.gif)
Seaman (video game)
Encyclopedia
is a virtual pet
video game for the Sega Dreamcast. It is one of the few Dreamcast games to take advantage of the microphone
attachment. The narration is voiced by Leonard Nimoy
in the English-language version.
A limited edition game titled Christmas Seaman was released in Japan on December 16, 1999 alongside a translucent, red Dreamcast. In 2001, Seaman was re-released in Japan for the PlayStation 2
as Seaman: Kindan no Pet - Gaze Hakushi no Jikken Shima (シーマン~禁断のペット~ガゼー博士の実験島), the first edition of which came with a microphone. A PC version for Microsoft Windows
was planned, with the Seaman being able to interact with the user's applications. No release date was specified, and it was later cancelled.
A sequel called Seaman 2
was released in Japan for the PlayStation 2 in 2007.
The creator of the game has hinted at an upcoming version for the Nintendo 3DS
.
(as himself).
(the color and shape of the fins suggest that it is a Carp
) with a very lifelike human face. It possesses human mannerisms and behavior with which the player interacts.
Seaman is considered a unique video game in that it presents limited action. The player's role is to feed and care for Seaman, while providing him with the company that he needs. A portion of Seaman's knowledge is random trivia. When he asks what the player's birthday is (and the player responds via the microphone input), Seaman will then share significant events which happened on that date.
The Seaman becomes fairly domesticated
, but this does not prevent it from insulting the player or constructing less-than-friendly remarks.
The player is provided with an unhatched Seaman egg
at the beginning of the game and through various terms of development and conditions develops and interacts with it. By using various buttons on the Dreamcast controller, the player controls all of the machinery and physical contact with the mysterious creature. The player is also provided with multiple Seamen for breeding and interaction purposes. Over the course of the game, it is required of the player to evolve
their Seaman to different stages in its life cycle, eventually transforming into a frog
-like creature outlined on the Disc's cover.
via being eaten and consumes it from the inside out for nourishment. Mushroomers tend to stick to one side of the tank by the ends of their flagellum if left alone. In this stage, the player's interaction is somewhat minimal and plays similar to a tutorial, allowing the player to learn to control the heat in the fish tank, direct the Mushroomers, and clean out any filthy water that has accumulated over time.
The aquarium is also transformed into a terrarium, being drained of most of the water and introducing land and oxygen to breathe, the female then lays eggs on the shore. Shortly after the deposit of the eggs, the female also dies, leaving the player with the hatching of a new evolutionary stage.
creature, with its humanoid face and a frog's body. Now able to co-exist between the habitats of water and dry land, the Frogman is now capable of powerful leaps and the consumption of insectoid organisms; however, like the real-world frog, the creature still requires the moisture of water to stay alive and the player is now provided with a sprinkler system to achieve this. It is also at this stage where the player releases the seaman into the wild. While anything concerning metamorphosis and reproduction are left to speculation while the Frogmen are in the wild, it can be assumed the Seamen will eventually lay Mushroomer eggs and start the cycle over.
Famitsu
rated the game 29/40. Seaman received an Excellence Award for Interactive Art at the 1999 Japan Media Arts Festival
and received the Original Game Character of the Year award at GDC
2002. In 2008, Game Informer
named the game one of the top ten weirdest of all time.
Digital pet
A digital pet is a type of artificial human companion. They are usually kept for companionship or enjoyment. People may keep a digital pet in lieu of a real pet....
video game for the Sega Dreamcast. It is one of the few Dreamcast games to take advantage of the microphone
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
attachment. The narration is voiced by Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....
in the English-language version.
A limited edition game titled Christmas Seaman was released in Japan on December 16, 1999 alongside a translucent, red Dreamcast. In 2001, Seaman was re-released in Japan for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
as Seaman: Kindan no Pet - Gaze Hakushi no Jikken Shima (シーマン~禁断のペット~ガゼー博士の実験島), the first edition of which came with a microphone. A PC version for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
was planned, with the Seaman being able to interact with the user's applications. No release date was specified, and it was later cancelled.
A sequel called Seaman 2
Seaman 2
is a virtual pet video game for the PlayStation 2. It's a sequel to Seaman on the Dreamcast. In this game, players act as god of a miniature island, charged with the task of rearing Gabo, a 20-centimeter tall Peking Man, communicating through a custom microphone-equipped gamepad.-Gameplay:Seaman 2...
was released in Japan for the PlayStation 2 in 2007.
The creator of the game has hinted at an upcoming version for the Nintendo 3DS
Nintendo 3DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo. The autostereoscopic device is able to project stereoscopic 3D effects without the use of 3D glasses or any additional accessories. The Nintendo 3DS features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS series software, including Nintendo DSi software...
.
Story and Setting
As a new pet owner, the player is given the responsibility of caring for and learning about the enigmatic "Seaman" species, using a replica of the discoverer's laboratory. The player must figure everything out by themselves, such as appropriate care, with some guidance from the narrator Leonard NimoyLeonard Nimoy
Leonard Simon Nimoy is an American actor, film director, poet, musician and photographer. Nimoy's most famous role is that of Spock in the original Star Trek series , multiple films, television and video game sequels....
(as himself).
Gameplay
The "Seaman" is a form of freshwater fishFish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
(the color and shape of the fins suggest that it is a Carp
Carp
Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...
) with a very lifelike human face. It possesses human mannerisms and behavior with which the player interacts.
Seaman is considered a unique video game in that it presents limited action. The player's role is to feed and care for Seaman, while providing him with the company that he needs. A portion of Seaman's knowledge is random trivia. When he asks what the player's birthday is (and the player responds via the microphone input), Seaman will then share significant events which happened on that date.
The Seaman becomes fairly domesticated
Domestication
Domestication or taming is the process whereby a population of animals or plants, through a process of selection, becomes accustomed to human provision and control. In the Convention on Biological Diversity a domesticated species is defined as a 'species in which the evolutionary process has been...
, but this does not prevent it from insulting the player or constructing less-than-friendly remarks.
The player is provided with an unhatched Seaman egg
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
at the beginning of the game and through various terms of development and conditions develops and interacts with it. By using various buttons on the Dreamcast controller, the player controls all of the machinery and physical contact with the mysterious creature. The player is also provided with multiple Seamen for breeding and interaction purposes. Over the course of the game, it is required of the player to evolve
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
their Seaman to different stages in its life cycle, eventually transforming into a frog
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
-like creature outlined on the Disc's cover.
Mushroomer
In the Seaman's first days of life, it begins as a Mushroomer, a form consisting of a well-developed optic organ and a flagellum, lacking a face or any verbal means of communication. In this form it is essentially a parasite, which infests a host NautilusNautilus
Nautilus is the common name of marine creatures of cephalopod family Nautilidae, the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina. It comprises six living species in two genera, the type of which is the genus Nautilus...
via being eaten and consumes it from the inside out for nourishment. Mushroomers tend to stick to one side of the tank by the ends of their flagellum if left alone. In this stage, the player's interaction is somewhat minimal and plays similar to a tutorial, allowing the player to learn to control the heat in the fish tank, direct the Mushroomers, and clean out any filthy water that has accumulated over time.
Gillman
After emerging from the deceased body of the Nautilus, the organism enters a stage called the Gillman, which features a humanoid face and small, fish-like body. During this stage, the Seaman becomes capable of speech, copying and reiterating comments through microphone input. At this stage, the player will begin the communication process, and continue facilitating the aquarium as the Gillman grows larger, developing scales and a larger vocabulary. Although they begin small, the Gillmen soon kill one another until only two remain, a male and a female.Podfish
In this stage, the Seaman is still fish-like in appearance and is similar to that of the Gillman but more developed. After mating, the male Podfish dies.The aquarium is also transformed into a terrarium, being drained of most of the water and introducing land and oxygen to breathe, the female then lays eggs on the shore. Shortly after the deposit of the eggs, the female also dies, leaving the player with the hatching of a new evolutionary stage.
Tadman
Instead of the introduction of new Mushroomers like the player began the game with, the player is provided with a new form called Tadmen, that look similar to matured tadpoles entering the frog stage. The Tadmen's diet consists of feeding upon their fellow siblings, until the number is reduced to two. When this happens, the siblings will produce an egg, which will hatch into a Frogman.Frogman
This is the Seaman's final stage of its maturity process. It has now become an amphibiousAmphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
creature, with its humanoid face and a frog's body. Now able to co-exist between the habitats of water and dry land, the Frogman is now capable of powerful leaps and the consumption of insectoid organisms; however, like the real-world frog, the creature still requires the moisture of water to stay alive and the player is now provided with a sprinkler system to achieve this. It is also at this stage where the player releases the seaman into the wild. While anything concerning metamorphosis and reproduction are left to speculation while the Frogmen are in the wild, it can be assumed the Seamen will eventually lay Mushroomer eggs and start the cycle over.
Reception
In Japan, the Dreamcast version of Seaman has sold 399,342 copies as of February 1, 2004, making it the third best-selling Dreamcast game in the region at the time. The PlayStation 2 version of the game has sold 305,632 in Japan as of November 2, 2008.Famitsu
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
rated the game 29/40. Seaman received an Excellence Award for Interactive Art at the 1999 Japan Media Arts Festival
Japan Media Arts Festival
The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs since 1997. The festival for a nominal year was usually held during February or March next year, rather than at the end of the nominal year. For instance, the 2010 Japan Media Arts Festival, where...
and received the Original Game Character of the Year award at GDC
GDC
GDC may refer to:*Gadolinium-doped ceria, a ceramic electrolyte used in solid oxide fuel cells*Game Developers Conference, a popular annual video game conference*General Development Corporation*General Dental Council*Gross Dealer Concession...
2002. In 2008, Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
named the game one of the top ten weirdest of all time.
See also
- LifelineLifeline (video game)Lifeline, released in Japan as , is a video game released by SCEI and Konami for the PlayStation 2. It is a horror game in the genre similar to the Resident Evil series. Its defining aspect is that the player controls the game entirely by using a microphone to speak commands to on-screen...
- N.U.D.E.@Natural Ultimate Digital Experiment
- Hey You, Pikachu!Hey You, Pikachu!Hey You, Pikachu!, known in Japan as , is a Nintendo 64 video game developed by Ambrella and published by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 1998, and in North America on November 6, 2000....
- Fish World (2010 PC Simulation)