The Typing of the Dead

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The Typing of the Dead
System(s): Sega NAOMI, Sega Dreamcast, PC
Publisher: Sega
Developer: WOW Entertainment/Smilebit, H.I.C.
Peripherals supported: Dreamcast VGA Box, Dreamcast Keyboard, Visual Memory Unit
Genre: ETC
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code JP 2000-01 ¥? 840-0026C JP 2000-03-30 ¥4,8004,800 HDR-0067 JP (Keyboard Set) 2000-03-30 ¥8,8008,800 HDR-0085 US 2001-01-23 $39.9939.99 51144 JP 2000-12-07 ¥5,5005,500 HCJ-0301-1 JP (DVD) 2005-09-22 ¥2,857 (3,000)2,857 (3,000) HCJ-0381 JP (10th Anniversary) 2010-03 ¥1,790 (1,880)1,790 (1,880) HCJ-0423 JP (US Edition) 2001-09-20 ¥4,9804,980 HCJ-0313 US 2000-09-23 EU 2001-09-23 EI-1256 UK (Xplosiv) 200x IT 200x KR 200x
ESRB Sega ELSPA USK CERO

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: 新井 瞬, 中川 力也, 川越 隆幸
• Planners: 島村 誠人, 市川 宏, 川瀬 覚
• Designers: 田中 智治, 高梨 真, 志村 圭介
• Sound Designers: 河内 哲也, 冨田 晴義, 剱田 奈々絵
• Programmers: 上田 展生, 中村 晃章, 廣中 芳憲, 高橋 直人, 杉田 雅宏
• Publicity: 荒木 美佳, 久田 祐通
• Special thanks to: 佐藤 義尚, 大戸 孝二, THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD2 チーム, 村橋 貴史, 玉泉 俊輔, 高瀬 克也
• Director: 椎野 真光
• Presented by: Sega™

©Sega Enterprises, Ltd., 2000

Source:

In-game credits (JP)

• 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

Source:

In-game credits

• Product Development:
  • Localization Producer: Jason Kuo
  • Localization Manager: Osamu Shibamiya
  • VP of Localization: Jin Shimazaki
  • Lead Tester: Steve Peck
  • Assistant Lead: Tor Unsworth
• Marketing:
  • Product Manager: Stacey Kerr
  • Associate Product Managers: Cord Smith, Dennis Lee
• Sega of Japan Manual Product Staff:
  • Writer/Editor/Translator: Luke Valentine
  • Writer: Eiichi Ogawa
  • DTP Operator: Makoto Nishino
  • Designer: Naohiko Iida
  • Supervisor: Kaoru Ichigozaki
• Special Thanks: Chris Lucich, Mari Schaal, Simon McIlroy, John Golden, Angela Santos, John Amirkhan, Sandy Castagnola

Source:

US manual

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

Print advert in Dreamcast Magazine (JP) #2000-14: "2000-14 (2000-04-21)" (2000-04-07)
also published in:

• Dreamcast Magazine (JP) #2000-15: "2000-15 (2000-04-28)" (2000-04-14)

PDF

PC press release

Physical scans

NAOMI version

NAOMI, JP
Cart

Dreamcast version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source Consoles + (FR) 83 Dreamcast Magazine (JP) 90 №2000-12, p27 Dreamcast Magazine (readers) (JP) 92 №, p32 Famitsu (JP) 88 №590, p31 Official Dreamcast Magazine (US) 80

	87
Based on 5 reviews

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score Consoles + (FR) NTSC-J 83 Dreamcast Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 90 Dreamcast Magazine (UK) NTSC-U 88 Dorimaga (JP) NTSC-J 92 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 75 Entsiklopediya igr dlya Dreamcast (RU) 83 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 88 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 80 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 89 Gamers' Republic (US) NTSC-U 75 MAN!AC (DE) NTSC-J 71 Neo Plus (PL) 80 Official Dreamcast Magazine (US) NTSC-U 80 PSX Extreme (PL) 77 Strana Igr (RU) 73 Video Games (DE) NTSC-J 30

	78
Based on 16 reviews

The Typing of the Dead

Dreamcast, US
Cover
Disc Inlay

Dreamcast, JP
Cover
Disc Manual Inlay

Dreamcast, JP (with Keyboard)
Cover

PC version

PC, US
Cover
Jewel Case

PC, JP
Cover

PC, JP (DVD)
Cover

PC, JP (10th Anniversary)
Cover

PC, JP (US Edition)
Cover

PC, UK
Cover

PC, UK (Xplosiv)
Cover

PC, FR
Cover

PC, DE
Disc Jewel Case

PC, ES

PC, IT

PC, KR

External links

• Sega of Japan catalogue pages (Japanese): Dreamcast, PC, PC (US Edition), PC (DVD Value), PC (10th Anniversary)