Tail Concerto

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Tail Concerto

Developer(s)	CyberConnect2
Publisher(s)	Bandai (JP, PAL) Atlus (NA)
Platform(s)	PlayStation
Release date	^JP 1998-06-30 ^NA 1999-10-25 ^PAL 1999
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, Platformer
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone
Media	1 CD-ROM
Input methods	PlayStation game controller, PlayStation DualShock

Tail Concerto is a 3D anime-style action-adventure and platform game developed by CyberConnect2. It was published by Bandai in Japan in 1998 and by Atlus in the United States in 1999.

The game scenario revolves around a dog police officer named Waffle Ryebread and his adventures while obtaining magical crystals for the purposes of an investigation into their use. ^[1]

The game was featured as a playable demo in original Japanese form on the "Winter '98" edition of the PlayStation Underground Jampack disc series.

1 Gameplay
2 Plot and setting
3 Sound and music
4 Reception
5 Sequel
6 Trivia
7 References
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] Gameplay

The majority of the gameplay involves controlling a semi-humanoid mecha.

The basic abilities of the mecha include jumping, hanging onto ledges, hovering, firing bubbles, and grabbing objects. In a single area of the game's world, the player is also given the ability to fly with a jet pack.

Near the end of the game, the mecha's bubble-shooting ability is replaced with the ability to fire homing projectiles. Up until this point, bubbles are used in order to capture kittens; however, due to a change in the overall scenario, this task is no longer necessary - hence the replacement of the bubbles with the missiles. ^[1]

[edit] Plot and setting

Prairie, the world in which the game takes place, is inhabited by anthropomorphic dog-people and cat-people. Before the events of the game, the two races were said to have been at war - a war which the dog people were ultimately victorious in. Despite their past altercations, the two races seem to be mostly at peace with each other during the events depicted in the game itself.

Prairie consists of a floating archipelago; due to this unique geographical configuration, its inhabitants mostly commute by way of airships.

The game begins with the main character, Waffle Ryebread, getting a call from the chief of the police department which he works at. A gang of cats, mostly kittens, are attacking the city of Resaca. He is instructed to investigate these attacks.

Upon the player's arrival in Resaca, Waffle recognizes one of ringleaders of the cat gang as Alicia Priss, a childhood friend of his. Alicia has a hatred for dogs, and is trying to find five magical crystals in order to secure what she believes is the liberty and pride of the cat-people.

Waffle learns that the crystals could be used for destruction, so he starts an investigation into the crystals to prevent them from being used for anything harmful. ^[1]

[edit] Sound and music

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The opening theme to the Japanese version of the game, "For Little Tail", was fully vocalized. It was sung by KOKIA.

The opening theme was replaced in the US version by an instrumental composition.

[edit] Reception

Tail Concerto was published in June of 1998 by Bandai in Japan to little fanfare.

In the United States, the game was previewed by magazines with slightly more anticipation. By the time it was released, however, most of the hype had dissipated.

The game is not normally considered a failure, though it did not necessarily do well.

According to an interview by Christian Nutt of GameSpy, CyberConnect2 is restricted from making a sequel by Bandai due to the relatively low sales. ^[2] However, the company did indirectly return to the world of Tail Concerto in 2005 when it designed the image character "Mamoru-kun" [1] for Fukuoka Prefecture's disaster-warning email program of the same name [2]. The promotional materials for the program reveal that Mamoru-kun and his friends live in the country of Nipon, which, along with Tail Concerto's Prairie Kingdom, is part of a larger world called Little Tail Bronx.

[edit] Sequel

On June 28, 2007, CyberConnect2 released a promotional artwork that could be easily related to the characters in the game, by the fact that there are humanoid figures that look like dogs sitting on robots, in a reference to the Tail Concerto world^[3]. The same artwork also showed the words "Nintendo DS - New Project - Coming Soon", causing speculation that a sequel to the original PlayStation game will be released to the Nintendo DS portable gaming system.

Present in the same piece of artwork is a character dressed in a costume that resembles the character Kite from the .hack multimedia franchise. CyberConnect2 is well-known for its work on the .hack games, and the addition of this character to the promotional artwork could be a way to attract people's attention to the new title.

In another reference to the .hack franchise, the artwork also shows the words "To The World!!" right below the "New Project" section. The World is the name of the game in which all the events of the .hack franchise occur. Some websites also speculated that there could be a fusion of both the .hack and Tail Concerto franchises in the new DS game.^[4]

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

In the four initial .hack games developed by CyberConnect (Infection, Mutation, Outbreak, and Quarantine), there are a number of NPCs that run around bearing the names of the main characters of Tail Concerto. There is also an advertisement for the game that appears above the News section of the desktop in .hack//Infection.

Curiously, an advertisement for the as-yet nonexistent Tail Concerto 2 appears above the News section of the desktop in .hack//Mutation.