JULY Revisited: The Dreamcast Launch Title Built on Nostradamus and 1999
Game Spark looks back at JULY, the Dreamcast adventure game released November 27, 1998 as one of four launch titles for the console.
1 source 4h ago
Reporting from 1 source: Game Spark.
Why it matters
JULY shows how tightly a 1998 launch game was wired to its own moment: it was built on a Nostradamus prophecy whose date arrived eight months later, so the game's premise expired almost as soon as the console's first year did.
Key Facts
- JULY was released on November 27, 1998 and was one of four launch titles for the Dreamcast.
- FORTYFIVE produced the game, which is set in Japan in July 1999.
- The two protagonists are Takamura Makoto, a student whose sister died in a terrorist incident, and Yoshua, a victim of human experimentation.
- Character design is credited to animator Yasuomi Umetsu and manga artist Tony Takezaki.
- JULY uses a zapping system that lets the player switch between the two viewpoints.
Produced by FORTYFIVE, it follows two protagonists through a July 1999 Japan: Takamura Makoto, a student who lost his sister in a terrorist incident, and Yoshua, a victim of human experimentation, in a conspiracy involving a corporation and a new religious group.
The game shipped alongside the Dreamcast itself, one of four titles available on day one. Its structure is text and still images, with a zapping system that lets the player switch between Takamura Makoto and Yoshua, the student and the human experiment victim. Character design came from animator Yasuomi Umetsu and manga artist Tony Takezaki.
Game Spark traces the premise back to Tsutomu Goshima's 1973 book on Nostradamus, which spread the prediction that humanity would be destroyed in July 1999 and helped drive Japan's occult boom. The game's themes of human experimentation, psychic ability, religion and corporate conspiracy sit inside that boom rather than outside it.
Written with AI by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited. See our editorial policy.
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