| Doko Demo Issyo | |
|---|---|
 Doko Demo Issyo boxart | |
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Developers |
Bomber eXpress |
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Publisher |
Sony Computer Entertainment |
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Release date |
July 22nd, 1999 (Playstation) December 3rd, 2013 (Playstation Vita) |
Doko Demo Issyo (どこでもいっしょ, Together Everywhere) is a 1999 Video Game developed by Bomber Express and published by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. for the PlayStation, released on July 22nd, 1999 in Japan.
Doko Demo Issyo was one of the games that used the PocketStation; it was instrumental in making the device sell so well in Japan. It is the first game in the Doko Demo Issyo Series.
Doko Demo Issyo is a communication game, a game where you interact with the characters through words and phrases. The player can choose from five characters known as Pokepi and interact with them in an apartment. They can be taught words, and the player can answer questions asked by them.
The biggest feature of Doko Demo Issyo is its compatibility with the PocketStation, a handheld device that often came packaged with the game, and its reliance on the device made the PocketStation required to play the game. It allowed the player to take any of the Pokepi with them anywhere, and they can continue to interact through the device.
A remaster of the game was released on the PlayStation Portable on December 7, 2004 for the franchise's 5th anniversary. A port of the original game, separate from the remake on the PSP, was also released on the Playstation Vita in 2013.
Game Mechanics[]
Title screen
Doko Demo Issyo is often described as a Virtual Pet game, similar to the Tamagotchi or other virtual pets, but unlike many games of that genre, Doko Demo Issyo includes a communication element. When the game is started, the player inputs their name, gender, blood type and birthday and chooses one of the five Pokepi to live and play with.
The setting of the game is a small one bedroom Japanese apartment. It contains various comfort items like a refrigerator and a television set with a game console connected.
The floor of the room is covered with Tatami mats, and the Pokepi will sleep on them when they are tired. There are two other rooms of the apartment, a small restroom and a bathroom. There is a stereo system that they will sometimes listen to as well.
Much of the game is watching the Pokepi do various activities within their room, such as quick exercises, watching TV, playing video games, or listening to music. The Pokepi all have different activities they can do, such as Toro doing back flips. Outside of their independent actions, the player can interact with the Pokepi in various ways.
The Pokepi can be fed food items from a selection menu, and the food will be left at the door of the room for the Pokepi to pick up. The most notable way for the player to interact with the Pokepi is by communicating with them (see below). Interacting with the Pokepi daily is appreciated by them; they get lonely and sad if the player does not talk or interact with them within a day or more.
After every day the apartment changes appearance in subtle ways, such as garbage bags being removed or placed, and other household items gathering as days pass, and most notably the wall will start to gather various posters as the game is played daily. Different Pokepi usually have different objects in their home. There are also seasonal objects placed within the apartment, like a red stocking and Christmas tree during winter.
Pokepi[]
Pokepi, derived from "Pocket People", are the characters within Doko Demo Issyo that the player can interact with. There are five Pokepi in the game, and they all are individually different from each other. They all have their own motivations and personality, and develop different kinds of relationships with the player. When a Pokepi is chosen at the start of the game, they cannot be changed unless the game data is reset or the game is complete. The Pokepi also express emotions differently; for instance, some of them are more irritable or are more prone to becoming depressed.
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Toro Inoue | The white cat who wants to be human. Toro is usually presented as the main character of the game. He is pure and childish in nature, and wants to know all about the world. He tends to be very intimate with the player. Toro tends to become depressed easily. |
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R. Suzuki | A brilliant four faced robot. Knows a lot about things and desires to know more about the player. Very sincere and proper in his mannerisms. |
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Jun Mihara | The wanderlust traveler. A young pink bunny who is modern in her approach to life. Likes to talk about love and pop culture. |
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Ricky | A strong frog who wants to become stronger. Likes to travel the world, and knows a lot about history. He tends to remain angry for a while when he is irritated by the player. |
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Pierre Yamamoto | The maiden dog who wants to become independent. Obsessed with French culture, and tends to be sentimental. Knows about various personality tests and fortune tellings, and subjects adjacent to them. |
Communication With the Pokepi[]
The main gameplay feature of Doko Demo Issyo is communicating with the Pokepi. The Pokepi can be taught words by the player through the PocketStation. Upon inputting a word the Pokepi will ask various questions about it, such as what the word is describing and how much the player likes the word. The Pokepi will then use all the words they are taught within conversation. This gives the game a personal touch by the player, as they can teach the Pokepi any words they want, and brings the player closer to the Pokepi. Pokepi can also ask questions to the player. These questions are often answered either by word input or through a selection of different choices given to the player. Some questions seem to effect the Pokepi emotionally depending on how they are answered, and they can get angry at the player if they treat them negatively.
Photo Diary[]
At the end of every day, the Pokepi will write a passage in their Photo Diary, and include a photo with it. The player can view the diary at any time, and there are many different photos that can be included. Sometimes a drawing is inserted into the diary instead; each of the Pokepi seem to have a different art style. If the player has not interacted with the Pokepi that day, or has interacted with them very sparsely, the diary entry will be blank, with just a depressing comment from the Pokepi expressing their loneliness.
PocketStation[]
Toro themed box for the PocketStation
The PocketStation is required for gameplay, as the game stores data onto the device. It's internal clock is also an important gameplay mechanic. A part of the PocketStation flips up and can be inserted into a memory card slot on the Playstation to transmit data. The most notable feature of the PocketStation, however, is it can contain a Pokepi from the player's game and then be taken anywhere even when the actual game on the PS1 is turned off. With the PocketStation, the player can continue to interact with the Pokepi, using the small buttons on the device, such as answering questions or just seeing them do various activities on the device's small LCD screen. The PocketStation could also communicate with other PocketStations, and share data cards. Players could also play various minigames with each other that were up to eight players, such as Shiritori, a popular Japanese word game that requires inputting words that begin with the last character of the previous word, in keeping with the theme of communication and words in Doko Demo Issyo. The game also came with a sticker sheet, and it was common for players to stick the sticker of their favorite Pokepi onto their PocketStation.
Anti-Piracy[]
In the original PS1 copy of Doko Demo Issyo, there is an anti-modchip detection in the game which checks if the region code during the game and if it gets one, it will exit out of the game and give you an error.
PlayStation Portable Remake[]
| Doko Demo Issyo Portable | |
|---|---|
 DDI Portable boxart | |
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Release date |
December 7th, 2004 |
A remake of the game was released in December 7, 2004 for the game's 5th Anniversary. It included more customization options in the form of decorative items that could be added to the players apartment, and also added music to the game that varied based on the hour it was played, as the PS1 version only had environmental sounds during gameplay. Understandably, PocketStation functionality was removed from this version, but it was replaced with the ability to bring the Pokepi to places in-game, such as a school, marketplace, restaurant, city, and many other places. The ability to give the Pokepi gifts of food, however, was removed.
Gallery[]
Doko Demo Issyo (Playstation Version)[]
