So...
This is the time and place I was told.
You bring the stuff?
Password?
Justin Bailey
Permission Granted
You got the payment?
One set of Final Fantasy Cup Noodles
Well, I think we have ourselves a deal here.
This is LSD.
A PlayStation Game.
It isn’t much of a game or even normal kid’s
stuff.
It’s the most strange
kind of game, and it can confuse you.
What’s really bad is nobody knows how much
it costs.
So every time you use it, you risk bankruptcy.
It isn’t worth it.
Look, everybody wants to collect games.
But doing it with LSD isn’t just wrong,
it could be broke wrong.
Okay, okay…
Collectors do know how much LSD: Dream Emulator
costs, the game is consistently one of
the more expensive titles for the Sony PlayStation
and as of late spring 2019, it’s still sitting
pretty at
about about $400-500 on eBay.
That is why I’ve decided to go with the
more economical route.
The purist in me is a bit disappointed to
be relegated to a reproduction copy, but let's
be real, $500 is a lot to drop, so this affordable
alternative
gets my thumbs up.
If you’re interested in following in my
footsteps and purchasing a repro of the game,
here’s something to take note of: LSD: Dream
Emulator was released exclusively in Japan,
therefore,
reproductions of the game are based on the
original region code, so you’ll need to
have a modded
PlayStation that can bypass the region-locking
of NTSC-J games.
Which we have acquired since our last video, we own a modded console thankfully.
Between Helen and I, we have played a lot
of games.
Many good, some not so good, but neither of
us
has ever seen a game as...unique...as this
one.
LSD: Dream Emulator is truly in a league of
its own when
it comes to one-of-a-kind concepts.
While we've already made a few allusions to
drugs regarding this game, it's important
to note that LSD:
Dream Emulator is actually not about drugs
at all.
The idea that LSD is a drug simulation adventure
is a
huge misconception.
The LSD in “LSD: Dream Emulator” doesn't
stand for Lysergic acid diethylamide
(also known as “acid”) but instead the
acronym stands for Lovely Sweet Dream and
is based on a dream
journal that was written by Hiroko Nishikawa,
a staff member at Asmik Ace Entertainment.
Strangely
enough, there are actually fan-made physical
copies of Nishikawa’s dream journal available
for
purchase, but they can cost you just as much
as the game itself so instead, if you’re
interested, we’ll be
linking a .pdf of the dream journal that we
found online in the description below in case
you’d like to
explore this resource yourself.
Nishikawa’s dream journal is a very strange
read, spanning an impressive 200 pages.
However, the
journal progresses quickly, considering that
most of it is visually based.
The copy linked below has some
translations provided for our non-Japanese
speaking viewers.
I definitely recommend giving this a look
because some of the artwork featured in Nishikawa’s
dream journal is highly intriguing.
Combine the
avant garde subject matter of the Dream Journal
with Japanese artist and game director, Osamu
Sato,
who already has a history of making surrealist
style video games, and you get LSD: Dream
Emulator
which would be released on October 22, 1998
for the Sony PlayStation.
One thing that immediately makes this game
exceptionally interesting is that the deluxe
version of LSD:
Dream Emulator, or in my case, this deluxe
reproduction, actually comes packaged with
a bonus music
cd, entitled “Lucy in the Sky with Dynamites”,
paying obvious homage to the Beatles song,
“Lucy in the
Sky with Diamonds”.
The reason for this CD’s inclusion is due
to the fact that the game’s director, Osamu
Sato, is also a music
producer, and as a result, he had a heavy
hand in working the music of the game.
It’s important to
distinguish that this isn't a direct soundtrack
of the game.
This is actually an hour-long continuous mix
of
a completely different bonus track.
As you can expect, the sounds of “Lucy”
are surreal and strange, but
if you like your trip-hop with a dash of psychedelics
and electro you’ll enjoy it.
Here’s a small little
sampling:
Now, without further ado, let's move on to
the actual game itself.
The game starts up with one of multiple different
cutscenes.
The cutscenes we saw includes an amalgam
of images, including cityscapes, rotoscoped
sumo wrestlers, seemingly random phrases,
and a variety of
other bizarre, borderline epileptic footage.
After this trip, the player is dropped off
at the main menu to
begin their own dream journal journey.
The introduction for LSD: Dream Emulator is
weird in that it basically tells the player
nothing in regard to
what the game is about.
Typically, when starting up a game, the cutscenes
at the beginning are what
sets the stage for the game and they serve
as the immersion of the player into the game’s
world.
*Footage of games with notable opening scenes
to get the viewer’s mind jogging—Halo
is the first one
that came to my mind*
LSD: Dream Emulator doesn’t really do this.
The imagery used in the beginning “cutscene”
appears random to the casual observer, with
no rhyme or
reason.
How do these things connect?
I have no idea.
On second thought, maybe the director of the
game, Osamu Sato was onto something here.
Perhaps he
used all of this arbitrary imagery to imply
that LSD: Dream Emulator, is not actually
about nothing, but
about...everything.
Anyways, enough “intellectual hour” jabber
here.
Let’s talk gameplay.
The first thing that came to my mind when
playing LSD: Dream Emulator was “walking
simulator”.
You
do a lot of walking.
Walking through the dark, walking through
the light, walking through cities, walking
through deserts, walking through Imitation
LEGOLand...walking, walking, walking.
Similar to the 2010 movie Inception, however,
what your character is walking through are
actually
different dreams.
The player can walk basically anywhere, just
don’t touch the walls!
If you touch the
walls, the dream will end and you’ll be
sent deeper into another layer of the dream…
well, usually.
The
game has a degree of unpredictability.
Sometimes you can trigger certain events and
moments, but
most of the time, event triggers come down
to luck and random chance.
When a dream ends, the day
counter on the title screen will advance and
upon re-entering the game, the player will
be dropped into
a new dream.
The game has a “map” of sorts that is
revealed to the player just after they complete
a dream but right
before they’re sent back to the game’s
title screen.
The “dream map” tells the player a little
more about
the dream that they just cleared, and whether
it was an “upper” or a “downer” and
either “static” or
“dynamic”.
You see, dreams are categorized as either
“uppers”, or “downers” on the Y-Axis.
“Upper” dreams are
usually brighter colored, happier dreams while
“downer” dreams are typically, darker,
murkier, and
more gloomy.
On the X-Axis is “static”, or “dynamic”
dreams.
Once again they are polar, with “static”
dreams being more normal and predictable with
few to no NPCs or variety.
“Dynamic” dreams, in the
other hand, are chaotic and more expressive
typically including more NPCs and variety.
Many of the areas the player explores in the
game link to and influence the various dreams
the player
will have next.
An example of an “upper” “dynamic”
dream, like this one taking place in Happy
Town,
features a Ferris wheel and rainbow colored
marching soldiers.
However, an example of a “downer”
dream might occur in a setting like the violence
district, categorized by grimmer imagery,
like this ghost
lady whose head falls off when you approach
her!
Yeah, some parts of LSD: Dream Emulator can
get preeeeetty weeeeeeird.
Take for example the aforementioned Ferris
Wheel.
It’s one of the few things that is a guaranteed
trigger in the game.
When you touch one of the cars on the ferris
wheel, you’re sent specifically the
cutscene shown here.
Yeah…
Words cannot describe some of the imagery
that you see in this game.
There were multiple
times during our play sessions where we found
ourselves completely dumbfounded with what
we saw.
LSD: Dream Emulator evokes incredibly high
highs and incredible low lows.
One minute, you’ll be in a
crazy place like Happy Town, with an overabundance
of whacked out, color-gun testing hues, and
then
end up you’ll all of a sudden be in the
Violence District finding chalk lines and
bodies in dumpsters.
Just
because you find yourself in Happy Town or
in the Violence District doesn’t necessarily
mean that the
player is having a dream that reflects the
imagery 100%, you could be seeing the horrors
of the Violence
District and still technically be in an Upper
Dream.
LSD is strangely unpredictable and the games
inner
machinations have remained mostly unsolved
over the last twenty years.
When talking about locations, Happy Town and
the Violence District are two of the most
common
locations you’ll end up, however you’re
also very likely to find yourself in Kyoto,
Pit & Temple, or the
Natural World at some point in your journey.
Some of our notable favorite environments
are Black
Space, Sun Faces Heave, Clockwork Machines,
and Monument Park.
The variety of environments for
LSD: Dream Emulator are as wide and as vast
as the potential ways to interpret the game
as a whole.
That is to say, the possibilities for both
are endless.
It's important to note that the maps within
the game are unchanging; that is, they’re
not procedurally
generated or randomized.
This means there won’t ever be a random
building that didn’t previously exist
in a particular area.
However, the content that WILL change are
the textures and NPCs found in that
particular area.
Rumor has it that there IS actually some hidden
meaning behind seeing certain textures
or NPCs, but I’m not going to pretend that
I know the meaning of these items.
Instead, I’ll just take them
at face value and chock it all up as part
of the mystery that is LSD: Dream Emulator.
Many of the textures that can be encountered
range from real life imagery, to kanji, to
borderline glitchy
textures.
In many ways, the various NPCs are just as
bad, if not worse.
Giant Babies, this weird thing
called Doubleface, a murderous TV channel,
a massive demon creature, and many more occupy
the
Dream environments.
The Violence District is home to a few creepy,
albeit, notable NPCs including a
gunman, a murderer, and even hanging women.
The game isn’t afraid to get surreal and
even visceral at
times with its NPCs and imagery.
Due to the strange nature of the game, during
its darkest moments,
LSD even went so far as to feel like a horror
game.
Especially when there was no audio or music in the background... It is just the sound of you, walking through the streets.
...and of course we can’t dive into NPCs
without bringing up the de facto antagonist
of the game, The
Gray Man, a grayscale figure who looks like
a gumshoe detective from afar.
In some dreams, The Grey
Man will slowly slide towards the player and,
if caught, he will damage the dream journal
by ending the
current dream.
Sometimes, in addition to ending the dream,
The Gray Man will also “erase your
memory” by removing the ability to use the
flashback option in the menu, a mode that
allows you to
revisit your previous dream.
While not game breaking, The Gray Man can
hinder player progress
towards the end goal of completing the dream
journal.
Another strange facet of the game, is that
sometimes your “dreams” don’t even involve
gameplay at all.
Occasionally you’ll get a cutscene as your
dream there’s 24 of these bizarre clips
in total, which can
range from live-action video, to animation,
or even a color bar test.
Which I’ll admit, almost scared me
to death.
I wasn’t expecting the game to blare at
me with the test tones and static after hitting
the start
button to start my next dream.
A more calm thing you might encounter is a
Text Dream.
Which as a Western player, is instantly
confusing unless you’re familiar with the
Japanese Language.
All they do is show up, and your dream is
over.
So they have little value to the English Speaking
player.
Thankfully other players have went
through the trouble of translating these screens,
so we can once again experience the bizarre
nature of
this game.
Now in short story form!
Take for example, this story: Watercat
“There's a big pond inside the house.
I'm swimming in it and can see a big, bloated
cat floating in the
water.
It's called Watercat.
It's really soft, hugging it gives me a warm
feeling.
This cat can only be with me when I take my
contact
lenses out.”
I’d say that this leads us to the end of
“LSD: Dream Emulator”, but to be honest,
the game doesn’t really
have an end.
As mentioned earlier, the game progresses
based on days.
Once you complete one
calendar year in the dream journal, the player
will be rewarded with a video that happens
specifically on
Day 365.
This is a specific dream referred to as a
“Hatsuyume” in Japanese culture.
A Hatsuyume or
“First Dream” is supposed to be a dream
that happens on the first of a new year and
it is said to predict
how life events will play out for the next
12 months.
Similar to the Video Dreams that I mentioned.
This
Hatsuyume is a cutscene, and in this cutscene,
the player sees Mt. Fuji, a Hawk, and some
Eggplants,
representing a life filled with health and
progress.
All in all, it means you’re gonna have a
good year
according to Japanese Culture.
This is the closest thing the payer will get
to an ending, because the game then cycles
back to the
beginning of the counter after day 365.
The dream chart will remain the same, and
the game can
continue to be played as normal.
Just in case you’re wondering, Leap Years
are not factored into the
game’s calendar.
I guess the development team never thought
that someone might actually attempt to
experience over 1,200 dreams.
They’re probably right.
Day 3793, I’ve been on the road for what
feels like forever and I remember saying
something like:
"I feel a bit lightheaded.
Maybe you should drive..."
Suddenly there was a terrible screech and
the sky was full of what looked like
Zubats as far as the eye could see, all swooping
and screeching and diving around the car…
...and a voice was screaming:
“Holy Arceus!
What are these damn Pokemon!?”
What does this look like?
Cycling Road? Let's go!
Go!
We’ve played many bizarre, mind-warping
games before...Katamari...Seaman...Mister
Mosquito...even WarioWare: Twisted in a GameBoy
Player.
Not that
we needed all that for the experience, but
you know how it is, once you get locked into
a serious gaming
binge, the tendency is to push it as far as
you can.
The only thing that really worried me was
LSD.
There is nothing in the world more helpless
and
irresponsible and depraved than a man trying
to figure out the finer workings of LSD: Dream
Emulator.
Think we should give that boy a lift?
Wait, we can’t stop here.
This is Zubat Country!
Get in…
