybe if one of the games is in Aichi, I would need a lot more practice though.

Are there more Train Driving Sims in the Japanese Eshop? or is this the only one. I'm also waiting for a game called Gatcha Racing. do you happen to have it? is it any good?

There are currently 4 and they appear to be in various places, I think the current one we have is the closest to Aichi.
Also while I think the games are the same as the English version, I noticed that the Japanese price was around $60 each so it looks like it is a much better deal here.

I just downloaded the demo for Gacha Race to test it out and it seemed kind of decent although I'm not much of a racing fan to begin with.

I played the demo for this last night and I can say it got me super interested. It played pretty well and the images are cool considering they're real. Although I wonder about paying $10 for this, I don't want to just have a couple stations to go to and that's it. I'm assuming a #2, and maybe 3 will be coming of this game which will probably be the same game but with different routes.
I want a train sim that isn't overly complicated (for me) but worth the price. I like that this has you inside the train, instead of on the outside like A-Train. Too bad the one on WiiU looks like a GameCube demo and doesn't seem to be a very good game at all judging by what everyone has said about it.
I'm unsure as to what I should get or think about getting D:

Wow the Japanese version is $60? But is it the same exact game? Do they have a "full" game and we just get Rail Sim #1? Or is it still $60 for #1 there? That's outrageous.

@Dankykong Yeah, there are a few of these games, but it's hard to say if any of them will ever get localized. The #1 makes it sound like they might be, but there's nothing on Sonic Powered's website about future titles and they seem to localize one game a year (Well, last year had Airport Hero and Skypeace, but the second one is just a runner so I don't know).

If you're super interested, I would really recommend this game. You get a selection of stations (twelve), and you can play them in three difficulties (with trivia unlocks for an A grade in each difficulty, for each station--I haven't seen that yet, and have only unlocked some stuff on Easy mode, but that's what someone else on here said). The learning curve isn't that steep, but it feels rewarding to complete a run and get a good rating. There's definite score chase potential if you're into that, and it's just a very pretty, well-presented game otherwise. Not for everyone, but definitely worth $10 if that sounds like your thing!

@dankykong like I said whether you get it on sale or pay full price I think its worth every penny. its always nice to save a few bucks. not like the game is going to sell out or anything. I'm so hooked I picked up a copy of Densha De go for the Nintendo DS. so far I like this better because Densha De Go is in Japanese but plays pretty much just like Rail Sim. I'm pretty surprised how good Densha De Go looks on the DS which is made by square Enix

False. You can ride the trains from inside it.

@yokokazuo thanks for trying out the Gatcha Racing and sharing a bit of that with us. I can't wait for it. I used to play a top down formula 1 game on PCEngine called F1 circus and cannot wait for this game.

I can't stop playing Japanese Railway. I've beaten everything on Normal but Hard mode really makes you perfect your Train driving. I mean you have to be exactly perfect to get a good grade. On Time, Perfect parking in the station and don't get caught speeding haha. Japanese Railway has been an excellent surprise. I guess there is a couple sequels in the Japanese Eshop for it I hope it does well enough that we get those also. its one of the coolest Eshop Games I've downloaded and I have downloaded a lot.

If anyone is interested I'm running a contest on MiiVerse for the best Train Drivers in the Land. Jump on MiiVerse and join the great Trains race

Well, the Kyoto version has come out today. I dunno why it's twice as expensive though. With the exchange rate it's going to be like $25 Canadian. Bleargh.

@Freelance Not sure why either! But this one seems like it will be miles ahead of Suburbs! There seems to be an unterrupted ride mode, along with selectable BGM (???), a night mode, and all those leaves.

It looks great, but I won't get this...yet. I'm holding out in case this is part of an avalanche of Sonic Powered localizations and another Airport Hero pops up in a few weeks. These rail games are fun, but the Airport Hero series is my Day One auto-buy baby.