Daikatana
In 2455 AD, a plague-ridden Dr. Toshiro Ebihara visits swordmaster Hiro Miyamoto with a desperate plea. Kage Mishima has stolen the Daikatana and altered history to control humanity. Toshiro explains that his daughter Mikiko was captured while trying to recover the weapon. Hiro must rescue her and stop Mishima from using the cure for a viral plague as a tool of domination. The story begins when Hiro storms Mishima's headquarters in the future. He frees both Mikiko and Superfly Johnson, who had rebelled against the tyrant's brutal rule. Together they steal the Daikatana but are immediately sent back through time by Mishima. They land in ancient Greece where they defeat Medusa to recharge the sword. A second jump takes them to the Dark Ages in Norway, 560 AD. There they meet sorcerer Musilde who needs their help saving his village from the black plague. To restore King Gharroth's sanity, they must reassemble the Purifier holy sword. When the king uses it, the trio jumps again to 2030 San Francisco. Gangs have taken over the city under martial law declared by Mishima. The ghost of Usagi enters Hiro's body giving him full control over the Daikatana. With this power, Hiro slays Mishima. One version of the sword disappears because its timeline no longer exists. Mikiko steals the remaining blade and kills Superfly revealing her clan was just as evil as Mishima's. She plans to use the sword to take over the world. Hiro defeats and kills Mikiko before fixing history once more. The altered timeline shows the plague cured in 2030 and the Mishima clan never taking power. Hiro exiles himself to a forgotten corner of space-time to safeguard the weapon.
Mikiko Ebihara and Superfly Johnson were intended to be essential companions for players throughout the game. Their status appears on tabs displayed on either side of the player screen during gameplay. If either companion moves too far away from the player, their tab disappears from view. Players can issue commands like Stay or Follow to direct their actions. The death of either sidekick results in failing the current level immediately. This mechanic became one of the game's most criticized features due to poor artificial intelligence implementation. Romero wanted the sidekicks to perform complex tasks such as jumping running fighting and solving puzzles independently. He referenced 2001's Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon as inspiration for this ambitious design goal. Programming these behaviors proved extremely difficult for the development team. The sidekicks often ended up being buggy unresponsive and unable to complete basic objectives. Critics noted that the AI failed to function even when players needed them for puzzle solutions. Some reviewers called the companions a disaster compared to other games of the era. The frustration with their behavior overshadowed other aspects of the game for many players. Despite being a key selling point the sidekicks became a focal point of negative feedback after release.
John Romero conceptualized Daikatana as his first project after leaving id Software in 1997. He drew heavy inspiration from Chrono Trigger and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time during development. Romero implemented the sidekick feature directly from Chrono Trigger while taking the mighty sword concept from Zelda. His design document for the game stretched to 400 pages covering every aspect of gameplay. In 1997 he compared Quake weapons and monsters against Daikatana which featured 35 weapons and 16 monsters per episode. Each enemy had 500 polygons compared to Quake's 150 polygon count. Romero believed the larger scope would create something entirely new within the shooter genre. He named protagonist Hiro Miyamoto in honor of Shigeru Miyama the famous Japanese game designer. The title translates roughly to big sword in Japanese kanji characters. The name originated from an item used in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign played by early id Software members. A team of fifteen people worked on the original concept before expansion began. Will Loconto composed music for the project alongside other contributors. Christian Divine created Superfly Johnson originally named Super Williams honoring Jim Kelly's character from Enter the Dragon. Divine designed him with French descent roots based on cultural documents found in the apocalyptic future setting. The character arc involved discovering his true identity at the story's conclusion.
Ion Storm received a $13 million advance from publisher Eidos Interactive for three initial games including Daikatana. Rumors suggested the total budget reached $30 million during production. The company planned to release the game by December 1997 using the original Quake engine. Romero saw the Quake II demo at E3 1997 and decided to switch engines immediately. He did not receive the new engine until February 1998 causing significant delays. A version shown at that year's E3 received muted reception according to Edge magazine. By August 1997 the project was listed as only 50% completed despite the ambitious timeline. Problems programming the new engine pushed the release date further into 1998 then beyond. Around twenty staff members left Ion Storm or transferred to the Austin studio between 1997 and 1999. Lead artist Bryan Pritchard departed in 1998 and was replaced by Eric Smith. Nine core team members resigned publicly in one incident creating widespread morale issues. Almost the entire team working on Daikatana joined Gathering of Developers by 1999. Corrinne Yu director of technology left for 3D Realms while Stevie Case arrived as level designer. Only two staff members remained on the game for its entire production cycle. Eidos publishing director John Kavanagh intervened to sort out production problems. Romero later admitted many faults existed at release blaming management clashes and staff departures. The situation worsened when Dallas Observer published stories about internal struggles citing leaked emails.
A controversial print advertisement appeared in 1997 with the phrase John Romero's about to make you his bitch. Mike Wilson created the ad under order from their chosen advertising agency. Both Wilson and Romero initially thought it was funny and approved it without hesitation. Romero had second thoughts soon after but was persuaded by Wilson to let it pass. Speaking ten years later he said he went along because of his reputation for similar crass phrases. The reactions to the poster tarnished the game's image long before its actual release date. Later Romero attributed the marketing tactic to Wilson prompting a hostile exchange between them. The press material focused almost entirely on pushing the company name and lead developers instead of gameplay features. This approach drew Romero away from active production leading to further difficulties. Public confidence weakened significantly due to repeated delays to the release schedule. A demo shown at the 1999 Electronic Entertainment Expo ran at only 12 frames per second. Staff member Jake Hughes remembered that Romero wanted changes made which crippled the demo technology. Romero stated he had already departed for E3 while upper management insisted on changes during his absence. The article prompted widespread publicity surrounding staff departures and financial status of Ion Storm. Romero responded by calling claims in the Dallas Observer story both biased and inaccurate.
Daikatana sold only 40,351 copies becoming one of the biggest commercial failures in video game history. Ion Storm projected sales of around 175,000 copies in their 1996 business plan. Reports indicated forecasts of 2.5 million units were necessary for profitability according to GameDaily. By July 21 computer version sales reached just 8,190 copies generating revenues of $271,982. Mark Asher of CNET Gamecenter called this performance a disaster. PC Data reported domestic sales reached 40,351 units through September 2000. Jeff Lundrigan reviewed the PC version giving it two stars out of five stating there was precious little fun. Entertainment Weekly awarded a D rating calling the game a disaster comparable to Waterworld. Computer Gaming World named it the worst game of 2000. Maximum PC editors Will Smith and Geoff Visgilio also listed it as the year's worst title. Nintendo Power gave the N64 version a score of 5.6 out of 10 noting Doom on SNES was superior. David Toole criticized low enemy counts and simplistic music while praising smooth framerate despite cutscene issues. The game received generally negative reviews for outdated graphics repetitive sound effects and poor AI.
Frank Sapone started an unofficial patch project known as Daikatana v1.3 after receiving source code from Romero. The hard drive containing version 1.2 corrupted so he shelved the effort for five years before successfully compiling it. He enlisted other modders to help work on improving the patch over time. By playing multiplayer matches they found bugs and tested code stability throughout development. The first version released in 2014 remains under active development today. The project aims to fix various issues including bug fixes faster loading times and graphical fidelity improvements. Players can disable sound effects or make sidekicks invincible on easy difficulty settings. Online multiplayer now utilizes QTracker service with support for widescreen resolutions up to 4K and 5K. HD textures glowmaps enable modern display compatibility across macOS Linux and FreeBSD systems. Jack Pooley called it a tectonic improvement over the vanilla game while Matteo Lupetti said it became totally playable now. Schnapple noted they delivered a version improved considerably beyond the original. John Walker acknowledged that nothing could fix what a leaden lump of clumsy unfun Daikatana truly is despite the enhancements. Romero has praised and endorsed the project on his Twitter account allowing continued community maintenance.
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Common questions
What is the plot of Daikatana?
In 2455 AD, Dr. Toshiro Ebihara asks swordmaster Hiro Miyamoto to rescue his daughter Mikiko from Kage Mishima who stole the Daikatana and altered history. The story follows Hiro as he travels through time to ancient Greece, Dark Ages Norway, and 2030 San Francisco to defeat Mishima and save humanity.
Why are the sidekicks in Daikatana considered a failure?
The death of either companion results in failing the current level immediately due to poor artificial intelligence implementation. Programming complex behaviors like jumping running fighting and solving puzzles proved extremely difficult for the development team leading to buggy unresponsive characters that critics called a disaster.
Who created the character Superfly Johnson in Daikatana?
Christian Divine created Superfly Johnson originally named Super Williams honoring Jim Kelly's character from Enter the Dragon. Divine designed him with French descent roots based on cultural documents found in the apocalyptic future setting before revealing his true identity at the story's conclusion.
How many copies did Daikatana sell by September 2000?
PC Data reported domestic sales reached 40,351 units through September 2000 which became one of the biggest commercial failures in video game history. Ion Storm projected sales of around 175,000 copies in their 1996 business plan while reports indicated forecasts of 2.5 million units were necessary for profitability.
When was the unofficial patch Daikatana v1.3 released?
Frank Sapone started an unofficial patch project known as Daikatana v1.3 after receiving source code from Romero and shelved the effort for five years before successfully compiling it. The first version released in 2014 remains under active development today to fix various issues including bug fixes faster loading times and graphical fidelity improvements.