The Typing of the Dead

From Sega Retro

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Typing of the Dead.png

The Typing of the Dead
System(s): Sega NAOMI, Sega Dreamcast, PC
Publisher: Sega
Developer:
Peripherals supported:
Sega Dreamcast
Dreamcast VGA Box, Dreamcast Keyboard
Genre: ETC

















Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Dreamcast
JP
¥4,8004,800 HDR-0067
Sega Dreamcast
JP
(Keyboard Set)
¥8,8008,800 HDR-0085
Sega Dreamcast
US
Windows PC
JP
¥5,5005,500 HCJ-0301-1
Windows PC
JP
(DVD)
¥2,857 (3,000)2,857 (3,000) HCJ-0381
Windows PC
JP
(10th Anniversary)
¥1,790 (1,880)1,790 (1,880) HCJ-0423
Windows PC
JP
(US Edition)
¥4,9804,980 HCJ-0313
Windows PC
US
Windows PC
EU
EI-1256
Windows PC
UK
(Xplosiv)

The Typing of the Dead (ザ・タイピング・オブ・ザ・デッド) is a Sega NAOMI game released in 1999 based on The House of the Dead 2. While the latter is a standard light gun shooter, Typing replaces the gun with the keyboard.

While the game is an educational game, as it requires players to enhance their typing skills to be successful, it has been praised by critics primarily for its comedic content. It was later brought to the Sega Dreamcast and Windows PCs.

The success of this game, particularly in Japan, led to many variations of The Typing of the Dead. This article covers the original NAOMI arcade version and its ports to the Sega Dreamcast and Windows PCs. It also includes the Japanese release of The Typing of the Dead US Edition (ザ・タイピング・オブ・ザ・デッド USエディション), as this is the Japanese release of the US version of the game. For the Japanese-only variants, see The Typing of the Dead 2003, The Typing of the Dead 2004 and The Typing of the Dead Syoukai.

Plot

The plot of the game follows that of The House of the Dead 2 almost completely. The story begins on February 26, 2000, where another zombie outbreak has occurred and several AMS agents have been dispatched to investigate. The player can control two characters, James and Gary, who are first sent to find the original game's "G" before being tasked with restoring order. Responsibility for the outbreaks is soon traced to "Goldman," a banking tycoon and scientist who is attempting to end human control of the earth. Much of the game revolves around destroying Goldman's creations, concluding with the final boss of "the Emperor." There are three possible humorous ending sequences, dependent on how the final questions asked to defeat the Emperor were answered.

Gameplay

The Typing of the Dead has been described variously as a remake or mod of the original House of the Dead 2. Like the original, Typing of the Dead is styled as a first-person rail shooter game, but substitutes shooting zombies and other enemies with typing out words or phrases to kill them. When enemies appear, they are accompanied by a box showing a word, sentence or phrase which must be typed to neutralize the enemy. The length, and complexity, of the phrases increase during the game's progression. Other features retained include the challenges of saving survivors, which will alter the path the player character will take to his final destination, and the secrets/bonus items hidden throughout the game.

All levels contain specific challenge areas, where the player is required to kill a certain number of zombies in limited time, and are ended with a boss battle using some sort of alteration of usual gameplay (e.g. a long phrase, typing the correct answer to a question etc.) The console ports have two modes, "Original" and "Arcade," for the main storyline, as well as "Tutorial," "Drill," and "Boss" modes for additional typing training. Other changes are mostly superficial, including replacing the weapons wielded by zombies with harmless items and equipping the AMS agents with keyboards attached to backpack Dreamcasts with oversized batteries.

History

Releases

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The Typing of the Dead was first released for arcades in Japan in 1999 with a special arcade cabinet equipped with dual QWERTY keyboards. The game was WOW Entertainment and one of the second developments by Smilebit, a developer team from Sega which had recently spun off as a new company.

The first home console release was made for the Japanese Dreamcast market on March 30, 2000. The North American release was made the following year in January. A PC port was produced by Empire Interactive, and released in September 2001.

Another port of the game was for the PlayStation 2, titled The Typing of the Dead: Zombie Panic. This version was released exclusively in Japan in late December 2004, and was packaged with a USB keyboard. The game was mostly unchanged, disappointing observers hoping for an update of the graphics, although the Dreamcast backpacks were replaced with PS2 backpacks and new "minigames" were incorporated into the main story.

Also, in Japan the PC port had its updates as separate games. It had a total of 6 releases:

  • The Typing of the Dead JP (Romanji/Hiragana Alphabet / December 7, 2000)
  • The Typing of the Dead US (English Alphabet / September 20, 2001)
  • The Typing of the Dead 2003 (Romanji/Hiragana Alphabet / December 5, 2002)
  • The Typing of the Dead 2004 (Romanji/Hiragana Alphabet / December 4, 2003)
  • The Typing of the Dead JP Ver 2 (Romanji/Hiragana/English Alphabet / September 22, 2005)
  • The Typing of the Dead Syoukai (Romanji/Hiragana/English Alphabet / July 12, 2006)

The demos of these releases can be found on the official Typing of the Dead Japanese website.

A sequel game, The Typing of the Dead 2, was released in 2007. This version was a revision of The House of the Dead 3, and has only been released in Japan as of 2008.

Production credits

Dreamcast version

Producers: Rikiya Nakagawa, Shun Arai, Takayuki Kawagoe
Director: Masamitsu Shiino
Planners: Masato Shimamura, Wataru Taguchi
Designers: Makoto Takanashi, Tomoharu Tanaka
Programmers: Isao Watanabe, Naoto Takahashi, Tensei Ueda, Teruaki Nakamura, Yoshinori Hironaka
Sound Designer: Tetsuya Kawauchi
Word Editors: Osamu Shibamiya, Satoko Arima, Luke Valentine, Yoko Sasaki
Special Thanks: Jin Shimazaki, Koji Ooto, Yoshinao Satou
Created By: WOW Entertainment, Smilebit (Co-Developer)
Presented By: Sega

PC version

Producers: Shun Arai, Rikiya Nakagawa, Takayuki Kawagoe, Masato Ozutsumi
Director: Masamitsu Shiino
Planners: Wataru Taguchi, Youichirou Inoue
Designer: Tomoharu Tanaka
Programmers: Tensei Ueda, Ryou Matsunuma, Kouji Nakamura, Teruaki Nakamura, Kunihide Izawa, Eiji Horita, Jun Fukushima
Sound Designers: Hirofumi Murasaki, Keiichi Sugiyama
Word Editors: Luke Valentine, Osamu Shibamiya, Satoko Arima, Yoko Sasaki
Special Thanks: Jin Shimazaki, Ken Seki, Luke Valentine, Nobuhiko Ishihara, Katsuji Doujun, Yasushi Nakajima, Ryousuke Kaji, Gou Tokunaga, Masaru Igarashi, Toshirou Nakayama
Created By: WOW Entertainment, Smilebit (Co-Developer)
Presented By: Sega

Empire Interactive

Design Coordinator: Benedict Wilkins
Product Manager: Stephen Wickes
Art: Phil Goldfinch, Paul Flewitt, Stephen Brennan
Lead Testers: Florence Kum, Lee Clarke
Testers: Simon Lewis, Nmlotey Nartey, Mark Klocek, Edward Albert Wilson, Christopher Giggins
Special Thanks: Tristram, Danny, Ian, Justin, James, Liz, Jimmy

Take 2 Interactive

Producer: Brian M. McGinn
VP of Business Development: Jamie Leece
VP of Publishing: Chris Mate
Graphic Artist: Christine Lagna
QA Supervisor: Frank Kirchner
Lead Tester: Stephen Thomas
Quality Assurance: Lisa Nawrot, Kai Ma, Josh Rose, Joe Covello, Stacey Sharpe, Joshua Noll, Scott Vail

Magazine articles

Main article: The Typing of the Dead/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Physical scans

NAOMI version

NAOMI, JP
Typing of the Dead NAOMI JP Cart Back.jpgTyping of the Dead NAOMI JP Cart Front.jpg
Cart

Dreamcast version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
83 №101, p129[1]
90 №2000-12, p27[2]
92
Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "'".
88 №590, p31
80 №12, p77[4]
Sega Dreamcast
Expression error: Unexpected < operator.
Based on
6 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Consoles + (FR) NTSC-J
83
[1]
Dreamcast Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
90
[5]
Dreamcast Magazine (UK) NTSC-U
88
[6]
Dorimaga (JP) NTSC-J
92
[7]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
75
[8]
Entsiklopediya igr dlya Dreamcast (RU)
83
[9]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
88
[10]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
80
[11]
Game Informer (US) NTSC-U
89
[12]
Gamers' Republic (US) NTSC-U
75
[13]
MAN!AC (DE) NTSC-J
71
[14]
Neo Plus (PL)
80
[15]
Official Dreamcast Magazine (US) NTSC-U
80
[4]
PSX Extreme (PL)
77
[16]
Strana Igr (RU)
73
[17]
Video Games (DE) NTSC-J
30
[18]
Sega Dreamcast
78
Based on
16 reviews

The Typing of the Dead

Dreamcast, US
TTotD DC US Box Back.jpgTTotD DC US Box Front.jpg
Cover
TTotD DC US Disc.jpg
Disc
THOTDDCUSInlay.jpg
Inlay
Dreamcast, JP
TTotD DC JP Box Back.jpgTTotD DC JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
TTotD DC JP Disc.jpg
Disc

PC version

PC, US
TTotD PC US Box Back.jpgNospine.pngTTotD PC US Box Front.jpg
Cover
PC, JP
TTotD PC JP Box Front.jpg
Cover
PC, JP (DVD)
TTotD PC JP Box DVD.jpg
Cover
PC, JP (10th Anniversary)
TTotD PC JP Box Front 10th.jpg
Cover
PC, JP (US Edition)
TTotD PC JP Box Front US.jpg
Cover
PC, UK

PC, UK (Xplosiv)
TTotD PC UK Box Xplosiv.jpg
Cover
PC, FR

PC, DE
TTotD PC DE Box Back.jpgTTotD PC DE Box Front.jpg
Cover
TTotD PC EU Disc.jpg
Disc

External links

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 File:ConsolesPlus FR 101.pdf, page 129 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:ConsolesPlus FR 101.pdf_p129" defined multiple times with different content
  2. File:DCM_JP_20000407_2000-12.pdf, page 27
  3. File:Dorimaga_20021011_JP.pdf, page 32
  4. 4.0 4.1 File:ODCM US 12.pdf, page 81 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:ODCM US 12.pdf_p81" defined multiple times with different content
  5. Dreamcast Magazine, "2000-12 (2000-04-07)" (JP; 2000-03-24), page 27
  6. Dreamcast Magazine, "No. 20" (UK; 2001-03-22), page 68
  7. Dorimaga, "2002-18 (2002-10-11)" (JP; 2002-09-27), page 32
  8. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "March 2001" (US; 2001-02-06), page 110
  9. Entsiklopediya igr dlya Dreamcast, "Izdaniye chetvertoye, dopolnennoye" (RU; 2002-xx-xx), page 284
  10. Famitsu, "2000-04-07" (JP; 2000-03-24), page 31
  11. GamePro, "March 2001" (US; 2001-0x-xx), page 93
  12. Game Informer, "February 2001" (US; 2001-0x-xx), page 99
  13. Gamers' Republic, "January 2001" (US; 2000-12-20), page 83
  14. MAN!AC, "06/2000" (DE; 2000-05-03), page 50
  15. Neo Plus, "Marzec 2001" (PL; 2001-xx-xx), page 56
  16. PSX Extreme, "05/2001" (PL; 2001-0x-xx), page 52
  17. Strana Igr, "Sentyabr 2000 2/2" (RU; 2000-xx-xx), page 21
  18. Video Games, "06/2000" (DE; 2000-05-04), page 124



The House of the Dead series of games
The House of the Dead (Remake) (1996) | The House of the Dead 2 (1998) | The House of the Dead III (2003) | The House of the Dead 4 (2005) | The House of the Dead: Overkill (Extended Cut) (2009) | House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn (2018)
The Typing of the Dead games
The Typing of the Dead (1999) | The Typing of the Dead 2003 (2002) | The Typing of the Dead 2004 (2003) | The Typing of the Dead: Zombie Panic (2004) | The Typing of the Dead for Mac (200x) | The Typing of the Dead Typing Lariat (2006) | The Typing of the Dead 2 (2007) | The Typing of the Dead Featuring Rakuten Minna no Shushoku Katsudou Nikki (2010) | The Typing of the Dead EX (2012) |The Typing of the Dead: Overkill (2013)
Spin-off games
Zombie Revenge (1999) | The Pinball of the Dead (2002) | Ai Sareruyori Ai Shitai: The House of the Dead EX (2008) | Zombie Shiki - Eigo Ryoku Sosei Jutsu: English of the Dead (2008) | The House of the Dead LL (20xx) | Zombie Utsu: Flick of the Dead (2012) | The House of the Dead: Overkill The Lost Reels (2013) | Darts of the Dead (2017) | House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn Battle Genesis (2019)
Compilations
The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return (2008) | The House of the Dead Bundle Pack (2012)
The House of the Dead related media
Music
The House of the Dead 2 (1999) | Zombie Revenge (1999) | The House of the Dead 4 Original Sound Tracks (2005) | House of the Dead: Scarlet Dawn Original Sound Tracks (2019) | The House of the Dead 2 (2022)
Book
The House of the Dead Official Guide (1998) | The House of the Dead Dennou Shinan: Dr. Curien no Houkoku Sho (1998) | The House of the Dead 2 G's File (1999) | The House of the Dead 2 Perfect Guide (1999) | Prima's Official Strategy Guide: The House of the Dead 2 (1999) | The House of the Dead 2 Official Strategy Guide (1999) | Dreamcast Hisshou Hou Special: Zombie Revenge Perfect Guide (1999) | House of the Dead (2003) | The House of the Dead III Perfect Guide (2003) | Prelude to an Overkill (2009)
Book
The House of the Dead "Wilder than Heaven" (1997) | Nightmare Syndrome Horror Game Comic Anthology (1998) + one more manga
Film
House of the Dead (2003) | House of the Dead II (2005)