A-Train

A-Train

DOS - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Artdink Publisher Artdink, Maxis Published 1990-12-14 Platforms Amiga, DOS, FM Towns, Macintosh Classic, PC-9800, Sharp X68000, TurboGrafx-CD Genres Management simulator, Simulation Themes Management Series A-Train Distribution Commercial

A-Train is a train management simulator game and the third in the A-Train series. It was developed and published by Artdink and first released on the PC-89 on 1990-12-14. It was later ported to the X68000, FM Towns, and PC Engine CD. An English version was published in 1992 in the USA by Maxis Software and in Europe by Ocean for the Amiga, Macintosh Classic and MS-DOS. A Japanese-only port was made for the Super Famicom, but it's quite different from the original. In the game, you play the president of a railroad company who must buy trains and lay railroad tracks to best fit the needs of a growing city which you can also buy properties within.

An A-Train Construction Set was also published in most regions which allows you to setup a map to your liking completely for free and the import the map into the game.

Personal

Own?	MS-DOS. 3.5" disks and manual. MS-DOS Construction Kit 3.5" disk and manual.
Won?	This game doesn't have a win condition.

I bought A-Train after it was bundled with the Construction Set and put on sale, so probably a few years after it was released. I assumed, because it was published by Maxis, that the game was another Sim title. I spent a fair amount of time toying with the game, but I never figured out how to play it effectively, so my trains kept colliding and I kept going bankrupt. I'd probably appreciate the game more if I cared anything about trains and train scheduling, but I don't. When I was playing the game, I kept comparing it to SimCity 2000: The Ultimate City Simulator, which I was playing at the same time, and found it lacking. The Construction Set gave me a little more playability out of the game, but I abandoned the game not long after buying it. Like most people outside of Japan, I had no idea that A-Train was a hugely-popular series of games in Japan, and just assumed it was the first game of its kind.

Review

— This section contains spoilers! —

3	4	5	5	4

Best Version: ?

I can't give much of an itemized review for this game because I didn't play it for very long because it was very difficult for my teenage self to learn how to play properly. It has great jazzy music by Koji Yamada and Daisuke Nakakaze, the graphics by T. Yano are perfect for the game, and the palette transitions from day to night, and season to season are gorgeous. However, I never found the game to be very engaging.

Media

Box Art

• 

  The original PC-9801 Japanese box uses a grayscale cityscape with no emphasis on trains.

• 

  The PC Engine CD box uses the same non-train box with a modified layout.

• 

  All US and European releases use this art. I love the quality, and I think the concept of the illustration perfectly encapsulates the game. I just wish there was a little less white space.

• 

  Thhe Construction Set box art is more like the Japanese art: just some buildings, but at least there is a train in the background.

• 

  The A-Train logo.

Documentation

• 

  Manual - Amiga / Macintosh Classic - USA.

• 

  Construction Set Manual - Amiga / Macintosh Classic - USA.

• 

  Construction Set Addendum - Amiga / Macintosh Classic - USA.

Play Online

MS-DOS

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	There are no women.
Bechdel test?	Fail	There are no women.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	All characters are just mugshots with no personality. In the Western versions, everyone is white.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English	A-Train
Japanese	A列車で行こうIII	A Ressha de Ikou III	Take the "A" Train III

Links