Silent Debuggers

n/a

TurboGrafx-16 PC Engine
Silent Debuggers
System(s): PC Engine, TurboGrafx-16, Virtual Console (Wii)
Publisher: Data East NEC Technologies G-Mode
Developer: Data East
Genre: First Person Shooter
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1991-03-29 ¥6,8006,800 DE90004 US 1991-10 TGX040063 JP ▼ 2007-06-26 600pts600 US ▼ 2007-07-16 600pts600 EU ▼ 2007-07-20 600pts600 AU ▼ 2007-07-20 600pts600

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Silent Debuggers (サイレントデバッガーズ) is a first person shooter for the PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16.

Story

It is the future, and two nations had entered a war with each other. 4 years after the war had passed, many humans have left Earth for outer space. Those living in space now rely on small groups of soldiers left over from the war. The most famous of these groups is the "Silent Debuggers", experts in battle who will take on any job for a reward.

A cargo station known as "Ohme" was rebuilt after the war, however an accident occurred aboard one year ago that resulted in the station's abandonment. A rumour has since spread of the station containing vast riches, however no Debugger that has entered the station has ever come back alive. Tempted by the prospect of treasure despite the danger, a rookie Debugger (the player) and their sidekick Leon enter Ohme to search for the treasure, with the Debugger handling the exploration and Leon supporting them from Ohme's central computer room.

Gameplay

Predating both Doom and Wolfenstein 3D, Silent Debuggers seems to be an evolution of first-person dungeon crawlers such as Wizardry, but with real-time action, a science-fiction setting, and none of the usual stat or level building that comes with an RPG. Like a dungeon crawler, movement is grid based, and the player's character can only turn in 90-degree angles. Movement is performed with the D-Pad, and holding Ⅰ while using the D-Pad will move the gun sight. Pressing  SELECT  will pause the game and bring up a command list.

The game takes place in a space station that has become infested with aliens. The central section is an elevator that lowers to another level when all of the aliens are killed on the current level, with a total of 6 levels to navigate. This central area is divided into 8 main rooms referred to as "blocks": B Block controls the lights, C Block recharges the player's batteries, F Block allows the sound sensors to work, G provides ammunition, and the other 4 don't provide any specific function.

Starting in the second level, there will be a time limit of 100 minutes to complete the game, and certain types of aliens can enter this central section and attack these blocks. If one of these blocks is destroyed, it no longer provides whatever function it did before. However, Leon, who stays in the central computer room, will usually give the player a new item that somewhat replicates the function of the now-destroyed block (i.e. if the C Block is destroyed, he gives the player an item that gradually refills their batteries when they have it equipped). Any damage done to any block stays until the entire game is completed; there is no way to repair them at all. Similarly, the ammunition room has a limited supply of ammunition for the whole game, and once it's out, it's out until the game is over.

In addition to powering the player's weapons, the player's two batteries also serve as the player's health, and if one of the batteries is getting low, the player should switch to the other battery or recharge as soon as possible. If the player is attacked when the current battery is completely depleted, the player dies even if the other battery has some charge, however they will be able to continue the game from the central computer room with a time penalty. If the player runs out of time, all 8 blocks are destroyed, or a block is destroyed while the player is inside it, the game will be over with no option to continue. Between this and the mechanic of having to carefully track down aliens with a radar, it's arguable that Silent Debuggers is a proto-survival horror game.

Weapons

The player is given a choice of two types of weapons to bring with them: an assault rifle that is fired with Ⅱ, and a launcher that is fired with  RUN . Only one weapon out of both types may be chosen.

Assault rifles

	Hand Gun
	Ammo type: Batteries
	A beam gun that the player starts out with.
	Motor Cannon
	Ammo type: Live ammunition (90 shots)
	A general-purpose recoilless machine gun that fires explosive bullets at high speeds.
	Mega Beamer
	Ammo type: Batteries
	Fires a grenade launcher-like beam after charging for approximately 2 seconds with battery energy.
	Lipp Shot
	Ammo type: Live ammunition (60 shots)
	A multi-purpose homing gun that fires micro-missiles.

Launchers

	Grenade Launcher
	Ammo type: Live ammunition (5 shots)
	A very slow weapon that can kill almost all enemies if it hits its mark.
	Sonic Launcher
	Ammo type: Batteries
	Emits ear-piercing noises that will scare away enemies. The player's ears are protected by their helmet.
	Sleep Launcher
	Ammo type: Live ammunition (10 shots)
	Puts enemies to sleep for a short while. They will wake up if the player gets too close or waits for too long.

Items

	Sound Sensor Version 2 (Multi-Sensor)
	Senses enemies that cannot be detected by the standard sensor.
	Jump Unit
	Consumes a lot of battery energy to instantly transport the player to a remote point via the command list.
	Night Vision
	Allows the player to see enemies in the dark.
	Auto-Charger
	Gradually restores energy to each unused battery.
	Muzzle Adapter
	Doubles the attack power of a weapon when attached to its muzzle.

Production credits

• Planner: Tdr Watanabe
• Graphic: 68000 Isiro
• Programmer: Works Sasamoto
• Sound: Nyanko Sakai, Syougo, Koremasa, Atomic Takafumi, Takahama Yuusuke, Suzuki Yuuji
• Test play: Verago Nakamura
• Director: A. Kawai
• Co-Operaters: Eliminator Iwao, Prowres Nozima, Carol Abematsu, Gummon Sugahara, RZR Nonaka, Fanky Maeda, Gamer Miyagawa, Mtx Sahara, K1 Sato, Hiace Isimaki, Dosanko Yamaguchi, Mira Tezuka, Gamma Sugiyama, H. Yosida, S. Takeuchi, K. Tsukakoshi, K. Saito, N. Abe
• Produce: T.Kaneyasu

To Be Continued

Source:

In-game credits (JP)

Magazine articles

Main article: Silent Debuggers/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

PC Engine version

PC Engine, JP
File:SilentDebuggers PCE HuCard JP Manual.pdf Manual

TurboGrafx-16 version

TurboGrafx-16, US

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 616ea179 MD5 37bf7db43aebb4fbbb886f8ca4062e0d SHA-1 9101f738a37c9fcbc69308449cdfb94c928f64c6	512kB		Card (JP)
✔	CRC32 fa7e5d66 MD5 46719950684f5148c20730c6fd7df4a0 SHA-1 c010ba9ff55a2558bba94ac39aa0160c76daff0c	512kB		Card (US)