is a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

released in 1987 for the

Family Computer Disk System The commonly shortened to the Famicom Disk System or just Disk System, is a peripheral for Nintendo's Family Computer home video game console, released only in Japan on February 21, 1986. It uses proprietary floppy disks called "Disk Cards" f ...

in Japan.siliconera.com: Otocky by Katie Montminy
Retrieved July 30, 2006 Developed by SEDIC and published by

ASCII Corporation was a Japanese publishing company based in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It became a subsidiary of Kadokawa Group Holdings in 2004, and merged with another Kadokawa subsidiary MediaWorks (publisher), MediaWorks on April 1, 2008, becoming ASCII Media Works. T ...

, the game was conceived and designed by

Toshio Iwai is a Japanese interactive media and Installation art, installation artist who has also created a number of commercial video games. In addition he has worked in television, music performance, museum design and digital musical instrument design. E ...

Natsuki Ozawa ; born April 19, 1972) is a Japanese singer, actress and AV actress who has appeared in mainstream films and adult videos. Life and career As a teenager, Ozawa had roles in two 1987 films, the youth action comedy ''Be-Bop High School: Koko yotaro ...

endorsed the game.

Gameplay

''Otocky'' can be described as a

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

side-scrolling

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...

. The player's spaceship has a ball for a weapon, which can be fired in eight directions; each direction corresponds to a different musical note. The note plays when the player presses the fire button, and is also quantized in time so that it matches the beat playing in the background. By using the weapon selectively the player can improvise music while playing. The ball is used to destroy enemies by touching them, and also to catch various types of objects: * Musical Notes which must be collected to finish the level * Letter 'A's which change the musical instrument sound produced by the ball * Letter 'B's which provide a secondary weapon The ball gets smaller when the player is touched by an enemy, until the player loses a life. Completing a certain number of levels unlocks a music editor which makes it possible for the player to freely compose their own melodies.

Legacy

''Otocky'' is notable for being one of the first games that include ''creative/procedural''

generative music Generative music is a term popularized by Brian Eno to describe music that is ever-different and changing, and that is created by a system. Historical background In 1995 whilst working with SSEYO's Koan software (built by Tim Cole and Pete Col ...

, as well as developing the concept of the "musical shoot 'em up". ''Otocky'' is a precursor of '' Rez'',

Tetsuya Mizuguchi is a Japanese video game designer, producer, and businessman. Along with ex-Sega developers he is the one of the co-founders of the video game development firm Q Entertainment. He formerly worked for Sega as a producer in their Sega AM3 'arcade m ...

's 2002

Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, N ...

and

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

game exploring similar themes of player action and musical evolution.handcircus.com: Ode to "Otocky" (by Toshio Iwai) (July 26, 2006)
Retrieved July 30, 2006 Jake Kazdal, the only North-American member of

United Game Artists (UGA) was a subsidiary of Sega headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. It was founded by Tetsuya Mizuguchi, a video game developer who had experience with Sega's AM3 division. After separating with Kenji Sasaki to form AM Annex, Mizuguchi le ...

, has confirmed that while the team did become acquainted with the Disk System game during the process of creating ''Rez'', it has not been much of an influence in fact.Jake Kazdal: An American Gaijin - A CoreGamers Interview (September 16, 2008)
Retrieved January 06, 2009

References

External links

HardcoreGaming 101 Otocky Page
*{{MobyGames, id=/otocky 1987 video games ASCII Corporation games Famicom Disk System games Famicom Disk System-only games Japan-exclusive video games Music video games Shoot 'em ups Video games developed in Japan

Gameplay

Legacy

See also

References

External links