A-Train
Encyclopedia
is a series of Arcade train simulation
video games, originally developed and published by Japan
ese game developer
Artdink
in Japan. The first game in the series was published in 1985. The first release in the United States
was Take the A-Train II, published in 1989 by the Seika Corporation under the title Railroad Empire. However, the most well known U.S. release is Take the A-Train III, published in 1992 by Maxis
as simply A-Train.
Take the A-Train III (known internationally as "A-Train") is the 1992 computer game, and the third game in the A-Train series. It was originally developed and published by Japan
ese game developer
Artdink
for Japan, and was later published by Maxis
for the United States
.
and the game is resultingly fairly open-ended. A-Train III is the first game in the series to use of near-isometric dimetric projection to present the city, similar to Maxis's SimCity 2000
. There are two types of transport that the player's company can take: passengers or building materials. The former is more likely to be profitable, but building materials allow the city to grow.
Wherever the building materials are delivered, they can be taken and used to construct buildings for the city. These start with house
s, but eventually, as an area grows, roads, and shops and other buildings are built. These can provide extra revenue for a passenger service, but also allowing the city to develop and grow can be seen as a goal in itself. As well as the buildings built by the computer, in response to the materials being present, the player can construct their own buildings, such as ski resort
s and hotel
s, and make profits from them if the conditions are right.
Artdink ported the A-Train III along with the editor to Windows 95, and published both titles as a package as the 3rd ARTDINK BEST CHOICE title in Japan.
, thus motivating Maxis to license it for US
distribution as A-Train, available for DOS, Macintosh and Amiga platforms. It was released in October, 1992, though it sold poorly. Even the release of an add-on pack for the game failed to stir up any real support amongst the gaming community. The game was the first major failure from Maxis.
In spite of the PC version's commercial failure in the US, Maxis
later released a PlayStation version in 1996, based on Artdink
's AIV: Evolution Global. The PlayStation was a relatively new platform at that point and the game suffered many limitations, such as requiring an entire memory card
(expensive at the time) to store a single map. Like the PC version, it proved unsuccessful.
#187 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.
, Yokohama
, Nagoya, Kyoto
, Osaka
, Kobe
.
Diagram construction adds the ability to extensively customize train schedules, and included 4 pre-built train types. A7 Bench Mark Test is a benchmarking program based on A-Train 7, available separately on the official site.
, includes 10 postcards of Taiwan and Japan railroad scenes, and A-Train 20th Anniversary clipboard.
and Windows. It is the latest installment of the A-Train series, supporting high definition graphics (720p resolution) and Xbox Live
support for uploading and downloading maps and leaderboards. It is also the first title published by Artdink
under the A-Train name on the Japanese market.
Artdink offered over 150 types of trains for sale in Xbox Live Marketplace
, based on real-life Japanese trains. The game itself comes with the following trains designed by Artdink: AR3 (Commuter), AR4 (Express), AR5 (LimitedExpress), AR7 (LimitedExpress), ARX (LimitedExpress), U-Shape (Subway), DC4 (Cargo), EC6 (CargoExpress), 186Exp (SuperExpress), Linear (SuperExpress). Each additional train costs 50 Microsoft Points
.
Achievement points features are also supported.
trains (12 trains), Artdink trains (AR8), Europe trains (14 trains), for a total of 200 trains. There are 10 maps in the game.
reported that they liked the music in A-Train HX, but concluded that "A-Train HX is badly designed, poorly presented, overly complicated and utterly tedious" giving it a score of just 2/10.
Official Xbox 360 Magazine gave it a slightly better score of 3/10, however they still called it "The most confusing train wreck of a game ever".
Vehicle simulation game
Vehicle simulation games are a genre of video games which attempt to provide the player with a realistic interpretation of operating various kinds of vehicles. This includes automobiles, aircraft, watercraft, spacecraft, military vehicles, and a variety of other vehicles...
video games, originally developed and published by Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese game developer
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
Artdink
Artdink
is a Japanese developer of console and computer games, currently based in Tsukishima, Tokyo.By far Artdink's biggest international success was the award-winning A-Train strategy game released for the PC and Amiga, which was published by SimCity creators Maxis...
in Japan. The first game in the series was published in 1985. The first release in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
was Take the A-Train II, published in 1989 by the Seika Corporation under the title Railroad Empire. However, the most well known U.S. release is Take the A-Train III, published in 1992 by Maxis
Maxis
Maxis is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . Maxis is the creator of one of the best-selling computer games of all time, The Sims and its first sequel, The Sims 2...
as simply A-Train.
A-Train
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese game developer
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
Artdink
Artdink
is a Japanese developer of console and computer games, currently based in Tsukishima, Tokyo.By far Artdink's biggest international success was the award-winning A-Train strategy game released for the PC and Amiga, which was published by SimCity creators Maxis...
for Japan, and was later published by Maxis
Maxis
Maxis is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . Maxis is the creator of one of the best-selling computer games of all time, The Sims and its first sequel, The Sims 2...
for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Overview
The game places players in command of a railway company. There are no rival companies; the player controls the only one in the cityCity
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
and the game is resultingly fairly open-ended. A-Train III is the first game in the series to use of near-isometric dimetric projection to present the city, similar to Maxis's SimCity 2000
SimCity 2000
SimCity 2000 is a simulation/city building video game and the second installment in the SimCity series. SimCity 2000 was first released by Maxis in 1994 for computers running Apple Macintosh Operating System...
. There are two types of transport that the player's company can take: passengers or building materials. The former is more likely to be profitable, but building materials allow the city to grow.
Wherever the building materials are delivered, they can be taken and used to construct buildings for the city. These start with house
House
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...
s, but eventually, as an area grows, roads, and shops and other buildings are built. These can provide extra revenue for a passenger service, but also allowing the city to develop and grow can be seen as a goal in itself. As well as the buildings built by the computer, in response to the materials being present, the player can construct their own buildings, such as ski resort
Ski resort
A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing and other winter sports. In Europe a ski resort is a town or village in a ski area - a mountainous area, where there are ski trails and supporting services such as hotels and other accommodation, restaurants, equipment rental and a ski lift system...
s and hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
s, and make profits from them if the conditions are right.
Artdink ported the A-Train III along with the editor to Windows 95, and published both titles as a package as the 3rd ARTDINK BEST CHOICE title in Japan.
Editor
A.III. MAP CONSTRUCTION, known internationally as A-Train Construction Set, is an editor that can change existing saved games, or to build landscapes from scratch. It comes with 6 sample maps. Maxis also published A-Train Construction Set with A-Train as a single package in Europe, without the Ocean Software label.Maxis distribution and ports
The game was tremendously popular in JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, thus motivating Maxis to license it for US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
distribution as A-Train, available for DOS, Macintosh and Amiga platforms. It was released in October, 1992, though it sold poorly. Even the release of an add-on pack for the game failed to stir up any real support amongst the gaming community. The game was the first major failure from Maxis.
In spite of the PC version's commercial failure in the US, Maxis
Maxis
Maxis is an American company founded as an independent video game developer in 1987. It is currently a subsidiary of Electronic Arts . Maxis is the creator of one of the best-selling computer games of all time, The Sims and its first sequel, The Sims 2...
later released a PlayStation version in 1996, based on Artdink
Artdink
is a Japanese developer of console and computer games, currently based in Tsukishima, Tokyo.By far Artdink's biggest international success was the award-winning A-Train strategy game released for the PC and Amiga, which was published by SimCity creators Maxis...
's AIV: Evolution Global. The PlayStation was a relatively new platform at that point and the game suffered many limitations, such as requiring an entire memory card
Memory card
A memory card or flash card is an electronic flash memory data storage device used for storing digital information. They are commonly used in many electronic devices, including digital cameras, mobile phones, laptop computers, MP3 players, and video game consoles...
(expensive at the time) to store a single map. Like the PC version, it proved unsuccessful.
Reception
The game was reviewed in 1992 in DragonDragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#187 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.
A-Train 7
A-Train 7 is a railroad simulation for PC platform. It is the successor of A-Train 6. Marketed as the 20th anniversary title for the A-Train series, it revives the urban development game play that had been missing since A-Train 5.Expansions
Train, Map, Diagram construction expansions were separately released. Each expansion is sold separately, or all 3 bundled with the basic game. Train construction adds the ability to build custom trains, and included 62 pre-built real-life trains. Map construction adds the ability to build custom maps and terrains, and included pre-built cities TokyoTokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
, Nagoya, Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...
, Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
, Kobe
Kobe
, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...
.
Diagram construction adds the ability to extensively customize train schedules, and included 4 pre-built train types. A7 Bench Mark Test is a benchmarking program based on A-Train 7, available separately on the official site.
Taiwan version
The international Chinese versions, released by Unalis Corporation, include postcards. In addition, the 'pure white limited edition' (純白夢幻限定版), available in 7-Eleven7-Eleven
7-Eleven is part of an international chain of convenience stores, operating under Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd, which in turn is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co...
, includes 10 postcards of Taiwan and Japan railroad scenes, and A-Train 20th Anniversary clipboard.
A-Train HX
is a railroad simulation for the Xbox 360Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and Windows. It is the latest installment of the A-Train series, supporting high definition graphics (720p resolution) and Xbox Live
Xbox Live
Xbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Corporation. It is currently the only online gaming service on consoles that charges users a fee to play multiplayer gaming. It was first made available to the Xbox system in 2002...
support for uploading and downloading maps and leaderboards. It is also the first title published by Artdink
Artdink
is a Japanese developer of console and computer games, currently based in Tsukishima, Tokyo.By far Artdink's biggest international success was the award-winning A-Train strategy game released for the PC and Amiga, which was published by SimCity creators Maxis...
under the A-Train name on the Japanese market.
Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to A-Train 7, but it has a full 3D view that was previously used in A-Train The 21st Century. However, it comes with map editor as a standard feature. Custom maps can be shared through Xbox Live. Additional Xbox Live features includes leaderboards which contain "Total Capital", "Population" and "Time to 1 Trillion Yen" categories for each map. The Xbox Live features can be used with an Xbox Live Silver account.Artdink offered over 150 types of trains for sale in Xbox Live Marketplace
Xbox Live Marketplace
The Xbox Live Marketplace is a virtual market designed for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console that allows Xbox Live members to download purchased or promotional content...
, based on real-life Japanese trains. The game itself comes with the following trains designed by Artdink: AR3 (Commuter), AR4 (Express), AR5 (LimitedExpress), AR7 (LimitedExpress), ARX (LimitedExpress), U-Shape (Subway), DC4 (Cargo), EC6 (CargoExpress), 186Exp (SuperExpress), Linear (SuperExpress). Each additional train costs 50 Microsoft Points
Microsoft Points
Microsoft Points are the currency of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Games for Windows - Live Marketplace, Windows Live Gallery, and Zune online stores. The points allow users to purchase content without a credit card and to reduce the number of small credit card transaction fees, which Microsoft would...
.
Achievement points features are also supported.
Windows version
The Windows port of the A-Train HX includes all the train types from A-Train HX (including Xbox Live Marketplace trains), plus new East Japan Railway CompanyEast Japan Railway Company
is the largest passenger railway company in the world and one of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo....
trains (12 trains), Artdink trains (AR8), Europe trains (14 trains), for a total of 200 trains. There are 10 maps in the game.
Marketing
Before the release of Taiwan version, publisher TTIME Technology held a paper train model contest for winning the game.Reception
EurogamerEurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
reported that they liked the music in A-Train HX, but concluded that "A-Train HX is badly designed, poorly presented, overly complicated and utterly tedious" giving it a score of just 2/10.
Official Xbox 360 Magazine gave it a slightly better score of 3/10, however they still called it "The most confusing train wreck of a game ever".