An Action Game for home computers published by Mindscape in 1991, D/Generation takes place in the year 2021 at a genetics research facility based in Singapore. You play a courier armed with a laser gun who is charged with delivering a package to a man named Derrida, CEO of Genoq. In the course of doing this you battle genetic experiments and save employees of the company (or ignore them, or kill them, or allow them to die), never straying from your mission to deliver the package.
25 years after it first came out, this game was re-released: first on Playstation 4 in 2016, and then on Nintendo Switch in 2018, in two varieties: original and HD.
This game contains examples of:
- 1-Up: One for each civilian you save.
- Abandoned Laboratory: The entire game takes place in the Genoq facility, whose employees are now hiding in fear from hostile creatures and automated security systems.
- Apathetic Citizens: They just want to get out of there. The first one you meet even tries to convince you to sit tight and let someone else figure out what's going on.
- Chest Monster: The C/Generations disguise themselves as normal office equipment or survivors until you walk up to them. The ones in human form have only one "tell". If you use an explosive nearby, they won't shiver like real humans do.
- Deflector Shields: One variety of power-up is temporary invincibility, represented by giving your character sprite a mosaic blur-like filter.
- Drone of Dread: The gameplay soundtrack is pretty much this exclusively.
- Dungeon Bypass: Explosives can be used to break open security doors.
- Energy Weapon: You'll find a laser pistol fairly early in the game. It works well on A/- and B/Generation bioweapons.
- Fan Sequel: rE/Generation
, developed for the Retro Remakes 2004 Competition. - Hacking Minigame: Kind of.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: When multiple security turrets are in a room, you can sometimes run between them and lure them into shooting each other. Helps conserve grenades.
- Isometric Projection: A fairly straightforward example that encourages the use of diagonals to move efficiently.
- Limited Sound Effects: And music too (see Drone of Dread above).
- Lock and Key Puzzle: Much of the gameplay requires you to locate misplaced keycards or hit the correct switches in order to open security doors.
- Locked Door: Though you can use bombs on them.
- Mook Maker: Air ducts in the floor spawn A/Generations and B/Generations when you approach. Run over a duct to secure it.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: By persevering and making it all the way to Derrida to accomplish your task, you realize the stakes are much higher than initially thought: you've given the D/Generation the one thing it needs to escape the facility. The final level consists of fixing what you broke.
- One-Hit-Point Wonder: Applies to you, civilians, and weaker enemies. Turrets and later foes require a shot of heavier ordnance.
- Only Smart People May Pass: A computer asks for a password. The only hint is a vague phrase from an NPC.
- Pinball Projectile: Your main weapon.
- Reality Warper: The D/Generation is capable of terrifyingly realistic illusions that look and feel all too realistic.
- Right Man in the Wrong Place: You're just a courier. Despite the warnings you find upon arriving at Genoq, you persist in your goal to deliver your package to Derrida.
- Timed Mission: The last quarter of the game gives you 20 minutes to win. Genoq has dispatched a bomber to destroy the building and remove all evidence of the bioweapons. This is unlikely to kill you, however — the D/Generation will take care of that first.
- Time Stands Still: One item temporarily freezes time for everything except you. However, this also means that you can't toggle switches until the effect wears off.
- Trick Shot Puzzle: Lasers can activate doors.
- Unwitting Pawn: You, the courier. It wasn't Derrida who ordered the package, it was the D/Generation, and delivering the item gives it the ability to escape. The final stretch of the game consists of making sure it doesn't.
- Video Game Remake: D/Generation HD, a remake of the game with a more modern graphics style, released for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC.
