DJ Boy
Encyclopedia
DJ Boy is a 1989 beat 'em up
arcade game
developed by Kaneko. It was published in Japan
by Kaneko and in North America
by Sammy
.
DJ Boy was designed as a standard side-scrolling beat'em up game partially based on the hip-hop culture of the U.S. cities
. What made the game unique at the time was the fact that many of the characters rode around on roller skates rather than walking or running.
The premise of the home console game: A young man named Donald J. Boy (DJ Boy) is a roller fighter taking part of an ultimate fight-race known as "Rollergame", taking place in Cigaretch City, located on the outskirts of New York City. Many people were excited to see DJ Boy, but a roller fighter gang known as the Dark Knights want him out of the competition. Their leader, Heavy-Met Tony, calls his gang to kidnap his girlfriend Maria, who also comes into town and defeat DJ Boy. DJ Boy must rescue Maria, defeat the Dark Knights, and win the Rollergame competition in one adventure. The arcade plot tells a different story. Two rollerskaters named Bob & Tom (the two playable characters) were breakdancing to the beat of their boombox, until it got stolen from rollerskater thieves (possibly the Dark Knights), in which they must find and defeat them in order to retrieve what is rightfully theirs.
DJ Boy skates across various stages and utilizes hand to hand combat moves in order to defeat opponents, culminating with a battle with a boss
at the end of each level. Along the path, the player also encounters prizes, which then can be used later to purchase Power-up
s from a store located at the end of each level (in the home version, the arcade simply tallied these as points). In the console versions of the game, as another game, River City Ransom
, the "prizes" consist of coins that are dropped by defeated enemies, or food items like burgers that restore health.
The arcade ROM
was successfully emulated on MAME
in 2007.
was an overweight
Black
woman who attacked by farting
(known as "Big Mama" in the home versions). When the player hit Big Mama a certain amount of times, she would temporarily drop to the ground head first and show off her white frilly bloomers
underneath her dress and then force herself up again. The arcade versions of the game featured two incarnations of "Big Mama" in the same game, one with light brown skin and another with pink skin. The home console ports gave her dark brown skin and bright red lips in the original Japanese port. The arcade version had the character "fart" occasionally simply as a character animation. The home versions turned it into a kind of "Fart fireball" attack that did damage.
For the subsequent home release in North America
and abroad, multiple changes were made. For example, Big Mama (now bearing pink skin) no longer farted; a male stripper character simply appeared in his "Chippendales" outfit from the start, rather than beginning as a homeless looking man who sheds his outer garments to fight. Another potentially offensive change that was made was the insertion of in-game billboards containing Japanese text
with images of scantily clad women (and focusing on crotch images
).
This appears to be the same type of "Are you covered?" scantily clad woman joke that was featured in Konami's Crime Fighters
(a risqué reference to insurance sales), another arcade fighting game.
The western console versions of DJ Boy altered the initial encounter with "Big Mama" from the Japanese home version so that she had neon pink skin and instead of farting, threw doughnut-like pastries at the player. The second encounter had her with tan skin in a martial arts outfit (the Japanese version gave her darker skin for this second encounter, while the arcade version simply featured a single encounter then a second encounter with two identical "Big Mama" foes that had light brown and pink skin to distinguish them, rather than an outfit/attack style change).
The home version added cutscenes in which DJ Boy insults his defeated foes. Other alterations include turning the "robot clown" characters into bosses rather than normal enemies, eliminating some of the "homeless guy/stripper", regular enemies, and featuring a boss that was an "evil twin" of DJ Boy (in blue clothing).
The Disk Jockey was Demon Kogure
in the Japanese arcade version. However, in the North American and PAL arcade versions, the Disk Jockey was Wolfman Jack
, but the in-game sprite is still Demon Kogure. In the home versions, the Disk Jockeys were removed due to memory limitations.
The arcade versions had a two player simultaneous (cooperative or competitive, as players could hurt each other with their attacks) mode with each player controlling a "DJ Boy" with slightly differently colored clothing (Player 1 in Green & Orange, Player 2 in Green & Red), but the home versions did not.
The game features three player simultaneous action using characters that are different from one another (rather than palette swaps), and the optional use of weapons and vehicles as well as a more robust fighting system.
It was successfully emulated in Mame in 2009.
Beat 'em up
Beat 'em up is a video game genre featuring melee combat between the protagonist and a large number of underpowered antagonists. These games typically take place in urban settings and feature crime-fighting and revenge-based plots, though some games may employ historical or fantasy themes...
arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
developed by Kaneko. It was published in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
by Kaneko and in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
by Sammy
Sammy Corporation
was established on November 1, 1975 and is a leading developer and retailer of pachinko and pachislot systems in Japan.In 2001, Sammy Corporation created a subsidiary Sammy Entertainment, Inc. It would later change its name to Sammy Studios in 2002. Sammy Studios is responsible for developing and...
.
DJ Boy was designed as a standard side-scrolling beat'em up game partially based on the hip-hop culture of the U.S. cities
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. What made the game unique at the time was the fact that many of the characters rode around on roller skates rather than walking or running.
The premise of the home console game: A young man named Donald J. Boy (DJ Boy) is a roller fighter taking part of an ultimate fight-race known as "Rollergame", taking place in Cigaretch City, located on the outskirts of New York City. Many people were excited to see DJ Boy, but a roller fighter gang known as the Dark Knights want him out of the competition. Their leader, Heavy-Met Tony, calls his gang to kidnap his girlfriend Maria, who also comes into town and defeat DJ Boy. DJ Boy must rescue Maria, defeat the Dark Knights, and win the Rollergame competition in one adventure. The arcade plot tells a different story. Two rollerskaters named Bob & Tom (the two playable characters) were breakdancing to the beat of their boombox, until it got stolen from rollerskater thieves (possibly the Dark Knights), in which they must find and defeat them in order to retrieve what is rightfully theirs.
DJ Boy skates across various stages and utilizes hand to hand combat moves in order to defeat opponents, culminating with a battle with a boss
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
at the end of each level. Along the path, the player also encounters prizes, which then can be used later to purchase Power-up
Power-up
In computer and video games, power-ups are objects that instantly benefit or add extra abilities to the game character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a benefit and can be used at a time chosen by the player...
s from a store located at the end of each level (in the home version, the arcade simply tallied these as points). In the console versions of the game, as another game, River City Ransom
River City Ransom
River City Ransom, released as in Japan and as Street Gangs in PAL regions, is a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System . It was developed by Technōs Japan and originally released in Japan on April 25, 1989. It is the third game in Technos' Kunio-kun series released for the console,...
, the "prizes" consist of coins that are dropped by defeated enemies, or food items like burgers that restore health.
The arcade ROM
ROM image
A ROM image, or ROM file, is a computer file which contains a copy of the data from a read-only memory chip, often from a video game cartridge, a computer's firmware, or from an arcade game's main board...
was successfully emulated on MAME
MAME
MAME is an emulator application designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. The intention is to preserve gaming history by preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten...
in 2007.
Differences between Arcade and Home Versions
The original Japanese home release of the game featured caricatures that were part of the game's offbeat sense of humor that would've been seen as offensive if they were retained in their western releases. For example, the stage 1 bossBoss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
was an overweight
Overweight
Overweight is generally defined as having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is a common condition, especially where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary...
Black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
woman who attacked by farting
Flatulence
Flatulence is the expulsion through the rectum of a mixture of gases that are byproducts of the digestion process of mammals and other animals. The medical term for the mixture of gases is flatus, informally known as a fart, or simply gas...
(known as "Big Mama" in the home versions). When the player hit Big Mama a certain amount of times, she would temporarily drop to the ground head first and show off her white frilly bloomers
Bloomers (clothing)
Bloomers is a word which has been applied to several types of divided women's garments for the lower body at various times.-Fashion bloomers :...
underneath her dress and then force herself up again. The arcade versions of the game featured two incarnations of "Big Mama" in the same game, one with light brown skin and another with pink skin. The home console ports gave her dark brown skin and bright red lips in the original Japanese port. The arcade version had the character "fart" occasionally simply as a character animation. The home versions turned it into a kind of "Fart fireball" attack that did damage.
For the subsequent home release in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and abroad, multiple changes were made. For example, Big Mama (now bearing pink skin) no longer farted; a male stripper character simply appeared in his "Chippendales" outfit from the start, rather than beginning as a homeless looking man who sheds his outer garments to fight. Another potentially offensive change that was made was the insertion of in-game billboards containing Japanese text
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
with images of scantily clad women (and focusing on crotch images
Intimate part
An intimate, personal, or private part is a place on the human body which is customarily kept covered by clothing in public venues and conventional settings, as a matter of decency, decorum, and respectfulness...
).
This appears to be the same type of "Are you covered?" scantily clad woman joke that was featured in Konami's Crime Fighters
Crime Fighters
is a 1989 side-scrolling beat-em-up released by Konami for the arcades. The player takes control of an undercover police officer who is assigned to rescue a group of kidnapped girls from a crime boss. Much like Konami's arcade version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , the game was available in...
(a risqué reference to insurance sales), another arcade fighting game.
The western console versions of DJ Boy altered the initial encounter with "Big Mama" from the Japanese home version so that she had neon pink skin and instead of farting, threw doughnut-like pastries at the player. The second encounter had her with tan skin in a martial arts outfit (the Japanese version gave her darker skin for this second encounter, while the arcade version simply featured a single encounter then a second encounter with two identical "Big Mama" foes that had light brown and pink skin to distinguish them, rather than an outfit/attack style change).
The home version added cutscenes in which DJ Boy insults his defeated foes. Other alterations include turning the "robot clown" characters into bosses rather than normal enemies, eliminating some of the "homeless guy/stripper", regular enemies, and featuring a boss that was an "evil twin" of DJ Boy (in blue clothing).
The Disk Jockey was Demon Kogure
Demon Kogure
, previously known as Demon Kogure, is a Japanese musician, entertainer, journalist and sumo commentator. He is the frontman of the heavy metal band Seikima-II, and is known for always working entirely in character....
in the Japanese arcade version. However, in the North American and PAL arcade versions, the Disk Jockey was Wolfman Jack
Wolfman Jack
Robert Weston Smith, known commonly as Wolfman Jack was a gravelly voiced US disc jockey who became famous in the 1960s and 1970s.-Early career:...
, but the in-game sprite is still Demon Kogure. In the home versions, the Disk Jockeys were removed due to memory limitations.
The arcade versions had a two player simultaneous (cooperative or competitive, as players could hurt each other with their attacks) mode with each player controlling a "DJ Boy" with slightly differently colored clothing (Player 1 in Green & Orange, Player 2 in Green & Red), but the home versions did not.
B.Rap Boys
In 1992, a sequel, B.Rap Boys was produced and contained similar designs and content, although Kaneko, perhaps intending to deflect further criticism, made one of the player characters black.The game features three player simultaneous action using characters that are different from one another (rather than palette swaps), and the optional use of weapons and vehicles as well as a more robust fighting system.
It was successfully emulated in Mame in 2009.