Elemental Gimmick Gear
| Elemental Gimmick Gear | |
|---|---|
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North American Dreamcast cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Birthday |
| Publisher(s) |
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| Platform(s) | Dreamcast |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Action role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Elemental Gimmick Gear (エレメンタルギミックギア Erementarugimikkugia) is an action role-playing game for the Sega Dreamcast console. Elemental Gimmick Gear uses hand-drawn art in an overhead view during exploration, then switches to 3D graphics during boss battles. It was developed by Birthday and published by Hudson Soft in Japan and Vatical Entertainment in the United States.
Background
In the world of Tokion, a dome-shaped ancient ruin was discovered inside a thick jungle. During excavation, an egg-shaped mecha was found inside the ruins containing a sleeping man. No matter how hard scientists tried, he would not wake up. He was taken to a laboratory along with the machine to be further studied.
Upon analyzing the machine, they learned that it was over 5000 years old. They also could not find any form of power source. In time, the machine became known as "Elemental Gimmick Gear", or EGG for short. After extensive scientific analysis over a number of years, copies of the EGG were produced and used as vehicles.
100 years later, the ruin suddenly became active, extending a multitude of tentacles into the ground. They spread all across the land, destroying anything in their way. With the tentacles came a thick layer of fog that surrounded the ruins, and people gave them the name Fogna.
At the same time, the Sleeper who was discovered a century prior finally awoke. He had not aged a day since his discovery and had no memory of his past or his own name. Selen, who was with him as he woke, set him free without notifying the other scientists in the lab. She sent him to Fogna to begin searching for clues of what happened 5100 years ago, and to stop the tentacles' breeding.[1]
Characters
Sleeper (Leon)
The Sleeper, Leon is the main character of the game. Leon is his default name, he is given it by Selen, the scientist watching over him. The player has the option of renaming him if desired. In the beginning of the game, Leon is frozen in a sleeping pod in the laboratory of Dr. Yam. Leon had been found 100 years earlier inside the original EGG, in which he had slept for 5000 years.
Dr. Yam
Dr. Yam is the head doctor at YAM Ruin Laboratory, which his father founded, where Leon awakes at the start of the game. He has spent his life studying the Sleeper. He takes care of Selen as if she were his daughter and gave her the assignment of studying the Sleeper.
Selen
Selen works in the laboratory, where she is responsible for caring for the Sleeper, whom she names Leon. She is the one who was with Leon as he woke and allows him to leave the lab. She always supports him.
Luckie
Luckie is an orphan who lost his parents during the Fogna activation. He lives in the city near YAM Ruin Laboratory with his younger sister. He is the leader of the local orphans from the Fogna disaster.
Gameplay
The game follows through several ruins, that contain puzzles needing to be solved to move forward. Puzzles include switches and moving objects to open doors.
There are racing areas where the main character rolls into a ball (or egg shape) and race along rails to be the first to finish against the computer players.
References
- ↑ Elemental Gimmick Gear game manual. p. 2-3