Game Overview
【Title】A-Train
【Platform】NES (Famicom)
【Genre】puzzle game
【Manufacturer】Pony Canyon Inc.
【Release Date】1991/8/21
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How to operate
The NES version of “A train” is extremely difficult to control
| ↑↓←→ | A Move the train up, down, left, or right |
| ↑ ＋ A button | Move train A diagonally (upper right) |
| ↓ ＋ A button | Move train A diagonally (lower left) |
| ← ＋ A button | Move train A diagonally (upper left) |
| → ＋ A button | Move train A diagonally (lower right) |
| START + A button | erect a station building |
| SELECT + A button | Remove the station building. |
| SELECT + AB button | Switching between “Install Line (INS)” or “Remove Line (DEL) |
| ↑ ＋ AB button | Scroll up the map |
| ↓ ＋ AB button | Scroll down the map |
| START + AB button | curbing (e.g. a file) |
| ← ＋ AB button | pause |
| START | Display the asset management screen |
| SELECT | Daytime: Display operating instructions Nighttime: Set points on the line |
| B button | Stop automatic operation at night |
Game Reviews
The “A-train” series, which continues to this day, is now a popular series of “urban development simulation games mainly focusing on railroad management,” but in the early days of the series, it started out as a puzzle game rather than a simulation.
The series originally became popular on PCs, and it may have been unreasonable to port it to the Famicom (NES), which has few buttons. This work is famous for its fatal difficulty in operability.
The goal of the game is to build a transcontinental railroad from the presidential palace to the villa within a year. The tracks are constructed using “A trains,” which can only construct tracks during the daytime.
Since funds and materials are limited, building in the dark will lead to business failure. It is important to build profitable lines, and the system is similar to a puzzle game.
The trains other than the “A-train” move on their own, so the slightest mistake can cause them to collide and explode. It is effective to build a loop line and make sure that all trains other than the “A-train” keep going around the loop line.
In this game, funds are needed to lay tracks and operate trains, and very serious money management is required.
However, the controls are not easy to use, and the game is over as soon as the A train has an accident. This led to many players throwing away their controllers, and the game has become a game that is talked about only in terms of its bad aspects.
Perhaps because of this, the “A-train” series article on the Japanese wikipedia page says that the Famicom version was never included in the series.
In “SLG Kaitai Shinsho”, it was evaluated as “a work created by a development team that did not know much about games at the time, but left it to its own devices.” It was evaluated as “a work that the development team, which did not know much about games at the time, created by force. For the first game in a popular series, this is a rather disappointing game.
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