I just got the game in the post myself. From what I can gather it's based off a children's show on agriculture in Hokkaido aired around 1988.
One of the mascot characters the cattle folk called: Kitano earth, so I am guessing this game is based from those characters. They were made popular from the song they were singing "Ya Ren Soran Hokkaido"
I think the show may be called PeekaPika musical estate / ピッカピカ音楽館. It is owned by TV Asahi.
Salio Inc. (サリオ) was a video game publishing company. It was the first third-party publisher to support a Sega console in Japan. Situated near Tecmo HQ, Salio published three games - Argos no Juujiken (a.k.a. a port of the Arcade version of Rygar), Solomon no Kagi: Oujo Rihita no Namida (Solomon's Key) and Daichikun Crisis: Do Natural. The first two for the Sega Master System in 1988 and the third for the PC Engine (Turbografx-16) in 1989. The company then stopped publishing. So I think Daichi Kun is their first and only pc engine game released.
http://www.giantbomb.com/salio-inc/3010-1042/Title:Daichi Kun Crisis - do Natural / 大地くんクライシス
Publisher:Salio
format: HuCard
Release Date: November 22nd 1989
price: 6,400円
card size: Somewhere between 3megabit and 4....(need more info here)
I hope my hiragana/kanji is correct here
Story:The year is 1997 (which is the year of the Ox according to the Chinese calendar) Daichi kun with his family and companions lived in Moo Cow Land which is cold and infertile. One day a witch named Jaren appeared and began making Volcanos. Eventually the land turned green and warm and became rich in cultivation. A "Black Path" was also formed from the Volcanic crater and monsters lurking underneath the Volcano began to surface and and spread volcanic ash destroying the greenery and life.
Who is this mysterious woman called Jaren? Why did she appear? Where did these Volcanic underground monsters came from? Why are they attacking? What is the purpose of the "Black Path"
?
Daichi Kun with his companions are joined together along with a Crow called Alice and a bear called Goro they fight and keep the islands agriculture safe. But, with their agriculture know how and a machine called "Geiger No" Together you must save the island!
Build and make yourself stronger by planting crops, learn to harvest them at the right time, sell them to make money, use this money, keep yourselves fit and healthy, build your defences (Think strategically)!!, upgrade your machinery! Fight to save the island(Be Bull-ish! ho! ho!)!!!! Daichi Kun Crisis!
Controls:
Gameplay:
The main aim of the game is to grow crops and sell them to earn money. In order to do this you will have to clear the island of the monsters and the ash they leave behind. The monsters and volcanic ash are toxic and will destroy your crops. Ash spreads from the monsters that appear from the "Black Path" exit. Ash over time when left will spread and begin to harden. they also damage young tree saplings.
So taking control of Daichi Kun you start of with 200 Tomato Seeds and 200 corn seeds. (using select to select between the seeds you have on you) by pressing button I you will sow them anywhere on the island provided there is no volcanic ash. To remove any ash just stand over it and press button I x 3 to clear (imagine the island is made up of an invisible grid) a grid. Whenever the land is clear of ash pressing button I will sow whatever seed is currently displayed on the top right of the game screen so be careful where you plant them as certain terrain the seeds will just die. Volcanic ash will also harden into a square block. This will require a bit more time to remove.
Your companions for most of their part just automatically follow you around and automatically just pick up the ash. When monsters appear Alice the crow since she is always flying acts as a lookout will signal with her crowing sounds to warn you of oncoming danger. Your companions automatically fight. You can too by pressing button II. Getting hit will knock you unconscious so you will have to find a way to attack strategically (the best way is to approach enemies like you do while controlling Adol in Ys I & II and YsIV) you will need to approach them at a certain angle and attack by pressing button II rather than attack them head on.
There are certain enemies that cannot be attacked! Be careful what you sow. Seeds don't grow very well during the colder months. Also crops do not like the sea air so keep them away from the island borders.
Geiger No MachineI am guessing the game creators researched into this machine and it's creator:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geiger_counterThe Geiger No Machine is quite important in aiding you agriculturally. Using Button II to pick up or put down the Geiger No, once you are carrying it you can use button I to suck up all the ash. This speeds up volcanic ash collecting considerably. Only problem is Daichi Kun cannot attack monsters while possessing the Geiger No. The Geiger No can also be used to create rivers. While in possession of the Geiger find a lake, walk towards the edge of the lake by pressing button I you can dig up the ground around the lake and the water will eventually flow into the dug up ground. Be careful however if you use the Geiger No over your recently made river you will fill up the grid you are standing on back to it's original state cutting off the river flow.
Rivers once fully flowing will slow both you, your companions and enemies down when you are trying to cross to the other side. Be careful tho
river banks tend to over flood so they can get get larger over time. Particularly from October 9月 up til around December 12月. You can use the Geiger No to reduce the size of these flooded lakes and rivers.
*Rivers can slow down enemies and they will perish if they wander too much in the river. Any flying enemies which can't be attacked will also perish quickly while flying over rivers that you have created* You can also use the Geiger No to harvest your crops. Watch out because when left alone enemies will also try and destroy it.
The Geiger No will also need fuel and upgrades. The top right of the game map just under the seed icon will show you the level of fuel in your Geiger. When the fuel is depleted the Geiger will be very slow to move around. You can refuel and upgrade the Geiger when Port Town is open.
The Menu System:
RUN button
The RUN button will bring up a pause window. Here you will see the date and how much money you have. If you click on Daichi Kun's avatar You will bring up the 'Main Menu'.
1) Check brings up status of you crops and everyone in the field plus items in their possession.
2) Use items purchased in Port Town
3) The gift icon allows you to give/take items purchased in town to and from your companions
4) Give set, instructions to your companions individually or as a team. ie concetrate on removing ash, fight etc.
5) Grandpa Hokkaido gives your hints (in hiragana of course)
6) Back up, back up to RAM or write down the the password. (although the back up RAM does not seem to save the current state)!
pressing SELECT will bring up a brief description too.
Purchasing items:
Shovels: You will need to be careful with shovels. They are used for digging holes and great for getting rid of monsters or making rivers become wider (especially Shovel B). You companions can also injure themselves if they fall into those holes. Digging a hole is restricted to certain terrain.
Mil 9: purchase from the pharmacy for 100 each. You will need this to replen your HP when after fighting and your HP is low. Otherwise you or your companions will collapse and be out of action for a few months. check status to see their HP levels. The health point meter kinda looks like a baby bottle!
POWER UP: Is basically for Geiger No machine. Makes the machine stronger in sucking up ash etc.
Each character apart from Suzuran can carry up to 4 items each.One in-game month lasts 1 minute of real life time. So 12 in-game months is basically 12 real life minutes. Then the in game year will start all over again and you will have to plant certain crops during certain seasons in order for them to grow and be harvested.
During certain times of the year particularly in January 1月, March 3月, July 7月 and October 10月 the game will chime a "moo moo" sound. This is to let you know the port town is open for trade. Here you can sell your crop and use that money to buy food, medicine, fuel for the Geiger No machine, increase your strength, buy a better hoe, and most importantly buy more seeds; Tomatoes, Corn and Tree seeds.
Harvested tomatoes sell for 80 each
Harvested corn sell for 50 eachPort Town. Sell your harvest in the florist merchant area.
NOT sure if this is 100% correct yet but:
Tomatoes should be planted around march 3月 up till the end of August 8月 (although I think the manual says it is better to grow them during April till July)
Corn should be planted from Sep 9月 till around Nov 11月
Those seeds play a very important aspect of the game! Trees have a way of spawning so you do not have to buy many tree seeds and neither do you need to plant them so close to each other. Trees seeds along with Tomato and Corn seeds will not grow on certain areas of the island.
Trees: can be sown all year round. It looks like Trees take a full in-game 12 months to mature. Once a tree has fully grown volcanic ash cannot settle on them and be destroyed unlike the younger saplings.
Trees should be planted strategically where the volcanic monsters won't destroy any new tree buds the island will eventually turn green..
Get the island covered with at least 75% fully matured trees and you will be .... confronted with the boss of that island! Beat it and you will advance to another island. Rinse repeatFirst Volcano Boss, avoid boss projectiles and any toxic droplets from the ceiling. Button I = Jump, Button II = attack. Hold button II down to power up and unleash a street figher-eque surging-hoof.
You cannot pause during boss fights and while powering up you cannot move!
After you beat the Island boss it's time for new adventures. You can sail and start any island whatever order.
This can be a very long drawn out game. I think it is a necessity to have a memory back up unit in order to save your game play. There is a password feature where you write down a lot of Hiragana characters but good luck with that....
It's quite possibly this game was a huge influence in the the creation of Yashushiro Wada's Harvest Moon series. The similarities seem more than coincidence. Purchase seeds, grow your own vegetables, sell them to make a profit. Manage your money and manage your companions. Don't know why TTI passed this up. An all-in-one fantasy farm simulation meets RPG meets real time strategy with some arcade action boss fights. This could have had a cult following in the US even globally. If you are one of those that likes spending hours creating things. This is for you. It can be quite slow and the monster fights ever few minutes adds a little annoyance and distraction to the growing and harvesting of crops.
TIPS: TBC
Unfortunately this is one of those games that seems to play the intro everytime you boot up the game. Fortunately it can be skipped. Just press the RUN button and tap button I a few times after the publishing names fade away ie 'Presented by Salio'
