Dead of the Brain: Shiryou no Sakebi

Story

After receiving a frantic phone call from his old friend Doctor Cooger, Cole finds himself in a world of nightmares, as a chemical formula for the reanimation of dead tissue causes a city-wide infestation of the undead. With the Doctor's assistant Sheila in tow, Cole must brave the zombie hordes in his search for a way to stop them.

As they move through the city, they encounter a rag-tag band of survivors, including a soldier, a journalist, a private investigator, some small-time criminals, and a former police captain with a hidden agenda.

Cast of Characters

(Names include some romanisation of original Japanese)

• Cole - Hero, 24 years old.
• Dr. Hamilton Cooger - Scientist, developed the resurrection serum. 59 years old.
• Sheila - Dr. Cooger's assistant, Cole's girlfriend. 24 years old.
• Jack - Cop, friend of Dr. Cooger.
• Cathy - Waitress. 20 years old.
• Suri - Aerobics instructor.
• Kane - Journalist.
• North - Soldier.
• Ray - Gang member.
• Terry - Lawyer, friend of Cole and Sheila.
• Richard 'Gul' Grease - Former police captain, 16th precinct.
• Kiel - Private Investigator.

Setting

Set in a generic North American city, locations include:

• 16th Precinct - an abandoned Police Station.
• Warehouse District.
• The Central Hotel - The main cluster of survivors gather here.
• Shopping District.
• Hospital...

The final act of the story takes place in a top-secret scientific complex, partially concealed beneath the city. With this in mind, it may be interesting to compare the locations featured in Dead of the Brain to those featured in the early Resident Evil games.

Gameplay

Apart from the MSX version, the game features a traditional point and click interface. The MSX version uses plain Japanese text menus for all interactions. The MSX version also lacks several UI elements present in the other versions.

Versions

Though the MSX version is less graphically impressive, the Sharp X68000, PC 9801 and FM Towns versions feature improved graphics and occasional spot animations. Sound and music is also noticeably improved in these versions, due to advanced sound processing hardware.

Content

All home computer versions feature a small amount of mild to moderate nudity and sexual content, though substantially less than traditional Eroge games.

Trivia

• The title featured on the initial menu screen is "Nightmare Collection [Dead of the Brain] Day of the Living Dead..."
• The MSX version comes on three floppy disks, the PC 9801 version on four, and the X68000 on five. The FM Towns version comes on CD-ROM. Aside from expected graphic and audio improvements, game content remains largely the same across all formats.
• The words "F*CK YOU" are scrawled on the wall of the cemetery featured in the intro.
• The intro scene featuring the doctor testing the reanimation serum on a dead cat is likely inspired by a similar scene in the movie "Re-Animator".
• A conversion of Dead of the Brain (and it's sequel) was the last game to be released for the PC-Engine CD. It was released in 1999, almost eight years after the other versions.
• An English-language fan-translation for the PC-Engine CD version was once rumored to be in the works.