Doshin the Giant

Doshin the Giant
European GameCube cover art
Developer(s)	Param, Nintendo
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Kazutoshi Iida[1]
Composer(s)	Tatsuhiko Asano
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64DD, Nintendo GameCube
Release date(s)	64DD JP December 1, 1999 JP May 17, 2000 (expansion) GameCube JP March 14, 2002 EU September 20, 2002
Genre(s)	God game
Mode(s)	Single-player
Distribution	Nintendo optical disc

Doshin the Giant (巨人のドシン, Kyojin no Doshin) is a 1999 Nintendo god simulation game for the Nintendo 64DD and Nintendo Gamecube. It was originally released in Japan on December 1, 1999 on the 64DD for which a soundtrack by Tatsuhiko Asano was released on CD by Media Factory, early the next year. Both of which received positive reviews. An add-on was released five months later called Kyojin no Doshin Kaihō Sensen Chibikko Chikko Daishūgou, which took a very different perspective of the game, featuring short animated clips that the player could unlock after playing the original game. Doshin the Giant was later released and upgraded graphically to the Nintendo GameCube and released in Japan on March 14, 2002 and Europe on September 20, 2002. With the re-release it received mostly positive reviews, much like its first release.

Story

The game opens on an island called Barudo, with a spoken narration, by an island native. This man, named Sodoru^[2] who wears a mask on his face, tells the legend of a giant that rises out of the sea as the morning sun rises. As he tells the player this, Doshin, a yellow giant appears from out of the water. The player then takes control of the giant. Sodoru then tell the player what the other inhabitants of the island want such as trees or hills raised and lowered. He then suggests helping the people, for which they will reward the giant with love, and might build a monument to it. Sodoru then suggests that the giant help bring the four tribes together. It takes Doshin many days to do this, and at the end of each day as the sun sets he returns to the sea. Finally, when every possible combination of tribes has been reached, the islanders then build one final monument called the Tower of Babel,^[3] which causes the island and Doshin to sink into the sea, thus destroying everyone, however the next day, a new island appear at sunrise in the shape of Doshin himself, with two members of each of the tribes on it as before. Doshin then walks out onto the island again and the story continues. The GameCube version, however has one additional ending with the islanders not building a monument this time, but a large rocket that blasts them up into space. This ending has similarities with the beginning of the game Pikmin, also by Nintendo which starts with a crashing ship and the survivor meeting three different colored plant type creatures.^[4]

Gameplay and version differences

Doshin the yellow giant, Jashin the red giant, and Sodoru in the 64DD version above and GameCube version below.

As a god game, Doshin the Giant's gameplay revolves around typical god-like abilities and tasks, such as altering the geography, managing natural disasters or answering prayers from simulated worshippers. Its designer Kazutoshi Iida has described it as "Populous meets Mario".^[1]

The player controls the Doshin as he tries to help, or hinder the islands inhabitants. Doing so causes the villagers to release love or hate, which Doshin absorbs. The two feelings cancel each other out, but if he gets enough of one type, he will grow in size. Doshin is the Love Giant, a yellow, featureless giant with a happy face and a few strands of hair. He is a benevolent, helpful being who, with his good actions, earns love from his people and increases in size (only for that day; by the next day, he is back to normal size). He can pick up people trees and other such things. Doshin can transform at will into his evil alter ego Jashin, the Hate Giant. In the GameCube version, he has wings and clawed feet and inspires Hate monuments that are slightly different than the Love monuments Doshin can earn.^[5] Jashin is known to be a destructive force to the natives, the exact opposite to Doshin's nature. With his bad actions, people show him their dislike, and he increases in size. The only thing the two giants have in common is that both have an outie belly button. Although he cannot pick up things, he can send streams of fire across the land, destroying structures in their way. Doshin and Jashin can both raise and lower terrain.

The four native tribes on the island are separated with the color of their clothing (red, green, yellow, blue). The female natives are dressed in a sleeveless, uni-colored gown of their tribe's color. The male natives wear a kilt and hat of their tribe's color, but remain shirtless, also showing outie belly buttons. In the GameCube version the people also raise farm animals, and there are fish in the water.^[5] There are several threats that also endanger the villagers, such as tornadoes, volcanoes, fires, being crushed by Doshin, and even jealous tribe members named "Naughties."^[3][5]

Other features of the game include the following: an album of photographic snapshots of the gameplay itself; and a monument gallery, where the player can look at the monument close up and find out information about it.^[3] In the GameCube version, after completing the game, a "New Map" option is unlocked. This option has various islands with different themed layouts and textures.^[5]

Reception

Doshin the Giant was a hit game in Japan, peaking at number-one in that country and was Japan's ninth best-selling game of 2002. In the UK, Doshin the Giant peaked at number-nine and was the UK's sixty-fifth best-selling game of 2002 and hit the top of the GameCube charts and was the twenty-second best-selling GameCube game of 2002. With its fame Doshin went on to appear as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee. He was shown holding a villager in his hands. He was called the Love Giant as the title of the Trophy, but called Doshin in the entry. Jashin appears as a secret trophy in the lottery as Hate Giant.^[11]

In the Wake of Doshin the Giant

In the Wake of Doshin the Giant
Soundtrack album by Tatsuhiko Asano
Released	February 2, 2000 (64DD version)[12] 2004 Re-release[13]
Genre	Soundtrack, video game music
Label	Media Factory

Album ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Discogs	(out of 7 reviews)[14]
Video Game Music Data Base	5 out of 5 (out of 2 reviews)[12]

The soundtrack was composed by Tatsuhiko Asano and released as In the Wake of Doshin the Giant. Most of the soundtrack is actually absent from the game.

Track listing

1. Doshin the Giant's Theme
2. The Yellow Giant
3. All Along the Bardo Island
4. The Island Of Memory
5. Light Of Fifth
6. Bonfire
7. The Island Without Anything
8. A Life Of People
9. Yellow Giant Reprise
10. Preparation Of The Festival
11. Paradise Zone
12. Heat From Grass
13. The Festival's Music
14. Time
15. Morning Jungle
16. Ending credits (bonus track on 2004 re-release)

Kyojin no Doshin: Kaihō Sensen Chibikko Chikko Daishūgō

Kyojin no Doshin: Kaihō Sensen Chibikko Chikko Daishūgō
Developer(s)	Param, Nintendo
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Composer(s)	Tatsuhiko Asano
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64DD
Release date(s)	JP May 17, 2000
Genre(s)	Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single-player
Distribution	Nintendo 64DD disk

Kyojin no Doshin Kaihō Sensen Chibikko Chikko Daishūgō (巨人のドシン解放戦線チビッコチッコ大集合, lit. "Doshin the Giant: Tinkling Toddler Liberation Front! Assemble!") was released on May 17, 2000 for 64DD and requires 64DD version of Doshin the Giant to operate.

Plot and gameplay

Top: Gaining a new Teamster, Pouring Love into Doshin, Queen Companion's request.
Bottom: "More Than Giant" the meeting, Doshin spills out Love, Stained blanket.

In the game, a child is told to go to sleep and is pulled out of bed and through the window, into a world of dreams. In this dream world, Doshin is now imprisoned, and the child can "Tinkle" 2D hearts on people and even the giant himself. The main objective of the game is to watch the 17 mini black and white movies collectively titled "More Than Giant".^[15] The player must repeatedly go back and forth between the two disks to verify that monuments were built in game 1, and to complete tasks that the "Queen Companions" request of them.

Another objective is to free Doshin from his imprisonment, by causing him to grow larger than his cage. This will cause the game credits to begin.

The player can also gather help to free Doshin. After creating monuments in 'Doshin 1' and their counterpart pavilions, children will appear in the Expo area and the player can "tinkle" on them with their hearts, and they will join the players team. Becoming what are known as 'Teamers' or teamsters. There are two other teams that the player can choose from at the start of the game. When enough pavilions are completed the player can battle the other teamster groups in a tinkle contest. If the player wins, the loser's team members become neutral and can be added to their team.^[15] The team can be made of up to six other children. This gives the player six times more tinkling hearts that can be poured onto Doshin to try and free him.

The player is given a "Love" meter that fills with love, which they can use on the other people, billboards, or Doshin himself. However if the heart becomes too full, or the player is beaten at a tinkle contest, it causes the player to wake up. After Doshin is released the player's character wakes up to find that they now have a stained blanket, which the mother lectures the child about. At this moment Doshin appears from behind the parent, and part of the child jumps into dreamland, as a Queen Companion appears asking if they want to play again. From that point the credits begin as the camera descends down a manhole.^[16]

Reception

Peer Schneider of IGN.com gave the game a rating of 2.5 out of 10, citing the graphics, controls, and gameplay, saying it "Looks and plays like it was programmed in two weeks. Controls are bad," and "this add-on disk is a glorified movie player." The only thing he found appealing about the game was its presentation, which he compliments as, "The Param team definitely has a sense of humor. Both Doshin games will make you laugh because they're so absurd." he ended his review of the game with one word "Painful".^[17]

See also

• Black & White, a similar god sim, game where the player can be either good or bad, by Lionhead.
• SimCity 64, another 64DD game where the player builds a city, and needs to protect its citizens from Volcano, and other natural disasters.
• List of Nintendo GameCube games, a listing of all the games released for the Nintendo GameCube.

References

External links

• Doshin the Giant, Official website. Archive copy at the Wayback Machine