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Gaming Forums => General Gaming => Topic started by: JonLeung on January 20, 2006, 12:17:02 PM

Title: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: JonLeung on January 20, 2006, 12:17:02 PM: Other than for keeping track of gameplay time or dating save files with the last time saved, what games use a real-time clock and calendar? Nearly all that I know of are Nintendo's, and most of them I own... Now why aren't there more games like these?

Extensive use:
Animal Crossing, Animal Crossing: Wild World
Pokémon: Silver/Gold/Crystal/Sapphire/Ruby/Emerald Versions

Day/Night:
Mario Party 6 (certain mini-games, and I think whole boards are different in day and night)
Star Wars: Rogue Leader - Rogue Squadron II (that one mission where you steal that Imperial shuttle)

Very minor:
Marvel Vs. Capcom 2: New Age Of Heroes (the big clock in one background shows the current time...yay?)
Rise Of The Triad (in this old PC game, I recall that Christmas put Santa hats on the main characters and changed the music to a remix of "Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen")

Anything else?
Title: RE: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: UncleBob on January 20, 2006, 12:23:43 PM: RotT... That was a fun game...
Title: RE: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: Ian Sane on January 20, 2006, 12:31:15 PM: I imagine few games use this feature because it just isn't very flexible for most gamers. If you have school or a job you can only play at certain times. I lost interest in Animal Crossing on the Cube because I hated missing major stuff because of work. I just didn't have a flexible schedule to really enjoy it. It works better for portable games because you can take the game with you places and thus play during your lunch break and such. It also works better for games aimed at kids because they have much more free time. Nintendo is the top developer for both of those types of games so it doesn't surprise that they've made the most use of it. But overall it really is an inflexible system.

I suspect Pokemon dropped the feature because kids were playing during school or staying up late to catch nocturnal Pokemon and parents and teachers didn't care for it.

I think a better system would be to have the game move in real time but not have time pass when you're not playing if you don't want it to. You can make the game "sync" to real time (maybe have a nap feature where the character sleeps and wakes up at the real time you're at) but you're not stuck having to change the internal clock of the system to do things you otherwise don't have time for.
Title: RE: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: jasonditz on January 20, 2006, 02:22:01 PM: Caution: Seaman for the Dreamcast used a real time clock
Title: RE: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: vudu on January 20, 2006, 03:35:17 PM: I totally remember booting up Rise Of The Triad on X-mas day one year and everyone in the group shot on the loading screen had on Santa hats. It was awesome.

Wind Waker's start-up screen varied depending on the time of day you were playing.
Title: RE:What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: Caterkiller on January 20, 2006, 05:30:01 PM: Pokemon Ruby/Saphire/Emerald use the time correctly to evolve certain pokemon. But they just don't show night and day like in Gold and Silver. Thats why in every game since gold and silver you are asked what time it is.
Title: RE: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: Renny on January 20, 2006, 07:27:13 PM: Hmm. Metal Gear Solid 3: you can 'kill' The End by saving during the fight, and resuming a week later. He dies of old age. That's it though.
Title: RE: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: KDR_11k on January 20, 2006, 08:34:46 PM: Extreme Assault or something, published by Blue Byte. It had a clock depicting the real tim in the game.
Title: RE: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: jasonditz on January 20, 2006, 08:44:36 PM: A lot of Japanese dating sims make use of the internal clock as well... I seem to recall getting slapped in one of the Roommate games for not playing for a couple weeks.

Day/Night

Saturn Bomberman gave you more lives if you were playing in the morning for some reason

Wind Waker (surprised no one mentioned this): Save screen has stars on it and is darker blue if the system clock is at nighttime.

Christmas Stuff:

Puzzle Bobble 2 for the Saturn also had some Christmas music that would only play in December. Sega Touring Car Championship had a special racetrack full of Xmas trees.

Shenmue for the Dreamcast: Santa Claus wanders around the streets in town on December 25
Title: RE: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: UncleBob on January 21, 2006, 12:33:56 AM: Didn't one of the Simsons GTA/Crazy Taxi games have where you could play special cars only on certian holidays?

*edit* Yeah, Simpsons: Road Rage - http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/gamecube/code/535738.html (scroll down to Easter Eggs).
Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving and New Years give you one member of the regular cast dressed up in a special outfit.
Title: RE:What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: Dasmos on January 21, 2006, 12:41:35 AM: Quote
Originally posted by: jasonditz
Wind Waker (surprised no one mentioned this): Save screen has stars on it and is darker blue if the system clock is at nighttime.
Quote
Originally posted by: vudu
Wind Waker's start-up screen varied depending on the time of day you were playing.
Title: RE: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: stevey on January 21, 2006, 07:16:16 AM: Simpsons hit and run had a different start screen depending if it xmas or other holiday.
Title: RE: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: ThePerm on January 21, 2006, 08:59:29 AM: nights on saturn
Title: RE:What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: kirby_killer_dedede on January 21, 2006, 09:04:41 AM: Yeah, I was going to say Simpsons but Stevey mentioned it, and Nintendogs (a no-brainer).
Title: RE: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: KDR_11k on January 21, 2006, 09:41:44 AM: I think Dungeon Keeper used the clock to give some bonus stuff during full moon and make snide remarks about playing games so late at night.
Title: RE: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: blackfootsteps on January 21, 2006, 12:24:59 PM: In Timesplitters 2 / FP you can earn an insomniac award for playing late at night.
Title: RE: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: Bill Aurion on January 21, 2006, 01:34:52 PM: I believe Paper Mario Thousand Year Door uses the in-game clock for the lottery "minigame"...
Title: RE: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: stevey on January 21, 2006, 05:16:16 PM: ratchet & clank going commando had a hidden test level that you could go when you played at midnight and were at the right place.
Title: RE:What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: S-U-P-E-R on January 24, 2006, 01:52:43 AM: Ninja Turtles has santa caps, pumpkin heads, etc, if your system clock is on the right date
Title: RE: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: Switchblade Cross on January 24, 2006, 02:00:53 AM: This is a very minor addition, but in the file select screen in Wind Waker, the sky behind the scrole overlay will reflect the actual time with sky colors resembling dawn, day, dusk and night.
Title: RE: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: KDR_11k on January 24, 2006, 02:15:54 AM: Ty: Really? Do you know if they left that in when porting it to home computers (particularly the C64) or is it just the arcade version?
Title: RE:What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: vudu on January 24, 2006, 08:12:19 AM: Quote
Originally posted by: vudu
Wind Waker's start-up screen varied depending on the time of day you were playing.
Quote
Originally posted by: jasonditz
Wind Waker (surprised no one mentioned this): Save screen has stars on it and is darker blue if the system clock is at nighttime.
Quote
Originally posted by: Switchblade Cross
This is a very minor addition, but in the file select screen in Wind Waker, the sky behind the scrole overlay will reflect the actual time with sky colors resembling dawn, day, dusk and night.
Ya don't say?
Title: RE: What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: Shin Gallon on February 02, 2006, 10:11:53 PM: The "24" game is going to be real time, I can't wait for that. I just played the demo, it looks like it'll have a nice variety of gameplay in it.
Title: RE:What games on any system use a real-time clock?
Post by: Galford on February 04, 2006, 07:21:19 AM: Super just mentioned it, the new TMNT that came out a couple years ago on the GC, PS2, XBox. On Halloween, your character has a pumpkin for a head.