Tokyo Bus Guide

Overview

Tokyo Bus Guide (also known as Tōkyō Bus An'nai) is a bus driving simulation game developed and published by Fortyfive for the Sega Dreamcast in Japan on December 23, 1999.

Developed in accordance with the Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation, Tokyo Bus Guide tasks players with driving real metropolitan bus routes (Toei Bus) in the Japanese city of Tokyo.

As the driver of a single-decker bus (the Isuzu Cubic), players must transport passengers through each of the three routes while following all traffic rules and the route's strict timetable. Similar to the Densha de Go! series, players have a limited amount of violations (which deplete the player's "Driver's Points" gauge) before a premature game end.

The game's main story mode follows the player, as a driver-in-training, through the month of September to complete their training. As players unlock more routes, they can also listen-in to conversations between numerous passengers.

The game later received an arcade port sometime in 2000, released by Sega for their DC-based NAOMI hardware. It uses a sit-down deluxe cabinet similar to 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker, with a large steering wheel similar to ones used in a bus. To commemorate the arcade version's release, Fortyfive released a limited-edition bundle of the Dreamcast version on December 21, 2000. The bundle, known as Tokyo Bus Guide: Bijin Bus Guide Tenjou Pack, included the game along with a special GD-ROM video disc showing some hints about the game (as commentated by the "beautiful bus guide").

The game also received a port for the PlayStation 2 on May 10, 2001, published by Success as Tokyo Bus Guide: Kyou Kara Kimi mo Untenshu (the sub-title loosely translated to "Starting Today, You Too Are a Driver"). This version later received a budget re-release on August 7, 2003 (as part of the SuperLite 2000 series) and later received a sequel.

Routes

The game includes three main routes:

• Wangan (Niji 01) near Tokyo Bay, from the entrance of Kokusai-Tenjijō Station to the entrance of Hamamatsuchō Station. This route goes through Tokyo's Rainbow Bridge.

• Shinjuku (Den 70) in central Tokyo, from the Nakanohashi bus stop near Tokyo Tower to the western entrance of Shinjuku Station.

• Ōme (Ume 76) in western Tokyo, from the entrance of Higashi-Ōme Station to the Kami-Nariki bus stop near the northern border to Saitama Prefecture. This route goes through rural mountainous highways along the Nariki-kaido Ave. Unavailable in the Arcade version.

Each of these routes can be played in one of three time zones (Day, Evening, and Night), with each time zone having their own passenger and car traffic. The Arcade release does not include the Night time zone, with the Day one as the Normal difficulty and the Evening one as the Hard difficulty.