The new trailer for Chunsoft’s Gyokugen Dasshutsu Adv: Zennin Shiboudes drops a few hints that it may be a sequel to 999 after all.
Upcoming Vita and 3DS title, Gyokugen Dasshutsu Adv: Zennin Shiboudes is being described as a “spiritual sequel” to 999 by the developer, but this recently released trailer shows they have more than just the theme in common.
Chunsoft’s 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, to use its full, ludicrously unwieldy title, was a twist-filled visual novel romp for the Nintendo DS about nine, slightly gormless, average Joes, dropped onto a sinking cruise ship and forced to complete a series of increasingly esoteric math puzzles by a chuckling villain in a gas mask. The story’s central conceit was that each of the game’s characters was given a number, helpfully displayed by a trendy watch that also doubled as a detonator for bombs implanted in their abdomens should they stray into a restricted area. Each of the game’s puzzles was sectioned off by a numbered door, which required a certain combination of numbers, and thus, a certain combination of characters to open, forcing the player to make tense decisions on who to take with them. It was, in essence, one of the Saw movies crossed with an episode of Countdown. It literally ended with an eight year old girl playing Sudoku in a furnace, possibly my favorite gaming moment to date. Needless to say, we liked it.
Zennin Shiboudes seems to be taking the exact same track. There’s a motley collection of victims, all doubtlessly harboring plot-twisting secrets. The iconic numbered watches have made a return, along with the big metal doors they open. Even sniggering mystery villain Zero crops up, that or the game happens to feature someone who dresses exactly like him/her and has the same taste in gas masks.
Honestly, I’d be picking up Zennin Shiboudes whether it was a direct sequel to 999 or not, but if the game does answer some of the loose ends left behind after 999’s utterly mental true ending, well … all the better.
