While still popular in an absolute numbers sense, the series had lost the novelty of its heyday while development costs for individual titles continued to climb due to the extremely detailed virtual worlds that needed to be created. The last major title in the series, Densha de Go Final! was so named to signal that this was to be the end of the line. However, to simply call Densha de Go a 'game' and the others 'simulators' would likewise be somewhat unfair, as the titles simulate many other aspects of the railroad experience (including fidelity to the outside world and station environment, sounds, traffic, and signalling) far more faithfully than programs which concentrate on the technical details of train driving.ĭensha de Go! Shinkansen EX was released for Wii on Main Japan. Titles such as BVE (Boso View Express), Microsoft Train Simulator, and Trainz do a more faithful job of realistic train control and physics simulation. Neither series, however, can be accurately called a true train-driving simulator, as that is not their focus. Upsides to the Densha de Go approach include that the gameplay can be significantly smoother (as the video-based approach is only as smooth at slow speeds as the video frame rates allow) and the gameplay can be more varied, as the programmers can dynamically change weather, time-of-day, other traffic, and similar effects. The upside to the Ongakukan approach is that the drivers view is video realistic.

While the specifics vary slightly between versions, generally speaking along the way, the user is expected to obey speed limits and other posted signs, sound a warning for work parties along the track, arrive at between-station waypoints on time, and perform similar tasks.ĭensha de Go varies from the Train Simulator series from Ongakukan primarily in that while the Ongakukan series uses video taken from cameras mounted to the front of real-world trains for its graphics, Densha de Go titles rely upon computer-drawn graphics.

For the most part, the user's task is to drive the train and adhere to a very exacting timetable, including stopping at stations to within as little as 30 cm of a prescribed stopping point, ideally within half a second of the scheduled arrival time.

Each Densha de Go title contains actual train (or tram) routes based on real services in Japan.

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