Déjà Vu

First released in October 1985. It was later ported to several other platforms, including the Amiga, MS-DOS, and the Nintendo Entertainment System. Initially, the game featured black and white graphics; later releases introduced color. A sequel, Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas, was released in 1988.

• Title — Déjà Vu • Developer — ICOM Simulations, Inc. Kemco (NES, GBC) • Publisher — Mindscape Kemco (NES, GBC) • Engine — MacVenture • Platforms — Apple IIGS, Macintosh, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amiga, MS-DOS, Game Boy Color, PC-9800, Pocket PC, Famicom/NES, PlayStation 4, Windows 3.x, Xbox One • Released — MacintoshOctober 1985MS-DOS'NES'Windows 3.1'Game Boy Color'PlayStation 4, Xbox One • Genre — Adventure • Modes — Single-player • Composer — Hiroyuki Masuno, Kento's Group (NES) Koji Nishikawa, Masaomi Miura (GBC)

• Illustration — Macintosh version of Déjà Vu The game takes place in Chicago in 1942 (though a newspaper in-game would imply it is set during December 1941 as there is a reference to the bombing of Pearl Harbor). The game character is Theodore "Ace" Harding, a retired boxer working as a private eye. Ace awakes one morning in a bathroom stall in Joe's Bar, unable to remember who he is. A dead man is found in an upstairs office, and Ace is about to be framed for the murder. There are some clues as to the identity of the murdered man and to Ace himself. A strap-down chair, mysterious vials, and a syringe are found, suggesting (together with a needle mark on Ace's arm) that an interrogation has taken place. Outside the bar, Ace encounters adversaries including a mugger, an old acquaintance with a grudge, and the police. Ace's boxing background proves to be a valuable asset. Ace must find addresses around Joe's bar and then make taxi rides to a few locations (including his office) to gather more information and unravel the story. It involves a kidnapping in which Ace has played some part, but his memory lacks the important details. Ace's memory and mental condition progressively deteriorate, therefore the first major puzzle the player is required to solve involves obtaining an antidote to the drug that caused the memory loss. In the original and subsequent ports, except the Nintendo versions, the player has a limited amount of time before Ace's brain reaches vegetable status and has to live the rest of his days in a hospital for "helpless mental invalids"; in addition, Ace will die on the second floor of Sternwood Mansion if he goes there before taking the antidote. If the antidote is administered, Ace starts to have recurring flashbacks filled with information which helps the player evaluate the evidence and take action accordingly. This game and its sequel, Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas, require significant lateral thinking. Some situations are based on common detective techniques, while others require simple violence. Unlike other MacVenture titles such as Uninvited and Shadowgate, no supernatural events are present.

• Illustration — NES version Déjà Vu was the first ICOM Simulations game to use the MacVenture interface and engine. Numerous ports were made, including versions for home computer systems in 1987 and the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990. Versions of the game and its sequel containing new graphics and sound were released for Microsoft Windows in the early 1990s, and later as a combined single-cartridge release for the Game Boy Color in 1999 under the title Déjà Vu I & II: The Casebooks of Ace Harding, which also was released for DOS, Windows 3.x (1992), and Windows Mobile (2002). The Game Boy Color version is heavily censored and creates its own details such as renaming "Joe's Bar" to "Joe's Place" and adding other details that were not present in other versions to the point of contradiction, most notably with Ace's "Suzy Q" memory and "Father O'Malley" memory. This version also changes the ending of the first Déjà Vu game to better seamlessly lead into Déjà Vu II. The memory deterioration mechanic was modified for the NES and Game Boy Color versions. The vegetable status mechanic and also the Sternwood Mansion death are removed if the player goes there without curing their amnesia. This gives the player unlimited time to find a cure, but still has a hard death coded if they go to Ace's office while suffering from amnesia in which the vegetable ending from the other platforms is immediately initiated. In 2017, the NES version was ported to PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One as part of 8-bit Adventure Anthology, which also included the NES ports of Shadowgate and Uninvited.