Door Door
Encyclopedia
is a Japan
ese-developed puzzle-platformer video game designed by Koichi Nakamura
and published by Enix
. As Enix's debut title, Door Door first released in February 1983 for the NEC PC-8801
and was subsequently converted for other Japanese computers. The game's success prompted a Famicom
port and an expanded edition in 1985 and a mobile phone
release in 2004. In 2006, editors of the popular Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu
placed the game among classics such as Super Mario Bros.
and Donkey Kong
in its listing of the best Famicom games; despite its popularity, Door Door has never been released outside of Japan.
' s blend of puzzle and platform game
elements requires strategy, anticipation, and dexterity. Players control Chun, a small, spherical creature outfitted with a baseball cap. Chun is relentlessly pursued by a quartet of computer-controlled aliens traveling in unique deterministic
paths. The most predictable aliens Namegon and Amechan follow Chun in the most direct path possible, Invekun deviates and follows roundabout paths using ladders, and Otapyon shadows Chun's jumps.
The player's objective is to trap the aliens behind sliding doors positioned throughout each level
, courses composed of platforms conjoined by assorted ladders. To trap the aliens, players approach the door from the side its handle is on, open it by running across it, lure the advancing villains inside, and shut the door yester they escape. Trapped doors cannot be opened again. Chun can jump to avoid the aliens, whose touch spells death. Bombs and nails, which sometimes appear on the screen, are also lethal. When the player dies (provided who has continues) who restarts the level with previously trapped aliens vanished, and all doors are accessible again.
The status bar running along the top of the playing screen gives the player's score
, the high score, the level number, and the number of live
s remaining. Points are awarded for trapping aliens behind doors (with extra points going to players who corral multiple aliens behind one door) and collecting confectionery that intermittently appear and disappear on the playing screen, which include a striped piece of candy
, an ice pop
, a lollipop
, a bowl of ice cream
, a slice of cake
, and a Mahjong
tile. Players begin with three lives. Scoring 10,000 points awards the player an extra life; scoring intervals of 20,000 points thereafter awards the player more lives. If the player loses all lives, the game is over, forcing the player to restart from the first level.
As players advance, the levels become more complicated, many requiring abstract strategies. The eighth level pits Chun against a lone Otapyon alien; the player's strategy requires purposely allowing the Otapyon to shadow his jumps with the intention of guiding the unsuspecting Otapyon across the level's myriad platforms and into the doorway.
If an alien remains with all doors closed, the player is placed in a no-win situation
. The ninth level, a flat expanse with two Namegon aliens and one door, illustrates this dilemma. Because the level begins with them spaced far apart, it is initially impossible to guide both aliens in the single door without one escaping. Allowing one to escape, however, places it closer to its counterpart, in turn enabling the player to trap both. If the player traps only one, then who must sacrifice one life as the stage will be impossible to complete.
The 50th level requires such timing that failure at any part guarantees an impossible-to-win scenario. As in the previous case, the player's only option is to kamikaze to continue play. This is not a programming error, but another aspect of the game's difficulty level. This is a unique trait of Door Door as most games prevent such a scenario with a time limit (such as Super Mario Bros.) or physical restriction (such as Tetris
). There is no ending in Door Door; after completing the final level, the game simply restarts at the first level, although the player keeps whose allocated score and is allowed to build upon it with successive plays through the game.
decided to set up Enix, a PC business, in 1982. Fukushima wasn't a programmer himself, and Enix, in a broad sense, was simply intended to be a publishing company
. To pool the talent of individual game designers, Enix sponsored a national programming contest. Three hundred programs were entered into the contest, and the first prize went to programming prodigy and high school student Koichi Nakamura for his puzzle game, Door Door. Yuji Horii
placed in the finals of the same contest with a computer tennis game; both were subsequently hired by Enix and the rights to Door Door became property of Enix. Enix published the game on a wide range of Japanese computers, including NEC's PC-8801, Fujitsu's FM-7, and Sharp's MZ-2000. With sales exceeding 200,000 copies, Door Door was a huge success. The popularity of the budding console market prompted a 1985 release on Nintendo's Famicom. In 1986, Enix's third Famicom production and first console role-playing game made Hori and Nakamura household names in Japan: Dragon Quest.
Enix's unique approach as a game company—contracting talent for game development, then publishing the games—started a new trend in the computer and video game industry
. Like publishing companies and writers, Enix established the concept of royalties between them and their contractors. In 1984, Nakamura created a relatively exclusive contracting company, christened Chunsoft
in honor of Door Doors diminutive hero.
An expanded version of the game, branded Door Door mkII, was released three years after the original in February 1985. The game was ported to MSX computers, NEC's PC-6001, PC-6001mkII, PC-6601, PC-8801, PC-8801mkII, and PC-8801mkIISR models, Sharp's MZ-2000, and Fujitsu's FM-7. It features 100 levels and the option to start the game from the new set of levels (beginning with level 51). Encouraged by the rapidly increasing popularity of video game consoles in Japan, Enix also ported Door Door to Nintendo's Famicom. In March 2004, Chunsoft celebrated their 20th anniversary by releasing a version of Door Door for Japanese mobile phone networks. A faithful reproduction of the Famicom version, the application is available for the NTT DoCoMo
FOMA
505i and 900i series phones, and can be downloaded from i-chunsoft for ¥
300 per month. To the right is a table of all licensed ports of Door Door.
Not all ports of the game are perfect reproductions across the board. Few of the ports reproduce the original version's color scheme exactly; often the types of aliens sport different colors, and in the PC-6001 version of Door Door the background color is blue instead of black. Other versions, such as those released for MSX computers, suffer from a slower framerate due to hardware limitations. Fujitsu's FM-7 port doesn't support the game's native sound format and is plagued by inferior sound quality. The gameplay is limited by the computer's memory capacity; as a result, older computer models (such as NEC's PC-6001) featured only 40 levels in comparison to the Famicom's 50 and the PC-8801's 100. The Famicom port is the only version to feature a competitive two-player mode.
is readily available for free (albeit illegal) download over the World Wide Web. The game also appears in all versions of the "Power Player
" brand of Famiclones
, unlicensed hardware duplicates of Nintendo's Famicom game console. Door Door is just one of seventy five games built into the system. Because the game relies on very little text (of which is entirely in English), Door Door is easily accessible to people of all languages.
General resources
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...
ese-developed puzzle-platformer video game designed by Koichi Nakamura
Koichi Nakamura
is a Japanese video game designer. A programming prodigy, Nakamura gained fame while still in high school; in 1982 he entered Enix's national programming contest and claimed first place with his entry, Door Door...
and published by Enix
Enix
The was a Japanese company that produced video games, anime and manga. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975 as and renamed Enix in 1982...
. As Enix's debut title, Door Door first released in February 1983 for the NEC PC-8801
NEC PC-8801
The NEC PC-8801 was an early Zilog Z80-based computer exclusively released in Japan, where it became very popular, by NEC Corporation in 1981. It was informally called the "PC-88"....
and was subsequently converted for other Japanese computers. The game's success prompted a Famicom
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
port and an expanded edition in 1985 and a mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
release in 2004. In 2006, editors of the popular Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
placed the game among classics such as Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros.
is a 1985 platform video game developed by Nintendo, published for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a sequel to the 1983 game Mario Bros. In Super Mario Bros., the player controls Mario as he travels through the Mushroom Kingdom in order to rescue Princess Toadstool from the antagonist...
and Donkey Kong
Donkey Kong (video game)
is an arcade game released by Nintendo in 1981. It is an early example of the platform game genre, as the gameplay focuses on maneuvering the main character across a series of platforms while dodging and jumping over obstacles. In the game, Jumpman must rescue a damsel in distress, Lady, from a...
in its listing of the best Famicom games; despite its popularity, Door Door has never been released outside of Japan.
Gameplay
Door DoorPlatform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
elements requires strategy, anticipation, and dexterity. Players control Chun, a small, spherical creature outfitted with a baseball cap. Chun is relentlessly pursued by a quartet of computer-controlled aliens traveling in unique deterministic
Deterministic algorithm
In computer science, a deterministic algorithm is an algorithm which, in informal terms, behaves predictably. Given a particular input, it will always produce the same output, and the underlying machine will always pass through the same sequence of states...
paths. The most predictable aliens Namegon and Amechan follow Chun in the most direct path possible, Invekun deviates and follows roundabout paths using ladders, and Otapyon shadows Chun's jumps.
The player's objective is to trap the aliens behind sliding doors positioned throughout each level
Level (computer and video games)
A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...
, courses composed of platforms conjoined by assorted ladders. To trap the aliens, players approach the door from the side its handle is on, open it by running across it, lure the advancing villains inside, and shut the door yester they escape. Trapped doors cannot be opened again. Chun can jump to avoid the aliens, whose touch spells death. Bombs and nails, which sometimes appear on the screen, are also lethal. When the player dies (provided who has continues) who restarts the level with previously trapped aliens vanished, and all doors are accessible again.
Score (gaming)
In games, score refers to an abstract quantity associated with a player or team. Score is usually measured in the abstract unit of points, and events in the game can raise or lower the score of different parties...
, the high score, the level number, and the number of live
1-up
1-up , pronounced "one up", is a term in console video gaming that commonly refers to an item that gives the player an extra life, to complete the game. In certain games, it is possible to receive multiple extra lives at once...
s remaining. Points are awarded for trapping aliens behind doors (with extra points going to players who corral multiple aliens behind one door) and collecting confectionery that intermittently appear and disappear on the playing screen, which include a striped piece of candy
Candy
Candy, specifically sugar candy, is a confection made from a concentrated solution of sugar in water, to which flavorings and colorants are added...
, an ice pop
Ice pop
An ice pop, also referred to in the United States as a popsicle, and in the United Kingdom as an ice lolly, lolly ice or ice lollipop, is a frozen, water-based dessert. It is made by freezing flavored liquid around a stick. Often, the juice is colored artificially...
, a lollipop
Lollipop
A lollipop, pop, lolly, sucker, or sticky-pop is a type of confectionery consisting mainly of hardened, flavored sucrose with corn syrup mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. They are available in many flavors and shapes.- Types :Lollipops are available in a number of colors and...
, a bowl of ice cream
Ice cream
Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...
, a slice of cake
Cake
Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet and enriched baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape...
, and a Mahjong
Mahjong
Mahjong, sometimes spelled Mah Jongg, is a game that originated in China, commonly played by four players...
tile. Players begin with three lives. Scoring 10,000 points awards the player an extra life; scoring intervals of 20,000 points thereafter awards the player more lives. If the player loses all lives, the game is over, forcing the player to restart from the first level.
As players advance, the levels become more complicated, many requiring abstract strategies. The eighth level pits Chun against a lone Otapyon alien; the player's strategy requires purposely allowing the Otapyon to shadow his jumps with the intention of guiding the unsuspecting Otapyon across the level's myriad platforms and into the doorway.
If an alien remains with all doors closed, the player is placed in a no-win situation
No-win situation
A no-win situation, also called a "lose-lose" situation, is one where a person has choices, but no choice leads to a net gain. For example, if an executioner offers the condemned the choice of dying by being hanged, shot, or poisoned, since all choices lead to death, the condemned is in a no-win...
. The ninth level, a flat expanse with two Namegon aliens and one door, illustrates this dilemma. Because the level begins with them spaced far apart, it is initially impossible to guide both aliens in the single door without one escaping. Allowing one to escape, however, places it closer to its counterpart, in turn enabling the player to trap both. If the player traps only one, then who must sacrifice one life as the stage will be impossible to complete.
The 50th level requires such timing that failure at any part guarantees an impossible-to-win scenario. As in the previous case, the player's only option is to kamikaze to continue play. This is not a programming error, but another aspect of the game's difficulty level. This is a unique trait of Door Door as most games prevent such a scenario with a time limit (such as Super Mario Bros.) or physical restriction (such as Tetris
Tetris
Tetris is a puzzle video game originally designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov in the Soviet Union. It was released on June 6, 1984, while he was working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic...
). There is no ending in Door Door; after completing the final level, the game simply restarts at the first level, although the player keeps whose allocated score and is allowed to build upon it with successive plays through the game.
Development and history
Inspired by the popularity of personal computers in the United States, Yasuhiro FukushimaYasuhiro Fukushima
is the founder of Japanese video game software giant Enix and largest shareholder of the company's successor, Square Enix following Enix's merger with Square Co., Ltd...
decided to set up Enix, a PC business, in 1982. Fukushima wasn't a programmer himself, and Enix, in a broad sense, was simply intended to be a publishing company
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
. To pool the talent of individual game designers, Enix sponsored a national programming contest. Three hundred programs were entered into the contest, and the first prize went to programming prodigy and high school student Koichi Nakamura for his puzzle game, Door Door. Yuji Horii
Yuji Horii
is a Japanese video game designer and scenario writer best known as the creator of the Dragon Quest series of console role-playing games, as well as the visual novel adventure game Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken.-History:Dragon Quest is recognized as the first role-playing game to posit the idea...
placed in the finals of the same contest with a computer tennis game; both were subsequently hired by Enix and the rights to Door Door became property of Enix. Enix published the game on a wide range of Japanese computers, including NEC's PC-8801, Fujitsu's FM-7, and Sharp's MZ-2000. With sales exceeding 200,000 copies, Door Door was a huge success. The popularity of the budding console market prompted a 1985 release on Nintendo's Famicom. In 1986, Enix's third Famicom production and first console role-playing game made Hori and Nakamura household names in Japan: Dragon Quest.
Enix's unique approach as a game company—contracting talent for game development, then publishing the games—started a new trend in the computer and video game industry
Computer and video game industry
The video game industry is the economic sector involved with the development, marketing and sales of video games...
. Like publishing companies and writers, Enix established the concept of royalties between them and their contractors. In 1984, Nakamura created a relatively exclusive contracting company, christened Chunsoft
Chunsoft
is a Japanese video game developer specializing in console RPGs and visual novels. It was founded by Koichi Nakamura, a video game designer from Enix...
in honor of Door Doors diminutive hero.
Ports and expanded editions
| Platform | Media | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| NEC PC-8801 NEC PC-8801 The NEC PC-8801 was an early Zilog Z80-based computer exclusively released in Japan, where it became very popular, by NEC Corporation in 1981. It was informally called the "PC-88".... |
5 1/4-inch DD floppy disk | February 1983 1983 in video gaming -Events:* A major shakeout of the video game industry begins. By 1986, total video games sales will decrease from US$3.2 billion to US$0.1 billion.* MCA Universal files suit against Nintendo, claiming that the latter company's video arcade hit Donkey Kong violated Universal's copyright on King Kong... |
| Sharp MZ-2000 | Cassette tape Compact Cassette The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel... |
1983 |
| Fujitsu FM-7 FM-7 FM-7 is a home computer released in 1982 in Japan.The Fujitsu FM-7 was Fujitsu's first entry into the Japanese home computer market, and for their debut computer, they chose to come out with a 6809-based personal computer very similar to Radio Shack's Color Computer.-Hardware:*Two MC 68B09 CPUs @... |
3.5-inch floppy disk Floppy disk A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles... |
1983 |
| NEC NEC , a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government.... PC-6001 |
Cassette tape Compact Cassette The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel... |
1984 |
| Fujitsu FM-77 | 3.5-inch floppy disk Floppy disk A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles... |
1984 |
| MSX MSX MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation... computers |
Cartridge | 1984 |
| Famicom Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987... |
Cartridge | July 18, 1985 |
| NTT DoCoMo NTT DoCoMo is the predominant mobile phone operator in Japan. The name is officially an abbreviation of the phrase, "do communications over the mobile network", and is also from a compound word dokomo, meaning "everywhere" in Japanese. Docomo provides phone, video phone , i-mode , and mail services... FOMA Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access is the brand name of the W-CDMA-based 3G telecommunications services being offered by the Japanese telecommunications service provider NTT DoCoMo... 505i and 900i series of mobile phone Mobile phone A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator... s |
Paid download | March 1, 2004 |
An expanded version of the game, branded Door Door mkII, was released three years after the original in February 1985. The game was ported to MSX computers, NEC's PC-6001, PC-6001mkII, PC-6601, PC-8801, PC-8801mkII, and PC-8801mkIISR models, Sharp's MZ-2000, and Fujitsu's FM-7. It features 100 levels and the option to start the game from the new set of levels (beginning with level 51). Encouraged by the rapidly increasing popularity of video game consoles in Japan, Enix also ported Door Door to Nintendo's Famicom. In March 2004, Chunsoft celebrated their 20th anniversary by releasing a version of Door Door for Japanese mobile phone networks. A faithful reproduction of the Famicom version, the application is available for the NTT DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo
is the predominant mobile phone operator in Japan. The name is officially an abbreviation of the phrase, "do communications over the mobile network", and is also from a compound word dokomo, meaning "everywhere" in Japanese. Docomo provides phone, video phone , i-mode , and mail services...
FOMA
Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access
Freedom of Mobile Multimedia Access is the brand name of the W-CDMA-based 3G telecommunications services being offered by the Japanese telecommunications service provider NTT DoCoMo...
505i and 900i series phones, and can be downloaded from i-chunsoft for ¥
Japanese yen
The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third most traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S. dollar, the euro and the pound sterling...
300 per month. To the right is a table of all licensed ports of Door Door.
Not all ports of the game are perfect reproductions across the board. Few of the ports reproduce the original version's color scheme exactly; often the types of aliens sport different colors, and in the PC-6001 version of Door Door the background color is blue instead of black. Other versions, such as those released for MSX computers, suffer from a slower framerate due to hardware limitations. Fujitsu's FM-7 port doesn't support the game's native sound format and is plagued by inferior sound quality. The gameplay is limited by the computer's memory capacity; as a result, older computer models (such as NEC's PC-6001) featured only 40 levels in comparison to the Famicom's 50 and the PC-8801's 100. The Famicom port is the only version to feature a competitive two-player mode.
Pirated copies
Like nearly all Famicom games, the game's ROM imageROM 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...
is readily available for free (albeit illegal) download over the World Wide Web. The game also appears in all versions of the "Power Player
Power Player Super Joy III
The Power Player Super Joy III consoles are a line of unauthorized handheld Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom clones manufactured by NRTRADE that are sold in North America, Brazil, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The system resembles a Nintendo 64 controller and attaches to a TV set...
" brand of Famiclones
Nintendo Entertainment System hardware clone
Owing to the popularity and longevity of the Nintendo Entertainment System , the system has become one of the world's most cloned video game consoles...
, unlicensed hardware duplicates of Nintendo's Famicom game console. Door Door is just one of seventy five games built into the system. Because the game relies on very little text (of which is entirely in English), Door Door is easily accessible to people of all languages.
External links
Official Door Door for the mobile phone from i-chunsoft (translated into English) Square Enix Door Door Page (translated into English)General resources