John Romero's Daikatana
0 plays 2000 #Shooter
John Romero's Daikatana, better known as simply Daikatana, is a 2000 first-person shooter action role-playing game developed by Ion Storm and published by Eidos Interactive for Windows. A port to the Nintendo 64 was released the same year by Kemco. Players control a swordsmaster who travels through various time periods using the eponymous Daikatana, a powerful sword tied to the fate of the world.
Daikatana was directed by Ion Storm co-founder John Romero, a co-developer of the influential first-person shooters Wolfenstein 3D (1992), Doom (1993), and Quake (1996). Announced in 1997 as Romero's first game after leaving id Software, it underwent a troubled development that saw a change in its engine, release date delays, and the departure of several staff members. The protracted development, combined with promotion that focused on Romero's involvement over the game itself, resulted in negative publicity for Daikatana prior to its release.
Released in May 2000, Daikatana received generally negative reviews for its outdated graphics, gameplay, repetitive sound effects, and poor artificial intelligence. It also sold only 40,351 copies, becoming one of the biggest major commercial failures of the video game industry. Due to the negative response, a separate version for the Game Boy Color did not receive a North American release; it was released in Europe and Japan to a more positive reception.
From Wikipedia's article Daikatana
Keyboard controls
| N64 | Player 1 |
|---|---|
| Stick | ↑↓←→ |
| A | X |
| B | C |
| Z | Z |
| L | A |
| R | S |
| C buttons | IKJL |
| D-pad | TGFH |
| Start | Enter |
Hotkeys
- 1 Quick save state
- 2 Quick load state
- 3 Change save slot
A gamepad with an analog stick plays much better than the keyboard.
Gamepads are detected when you press a button. Remap any key from the emulator’s Controls menu (gear icon).
Live chat
Connecting…
Keyboard controls
| N64 | Player 1 |
|---|---|
| Stick | ↑↓←→ |
| A | X |
| B | C |
| Z | Z |
| L | A |
| R | S |
| C buttons | IKJL |
| D-pad | TGFH |
| Start | Enter |
Hotkeys
- 1 Quick save state
- 2 Quick load state
- 3 Change save slot
A gamepad with an analog stick plays much better than the keyboard.
Gamepads are detected when you press a button. Remap any key from the emulator’s Controls menu (gear icon).
1.5 Wake me up when it's over
GameRankings 42%
Review scorecard
- Graphics 1.5 out of 5 Overall fallback
- Sound 1.5 out of 5 Overall fallback
- Control 1.5 out of 5 Overall fallback
- Fun Factor 1.5 out of 5 Overall fallback
Overall fallback: GameRankings 42%. Overall source The same 42/100 overall rating fills missing categories using the face scale; these are not separate category scores.
What the reviews talk about
Key wordssimplisticmediocresmoothplayableeasyoriginal
What the critics said
Matteo Lupetti of Eurogamer said, "Thanks to these modders, Daikatana is a totally playable game now."
— Eurogamer, 2020 (Matteo Lupetti)
Speaking about the modders behind the project, Schnapple of Shacknews said, "they've delivered a version of the game that's improved the original considerably."
— Shacknews, 2022
Jeff Lundrigan reviewed the PC version of the game for Next Generation, rating it two stars out of five, and stated that "This isn't the worst game you'll ever play, but there's precious little fun either. Two years out of its time, Daikatana is notable mostly for its mediocrity."
— Next Generation, 2000 · about another version
PC Zone's review criticized the first episode as the worst part of the game and that "Romero's reputation is based on the fact that he is the daddy of game design. Daikatana must be his illegitimate child".
— PC Zone · about another version
From the Reception section of Wikipedia's Daikatana article.
Scores
- 80 Hyper2000 80/100; 60/100
- 73 Super Game Power2000 7.3/10
- 56 Nintendo Power 5.6/10
- 47 MeriStation2000 4.7/10
- 40 IGN2000 5.8/10; 4/10
- 39 Electronic Gaming Monthly2000 3.87/10
- 37 GameSpot2000 4.6/10; 3.7/10
- – N64 Magazine true
- 77 GameFan2000 77% · other versions
- 74 GameSpy2000 74% · other versions
- 70 GameZone2000 7/10 · other versions
- 65 GameRevolution2000 C · other versions
- 64 PC PowerPlay2000 64/100 · other versions
- 60 GamePro2000 3/5 · other versions
- 53 PC Gamer (US)2000 53% · other versions
- 50 Eurogamer2000 5/10 · other versions
- 40 Edge 4/10 · other versions
- 40 Joystick 40/100 · other versions
- 40 Next Generation 2/5 · other versions
- 33 Génération 4 2/6 · other versions
- 30 Computer Gaming World 1.5/5 · other versions
From the review table in Wikipedia's Daikatana article.
Comments