Napple Tale
Encyclopedia
, more commonly called simply Napple Tale, is a 2.5D
platform game
for the Dreamcast, released on October 18, 2000 in Japan. It is notable in that the development team consisted entirely of women.
Streinapp becomes her guide and instructs her throughout the game. Arsia - known as Poach to those in Dreamland - learns that Napple Town is in crisis. The seasons Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter need to be rescued by finding the six Napple Petals. Besides rescuing the seasons, the citizens of Napple Town have a vast assortment of problems (approximately seventy) with which Poach must help them. Tasks range from building a house to helping two friends stop fighting with each other.
, there is a fully 3D hub where Poach can interact with the townspeople. The levels, found on the corners of town, and corresponding to the season
s, contain a fixed path with a boss
at the end. The enemies encountered along the way sometimes drop recipe pieces or random items. The recipes show four items which, if combined, will create a Paffet. Poach wields a racquet-like weapon which she swings to battle foes. She can double-jump and attack to perform a spinning attack. Health is designated with petals and by finding certain items you can increase your maximum health. Each time Poach falls into a hole or gets attacked she loses half of a petal.
Dragon - A stingy tax-collecting dragon. He loves money and banking.
Dryad - Dryad is the pastor of the church in Napple Town. In keeping with his name, he has the shape of a druidic tree creature.
Frocar - Frocar is the mayor of Napple Town. He is half frog and half car (hence the name). He has a large house, where he holds meetings to discuss all sorts of problems in Napple Town.
Lewis - Lewis lives in the Summer side of Napple Town and is best friends with Oliver until he is seduced by a sea spirit.
Murray - Murray owns the Hatena store in the Winter side of Napple Town. Poach has a crush on him, and he is very friendly to everybody, as shown by how he likes to give gifts to Poach and others.
Oliver - Oliver lives in the Winter side of Napple Town and is best friends with Louis.
Streinapp - Streinapp owns the ice cream shop called 13 Ice, above which Poach lives. He advises Poach and teaches her about the dreamworld.
composer, Yoko Kanno
. In addition, the vocal tracks were performed by her frequent collaborator, Maaya Sakamoto
, with lyrics for one of the songs by Chris Mosdell
.
Little Black Book (Track #21) by Yoko Kanno was also included in the soundtrack of the German movie Cherry Blossoms - Hanami
from 2008 (as Track #3).
2.5D
2.5D , 3/4 perspective and pseudo-3D are terms used to describe either:* 2D graphical projections and techniques which cause a series of images or scenes to fake or appear to be three-dimensional when in fact they are not, or* gameplay in an otherwise three-dimensional video game that is...
platform game
Platform 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...
for the Dreamcast, released on October 18, 2000 in Japan. It is notable in that the development team consisted entirely of women.
Story
The game begins with a girl named Arsia going to a carnival. While there she receives a bump to her head and passes out. She then enters a dream world where she meets Streinapp, an angel of death.Shinigami
is the personification of death in Japan. It's unclear when the concept entered Japanese culture; it may have been imported from China , or possibly been imported from Europe during the Sengoku era—that period in European history featured a common motif of the Grim Reaper gathering souls...
Streinapp becomes her guide and instructs her throughout the game. Arsia - known as Poach to those in Dreamland - learns that Napple Town is in crisis. The seasons Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter need to be rescued by finding the six Napple Petals. Besides rescuing the seasons, the citizens of Napple Town have a vast assortment of problems (approximately seventy) with which Poach must help them. Tasks range from building a house to helping two friends stop fighting with each other.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Napple Tale takes place in two distinct sections. Similar to Sonic AdventureSonic Adventure
is a 1999 platform video game developed by Sonic Team and released on December 23, 1998, in Japan by Sega for the Dreamcast. One of its development titles was Sonic RPG...
, there is a fully 3D hub where Poach can interact with the townspeople. The levels, found on the corners of town, and corresponding to the season
Season
A season is a division of the year, marked by changes in weather, ecology, and hours of daylight.Seasons result from the yearly revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of revolution...
s, contain a fixed path 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. The enemies encountered along the way sometimes drop recipe pieces or random items. The recipes show four items which, if combined, will create a Paffet. Poach wields a racquet-like weapon which she swings to battle foes. She can double-jump and attack to perform a spinning attack. Health is designated with petals and by finding certain items you can increase your maximum health. Each time Poach falls into a hole or gets attacked she loses half of a petal.
Characters
Arsia/Poach - The protagonist. At first she disliked being called Poach by Streinapp, but eventually stopped caring. She defeats enemies using a fancy key-shaped weapon. Her goal is to return to the real world.Dragon - A stingy tax-collecting dragon. He loves money and banking.
Dryad - Dryad is the pastor of the church in Napple Town. In keeping with his name, he has the shape of a druidic tree creature.
Frocar - Frocar is the mayor of Napple Town. He is half frog and half car (hence the name). He has a large house, where he holds meetings to discuss all sorts of problems in Napple Town.
Lewis - Lewis lives in the Summer side of Napple Town and is best friends with Oliver until he is seduced by a sea spirit.
Murray - Murray owns the Hatena store in the Winter side of Napple Town. Poach has a crush on him, and he is very friendly to everybody, as shown by how he likes to give gifts to Poach and others.
Oliver - Oliver lives in the Winter side of Napple Town and is best friends with Louis.
Streinapp - Streinapp owns the ice cream shop called 13 Ice, above which Poach lives. He advises Poach and teaches her about the dreamworld.
Paffets
There are two types of Paffets. Some Paffets go to the Paffet Collection Room below 13 Ice and others go to various places in town. The Paffets that go to random places in Napple Town are usually structures or appliances (street lamps, balconies, stoves, etc). The Paffets that go to the Paffet Room are mostly animal- or plant-based. A maximum of five can be carried at any one time and they have limited numbers of uses before they return to the Paffet Room. Items dropped by some enemies will raise the number of uses if it is below the starting value. The Paffets that can be carried perform useful functions in Napple Town or in stages such as becoming tramplines or unleashing powerful attacks. There are 71 Paffets total: 28 that go to the Paffet Room and 43 that go to random places in the town.Music
One of the most noted aspects of the game is the music written by well-known game and animeAnime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
composer, Yoko Kanno
Yoko Kanno
is a composer, arranger and musician best known for her work on the soundtracks for many games, anime films, TV series, live-action movies, and advertisements...
. In addition, the vocal tracks were performed by her frequent collaborator, Maaya Sakamoto
Maaya Sakamoto
is a Japanese singer-songwriter, actress, and voice actress. She made her debut as a voice actress in 1992 as the voice of Chifuru in the anime series Little Twins, but is more well known for her role as Hitomi Kanzaki in the hit anime series The Vision of Escaflowne...
, with lyrics for one of the songs by Chris Mosdell
Chris Mosdell
Chris Mosdell is a British lyricist, poet, author, composer, vocalist and illustrator, based in Tokyo, Japan, and Boulder, Colorado, USA.He has worked with a wide range of Japanese musicians and artists—the documentary Ink Music: In the Land of the Hundred-Tongued Lyricist bills him as the...
.
Little Black Book (Track #21) by Yoko Kanno was also included in the soundtrack of the German movie Cherry Blossoms - Hanami
Cherry Blossoms (film)
Cherry Blossoms is a 2008 German film directed by Doris Dörrie.-Plot:The story culminates in a pilgrimage to Mount Fuji in the midst of the cherry blossom season, a celebration of beauty, impermanence, and new beginnings....
from 2008 (as Track #3).