(Sega AM1's universe)
The House of the Dead Dennou Shinan: Dr. Curien no Houkoku Sho (ザ・ハウス・オブ・ザ・デッド 電脳指南 ～Dr.キュリアンの報告書～, Za hausu Obu za deddo den'nō shinan ~ Dr. Kyurian no hōkoku-sho ~) is a guidebook for the Japanese Sega Saturn release of The House of the Dead.
Contents[]
The guidebook is primarily written from the perspective of Dr. Curien, the main antagonist of The House of the Dead. It is organized into nine chapters, or "files". 8 of them are numbered, and the final one is labelled file X. The in-game screenshots are from the Sega Saturn version of the game, while the official artwork and creature models are from the arcade release.
Throughout the guide, creatures are erroneously named "zombies".
File 1: Curien House Floor Plan (pp. 4-5)[]
This section contains the map of the Curien Mansion, which shows all the branching paths in the game (and is normally only visible when the player dies).
File 2: Related person introduction (pp. 6-9)[]
This section has biographical information for Thomas Rogan (misspelled as "Rorgan"), G, Sophie Richards, and the DBR Researcher (a hidden playable character). Every character also has information on their attributes when selected in Saturn Mode, with Rogan and G each having two alternate versions named Rogan 2 and G 2, respectively.
File 3: Zombie types and characteristics (pp. 10-17)[]
Spanning eight pages, this section lists the names, type numbers, health values, chapter appearances, and gameplay strategies for all 25 main creatures (once more inaccurately called "zombies") encountered in the game. Each of the first 20 have charts which show the damage values when certain body parts are shot. The last five creatures (Devilon, Bouere, Murrer, Name, and Thalang) lack these charts because they all die in a single shot.
File 4: Basics of how to deal with zombies (pp. 18-26)[]
This section gives strategies on the best ways to defeat the creatures.
File 5: Placement of zombies in the building and how to deal with them (pp. 27-150)[]
This section contains the main walkthrough of the game. It covers all possible branching paths and boss fights. Each boss section also has official artwork accompanied by a paragraph of lore.
File 6: Mysterious phenomenon of the building (back technique) (pp. 151-153)[]
File 7: Methods of destroying my works of art (Boss Mode) (pp. 154-155)[]
This section discusses the home port-exclusive Boss Mode.
File 8: Talking with the creator (developer interview) (pp. 156-158)[]
This section contains a three-page interview with The House of the Dead director Takashi Oda, programmers Koji Ooto and Kazutomo Sanbongi, and designer Nobutaka Tozawa. Curien serves as the interviewer.
The team first discusses The House of the Dead's inception: after sister development division Sega AM2 released Virtua Cop, Sega AM1 wanted to make a light gun game as well, but with a more adult theme. The game originally had paranormal elements before the team decided to use zombies (creatures).
Unused gameplay concepts are then explored. A scrapped branching path is briefly mentioned. Chariot's armor originally flew off, with players required to shoot it to avoid damage. Once armorless, he pursued players up a ladder inside a hidden fireplace entrance. He would also only be defeated if all the meat on his body was blasted to bone. Because players had trouble figuring out which armor to shoot, the fight was changed.
Story-wise, the team reveals that Sophie Richards was originally intended to be a boss. The players would have found a dropped handbag and pendent before finding Sophie as a creature; they would then have to kill her. The cutscene where she was seemingly killed by Chariot also did not originally exist.
Rogan 2 and G 2, palette swaps of Thomas Rogan and G in the console-exclusive Saturn Mode, were intended to be AMS agents who arrived at the Curien Mansion before Rogan and G. The first DBR researcher who is killed in Chapter 1 ("Others are still inside... Save them") was originally Rogan 2 with a beard. He became a DBR researcher; this was presumably because Sega AM1 felt that players would not recognize the Rogan 2 character. Rogan 2 and G 2 remain playable via secret codes for the arcade version, as well as the console-exclusive Saturn Mode.
Oda details scrapped endings for the game. Magician, who had feathers "like an angel", could never be defeated in battle. In the good ending, Dr. Curien would have atoned for the atrocities he committed and hugged Magician as it self-destructed. The bad ending had Magician flying away to destroy the world.
The team wanted a variety of features in the game's Sega Saturn port. These included a movie that explained the game's lore, a mode that changed enemy placements, and a mode that enlarged the size of enemies' heads. Oda jokingly calls the latter idea a "kids mode", stating that it was scrapped because it made the game too easy (the idea was realized in The House of the Dead 2's Original Mode).
To conclude the interview, the team is asked to describe what they want players to pay attention to. Oda and Sanbongi want players to observe the varied movements and attack patterns of the creatures; Toki wants them to enjoy the graphics; and Ooto hopes that they will sympathize with Dr. Curien after learning about the story.
File X: Odor (Image Fiction) (pp. 70, 106, 138, 150)[]
Interspersed throughout the guide are four pages containing creature illustrations accompanying paragraphs of story. As with most of the guide itself, they are written from Dr. Curien's perspective.
Gallery[]
v • e content
| |||
|---|---|---|---|