Planet Dob (game)

***Planet Dob*** (*プラネット ドブ*) is a multi-genre video game developed by Microvision and published by Hudson that was released for the original Playstation on November 18th, 1999. It was only released in Japan.

Planet Dob was mainly produced by a Japanese multi-genre band by the name of "Date of Birth" and includes several songs from their *album of the same name.* There is also a heavy musical focus throughout the game.

## Storyline

The story, roughly translated from the Japanese description of the game, is as follows:

*Hi, I'm Dob, a cosmic sheriff on Planet Dob.*
*While listening to some moody Super Lounging Music on the way to Earth, I was distracted by a neon sign floating in space and passed through a gate.*
*The gate led to an alien siege network set up by Dr. X, a research institute unique to the universe.*
*I was caught foolishly.*
*Dr. X and his assistants took me to the lab and started investigating me.*
*At the end of the day, a memory exploration device called a "Mindlight" that draws out the memory of all living things is tested upon me.*
*My memory has been completely stripped by Dr. X.*
*In addition, Dr. X is curious and makes you travel into my memory.*
*Is it really okay to do this?*
*What will happen to my memory and his assistant ... and the earth?!*

At the very beginning of the game, a cutscene will play showing an alien named Dob flying a golden spaceship while listening to music. He gets distracted by some neon glowing signs (one says "Stardust", and another says "This Way") that point to a floating gate. Curious, he decides to enter the gate, only to be chased by a floating butterfly net. He manages to evade being caught a couple of times, but ultimately gets captured and crash-lands into Earth. An evil scientist named Dr. X and his assistants find Dob and carry his unconscious body into a science lab where they strap him to a chair and hook him to a machine. Dr. X picks an assistant (wearing glasses that says "YOU") to go into Dob's brain and explore his mind.

While the game's text is mostly in Japanese, there are occasional English signs.

## Gameplay

The play style varies throughout the game, but the main goal is to collect as many *Bits* as possible.

Some characters will give you Bits if you complete objectives for them. For example, some characters will reward you with a Bit (or multiple Bits) if you find and return a missing item that belongs to them.

The original Planet Dob website has a "Gameplay" category that summarizes the gameplay in Japanese text and included images of maps to showcase DobTown, however these images are no longer viewable.The following is a rough translation:

> "DobTown is divided into 9 areas (8 inside and 8 outside) like this. The inner area is called PIECE. DobTown is managed by the central CPU, which is powered by the sound catalyzer "BITS". These "BITS" were scattered all over the place, so the city stopped working."
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The next page states:

> "Talk a lot with the residents of Dobtown to find out what sounds each BIT likes and what surprises you. BITs can be uploaded back to the CPU from telephone booth-like place called DTT-MS. With enough uploads, you can remix Dob Town's music."
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At the beginning of each level, the only background music is a drum beat. Whenever Dob obtains a Bit, it will add a new instrument to the background music. For example, if the player collects a Bit, it may add a piano or guitar loop. The more Bits Dob obtains, the more the background music will be added upon. Once you have obtained all the Bits in a stage, you may remix the background music for the respective level in the DTT-MS booth. The music is different in each level.

There are also several minigames. When you've obtained enough Bits, you must play a minigame to proceed to the next stage. The website explains this:

> "At the end of the piece, a JOB is waiting. You can't move on to the next Piece without clearing the JOB."
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## References

1. Planet Dob Video Game Official Website
2. PSX Data Center - Planet Dob Game Identification Page
3. Planet Dob Official Website - Story Page