+==============================================================+
| Guide to playing Fire Electric Pen |
| Nintendo 64, Hudsonsoft 1997) |
| |
| Version 1.0 Created by cascadingCoins (aka davyK) |
| 1st Sept 2013 |
+==============================================================+
1.0 Purpose of this guide
=========================
This game was only released in Japan and therefore comes with packaging and
manuals written in that language. The aim of this short guide is to provide
information to those who have imported a copy so that they can understand how to
play and what options are available in order to enjoy the game as much as
possible. It is quite a simple game and is pretty accessible to the importer
who doesn't speakJapanese - but there are some options and features that are
not immediately apparent and they are explained in this guide.
2.0 Description of the game
===========================
This title is based around the old fairground style "steady hand" maze game
where
the player has to guide a metal hoop along a twisted piece of wire without
touching it. It requires a cool head and a steady hand. This game offers a set
of large and complex mazes ,some with moving parts, that the player has to
guide a rod or pen through without touching the sides of the maze against a time
limit.
The mazes exist in 3D space but are mainly flat. For most of the game they are
viewed side on and are presented in 2D and so gameplay is effectively in 2D.
There are sections of some mazes that are twisted into the 3rd dimension and
when the player encounters these the camera moves so that the player can see
that section side on.
If the pen touches the sides of the maze then the game ends (there are one
or two exceptions to this - see section 4),Later, more complex mazes have
checkpoints that add time onto the countdown timer when they are passed.
The game records the 5 best times for each maze and also shows a best
accumulated time for all mazes. Times are saved to backup memory in the
cartridge.
This is mainly a single player game but there is also a 2 player split screen
race mode.
2.1 Basic description of gameplay
---------------------------------
The player selects a maze and then one of 4 different pens (see section 4 for
more details). The player is given a 3D flypast of the maze before the camera
settles on the starting position using a side on 2D mode. This flypast can be
skipped by pressing A. Mazes are too large to display in full on the screen, so
the player has a zoomed in view and the screen scrolls as the player moves.
There is a map of the whole maze at the bottom right of the screen that shows
where the pen is in the maze.
There is then a short countdown from 3 to 0 and play begins. A timer at the top
left of the screen starts to count down to zero and the player must use the
analogue stick to move the pen through the maze as quickly as possible without
touching the sides. In normal play touching a maze wall results in "Game Over".
The player is then presented with 2 options - try again (displayed on the left
and is highlighted by default) or Exit (displayed on the right) which brings
you back to the main title screen. Select the option you want by highlighting
the desired option by pressing left or right on the analogue stick and press A.
If the player successfully completes a maze then the time is saved if it is good
enough to be in the top 5 times - the player can enter his/her name using a
Western alphabet against the time.
3.0 Controls
============
The player moves the pen through the maze using the analogue stick. Pressing the
A button or Z trigger increases the speed of the pen.
Menu options are selected by using the analogue stick to highlight the desired
option and pressing A.
3.1 Controller pack support
---------------------------
The controller pack is not supported by this game. Best times are stored on
backup memory in the cartridge.
3.2 Rumble pack support
-----------------------
The game supports the rumble pack - it makes the controller shake when the
player touches the sides of the maze.
4.0 Options & Menus
===================
From the game main menu there are 4 options:
1. Single player mode
2. Two player versus mode
3. View best times
4. Options
4.1 Single Player Mode
----------------------
This is the main mode of this game. A player selects a maze and a pen and tries
to
complete the maze without touching the sides against a time limit.
4.1.1 Maze Selection
--------------------
There are 6 mazes in this game (as far as I know at the time of writing!). The
last attempted maze is selected by default. If the player has just powered up
the console then the 2nd maze is currently selected. Press left or right on the
analogue stick to select the desired maze. For easier mazes go left, for the
more difficult mazes go right. Press the R button to view the 5 best times for
the selected maze. Press A to start playing with the selected maze.
4.1.2 pen Selection
-------------------
There are 4 pens to select from. pens 2, 3 and 4 essentially offer 3 different
speeds and levels of sensitivity as far as I can make out. Press left and right
to select a pen - pens to the left are the slower ones, pens to the right are
faster. The left-most pen is a "training mode". You can collide with the walls
3 times before ending the game; however if you complete the maze using this pen
your time will not be recorded. Press A when the selected pen is highlighted to
start playing.
4.2 Two player versus mode
--------------------------
This mode allows two players to race simultaneously through a maze. Player 1
selects the maze and then each player selects their pen before racing on a
split screen view of the maze.
Collisions with the maze wall don't end the game - the pen is only moved back a
bit in the maze to a point just before the collision.
There are checkpoints in the maze and points are awarded for passing them and
bonuses are awarded for passing multiple checkpoints without hitting the maze
wall. Players can't collide with one another.
A tally of wins is displayed in a status area at the bottom of the screen.
4.3 View best times
-------------------
Select this option to view the 5 best times recorded against each maze and the
total accumulated best time for all mazes.
Press left and right to see best times for each maze. Press A to be presented
with an accumulated total time made up of the best time for each maze. Press A
again return to the main title screen.
4.4 Options
-----------
The option mode offers 6 settings.
4.4.1 Stereo/Mono
-----------------
Default option is stereo which is the left hand setting. Highlight the right
hand setting for mono sound.
4.4.2 Other settings
--------------------
The rest of the options are switches and can be set to ON or OFF. Left hand
setting is ON, right hand setting is off.
Background music (BGM) - self explanatory. Default is ON.
Commentary - this game has fairly manic Japanese commentary - you can switch it
off if you find it off-putting. Default is ON.
Level Map - This appears at the bottom right of the screen if enabled. Default
is ON.
3D-pen - Normally the pen appears end on - so just looks like a circle as you
move through the maze. If this option is enabled you can see the whole pen -
and see the handle moving to reflect the position of the analogue stick. It is
displayed in a semi-transparent way and doesn't change gameplay , just some
people may prefer seeing the whole pen. Default is OFF.
Ghost - Once a maze is completed, a record of the controller input made by the
player is saved and if that maze is tried again a "ghost" of the last completed
run is shown as the player moves through the maze. This is quite a common
feature in driving game time trial modes - it lets the player see if he/she is
ahead or behind the last successful run. The ghost can't be saved to the
cartridge or the controller pack. Once you switch the console of it is lost. If
you complete another maze the ghost is overwritten with the new one. Default is
ON.
Select the option you want to change using up and down on the analogue stick and
then use left and right on the analogue stick to change settings. Press A or B
to save the settings and return to the main title screen.
5.0 Opinion
===========
This is quite an unusual game - I certainly haven't come across anything like it
before. Apparantly it is based on an actual Japanese TV game show - and it has
plenty of great "gameshow" style music which all adds to the fun; especially
with the mad commentary.
Graphics are functional. Everything is nice and clear which is what you need for
a game like this - busy backgrounds would probably get in the way and obscure
things. The overall layout is well designed and the zoomed in view shows the
player enough of the maze at any time. It works very well.
Control is vital in this game and the N64 analogue stick seems up to the task -
I certainly don't feel that it was the stick's fault when I fail. However the
analogue stick will need to be in good condition. There are lots of tight
squeezes and a loose stick would make gameplay harder than it already is.
The two player mode is pretty good too - the split screens obviously means a
slightly smaller view of the action but it is big enough and the scoring
mechanism means you can still have fun even if you can't complete a maze.
There seem to be only 6 mazes - but this game is extremely difficult. The first
maze will probably be completed without too much trouble but then from the
second one on it gets incredibly hard. The time limits are really tight and it
forces you to move quickly - but even then there are times where you will have
to slow to a crawl because of some extremely tight spaces. The "one hit and you
are dead" mechanic means that this game is for patient gamers only who have no
issue with having to try the same maze over, and over - and over(!) again - but
success is extremely satisfying.
The later mazes become extremely complex and whacky - and even have boss
sections at the end that have you avoiding the moving parts of huge robotic
figures that are embedded within the maze - I suspect it will be a long time
before I get to experience that part of the game despite the small number of
levels.
It is a shame that the controller pack isn't supported as it could have been
used to save ghosts of best times but then that would involve swapping the
rumble pack in and out and would be fiddly. Would have been nice to have the
option
though.
If you like importing Japanese games, are looking for something different for
your
N64 (and your analogue stick is in good shape!) AND you are a patient type of
gamer
then I can recommend this one. It seems to go for quite low prices and brand
new copies
seem to be still available. My guess is that this was a budget release back in
the day.
