Trauma Center (series)

Trauma Center
Genres	Simulation game Visual novel
Developers	Atlus
Publishers	Atlus Nintendo
Platforms	Nintendo DS, Wii
Platform of origin	Nintendo DS
First release	Trauma Center: Under the Knife June 16, 2005
Latest release	Trauma Team May 18, 2010

Trauma Center, known in Japan as Chōshittō Kadukeusu (超執刀カドゥケウス, lit. "Super Surgical Operation Caduceus"), is a series of simulation/visual novel games where players assume the role of a surgeon in a fictional hospital setting to save patients from fictional pathological conditions. It is developed and published by Atlus and currently owned by Sega.

The series makes players treat disease or injury using surgical instruments and suturing (and in the case of the first few games, the "Healing Touch", a fictional superhuman ability which, according to Greek mythology, descended from Asclepius, the god of medicine). A recurring theme throughout the series is the protagonist's trials of treating bioterrorism victims. The plotlines are considered to be medical dramas. These games are designed to make use of the Nintendo DS' touch screen and the Wii's Motion sensing and pointing features, being exclusively released on those systems.

Setting

The series is set in the fictional Angeles Bay, California, beginning in the year 2018. In the first game, the main character is Derek Stiles, a new surgeon who can't take his position seriously until Angela "Angie" Thompson is appointed as his assistant nurse at Hope Hospital. When Derek ends up having to perform almost impossible surgeries, he discovers that he possesses the Healing Touch. He and Angie then begin working for Caduceus, an international medical research organization fighting against a new man-made series of deadly organisms named GUILT (short for Gangliated Utrophin Immuno-Latency Toxin)

The second game shifts ten years after the first games in the year 2028. Markus Vaughn and Valerie Blaylock, two surgeons with the "Healing Touch" (Valerie doesn't discover her ability until she has to save a friend in Alaska) ability who worked at the Concordia Medical Institute in Los Angeles, move over to the Montgomery Memorial hospital in Alaska. When the hospital closes down, the director of Montgomery Memorial, Miles Hoover, tells them to return to Concordia. Once there, they learn from Professor Wilkens, an old acquaintance of Markus', about a new and mysterious parasite called Stigma, comparable to GUILT. It does not take long for Mark and Val to join Caduceus along with their assistant, Elena Salazar, and start researching for countermeasures against Stigma.

The third game is set in 2021, featuring Derek and Angie as main characters again. Three years after their victory against GUILT, they must deal with patients who were treated from it in the past, but started to develop a series of complications labeled PGS (Post GUILT Syndrome). To complicate matters, patients contaminated with new and old strains of GUILT start to appear.

The fourth game, Trauma Team, presumably taking place in 2020, is set in the fictional Resurgam First Care hospital in Portland, Maine. Rather than focusing on one or two surgeons and an assistant, the plot involves six specialists: a trauma surgeon and alleged bioterrorist known only by his prison number, "CR-S01"; a paramedic, Maria Torres; an orthopedic surgeon, Hank Freebird; an endoscopic surgeon, Tomoe Tachibana; a diagnostician, Gabriel Cunningham; and a forensic examiner, Naomi Kimishima. Each of the six doctors has an individual storyline containing six to eight gameplay stages, and an overall storyline about a new pandemic that is woven throughout the six doctors' stories and given its own chapter upon completing the six individual stories. This game's story is standalone and is unrelated to the GUILT- or Stigma-based plots of past games, however there are some references to the other games that serve to settle the game into the same universe of the other games.

Games

Trauma Center: Under the Knife

Trauma Center: Under the Knife, was released for the Nintendo DS on June 30, 2005 in Japan, and on October 4, 2005 in North America. The game's story takes place in 2018 and introduces Derek Stiles and Angela Thompson, along with other minor characters that reappear in later games.

Trauma Center: Second Opinion

Trauma Center: Second Opinion, is an enhanced remake of Under the Knife, released for the Wii on November 19, 2006 in North America, and on December 2, 2006 in Japan, and in Europe on August 10, 2007. It features an additional playable character, Naomi Kimishima/Nozomi Weaver, as well as a special sixth chapter made for the Wii version, and the "X missions", which becomes available once the main game is completed.

Trauma Center: New Blood

Trauma Center: New Blood, was released for Wii on November 20, 2007 in North America, and on January 17, 2008 in Japan. The game's story takes place in 2028 and introduces Markus Vaughn and Valerie Blaylock, along with other minor characters. Derek Stiles and Angie Thompson who appear in all other Trauma Center titles also make cameo appearances in later chapters of the game. New Blood features co-operative multiplayer and also makes use of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2

Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2, was released for the Nintendo DS on July 1, 2008 in North America, and August 7, 2008 in Japan. The game's story takes place in 2021 and features Derek Stiles and Angie Thompson as main characters once again; some other characters from the original game also returned, and new ones were introduced as well, like Adel Tulba. While some features of Second Opinion, such as the new tools, are carried over into this game, the same did not happen with the extra plot elements and characters.

Trauma Team

Trauma Team, was released for the Wii on May 18, 2010 in North America, featuring entirely new cast of characters and six different protagonists, each one specialized in a different medical field. Main characters include an elusive general surgeon known only by his inmate codename, CR-S01, the diagnostician Gabriel Cunningham, the Paramedic Maria Torres, the orthopedic surgeon Hank Freebird, the endoscopic surgeon Tomoe Tachibana and Naomi Kimishima, who works as a medical examiner and is a returning character from Trauma Center: Second Opinion.^[1]

The first release the series has seen in over 5 years, Nintendo rereleased Trauma Team on the Wii U's eShop in August 2015.^[2]

References

External links

• Official website