@@invaderzim1842 That's wonderful. Support creators by dissing their sponsors. The stuff's actually not bad. Was a good lunch replacement for me a couple of times a week.
The way it worked for a long time is that trains have emergency brake valves mounted on the side and there are mechanical "trippers" or "train stops" on the side of the track that will stick up if the track signal is red or if you are going too fast. It's increasingly being computerized of course, with the train itself automatically stopping if it detects a violation.
11:07 The clip of the guy pulling out a measuring tape to see if the train was "good enough," and everyone else waiting for the official measurement before anyone was willing to get on was extremely funny to me.
I went and looked up the protocol for the controller and it's slightly insane. On the Playstation, it always holds up and down on the dpad, then uses triangle, left, and right as three bits for the power lever and L1, L2, R1, and R2 as four bits for the brake. So if you pull back to power 5 you should go straight, then 2 and 4 let you turn. What's really weird is they use this sort of crazy mapping on every console, even though most of them let you say "yo I'm a weird game specific controller" natively.
Interesting. I imagine the controller always holding down is probably a detect feature the game checks to see if there's the train controller connect, otherwise assume the player is using a regular PS1 controller and map the controls accordingly
I kinda wish he didn't add any music at all. I'm watching this video about weird chill trains for, well, the weird chill trains, I don't need Mario Kart music
2 dozen or so controllers for these train games, and like 80% of them make sure to include the spot to place the conductor's pocket watch. It was such an odd detail that I had to look into it. Apparently there was an official watch for these controllers. Uncle Derek, keep an eye out
I half expected this to be some thing that someone had created using some game consoles to manage some model train layouts. Considering some of the things they use at the yearly christmas displays near me, that kind of thing would not surprise me
The reason it says "Densya" is because of different standards of how Japanese characters are converted (or "romanized") into English letters. Most of us are familiar with what is known as "Hepburn-shiki", where certain characters like しゃ are written as "sha". But in another system "Kunrei-shiki", しゃ becomes "sya". The Japanese government officially uses and prefers Kunrei, but most other people prefer or are just used to Hepburn. So that's why it says "Densya" and not "Densha". Love ya Uncle Derek!!
To add, while Hepburn makes a lot more phonetic sense to someone who natively uses the alphabet in english, there is still a logic to kunrei especially for native japanese. While 'sya' may look strange, in japanese that sound is denoted with しゃ or 'shi' followed by a small 'ya'. The english 's' indicates it's of the 'sa s(h)i su se so' characters and the 'ya' indicates the ゃ as well as the final vowel sound (as opposed to something like 'syo' しょ). I still vastly prefer Hepburn though.
So like… 続ける would be romanized as tudukeru? It makes sense for native speakers but man that feels very weird. But I suppose if the Japanese government uses Hepburn now they realized it’s probably better to use a system more intuitive for foreigners since that’s going to be the primary user of romanized signs.
@@medalkingslime4844 yes, and you can even use kunrei when typing which is often fewer keystrokes, though only debatably more efficient. It throws me that many older japanese typing games use Kunrei and my brain doesn't like it. Though I will say I actually prefer things like ぢ-di and づ-du. Frankly, I mix the two systems in everyday use.
I played this game in Japan last year…. IT WAS A FULL SIZED TRAIN COCKPIT YOU WALK INTO! I’m not sure but I think that arcade cabinet had full surround sound, vibration, and high definition recreations of train lines. My sister watched me play and said it was entertaining despite having no idea what was happening
I didn't even know Power Shovel was part of this series. And my hopes were, indeed, shot down when I heard the JP controller doesn't work on the US version
45:49 Technically, Soul Edge IS the correct name, and that's what the arcade and Japanese PS1 versions go by. It was renamed Soulblade in the US and Europe due to a trademark issue over the word "Edge". Infact, that's why the sequel was called SoulCalibur, just so they wouldn't have to deal with this again.
@@keiyakinsAlmost. The gaming magazine was actually a victim of the Edge copyright/trademark trolling. The guy who changed the name was Tim Langdell, based on the fact that he owned a defunct ZX Spectrum publisher called the "the edge games". He was eventually destroyed by EA and their lawyers whom discovered the evidence he had submitted to prove he was still using the trademark was either fabricated or a straight up lie. So his trademark was invalidated. Then the edge magazine sued him, and it turned out he'd lied and fabricated evidence to convince them to pay him a fee for the name, and then he fabricated further evidence during that court case and lost. So yeah. Not the gaming magazine. Tim Langdell.
@@keiyakinsAlmost. The gaming magazine was actually a victim of the Edge copyright/trademark trolling. The guy who changed the name was Tim Langdell, based on the fact that he owned a defunct ZX Spectrum publisher called the "the edge games". He was eventually destroyed by EA and their lawyers whom discovered the evidence he had submitted to prove he was still using the trademark was either fabricated or a straight up lie. So his trademark was invalidated. Then the edge magazine sued him, and it turned out he'd lied and fabricated evidence to convince them to pay him a fee for the name, and then he fabricated further evidence during that court case and lost. So yeah. Not the gaming magazine. Tim Langdell.
If you wanna do a follow-up Punching Weight to this video; check out the original PSP version!! It actually uses fully pre-rendered video to display the graphics, and it's one of the most ambitious things I've seen on the PSP! You could also check out the translated N64 version and a few of the other ports, this game goes a lot deeper than just these three ports!
@@fullauto86what? There was another story about people eating people in the form of Soylent + (a color) but instead of Soylent green, it was brown? Wtf?
@@theincrediblegeneral5135 It's a reference to Techmoan, who generally makes videos about old audio tech but has made one about train games and their dedicated controllers.
Crazy Taxi but with Trains, alright talented indie developers. Derek has laid down the challenge, it’s up to you to make it Real. Bonus points if it’s compatible with these Train Controllers.
compatibility with these wouldn't be too hard, actually. The mappings are weird but perfectly possible to work with, and there's even example code out there because train people wrote input plugins for modern simulators because of course they did.
I got really into Densha De Go a while back, starting with the N64 game which turned out to be a smart move because it’s one of the few translated versions. The translation helped me learn most of the symbols and warnings, so I didn’t quite have the same experience of confusion as to what all the warnings meant. But it’s still a tough game, and it really does go from peaceful railway riding to stressful management of lots of different variables at the drop of a hat.
Yeah, I have been playing the japanese Densha De Go on PS1 back in the day. Im enjoying it still but didnt understand how to properly play until translation of DDG 64 came. It teach me about coasting, the meaning of the sign and how to properly play it. There is also translation patch for Densha De GO Final PC version, but after playing the 64 version we all will understand how to play properly in the rest of the series
Hahaha Derek, my man, “don’t act like you’re on my level of dumb” immediately after “here’s all the patrons that paid for it” that was either advanced trash talk or hilariously unfortunate.
6:12 It says "Densya", because most Japanese use Kunrei-shiki romanization for their language. Most Westerners use Hepburn romanization, which would say "Densha", which is closer to the Japanese pronunciation.
Came here to mostly say this, although as I understand it Hepburn, or specifically Revised Hepburn, has overtaken other methods of romanisation, and in January it was proposed to make Hepburn the official romanisation system of Japan, replacing Kunrei-shiki, which is officially the standard but not really used as much. All railway station signage uses Hepburn these days too, which made visiting railway museums interesting as old signs taken from stations have different romanisation methods on.
Derek briefly mentioned it, but I know about the N64 version of _Densha de Go!_ because a guy named Thabeast721 played it about two years ago as part of his ongoing series called _Beating Every N64 Game,_ which includes Japanese only releases. He also had one of these special controllers.
I own the original Densha de Go! Plug & Play (which happens to be the second version, as the first one apparently had some issues), and it's a really impressive device. It's not simply "based" on the PS2 controller for Densha de Go!, it's actually a self-contained re-release of DdG! Final, making it possibly the most ambitious device of its type. While every other company was doing devices for old arcade, NES, SNES, Genesis, PC-Engine, & 80s micro computer games, Taito just goes "Yeah, well OUR plug-&-play device is for a PS2 game!".
Best part - that controller can be soft-modded to add back missing jingles from the PS2 release, and you can add controller functionality to the USB port so that it can also be used as a Densha de Go controller on PC. The PC version of DenshaFinal was recently translated into English, so now more people can learn how to drive Japanese Train routes circa 2004.
Just wanted to throw this at ya, i randomly remembered being 15 back in 2011 listening to Starship Amazing. Talked to my buddy whom I listened with, and he directed me here. Love the content! Anyway, im off to bed. Might play "Yall Stop Bloggin'" while I sleep~ the nostalgia of rediscovering your old music warmed me up today
That callout to Caddy at the beginning. I really do wish we have localized versions of the games, sometimes, as... stressful as they are. Also gotta love the "I'm the best at trains!" while hiding your final score because you still did awful despite you pay-to-winning via continues. I feel like you got bankrupt not because of buying the controllers, but because you spent all your money on having to continue on every stage.
So this is kinda embarrassing but I just wanted to sing your praises a little bit Uncle Derek / HVGN / lmaoyogurt or whatever your original name was, because you've been with me since I was a tiny kid and seeing you making videos and having fun and living a good life, at least from what I can see, where you have all these retro game connections and friends is just so awesome. You've gotten me through some rough times especially since I got long covid and all that jazz so I just wanted to thank you for years of entertainment that you never HAD to give to anyone but you chose to do so and I really can't tell you how much I appreciate that. Of your old stuff it's the D trilogy reviews that really stuck with me and I tend to think about the Enemy Zero one a lot given how much I love horror as a genre as a little one and now that I'm bigger these more niche controller deep dives are just so interesting. I think this one might be my favorite of your new stuff but the Zeebo fever dream is legendary. From the bottom of my 26 year old heart just thank you man, you're a real MVP in my eyes.
Thanks so much! This type of stuff is honestly really nice to hear! The Enemy Zero / D2 / Sweet Home videos are some personal favorites of mine because I made them all right after I had quit my job and went to work for myself. I made all three in something like two weeks - blank doc to finished video. I wasn't make a ton of money and those videos weren't even that successful haha but I felt I was successful because I just able to pay my rent (with contract work and my band at the time) and I knew I had an audience. And I think I was 26 at the time! And I'm sorry I've been spotty lately. It's been a weird time for me but I'm cooking, I swear! I have been seeing doctor's for some stuff I'm not ready to talk about, on top of some family challenges I'm also not ready to talk about publicly. But also, who isn't dealing with health and family stuff? But I'll be back, don't you worry! I got a bunch of projects in the works right now, including a big one that's been years in the making. Thanks again for watching and writing!
45:45 Edit: please read the first reply, I misremembered the facts Don't apologise, the game was originally called Soul Edge until a bullshit lawsuit by a gaming magazine that believed that they owned the rights to the word "Edge" for video games and related media.
Almost. The gaming magazine was actually a victim of the Edge copyright/trademark trolling. The guy who changed the name was Tim Langdell, based on the fact that he owned a defunct ZX Spectrum publisher called the "the edge games". He was eventually destroyed by EA and their lawyers whom discovered the evidence he had submitted to prove he was still using the trademark was either fabricated or a straight up lie. So his trademark was invalidated. Then the edge magazine sued him, and it turned out he'd lied and fabricated evidence to convince them to pay him a fee for the name, and then he fabricated further evidence during that court case and lost. So yeah. Not the gaming magazine. Tim Langdell.
Hey, Derek. I hope you are OK. If not that's ok too I've been watching since you were the HVGN and i felt compelled to ask of your condition not out of wanting of more content but more so to make sure you are alright. Even if you never post another video I'll still be a BIG fan but i just want to know you are still around in some capacity even if it doesn't mean any videos or content. Much love - TG
Things have been really weird lately and I'm sorry. I've had some huge projects and several small ones cooking for months now. Not to get too into it here but I'm waiting on some stuff with doctors and have been dealing health and family issues, but who isn't? I love working on this stuff, even though I just passed my 17th anniversary, I still have a lot I want to do! You haven't seen the last of Uncle Derek, not yet anyway!
Always love the esoteric controllers. Would love to see a breakdown of exactly what each of the levers actually does, i.e. what they map to (if they do at all) on a regular controller, which might explain why the functions seem to change depending on position, and why the buttons don't always work. Maybe how they look on something like a gamepad tester...
This furthers my desire to see a full fighting game/FPS tournament where the first rule is that you can only using novelty controllers. No regular gamepads or arcade sticks. That would be fun as hell. XD
6:12 This is because there's a multitude of way to convert Japanese into the Latin alphabet. "電車" when converted to the phonetic hiragana system is "でんしゃ", and there's a multitude of ways you could then convert this the Latin alphabet. "densya" is one of the more straightforward ways, since you're basically just writing out the names of the hiragana characters: de-n-shi-ya. "shi-ya" becomes "sya" because these two characters are actually being mashed together to make a single combined sound, as indicated by the "ya" being written smaller than it normally is (compare "や" to "ゃ"). When this happens, the last half of the first character isn't pronounced, so it sorta makes logical sense to replicate this phenomenon when using the Latin alphabet, by shortening "shi" to "s".
A few people have already commented on why it's written "densya", but I want to add a bit more explanation. The difference in Kunrei (densya) vs Hepburn (densha) romanization is basically a difference of romanizing for consistency vs romanizing for pronunciation. The 'sha' portion of "densha" is written しゃ, which is a 'shi' し modified by a small 'ya' ゃ to make the sound 'sha'. That's why in Kunrei it's written as 'sya', to match the 'ya' や character even though it's pronounced 'sha'. This goes for all "yō-on", where a character is modified by a small 'y-' group character, and is therefore written with a 'y' in Kunrei. There are a few different pronunciation mismatchs to keep in mind when reading Kunrei.
btw, this train game being brutal, is because, in Japan, trains are super strict to use, they have very strict rules when carrying passengers to their next stop
Love the Peanut Butter GDQ shirt, Derek. Was such a wonderful run with not just a unique controller, but a unique runner! Oh yeah, crazy that these train controllers exist.
Derek, I am someone who in fact, loves the hell out of trains. I've never been into video games about them, because I am very particular about what I would want, but I did appreciate the heck out of this video.
Speaking of Zen connections to Doom controls, I once beat the entirety of episode 1 with the screen flipped upside down and the left and right controls mirrored. I wanted to prove that our proprioception system is highly adaptable and given a consistent set of inputs, even the most literally backwards controls become second nature. And yes I wished I had recorded it but my PC is from 2009 and OBS can't run at more than 0 frames per second 😢
Derek, just want to say that I've watched your content for 15 years or so, and you've always been a huge inspiration for me. You have such interesting and unique takes on really niche and obscure parts of gaming culture and games. I always appreciate creators who don't just jump on trends and offer an original perspective. Glad to see the stop skeletons train is still chugging.
Honestly I do love the wacky oddball stuff Derek covers regularly on the channel, it makes my day. Either be the Zeebo or in this case Train Controllers, such awesome.
I am surprised the sponsor hasn't a flavor called Green. Also Derek, you do realize that the Light rail is coming... if a bit slower than some of us would have wanted.
Yes I am VERY aware! Been watching it slowly be built the entire time I’ve lived in Seattle! Can’t wait for the new extension to open, then it’s MY turn to be the drunkard on the train!
@@StopSkeletonsFromFightingYou are in Seattle ? I've always wanted to take the ferry over and check out some of the game stores like Pink Gorilla.. I'm just right across the canal and do enjoy the ferry trip. Only few time I've been to Seattle is just to catch a baseball game but want to just take the ferry over one day and walk around and see the sights.
@@Neer-yy5nm the Puget Sound getting light/commuter rail was originally supposed to happen in the 1960s, after getting rid of the last version in the 30s. Slow rollout is one thing, slow realization that it is needed after all is another. Both were involved here, to the point that the Everett portion will have been without a rail link for over a century.
Don't think you could sneak the use of all those train-themed video game levels by me. I caught Final Fantasy 8 "Martial Law" and Megaman X4 "Slash Beast"
From hearing your into so much, I’ve been implementing my own greeting for people named Nathan, Nate, or Nathaniel. It goes, “Hey Nate, it’s me, Nate! How’s it going, Nate?!” Just thought you’d like to know you influenced me for so long. :)
Just as a side note: While not part of the Densha no Go series nor made by Taito, there's the Japanese Rail Sim 3D games made by Sonic Powered Co that pretty much play exactly the same but with the added bonus of being available in fully translated English! Two were released for the 3DS's digital store (if I remember correctly) although that shut down so I have no idea how to get them now, and one should be available on Steam.
Ya know, I don’t think I would have watched this if Derek wasn’t so delightful. This is soooooo dumb… But Derek makes it endearing in a way I can’t properly articulate.
Thanks for your unending dedication to weird gaming Derek! Was nice to meet you at MGC, shame the Faceball setup wasnt working at the time i was near that area 😢
I realized I hadn't watched an SSFF video in a little while since I watched the Zeebo duology like 40 times over the course of like three weeks, so decided to check if anything had happened here (still looking forward to the Faceball video, if that's coming out!). Clicked on this because I have a little bit of familiarity with these train controllers (or rather, their arcade equivalent), and wasn't planning on commenting until the 'This is not Crazy Taxi with trains' bit. See, they actually had a Densha De Go cab at my local arcade for a while. I watched a friend play the Densha Cab during downtime at a local Fighting game tournament about a year back, and using Google Translate to get a vague idea of what the instructions and HUD meant, she actually ended up really enjoying it. I know the PC port of this game has been translated, so I might end up giving it a go, this video put it back in my brain. Now, I would go to the arcade to play it, but it very recently got replaced. By what? A Crazy Taxi cab.
Yeah! ^^ More Derek. I really love rewatching your old HVGN videos, and your 13 year anniversary episode where you gave commentary on the first half of your HVGN videos library. Do you ever think you want to do another commentary episode of the rest of your HVGN videos? Clash at Demonhead onward?
This is exactly the brand of insanity that makes me love this channel so much. I'd love to find out how these controllers actually work. Also, as soon as I saw the name of the sponsor was Soylent, all I could think of was "CAAAAAAARL." Thank you for at least addressing that.
I find it unlikely that Taito specifically blocked the controller; rather the wild inputs may be triggering some kind of soft reset function or (perhaps more likely) are simply crashing the software during the load lol Great video!
Soylent is named after a drink from a movie that reveals, in the ending twist, that Soylent is made out of the bodies of dead people. Anyway, I know nothing else about the actual product, I just hope it's produced more ethically.
The first 500 people to use this link and code SSFF30 will get 30% off their first subscription with Soylent: bit.ly/49yYZ9n
Okay but wait - did Tyler Durden suplex a train?
No thanks
Imagine drinking this filth
@@invaderzim1842 That's wonderful. Support creators by dissing their sponsors. The stuff's actually not bad. Was a good lunch replacement for me a couple of times a week.
Glad you’re getting paid but Soylent is genuinely a messed up company. Take one look at the Wikipedia page.
Alright, but if they release a Green variant, I'm out.
ATS is Automatic Train Stop. Basically you fucked up so bad the train thinks you are probably incapacitated and stops itself
"Awful train-ing, stupid."
LMAO
The way it worked for a long time is that trains have emergency brake valves mounted on the side and there are mechanical "trippers" or "train stops" on the side of the track that will stick up if the track signal is red or if you are going too fast.
It's increasingly being computerized of course, with the train itself automatically stopping if it detects a violation.
A so-called "dead man's switch"
@@DaneeBoundYep, particularly when it comes to high speed rails, like the Frecciarossa 1000 in Italy.
This might be the longest this channel has gone without a single video since the SSFF rebrand. I hope everything is ok over there! Best wishes!
"Yes Derek, we still have it" made me laugh SO HARD
“Yes, Derek, we still have it.”
He could sense your impending demands.
11:07 The clip of the guy pulling out a measuring tape to see if the train was "good enough," and everyone else waiting for the official measurement before anyone was willing to get on was extremely funny to me.
I think that's from a commercial for one of the Densha De Go games
@@Enecororo97well at least they are self aware about how absurd it is if your train stops 1 meter of the desired place.
You think you'll be remembered for this? Good luck, Uncle Zeebo.
32:27 HEY I'M ZARITHYA, THAT'S ME ZARITHYA
Glad I could help you fix your busted capture card!
👀
Do you work on electronics regularly? Or was that a one off stream?
@@steph_fergi I actually try to stream electronics repair and stuff like that every Tuesday!
I went and looked up the protocol for the controller and it's slightly insane.
On the Playstation, it always holds up and down on the dpad, then uses triangle, left, and right as three bits for the power lever and L1, L2, R1, and R2 as four bits for the brake.
So if you pull back to power 5 you should go straight, then 2 and 4 let you turn.
What's really weird is they use this sort of crazy mapping on every console, even though most of them let you say "yo I'm a weird game specific controller" natively.
Sounds like you could use one of those micro computers to translate this into something more sensible for the specific game.
@@henke37 You could, but you could also use software on the computer running the game.
Ah! Thanks for the details on its protocol!
Interesting. I imagine the controller always holding down is probably a detect feature the game checks to see if there's the train controller connect, otherwise assume the player is using a regular PS1 controller and map the controls accordingly
This is why I think the Dreamcast version wasn't blocked, it just kept hitting some button combo that dropped back to the system menu.
I like that all the music you used is just train stage themes from various games
Que haces aqui?!
I kinda wish he didn't add any music at all. I'm watching this video about weird chill trains for, well, the weird chill trains, I don't need Mario Kart music
2 dozen or so controllers for these train games, and like 80% of them make sure to include the spot to place the conductor's pocket watch.
It was such an odd detail that I had to look into it. Apparently there was an official watch for these controllers. Uncle Derek, keep an eye out
My brain read 'Japanese Train Controllers'.
My brain asked 'What?!'.
My brain saw Derek.
"Click"
Caddicarus has a fun video with them too.
Edit: it’s in the video lol.
YES!
I did wonder if he got it off Caddy XD
I half expected this to be some thing that someone had created using some game consoles to manage some model train layouts. Considering some of the things they use at the yearly christmas displays near me, that kind of thing would not surprise me
The reason it says "Densya" is because of different standards of how Japanese characters are converted (or "romanized") into English letters.
Most of us are familiar with what is known as "Hepburn-shiki", where certain characters like しゃ are written as "sha". But in another system "Kunrei-shiki", しゃ becomes "sya".
The Japanese government officially uses and prefers Kunrei, but most other people prefer or are just used to Hepburn. So that's why it says "Densya" and not "Densha". Love ya Uncle Derek!!
Even the Japanese government recently changed its stance on Kunrei in favor of Hepburn
That's really interesting, thanks for the info!
To add, while Hepburn makes a lot more phonetic sense to someone who natively uses the alphabet in english, there is still a logic to kunrei especially for native japanese. While 'sya' may look strange, in japanese that sound is denoted with しゃ or 'shi' followed by a small 'ya'. The english 's' indicates it's of the 'sa s(h)i su se so' characters and the 'ya' indicates the ゃ as well as the final vowel sound (as opposed to something like 'syo' しょ).
I still vastly prefer Hepburn though.
So like… 続ける would be romanized as tudukeru?
It makes sense for native speakers but man that feels very weird. But I suppose if the Japanese government uses Hepburn now they realized it’s probably better to use a system more intuitive for foreigners since that’s going to be the primary user of romanized signs.
@@medalkingslime4844 yes, and you can even use kunrei when typing which is often fewer keystrokes, though only debatably more efficient. It throws me that many older japanese typing games use Kunrei and my brain doesn't like it.
Though I will say I actually prefer things like ぢ-di and づ-du. Frankly, I mix the two systems in everyday use.
I played this game in Japan last year….
IT WAS A FULL SIZED TRAIN COCKPIT YOU WALK INTO!
I’m not sure but I think that arcade cabinet had full surround sound, vibration, and high definition recreations of train lines. My sister watched me play and said it was entertaining despite having no idea what was happening
I found one where they had a costume for you to use, gloves jacket and hat.
@@MadsterV LFG
As an owner of two Power Shovel controllers I can tell you that the controller does in fact work with the NTSC version of the game and system!
I didn't even know Power Shovel was part of this series.
And my hopes were, indeed, shot down when I heard the JP controller doesn't work on the US version
45:49 Technically, Soul Edge IS the correct name, and that's what the arcade and Japanese PS1 versions go by. It was renamed Soulblade in the US and Europe due to a trademark issue over the word "Edge". Infact, that's why the sequel was called SoulCalibur, just so they wouldn't have to deal with this again.
oh god I remember that. the one magazine that claimed to own the word edge in all contexts.
@@keiyakins the twit responsible for maybe one of the two times EA was remotely sympathetic?
@@keiyakinsAlmost. The gaming magazine was actually a victim of the Edge copyright/trademark trolling.
The guy who changed the name was Tim Langdell, based on the fact that he owned a defunct ZX Spectrum publisher called the "the edge games". He was eventually destroyed by EA and their lawyers whom discovered the evidence he had submitted to prove he was still using the trademark was either fabricated or a straight up lie. So his trademark was invalidated. Then the edge magazine sued him, and it turned out he'd lied and fabricated evidence to convince them to pay him a fee for the name, and then he fabricated further evidence during that court case and lost.
So yeah. Not the gaming magazine. Tim Langdell.
@@keiyakinsAlmost. The gaming magazine was actually a victim of the Edge copyright/trademark trolling.
The guy who changed the name was Tim Langdell, based on the fact that he owned a defunct ZX Spectrum publisher called the "the edge games". He was eventually destroyed by EA and their lawyers whom discovered the evidence he had submitted to prove he was still using the trademark was either fabricated or a straight up lie. So his trademark was invalidated. Then the edge magazine sued him, and it turned out he'd lied and fabricated evidence to convince them to pay him a fee for the name, and then he fabricated further evidence during that court case and lost.
So yeah. Not the gaming magazine. Tim Langdell.
I still remember the "SOUUULLL... EDGE" title announcer voice in the arcade version back in the 90s...
god I'm old
If you wanna do a follow-up Punching Weight to this video; check out the original PSP version!! It actually uses fully pre-rendered video to display the graphics, and it's one of the most ambitious things I've seen on the PSP! You could also check out the translated N64 version and a few of the other ports, this game goes a lot deeper than just these three ports!
The Green One, it’s just Mint, and Chocolate, and People…
lol I thought the same thing. Soylent brown was the stuff from a different story where people drink people but it was a chocolate drink that time.
@@fullauto86what? There was another story about people eating people in the form of Soylent + (a color) but instead of Soylent green, it was brown? Wtf?
@@Yixdyyeah that's definitely new to me lol
@@YixdySoylent Green had multiple different colours, although brown was not one of them
WHEN WILL THESE SKELETONS STOP FIGHTING ALREADYYYYY
Keep watching and maybe they will 😎😎😎
Derek was tempted to finish the video with "That's it for the moment. As always, thanks for watching."
???
@@theincrediblegeneral5135 It's a reference to Techmoan, who generally makes videos about old audio tech but has made one about train games and their dedicated controllers.
@@MeanderBot 😅 I thought this felt familiar
@@MeanderBot oh thanks! I haven't watched techmoan in a bit!
Yay uncle Derek!
I was waiting for the Soylent Green reference on the promo.
Don't you get it!? Soylent Green is People, It's People!
Made from the best people on earth
Crazy Taxi but with Trains, alright talented indie developers. Derek has laid down the challenge, it’s up to you to make it Real. Bonus points if it’s compatible with these Train Controllers.
Does Snakeybus count?
compatibility with these wouldn't be too hard, actually. The mappings are weird but perfectly possible to work with, and there's even example code out there because train people wrote input plugins for modern simulators because of course they did.
It's the Initial D train game footage that got me on the floor.
Multi-track drifting is real 2401
Bonus points if you can licence Ozzy's Crazy Train.
I got really into Densha De Go a while back, starting with the N64 game which turned out to be a smart move because it’s one of the few translated versions. The translation helped me learn most of the symbols and warnings, so I didn’t quite have the same experience of confusion as to what all the warnings meant. But it’s still a tough game, and it really does go from peaceful railway riding to stressful management of lots of different variables at the drop of a hat.
Yeah, I have been playing the japanese Densha De Go on PS1 back in the day. Im enjoying it still but didnt understand how to properly play until translation of DDG 64 came. It teach me about coasting, the meaning of the sign and how to properly play it. There is also translation patch for Densha De GO Final PC version, but after playing the 64 version we all will understand how to play properly in the rest of the series
I like trains.
I like Uncle Derek.
I like controllers.
This video has it all.
Hahaha Derek, my man, “don’t act like you’re on my level of dumb” immediately after “here’s all the patrons that paid for it” that was either advanced trash talk or hilariously unfortunate.
6:12
It says "Densya", because most Japanese use Kunrei-shiki romanization for their language.
Most Westerners use Hepburn romanization, which would say "Densha", which is closer to the Japanese pronunciation.
Came here to mostly say this, although as I understand it Hepburn, or specifically Revised Hepburn, has overtaken other methods of romanisation, and in January it was proposed to make Hepburn the official romanisation system of Japan, replacing Kunrei-shiki, which is officially the standard but not really used as much. All railway station signage uses Hepburn these days too, which made visiting railway museums interesting as old signs taken from stations have different romanisation methods on.
Well hey, thanks guys. I learned something today.
@@petershillitoyeah, visiting the Kyoto railway museum was kinda weird because I was used to Hepburn
Derek is like an old friend you don't see super often but when you do it feels like no time has passed
Derek briefly mentioned it, but I know about the N64 version of _Densha de Go!_ because a guy named Thabeast721 played it about two years ago as part of his ongoing series called _Beating Every N64 Game,_ which includes Japanese only releases. He also had one of these special controllers.
I own the original Densha de Go! Plug & Play (which happens to be the second version, as the first one apparently had some issues), and it's a really impressive device. It's not simply "based" on the PS2 controller for Densha de Go!, it's actually a self-contained re-release of DdG! Final, making it possibly the most ambitious device of its type.
While every other company was doing devices for old arcade, NES, SNES, Genesis, PC-Engine, & 80s micro computer games, Taito just goes "Yeah, well OUR plug-&-play device is for a PS2 game!".
Best part - that controller can be soft-modded to add back missing jingles from the PS2 release, and you can add controller functionality to the USB port so that it can also be used as a Densha de Go controller on PC.
The PC version of DenshaFinal was recently translated into English, so now more people can learn how to drive Japanese Train routes circa 2004.
I think I speak for everyone by saying we miss you guys! Hope you upload again soon!
Did you seriously Tyler Durden in the Train Suplex, Derek?
....Niiiice.
Where?
Just wanted to throw this at ya, i randomly remembered being 15 back in 2011 listening to Starship Amazing. Talked to my buddy whom I listened with, and he directed me here. Love the content! Anyway, im off to bed. Might play "Yall Stop Bloggin'" while I sleep~ the nostalgia of rediscovering your old music warmed me up today
Thanks Derek for being there on rough days. If my real life's going to shit, nice to see at least a new SSFF vid in my feed.
huge credit for such an in-depth vid! the ratchety clicks of the controller levers are really satisfying
That callout to Caddy at the beginning.
I really do wish we have localized versions of the games, sometimes, as... stressful as they are.
Also gotta love the "I'm the best at trains!" while hiding your final score because you still did awful despite you pay-to-winning via continues. I feel like you got bankrupt not because of buying the controllers, but because you spent all your money on having to continue on every stage.
I wish the countries would share more strange and weird stuff like this..!
So this is kinda embarrassing but I just wanted to sing your praises a little bit Uncle Derek / HVGN / lmaoyogurt or whatever your original name was, because you've been with me since I was a tiny kid and seeing you making videos and having fun and living a good life, at least from what I can see, where you have all these retro game connections and friends is just so awesome. You've gotten me through some rough times especially since I got long covid and all that jazz so I just wanted to thank you for years of entertainment that you never HAD to give to anyone but you chose to do so and I really can't tell you how much I appreciate that. Of your old stuff it's the D trilogy reviews that really stuck with me and I tend to think about the Enemy Zero one a lot given how much I love horror as a genre as a little one and now that I'm bigger these more niche controller deep dives are just so interesting. I think this one might be my favorite of your new stuff but the Zeebo fever dream is legendary.
From the bottom of my 26 year old heart just thank you man, you're a real MVP in my eyes.
Thanks so much! This type of stuff is honestly really nice to hear! The Enemy Zero / D2 / Sweet Home videos are some personal favorites of mine because I made them all right after I had quit my job and went to work for myself. I made all three in something like two weeks - blank doc to finished video. I wasn't make a ton of money and those videos weren't even that successful haha but I felt I was successful because I just able to pay my rent (with contract work and my band at the time) and I knew I had an audience. And I think I was 26 at the time!
And I'm sorry I've been spotty lately. It's been a weird time for me but I'm cooking, I swear! I have been seeing doctor's for some stuff I'm not ready to talk about, on top of some family challenges I'm also not ready to talk about publicly. But also, who isn't dealing with health and family stuff? But I'll be back, don't you worry! I got a bunch of projects in the works right now, including a big one that's been years in the making. Thanks again for watching and writing!
45:45
Edit: please read the first reply, I misremembered the facts
Don't apologise, the game was originally called Soul Edge until a bullshit lawsuit by a gaming magazine that believed that they owned the rights to the word "Edge" for video games and related media.
Almost. The gaming magazine was actually a victim of the Edge copyright/trademark trolling.
The guy who changed the name was Tim Langdell, based on the fact that he owned a defunct ZX Spectrum publisher called the "the edge games". He was eventually destroyed by EA and their lawyers whom discovered the evidence he had submitted to prove he was still using the trademark was either fabricated or a straight up lie. So his trademark was invalidated. Then the edge magazine sued him, and it turned out he'd lied and fabricated evidence to convince them to pay him a fee for the name, and then he fabricated further evidence during that court case and lost.
So yeah. Not the gaming magazine. Tim Langdell.
@@failedstateupdate ah, guess I misremembered, thanks for the correction
@@failedstateupdateYou need to send this to Larry Bundy Jr.
You know, this video brought me joy in some tough times, thanks Derek.
Was NOT expecting my music to suddenly pop up in this vid :') Very cool! Really made my day that! :D
Hey, Derek. I hope you are OK. If not that's ok too I've been watching since you were the HVGN and i felt compelled to ask of your condition not out of wanting of more content but more so to make sure you are alright. Even if you never post another video I'll still be a BIG fan but i just want to know you are still around in some capacity even if it doesn't mean any videos or content.
Much love - TG
Things have been really weird lately and I'm sorry. I've had some huge projects and several small ones cooking for months now. Not to get too into it here but I'm waiting on some stuff with doctors and have been dealing health and family issues, but who isn't? I love working on this stuff, even though I just passed my 17th anniversary, I still have a lot I want to do! You haven't seen the last of Uncle Derek, not yet anyway!
@@StopSkeletonsFromFightingI’m glad to hear you’re getting on well
The Soylent ad killed me. You can't make this stuff up, he actually just didn't know what taking that sponsorship meant.
ITS MADE OF PEOPLE
@@daveraschke as if no one made that joke here before
Always love the esoteric controllers. Would love to see a breakdown of exactly what each of the levers actually does, i.e. what they map to (if they do at all) on a regular controller, which might explain why the functions seem to change depending on position, and why the buttons don't always work. Maybe how they look on something like a gamepad tester...
This furthers my desire to see a full fighting game/FPS tournament where the first rule is that you can only using novelty controllers. No regular gamepads or arcade sticks. That would be fun as hell. XD
6:12 This is because there's a multitude of way to convert Japanese into the Latin alphabet. "電車" when converted to the phonetic hiragana system is "でんしゃ", and there's a multitude of ways you could then convert this the Latin alphabet. "densya" is one of the more straightforward ways, since you're basically just writing out the names of the hiragana characters: de-n-shi-ya. "shi-ya" becomes "sya" because these two characters are actually being mashed together to make a single combined sound, as indicated by the "ya" being written smaller than it normally is (compare "や" to "ゃ"). When this happens, the last half of the first character isn't pronounced, so it sorta makes logical sense to replicate this phenomenon when using the Latin alphabet, by shortening "shi" to "s".
I saw that frame of Sabin suplexing a train during the game intro, Derek!
Well played~
Co-op steam train, Player 2 is on a shovel controller huckin' coal at strategic moments.
A few people have already commented on why it's written "densya", but I want to add a bit more explanation.
The difference in Kunrei (densya) vs Hepburn (densha) romanization is basically a difference of romanizing for consistency vs romanizing for pronunciation.
The 'sha' portion of "densha" is written しゃ, which is a 'shi' し modified by a small 'ya' ゃ to make the sound 'sha'. That's why in Kunrei it's written as 'sya', to match the 'ya' や character even though it's pronounced 'sha'. This goes for all "yō-on", where a character is modified by a small 'y-' group character, and is therefore written with a 'y' in Kunrei.
There are a few different pronunciation mismatchs to keep in mind when reading Kunrei.
Woohoo Uncle Derek is back, it's him, Uncle Derek! 🎉🥳
A whole hour of Derek talking about stupid controllers? Sign me up!!
I love it when ad reads are relevant to the content, you did it hilariously here, and Renn's Reviews does some amazing ad reads as well
btw, this train game being brutal, is because, in Japan, trains are super strict to use, they have very strict rules when carrying passengers to their next stop
Love the Peanut Butter GDQ shirt, Derek. Was such a wonderful run with not just a unique controller, but a unique runner! Oh yeah, crazy that these train controllers exist.
Derek, I am someone who in fact, loves the hell out of trains. I've never been into video games about them, because I am very particular about what I would want, but I did appreciate the heck out of this video.
Speaking of Zen connections to Doom controls, I once beat the entirety of episode 1 with the screen flipped upside down and the left and right controls mirrored. I wanted to prove that our proprioception system is highly adaptable and given a consistent set of inputs, even the most literally backwards controls become second nature. And yes I wished I had recorded it but my PC is from 2009 and OBS can't run at more than 0 frames per second 😢
Derek, just want to say that I've watched your content for 15 years or so, and you've always been a huge inspiration for me. You have such interesting and unique takes on really niche and obscure parts of gaming culture and games. I always appreciate creators who don't just jump on trends and offer an original perspective. Glad to see the stop skeletons train is still chugging.
I was just thinking today would be a good day for a SSFF video.
Happy (super) belated birthday, Uncle Derek
Where are you man?
So many great survival horror games have been released in the last 6 months
Honestly I do love the wacky oddball stuff Derek covers regularly on the channel, it makes my day. Either be the Zeebo or in this case Train Controllers, such awesome.
I appreciate that you used the train level music from X4 :)
People: Oh hey, a controller for trains.
Derek: But does it play Doom?
I almost bought these because i thought it was neat...
I knew the language barrier kept me from mastering it
I am surprised the sponsor hasn't a flavor called Green. Also Derek, you do realize that the Light rail is coming... if a bit slower than some of us would have wanted.
Yes I am VERY aware! Been watching it slowly be built the entire time I’ve lived in Seattle! Can’t wait for the new extension to open, then it’s MY turn to be the drunkard on the train!
@@StopSkeletonsFromFightingYou are in Seattle ? I've always wanted to take the ferry over and check out some of the game stores like Pink Gorilla.. I'm just right across the canal and do enjoy the ferry trip. Only few time I've been to Seattle is just to catch a baseball game but want to just take the ferry over one day and walk around and see the sights.
The green flavor is mint chocolate
Light rail came to my city. Slow is right, and paaacked.
@@Neer-yy5nm the Puget Sound getting light/commuter rail was originally supposed to happen in the 1960s, after getting rid of the last version in the 30s. Slow rollout is one thing, slow realization that it is needed after all is another. Both were involved here, to the point that the Everett portion will have been without a rail link for over a century.
That callout to caddi was something I wasn't expecting and I'm so here for it!
The first thing I thought of was those clicks! They were really satisfying to hear for some reason!
Also spinning, whee!!! 😂😂😂
Don't think you could sneak the use of all those train-themed video game levels by me. I caught Final Fantasy 8 "Martial Law" and Megaman X4 "Slash Beast"
From hearing your into so much, I’ve been implementing my own greeting for people named Nathan, Nate, or Nathaniel. It goes, “Hey Nate, it’s me, Nate! How’s it going, Nate?!” Just thought you’d like to know you influenced me for so long. :)
Just as a side note: While not part of the Densha no Go series nor made by Taito, there's the Japanese Rail Sim 3D games made by Sonic Powered Co that pretty much play exactly the same but with the added bonus of being available in fully translated English! Two were released for the 3DS's digital store (if I remember correctly) although that shut down so I have no idea how to get them now, and one should be available on Steam.
Can't believe how much I loved a video about TRAINS, but, then again, it is Derek we're talking about.
Ya know, I don’t think I would have watched this if Derek wasn’t so delightful. This is soooooo dumb… But Derek makes it endearing in a way I can’t properly articulate.
shoutouts to the x4 music
Not only is this vid about something obscure, its nearly an HOUR LONG. Derek, you madlad
So mad UA-cam didn’t tell me this came out sooner, absolutely love Punching Weights about weird controllers
missed the opportunity throw in a simpson's joke "I choo choo choose you"
I found out about this genre binging GameCenter CX. Watching Arino suffer every time he failed the timing of his brakes was an absolute delight.
GameCenter CX... I haven't heard that name in a long time!
Has Derek just invented some Speedrunning Catagories?
"Analog Steering" might mean compatibility with the NeGcon
I been following Derek since Space Money Octagon. I'm glad to see mans doing well in his passion. Hilarious video!
I'm glad you didn't run through the emenies.
10/10 video!
Always great to see a new SSFF video c:
Thanks for your unending dedication to weird gaming Derek! Was nice to meet you at MGC, shame the Faceball setup wasnt working at the time i was near that area 😢
I hope you are well Mr. Ello Phat Jello. You are missed!
Always putting out bangers! Love the content man! Always learning stuff 🤯
0:17 Eat your heart out, Desert Bus
I realized I hadn't watched an SSFF video in a little while since I watched the Zeebo duology like 40 times over the course of like three weeks, so decided to check if anything had happened here (still looking forward to the Faceball video, if that's coming out!). Clicked on this because I have a little bit of familiarity with these train controllers (or rather, their arcade equivalent), and wasn't planning on commenting until the 'This is not Crazy Taxi with trains' bit.
See, they actually had a Densha De Go cab at my local arcade for a while. I watched a friend play the Densha Cab during downtime at a local Fighting game tournament about a year back, and using Google Translate to get a vague idea of what the instructions and HUD meant, she actually ended up really enjoying it. I know the PC port of this game has been translated, so I might end up giving it a go, this video put it back in my brain. Now, I would go to the arcade to play it, but it very recently got replaced. By what? A Crazy Taxi cab.
Somethings are worth waiting for… SSFF is one of them!!!
Yeah! ^^ More Derek. I really love rewatching your old HVGN videos, and your 13 year anniversary episode where you gave commentary on the first half of your HVGN videos library. Do you ever think you want to do another commentary episode of the rest of your HVGN videos? Clash at Demonhead onward?
I miss you derek
Had a hectic night, watching uncle Derek lose his marbles over trains is exactly what I needed to unwind
The one frame of phantom train being suplexed at 6:52 was a great touch
Bro literally jumped ship on his channel
This is exactly the brand of insanity that makes me love this channel so much. I'd love to find out how these controllers actually work.
Also, as soon as I saw the name of the sponsor was Soylent, all I could think of was "CAAAAAAARL." Thank you for at least addressing that.
There is no other UA-camr who makes me feel like I'm in the room with him. Great, fun guy! :D
you know how deep a rabbit hole has become when Derek is almost exasperated listing off the number of controllers
Only 3 or 4 more months until the next video!
Lazy patreon tuber
I find it unlikely that Taito specifically blocked the controller; rather the wild inputs may be triggering some kind of soft reset function or (perhaps more likely) are simply crashing the software during the load lol Great video!
Miss you derek 😢 ❤
It's 3 in the morning, but it's a Punching Weight video about weird controllers, so going back to sleep can wait.
Soylent is named after a drink from a movie that reveals, in the ending twist, that Soylent is made out of the bodies of dead people. Anyway, I know nothing else about the actual product, I just hope it's produced more ethically.
36:02 - Puzzle Bobble 4 really be like "Train controller? *Get out."*