The Derby Stallion - also known in Japan by the portmanteau abbreviationDerbyStal - video games are a series of genre-merging horse-racing and business simulation games originally created by ASCII. The series comprises 21 games, spans more than 10 console platforms, and is the best-selling horse racing series of all time with total sales topping more than 4 million in Japan. According to Weekly Famitsu, the 1997 Derby Stallion for the PlayStation was Japan's third-best-selling game of 1997, with sales of 1.58 units.
Gameplay
The ultimate goal of the player in the Derby Stallion games is to win the title of GI Racer. To do this, the player must attempt to develop the greatest stock of horses that he can in order to have the greatest chance at each of the weekday and holiday races that compose the 1-year racing schedule of the fictitious "SRA" group. Between races, the player engages in numerous business simulation, farm simulation, and role-playing activities. Derby Stallion games have evolved as newer members of the series have been added, allowing players greater and greater control over every aspect of the horse-raising business. As such, the player must now race horses and place racing bets, manage the working of a stables and/or ranch, select different studs and broodmares for breeding, learn to break and train horses, and set up advantageous horse trades or sales, among other duties. Players must also make critical decisions about appropriate ages to race horses, breeds to pursue, and the timing of events to coincide with race dates. As the player improves the stock of his horses, his racing statistics, and his position in the world of the horse business, his Group Ranking increases until he reaches the goal of Group I at which point he has won the game. The games also allow the player to continue playing after the top goal has been met. Derby Stallion games all feature a single-player mode, however much effort has been put into making the games as versatile as possible for multiplayer capabilities. Multiplayer functions allow players to trade or complete sales between themselves, to set up breeders' agreements, and to race against opponents. To accomplish this, various methods have been used to exchange data from the earliest password code exchange to online connectivity with PCs, Satellaview exchange, and RANDnetDD service. Other methods of data exchange that have been developed include various Game Boy-Link connections and telephone satellite connections.
Derby Stallion II is a single player horse farm simulation game that was released in 1994. It was created for the Super Famicom. In the game, the player must breed horses that can be trained to become horse racing champion thoroughbreds. However, the player starts out with a limited amount of money and must sell horses at a profit once they are too old to race anymore.
