Special Criminal Investigation

For the Sega Saturn version, see Taito Chase H.Q. Plus S.C.I..

n/a

Special Criminal Investigation

System(s): Sega Master System

Publisher: Sega

Developer: Natsume Co., Ltd.

Distributor: Ecofilmes (PT), Samsung (KR)

Licensor: Taito

Original system(s): Arcade boards

Developer(s) of original games: Taito

Genre: Arcade^[1]

Number of players: 1

Release	Date	RRP	Code
EU	1992-10-15^[2]		7079
PT	199x
UK	1992-10-15^[3]	£29.9929.99^[4]	7079
AU	199x
KR	199x

Non-Sega versions
Amiga Arcade Atari ST Commodore 64 PC Engine ZX Spectrum

Special Criminal Investigation, known often simply as S.C.I., is a action-driving game released by Taito for the arcades in 1989. It was subsequently ported a variety of consoles and computers including the Sega Master System in 1992. Special Criminal Investigation is a sequel to Chase H.Q., with some versions of the game going so far as to call it Chase H.Q. II: Special Criminal Investigation. Aside from being part of the same series, it is unrelated to the Sega Mega Drive game Chase H.Q. II.

Gameplay

Dispatch

Helicopter

Special Criminal Investigation is a racing game that is very similar to Chase H.Q.. It adds bidirectional traffic in some stages and the ability to shoot, but it loses the branching paths and purchasable parts from the first game. The player again controls a sports car driven by two police detectives, this time a red car resembling a Nissan 300ZX, in pursuit of dangerous criminals in high-speed chases. One detective drives and the other shoots through a removal roof panel. Karen from Chase H.Q. appears before each stage to give information about the criminal to be apprehended and other tips. A helicopter flies by once in each stage to drop off special ammo for use in the criminal chases.

The car steers with and . It accelerates by holding and decelerates by holding . The car can use a turbo boost by pressing , which provides it with a short burst of speed. The car starts each stage with three turbo boosts. It shoots by pressing , which has unlimited ammunition. The rocket launcher ammo dropped by the helicopter provides the car with a rocket launcher with five shots that does more damage against the boss.

Hitting obstacles slows the car or causes it to spin out, costing time and letting the criminal get further away, but the player's car cannot be destroyed. If time runs out, the player's car comes to a stop, but the player can continue from the same point (without needing to restart the stage) up to two times. A meter shows the distance to the criminal's car. When the player is close to the criminal, the player's car activates its siren, the criminal's car is marked by an arrow, and the timer is reset to 60 seconds. Shooting or ramming the criminal's car increases the damage meter, and the criminal is successfully stopped when the damage meter is full.

Stages

	Stage 1

	Stage 2

	Stage 3

	Stage 4

	Stage 5

	Stage 6
	The last stage has no enemies. The player only needs to make it to the facility at the end before time runs out. The game cannot be continued if lost on this stage.

Production credits

Producer: Tomohiro.Nishikado
Assistant Producer: Takashi.Shiokawa
Original Planner: Nishiyaman
Programmer: Atsushi.Tanaka
Graphic Designer: Tomoyuki.Nishiyama, Sachiko.Matsuura
Sound Programmer: I.Mizutani
Sound: H.Iwatsuki
Special Thanks to: K.Ishihara, TNY, Bit, H.Autumn, N.Mizoguchi, Tomoko, Kotobuki, Shin.Chan, R.Xie

Source:

In-game credits^[5]

Magazine articles

Main article: Special Criminal Investigation/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Mega Force (ES) #7: "Noviembre 1992" (1992-xx-xx)
also published in:

Hobby Consolas (ES) #14: "Noviembre 1992" (1992-xx-xx)^[6]

Print advert in Mega Force (ES) #11: "Marzo 1993" (1993-xx-xx)
also published in:

Hobby Consolas (ES) #18: "Marzo 1993" (1993-xx-xx)^[7]

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average

Publication

Version

Score

Computer & Video Games (UK)

PAL

61

^[4]

Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK)

26

^[8]

Excalibur (CZ)

PAL

60

^[9]

Joypad (FR)

57

^[10]

Joystick (FR)

62

^[11]

Mega Byte (UK)

PAL

41

^[12]

Mega Force (FR)

PAL

55

^[13]

Mean Machines Sega (UK)

PAL

26

^[14]

Sega Power (UK)

PAL

62

^[15]

Sega Pro (UK)

PAL

54

^[16]

Sega Pro (UK)

PAL

54

^[17]

Sega Force (UK)

PAL

60

^[18]

SuperGamePower (BR)

66

^[19]

Video Games (DE)

22

^[20]

	50
Based on 14 reviews

Special Criminal Investigation

Master System, EU
Cover
Cart

Master System, AU

Cart

Master System, PT
Cover

Master System, KR
Cover
Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System

Hash

Size

Build Date

Source

Comments

?

CRC32	fa8e4ca0
MD5	74c8108e7207d5b7149a69b0fc90d877
SHA-1	8daabf51099bd2702fe4418fd202eff532bc710a

256kB

Cartridge (EU)

References

NEC Retro has more information related to Special Criminal Investigation

↑ File:SCI SMS EU Box.jpg
↑ Computer Trade Weekly, "" (UK; 1992-10-19), page 04
↑ Computer Trade Weekly, "" (UK; 1992-10-19), page 04
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Computer & Video Games, "December 1992" (UK; 1992-11-15), page 28
↑ File:Special Criminal Investigation SMS credits.pdf
↑ Hobby Consolas, "Noviembre 1992" (ES; 1992-xx-xx), page 10
↑ Hobby Consolas, "Marzo 1993" (ES; 1993-xx-xx), page 15
↑ Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide, "" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 153
↑ Excalibur, "" (CZ; 1993-09-10), page 33
↑ Joypad, "Octobre 1992" (FR; 1992-10-xx), page 82
↑ Joystick, "Octobre 1992" (FR; 1992-xx-xx), page 150
↑ Mega Byte, "February 6, 1993" (UK; 1993-02-06), page 1
↑ Mega Force, "Octobre 1992" (FR; 1992-xx-xx), page 81
↑ Mean Machines Sega, "November 1992" (UK; 1992-10-xx), page 72
↑ Sega Power, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-03), page 42
↑ Sega Pro, "December 1992" (UK; 1992-11-12), page 32
↑ Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 72
↑ Sega Force, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-10), page 8
↑ SuperGamePower, "Maio 1994" (BR; 1994-0x-xx), page 50
↑ Video Games, "9/92" (DE; 1992-08-26), page 100

Special Criminal Investigation
	Main page \| Comparisons \| Magazine articles \| Reception No results

Games in the Chase H.Q. series for Sega systems
Chase H.Q. (1990) \| Chase H.Q. II (1992) \| Special Criminal Investigation (1992) \| Taito Chase H.Q. Plus S.C.I. (1996)

[:File:SCI_SMS_EU_Box.jpg_p-1] File:SCI SMS EU Box.jpg

[2] Computer Trade Weekly, "" (UK; 1992-10-19), page 04

[3] Computer Trade Weekly, "" (UK; 1992-10-19), page 04

[:File:CVG_UK_133.pdf_p28-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Computer & Video Games, "December 1992" (UK; 1992-11-15), page 28

[:File:Special_Criminal_Investigation_SMS_credits.pdf_p-5] File:Special Criminal Investigation SMS credits.pdf

[:File:HobbyConsolas_ES_014.pdf_p10-6] Hobby Consolas, "Noviembre 1992" (ES; 1992-xx-xx), page 10

[:File:HobbyConsolas_ES_018.pdf_p15-7] Hobby Consolas, "Marzo 1993" (ES; 1993-xx-xx), page 15

[:File:MeanMachinesEssentialSegaGuide_Book_UK.pdf_p153-8] Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide, "" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 153

[:File:Excalibur_CZ_18.pdf_p33-9] Excalibur, "" (CZ; 1993-09-10), page 33

[:File:Joypad_FR_013.pdf_p82-10] Joypad, "Octobre 1992" (FR; 1992-10-xx), page 82

[:File:Joystick_FR_031.pdf_p150-11] Joystick, "Octobre 1992" (FR; 1992-xx-xx), page 150

[12] Mega Byte, "February 6, 1993" (UK; 1993-02-06), page 1

[:File:MegaForce_FR_10.pdf_p81-13] Mega Force, "Octobre 1992" (FR; 1992-xx-xx), page 81

[:File:MeanMachinesSega02UK.pdf_p72-14] Mean Machines Sega, "November 1992" (UK; 1992-10-xx), page 72

[:File:SegaPower_UK_35.pdf_p42-15] Sega Power, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-03), page 42

[:File:SegaPro_UK_14.pdf_p32-16] Sega Pro, "December 1992" (UK; 1992-11-12), page 32

[:File:SegaPro_UK_18.pdf_p72-17] Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 72

[:File:SegaForce_UK_10.pdf_p8-18] Sega Force, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-10), page 8

[:File:SuperGamePower_BR_002.pdf_p50-19] SuperGamePower, "Maio 1994" (BR; 1994-0x-xx), page 50

[:File:VideoGames_DE_1992-09.pdf_p100-20] Video Games, "9/92" (DE; 1992-08-26), page 100

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Special Criminal Investigation

From Sega Retro

Contents

Gameplay

Stages

Production credits

Magazine articles

Promotional material

Physical scans

Technical information

ROM dump status

References