Devil Dice

• Title — Devil Dice • Developer — Shift • Publisher — Sony Computer Entertainment • Director — Hiroyuki Kotani • Producer — Tomikazu Kirita • Designer — Yuichi Sugiyama • Programmer — Masahiko Wada Shuichi Yano • Artist — Seiji Yamagishi • Composer — Kemmei Adachi • Platforms — PlayStation • Genre — Puzzle • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer

• Illustration — Screenshot of gameplay Devil Dice is a unique puzzle video game, where the player controls a small devil that runs around a grid covered in large dice. The player can both stand atop dice, and stand on the ground (with the dice towering above). When standing on the dice, the player can move from die to die, or can roll a die in the direction they run, revealing a different face as the die rotates. Creating a group of adjacent dice with identical pips—the size of which must be at least the number of pips—causes those dice to slowly sink into the field before disappearing. Chain reactions are possible by adding additional dice to a sinking set. Different types of dice are available in some modes, with different properties to make the game more challenging. The game features the following modes: • Battle - pits the player against a single computer opponent, both attempting to build up chains and negate those of the opponent. • Puzzle - mode in which players must solve puzzles (i.e., clear all dice) using only a limited number of steps or moves. Solving a whole row of puzzles allows players access to a picture that they can play on in Battle mode. • Trial - the standard arcade-style mode, where the objective is to remove as many dice as possible (and thus score as many points as possible) before the grid completely fills with dice. • Wars - quickfire multiplayer mode, supporting up to four simultaneous computer opponents, or five human players when using a multitap. Players damage each other as they complete chains, with the last man standing becoming the winner.

According to lead designer Yuichi Sugiyama, Devil Dice was created for Game Yarōze, a Japan-exclusive competition where participants competed for access to a development environment for the creation of PlayStation games intended for commercial release. The original program was held between 1995 and 1999, with over 3,000 participants and 1,200 submitted game concepts. Ultimately, over thirty Game Yarōze titles went to market, including Devil Dice and the first Doko Demo Issyo game. One of the Devil Dice programmers, Shuichi Yano, stated that he was a successful applicant of the Game Yarōze program; he further stated that the program is unrelated to the similarly-named Net Yarōze program.

XI Jumbo was only released in Japan exclusively on PlayStation. A demake titled XI Little was only released in Japan exclusively on the WonderSwan Color by Bandai in 2001. It is the first portable video game based on a Sony Computer Entertainment property. Bombastic (XI Go in Japan) was released in Japan, North America and Europe exclusively on PlayStation 2. It incorporates all play modes from previous releases. Xi Coliseum was only released in Japan exclusively on PlayStation Portable. This version includes support for ad hoc wireless play between up to five players.