French
DeutschZero4 Champ
| Zero4 Champ | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Media Rings |
| Publisher(s) | Media Rings |
| Director(s) | Yutaka Kaminaga |
| Platform(s) | PC Engine |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Racing video game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Zero4 Champ (ゼロヨンチャンプ, Zeroyon Chanpu) is a series of racing games created by Yutaka Kaminaga at Media Rings, which started in 1991 with the PC Engine title Zero4 Champ.
The series would transfer to the Kaminaga-founded WorkJam with the PlayStation 2 title Zero4 Champ Series: Drift Champ, co-developed by Tamsoft and published by Hudson Soft, along with the mobile phone Go! Zero4 Champ developed by Profire, both of which were released in late 2002.
Conception
[edit]In Japan, street racing sometimes occurs on long straights in industrial areas, which are used for drag races. These races are known as "zero-yon" (ゼロヨン) or "04", short for "0-400 meters", ヨン being Japanese for the number four.
Japanese drag racing is noted for its flair, featuring various sport-grade Japanese cars such as the Toyota MR2-GT (SW20), Mazda RX-7 Type RS (FD3S), Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VI (CP9A), Subaru Impreza WRX STi (GDB), the Nissan Skyline GT-R V-Spec (BNR34), and Honda NSX Type-S Zero (NA2), all import scene classics.
Summary
[edit]The series is something of a predecessor to works like Initial D and Wangan Midnight, with its touge racing, aero parts tuning, and anime-style "Story Mode". It has also RPG and simulation gameplay which was succeeded by the Shutokou Battle titles Kattobi Tune and Racing Battle C1 Grand Prix.
History
[edit]
1991.03.08: Zero4 Champ (ゼロヨンチャンプ), PC Engine- 1993.05.03: Zero4 Champ II (ゼロヨンチャンプII), PC Engine Super CD-ROM²
- 1994.07.22: Zero4 Champ RR (ゼロヨンチャンプ ダブルアール), Super Famicom
- 1995.11.25: Zero4 Champ RR-Z (ゼロヨンチャンプ ダブルアール・ヅィー), Super Famicom
- 1997.06.20: Zero4 Champ DooZy-J (ゼロヨンチャンプ ドゥーヅィージェイ), PlayStation / Sega Saturn (subtitled Type-R / タイプアール for the latter console)
- 2002.11.21: Zero4 Champ Series: Drift Champ (ゼロヨンチャンプ シリーズ ドリフトチャンプ), PlayStation 2 (Hudson Soft)
- 2002.12.24: Go! Zero4 Champ (GO!04チャンプ), Mobile phone i-mode 504i (Hudson Soft / Profire)
Zero4 Extreme
[edit]In June 2005, a fan-made flash game Zero4 Extreme (ゼロヨンエクストリーム) was released by Kuruma,[1] though it is currently a dead link.