1. Soft de Hard na Monogatari
2. Chatty
3. Famicom Tantei Club: Kieta Koukeisha
4. Lipstick. ADV
5. Onryou Senki
6. Psy-O-Blade
7. Angelus ~Akuma no Fukuin~
8. Snatcher
9. Akira
Year 1988 is the year when PC-98 won. In 1987 there were only couple games with pc-98 versions. Occasional games start to have animation and sometimes even certain phrases voiced. In 1988 there's a very big share of visual novels made deliberately for famicom.
Lipstick ADV was very revolutionary for that time and marked the birth of "Elf" games. It is a worthy champion of 1988.
The game takes place on a small island called Ripple Island, where humans and animals lived together in peace. However, one day, the evil emperor Gerogēru suddenly appears on the island and kidnaps the king's daughter. The king promises that he will allow whoever can rescue his daughter to marry her, and a young boy named Kyle sets off on a long journey to rescue the princess.
Game has English reviews.
|
|---|
DOME is based on Shizuko Natsuki's novel of the same name. The original work as well as the game's plot focus on the construction of a nuclear shelter called "The Dome", capable of protecting humans from an impending atomic war. The player takes the role of an employee in an advertisement company, whose job is to raise people's awareness of the shelter's importance, and donate money to the project.
Novelware was a concept to oppose tiresome gameplay and at the same time present serious text-intensive stories. Game scenario reached over 700 pages which was unseen before. It got some backers, but was generally neglected due to bland reading gameplay, poor quality digitized photos and lack of innovation. On the other hand I'd really welcome one-direction story, but there is a lot of interactivity here. It's basically about a usual japanese office workplace and communicating with co-workers even though for such extravagant goal as the dome. Game is hookable with nkpt (agth compatible) + ITHVNR just fine, but there is little control over the pace and text just poors till the selection with lots of text extracts getting smashed together which does not add comfort. But I recorded the footage from x68000 version to show the quality of digitized pictures.
|
|---|
3. Tantei Jinguuji Saburou: Yokohama-kou Renzoku Satsujin Jiken 探偵 神宮寺三郎 横浜港連続殺人事件 [880226] Data East Corporation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
In the second mystery, the search for a missing girlfriend results in the discovery of her hiding guns, and the police begin to suspect a link with an underground trafficking organization.
There is some English information on the game.
|
|---|
4. Endan Genpei Souranki ~Irohanihoheto~ 艶談・源平争乱記 ～いろはにほへと～ [8802] STUDIO ANGEL
Main character is a normal school student. He sleeps during the history class and gives the wrong answer on the question. In the night he slips into the school to correct the mistake, but the annswer is already input in the computer. When he messes with the computer he arrives to 1169 year, the events before the Genpei War. If he can't fix the answer, he will change history instead to fit the answer!
First bullet in the trilogy. The main feature of the game is that it's neither command input, nor kinetic or command selection. Instead each scene has some 4 choices and you just make a choice and the story goes on till a new choice - that's akin to modern visual novels, but in this work there is quite little text between the choices. Unfortunately pc-98 version came after Sharp and pc-88 versions and thus pc-98 one is close to impossible to find and without it there's no way to hook it unlike the sequels. Game features real historical figures as well as gore and adult content.
|
|---|
5. Yume Shoujo Sayaka 夢少女さやか [8803] Bond Soft
Main character is tired of spending days alone in the apartment watching beautiful dreams. He goes out to meet beautiful girls in person.
Adult nanpa game with the only real aim to see all the 38 HCG. It ends with getting with the girl to the hotel. There's very tiresome progression with a huge list of commands to choose.
|
|---|
Hoshi o Sagashite is a sci-fi text-adventure game for the Sega Mark III. It begins when the main character takes a vacation to visit his girlfriend and buys her an egg as a present. The egg hatches into a creature called a "Mio". You must discover what a Mio is, how to care for it.
There are English reviews on the game.
|
|---|
7. Sacchan no Daibouken サッちゃんの大冒険 [880404] Agumix
Main hero hears a rumor that Kojima Sachi (Sacchan) loves 500 yen coins. To get close to her he needs to get a rare coin. Then he discovers that Ayako and her lesbian partner have one and the hunt for the coin begins.
Agumix decided to capitalize on the success of the manga and the first game Shiritsu Tantei Max and started releasing a whole series of adult work with the same theme. This BIG adventure is actually just going around the school and triggering lots of H events. Command selection is more or less convenient and digitized pictures are very cool.
|
|---|
The story begins with a man named "Amachi" discovering the fallen protagonist on the ground near a cliff. The protagonist discovers that he has lost his memory, and after recuperating, he revisits the cliff and meets a young girl named Ayumi Tachibana. He learns from Ayumi that he is an assistant detective investigating the death of Kiku Ayashiro.
There are English reviews on the game.
|
|---|
9. Bishoujo wa Check ga Osuki 美少女はチェックがお好き [8804] Sepias
You participate in personality quizzes with several girls giving Yes or No answers. If you appear to be the personality the girl likes - she will be undressing with each new round.
The mechanics are simple, but fun and engaging enough. Questions are of all kind of weirdness so it was awkward to answer on the video. I'm not really sure this game qualifies for visual novel though since there is absolutely no story or characters to get to know - just reward HCG.
|
|---|
10. Tenshi-tachi no Gogo II -Bangai Hen- 天使たちの午後ＩＩ -番外編- [8804] JAST 1
Tenshitachi no Gogo 2: Bangai-hen is a side-story of Tenshitachi no Gogo 2: Minako. The game's protagonist is the brother of Kozue Yanagisawa, one of the female characters that appeared in Minako. Their parents want to send him abroad to study, but he can't bear to be separated from his sister. Do his feelings to his sister cross the line, becoming forbidden love?..
Command selection with a moderately big selection and lots of bruteforcing needed. The story is very shallow and should thread on brother love to Kozue alone. Might it be the first siscon visual novel? The story takes just one day before the departure to the foreign land. I guess there is nothing to loose anymore since protagonist's advances on the nearby females are rather strong. I did not succeed in hooking pc-98 version.
|
|---|
11. Little Vampire Little Vampire [880505] Champion Soft
Miki is kidnapped by Dracula and Kentarou is on the quest to save her.
Alice Soft is ashamed of its past as Champion Soft, but not of this work. Somewhere in 2003 Alice Soft announced a big list of its works as freeware. The first work in this list was Little Princess and the Second - Little Vampire (here's the link to the full list of freeware links). Game shares much with its prequel Little Princess and the characters of these games can be seen in future Alice Soft games like Rance. The game has one of the longest list of commands to select that I've seen - it's just a torment to bruteforce it. In my pretty long video I failed even to find something to eat for the heroes let alone figure what's the big aim behind it all.
|
|---|
12. Maison Ikkoku Kanketsu Hen ~Sayonara, Soshite...~ めぞん一刻 完結編 ～さよなら、そして…～ [880528] Micro Cabin 1 2
Set in Tokyo of the 80-ies, the story can be described as a romantic tale with a touch of comedy. It centers on a boarding house which is managed by the young and lovely widow Kyoko Otonashi. The protagonist is a college student named Yusaki Godai, and his relationship with Kyoko is the main plot line. The game's story approximately corresponds to the middle volumes of the manga until the conclusion.
There is enough of English (actually, French!) information on the game. 6 days overall and basically need to repeat main events of the original and for the rest of time usual Ikkoku stuff - setting up parties, improving mood of inhabitants with bribes, struggling with money.
|
|---|
13. Gakuen Senki 学園戦記 [8805] Champion Soft
Hero is student council president and everyday he solves requests from students. With each new request he approaches the secret behind this school.
That's the third game of the Alicesoft freeware list (link to the full list of freeware links) which means they're not ashamed of this game. Game is exclusive for MSX which explains why it's so obscure. It also is shipped at five disks, so I stopped video recording at the first time I was prompted to insert a new disc. There's a lot of disk shuffling and a lot of bruteforcing with a long list of commands. The atmosphere is lighthearted and the drawing is quite cute, so poor mechanics should not really stop people from trying it.
|
|---|
14. Harajuku After Dark 原宿AfterDARK [8806] Kogado Studio
A corpse of a fashionably dressed man was discovered in the part and Harajuku police department started investigation. A a simple murder case developed into a major incident involving Harajuku's clothing industry.
A very boring, very thorough investigation of several cases. But at the very least it's realistic and integral. I don't think such pace can be tolerable today, but this kind of gameplay was totally ok for a realistic mystery story.
|
|---|
Kohakuiro no Yuigon ("Amber Testament") is the first in the row of detective games starring the fictional Japanese private investigator Ryūnosuke Tōdō. The events of the game take places in Japan in the year 1921, and Tōdō must investigate a mysterious murder of a rich man in his own mansion. The deceased had many relatives, and its the detective's job to find out which one of them (if any) has committed the murder.
And another example of through realistic detective game. It is very time consuming. Lots of questionings and gathering evidence needs to be done. But game is based on a famous detective novel and also 1920s Taisho era atmosphere helps a lot. There are as many as 27 characters in this work, but there aren't too many locations so the complex social relations are portrayed very well. But the game is still alive today since it has been released for mobile platforms - an ideal solution to kill time in some traffic jam.
|
|---|
16. Waga Seishun no Youkai Yashiki わが青春の妖怪屋敷 [8806] Dott Kikaku
A group of four people gets locked into a mansion full of youkai ghosts. They move around together to find a way out.
A surprisingly well done game for pc-88. I awakened 43 minutes later to find out that I've finished the first playthrough of the game and there are so many other options to try out on the way. I'll definitely take a keen look at further Dott Kikaku visual novels. Game uses the same system as Endan trilogy. You're not bothered with different commands, but at scenes you get to choose one of several variants and the game branches off according to the selection made. That also promotes consequent playthroughs since lots of paths get skipped. Game has no adult content at all. One of the amazing features is the clear drawing of the text - the best I've seen for pc-88. The text scrolls down automatically and not disappears and reappears - that helps readability a lot. But the biggest feature of the game is its dialogues. The characters explore the house together and comment nearly every your action. It really makes the game feel alive. I have a weak spot for party-based adventures like the Gao-Gao series.
|
|---|
17. The 4th Unit 2 第４のユニット２ [880714] DataWest 1
The 4th Unit 2 is a direct sequel to The 4th Unit. The young and pretty bionic soldier Blon-Win has exposed the dark schemes of the trade organization WWWF. However, a new conspiracy is rising. WWWF has employed another bionic soldier, a young woman named Dalzy, who manages to seal Blon-Win's psychic powers. Blon-Win is arrested by WWWF and must find a way to contact her friends, escape, and defeat the treacherous organization.
A worthy sequel with a bit of more comfortable gameplay. The systems are the same, just a bit fewer commands used. This time the story is bigger, deeper and more action-packed since the majority of the game Blon-Win spends on the enemy territory. The game features a battle scene, but it's not action-based like in Wingman, but rather command selection based one like in rpg. All the damage done in the battle is determined by pure luck. The big changes for the series only start with part 3.
|
|---|
First you help those who in trouble as Chie, then as a lost cat searching for way back and finally as Chie's father Tetsu with money being the main theme.
Based on manga.
There is some information in English on the game, but I feel that discussing the game is useless, since the game does not really have its own meaning - it just follows the plotline of several episodes of the anime and gameplay mostly consists of different minigames with some small goal.
|
|---|
19. Lovely Horror - Ochame na Yuurei ラブリーホラー おちゃめなゆうれい [880721] STUDIO ANGEL
Hero Tatsuya is a school student who decides to rent an apartment. The manager of the apartment is a beautiful girl who tells that her father gone missing and that the apartment is being haunted by ghosts. She asks Tatsuya to get rid of the ghosts and find her father and Tatsuya just can not say "no" to her.
The residents of the house are easily possessed by the ghosts and are lewd in that state, so there is a H scene for everyone. But everyone needs his own approach and the wrong turn brings a bad ending. Thus the difficulty degree is high and guide is welcome here. Otherwise the system is same as Endan trilogy - we're give a set of choices and upon selection the game moves on till the next choice. That alone sets such games at very high comfort level. Well, the game has too many spontaneous H events to evaluate it as masterpiece.
|
|---|
The protagonist is the son of a software company manager and has to fill in as a temporary leader when his father falls sick and is hospitalized. Himself an avid gamer, the young boss has to use his employee's strengths and his own imagination to produce a successful game such as the "Nobara Series" DAME (an obvious parody of DOME).
Second bullet in the novelware games. It inherits all the merits and disadvantages of the genre same as the Dome. The game actually starts with Dome intro pictures and music, then stops midway, strikes out the title and goes another direction - that was nice. Game is mostly a comedy with drawings as if from real manga, but the choices you have to do all the time are very real and serious, so it has high interactivity. Gaming industry was an awkward setting choice back in 1988. And it does not matter whether gaming industry was really like that - what matters is the feeling of freshness and joy during the play. Such games stay in memory with the passage of time. I wish text was not moving automatically messing with the text parts, though.
|
|---|
Main character is legendary Genji who searches for a killer.
The first three games of Hot-B were original and left a really good impression. This material is much more difficult. This work is almost entirely stripped of eroticism which makes it even more difficult. Still, they really tried to spice things up. We find out the the criminal actually came from future to change history and we ride the time machine ourselves to get him. That's the twist worthy of Hot-B! Still the flow of the game is not even remotely good enough to fit for a masterpiece.
|
|---|
22. Joshikousei Idol Osanazuma Funsenki 女子高生アイドル おさな妻奮戦記 [8807] STUDIO ANGEL
A school girl is newly married and works as an idol after school. She describes one day of her life.
The work dripping wet with fanservice. The game is a kinetic novel and lasts only a couple of minutes. It's just fanservice CG with provoking commentary. I did not believe that was the whole game and one box even had "DEMO" written on it. So I tried to find the full version and ll the versions were the same. It's really the full work. There used to be such works as well - cute character + nukige.
|
|---|
23. Chotto Meitantei ~Misa-chan Monogatari Series~ ちょっと名探偵 ～美砂ちゃん物語シリーズ～ [8808] Champion Soft
Misa-chan is a cute high school student detective. Her father is changed with an accusation in a hit-and-run incident and she is asked to find the real criminal. Her best friend Kanako will assist in this task.
This work is not included in the Alice Soft freeware list which can only mean one thing - this work is trash that the company wants to forget about. The system is ancient text parser with only some common verbs attached to function keys - that's why I could not move even past the first scene. Story is one-way road with interrogating witnesses, investigating evidences. A characteristic feature is that the screen is divided in two sections - one is usually occupied by Misa-chan picture, but in important moments it's actually used to depict something dramatic. There are no H scenes. The mystery is very plain. Nothing really stands out in this game.
|
|---|
24. Dokkin Minako-sensei ドッキン美奈子先生 [8808] Tect House
A game version of an adult manga with the same name. Student Kenta loves his teacher Minako-sensei very much. Everyone has come to the sea for a holiday, but Minako-sensei disappeared. Kenta starts to search for her.
The manga was a pioneer in portraying only full-weight bodies while still putting child faces. Multiple ending work with branch depending on chosen actions. It's a lighthearted work to enjoy pictures and funny characters, nothing more.
|
|---|
25. Azusa 108 Jimusho あずさ１０８事務所 [880920] Agumix
Main character Azusa is a female private detective. While on a major case of finding the missing relative she also takes a request to investigate consecutive rape cases that occurred at her girls' school dorm.
The second bullet after Sacchan in Agumix fanservice works. Again original manga drawings are digitized. Again story is only nominally there. This time there are only women characters so it's yuri love only.
|
|---|
Two children, the girl Erika and the boy Satoru, live together in a small house somewhere in modern Japan. One day, before going to sleep, they notice a strange creature outside: it looks like a pink-white cat (Final Fantasy fans would immediately say: a moogle!), but talks like a human being. Before the mysterious creature disappears, it says only a short sentence: "Children! Find the Time Crown!". Without understanding what he meant by this, but realizing it must be something important, the two young heroes embark the next day on a dangerous journey - the quest for the power of the crown!
There is enough English information on the game.
|
|---|
The game is based on the manga and anime series Kimagure Orange Road. The protagonist is a young boy named Kyosuke Kasuga. He and his siblings (twin sisters) possess supernatural abilities: telekinesis, teleportation, time shift, etc. The tradition of their family forbids them to use these powers publicly. Whenever they fail to hide their unique nature, the whole family has to move. But now Kyosuke has met a beautiful girl, who is being courted by another guy - a big temptation for him to use the powers...
There is enough English (actually, French) information on the game.
|
|---|
29. Onryou Senki 怨霊戦記 [8809] Soft Studio Wing 1
Hiroyuki Kitahara was leading a rather ordinary life in a quiet Japanese town, and decided one day to take a stroll at night, enjoying the picturesque landscape. All of a sudden, a horrifying monster appeared right in front of him. Kitahara wakes up in the hospital and tries to convince the doctors that he was not hallucinating. Teaming up with a young female journalist, Kitahara begins to explore the city, searching for clues to solve the mystery and seeking meeting with onryou - ghosts of people who were wronged in their lifetime and who are back for revenge.
Soft Studio Wing new release. Nothing else needed to be said. After Shiro to Kuro unorthodox start and shock of Makai Fukkatsu and Hadou no Hyouteki expectations are sky high. And in many ways it lives to expectations.
First of all, it's the longest game of this studio so far. Mechanics have been greately improved. Now there's only 4 actions with "look" action not needing to select an object, so the pace got higher. At special areas there are some special icons as well like computer at home and spell when u get demon banishing spell. The only remaining drawback that lots of backtracking needed to be done and sometimes up to 15 areas needed to be walked through to get to a needed area.
Oh, the plot! You happen to get into monster ambush on a street and since then are determined to prove existence of monsters. At first ghosts appear only for a few seconds but as game progresses they become permanent and agressive. You need to get to the bottom of ghost case and find the god responsible for outrage. Easy like that.
The shocking part of the game was how real it looked (not literally, but game still looked great even though it used some 8 colors only). People used to deny existence of spirits, then spirits get coverage in mass media and people just adapt to them and tend it like an everyday problem. They even start counsel practices and set tour guides to make money on it and all are enjoying all the media fuss about their little town.
Game lasts 12 days (and nights). Struggle with the ghost god is impressive, just like in previous two games. Solid and memorable game if you got a stomach for this type of VNs.
|
|---|
30. Fushigi no Kabe 不思議の壁 [8809] System House Oh!
 In AD2069 girls of a famous school become attacked by monsters. According to gathered information, they become trapped in a mysterious wall. Main character challenges this wall to save the girls.
Plainly speaking, it's a block break gameplay game with some text and strip images as a reward.
|
|---|
31. Lipstick. ADV Lipstick. ADV [881015] Fairytale 1
 In Lipstick Adventure, the player takes the role of Gorou, a young Japanese private detective. One day, a wealthy and powerful old man contacts him and asks him to find a box which - according to him - contained a family treasure. The young detective thinks that fortune has finally smiled to him, but when his pretty girlfriend Otomi disappears, he realizes that the mystery is bigger than he thought...
It's a mix of great plot and humor setting standards for many years to come. That's actually a revolutionary game and because of that it had a great number of sequels.
So we play as detective Gorou and investigate disappearance of some box with heirloom. But there's also high school girl Mami who is a member of school girl detective club who lives next door and accompanies us. The heirloom was easy to find, but on return the office was in chaos.
Game's well remembered because the scenario was made by creator of elf studio in next 1989. Despite embracing interactive adventure genre, story has a great tempo, lots of humor and overall comparatively easy flags to trigger as well as main decisions being done only at the very end.
Why is this game revolutionary?
1. It's the first game that I know that used the contemporary opening with scene shots sequences and astonishing musical theme.
2. It's the first original game that actually empathized charm of characters rather than plot. Seeing a woman walking side by side with the main hero the whole game was a novely itself.
3. It was the first erotic game where erotic content did not play a big role but rather was an element in the plot. And not having an erotic scene with Mami was a nonsense in bishoujo game.
4. Game had gallery collection inside the game called "lipstick".
The game has only one huge shortcoming - pc-98 version is not hookable by any means which makes it off limits for English auditory.
|
|---|
32. Pension Story Hana no Kiyosato ペンションストーリー花の清里 [881025] Adult Inn
Main character Kanzaki Hayaichi is invited to Kiyosato to look after the pension house in his absence. However, the uncle gets killed in the bathroom of the pension house... All the boarders have a motive for the crime and all of them tell different stories. Where will the investigation bring him?
One-way scenario with the branch only for the very ending. The flow is talking with the inhabitants, H scene, showing items and collecting information and when everything is done - final scene where you make a decision of what to do with the evidence. The contents is very ordinary and the shabby plot exists only for the abundant H scenes.
|
|---|
33. Derringer デリンジャー [8810] Clest
You're a private detective and you get a letter saying that 13-year old model Miki is restrained.
The first work of Clest that sets an attempt to introduce idol Miki character that had to appear in the trilogy of the company. In this work Miki is 13, in the second work she's 19 and in the third work she should have been around 15, but third third work was never finished. So this work is not really long - we get to find Miki tied in the warehouse fairly fast. Still this work is notable since like in Lipstick ADV Miki is shown as a heroine with personality and not just an object of desire.
|
|---|
34. MISTY ミスティ [8810] Champion Soft
You are a high school student. One day classmate Miyuki suddenly lost memory. The investigation leads to his girlfriend who suspiciously disappeared a year ago.
Game is not listed in Alice Soft freeware list, so yeah - it's a trash game of Champion Soft. You search for items and use them little by little uncovering Miyuki's past. Game features money so you actually need to save it to buy essential items. Game's only released for very basic platforms of pc-88 and msx which determines its low quality. The interface is horrible, the drawing speed is slow and game just hangs the emulator. Well, if Alice Soft wants us to forget about this game so much, let's just comply.
|
|---|
35. Seikimatsu Tanemaki Densetsu Shoujo Yuugi Ai no tame ni Shine! 世紀末種蒔伝説 少女遊戯 愛のために死ね！ [8810] Great
Since the 1970 the new technologies and introduction of computers resulted in deviation in the male reproductive ability. At the beginning of the 1990s more than 60% of men lost "male function", and women got frustrated with more and more incidents of men raped by women to occur. By 2000 the civilization was about to ruin due to women violence.
Kentaro's sister Yuriko got kidnapped mysterious "Lolita invaders" squadron. Kentaro tried to stop them but got defeated by their captain Yui. A strange old man instructs him how to get to their city base, but now the encounter will be on his terms.
One of the biggest works of Great - an erotic parody on many big hit works of the time including Fist of the North Star, Sukeban Deka, The Super Dimension Fortress Macross and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. It's a good thing people of the 1980s were ignorant about the copyright! The scenario is basically a single road, but during the command selection battles it's important not to use certain commands in the first half of the battle. The game is just too fun to play and it's hookable just fine. That's a masterpiece game despite its disturbing nature at times.
|
|---|
36. Skapon Tankentai Skapon 探検隊 [8810] PSK 1
The year is 2028. It is said that an eccentric genius scientist has constructed a laboratory on an island known as Ero-Manga. This island is populated by robots and beautiful girls. An exploration team consisting of an intrepid adventurer and his female assistant, who is looking for her missing father, lands on the island and is prepared to explore the wilderness in search of the laboratory.
PSK last work and - yes - about lolitas again. Skapon Taikentai is a humorous erotic adventure game. There are lots of girls around, but to get to the end of the game it's needed to participates only in absolutely obligatory H events. There is a limit of 9 items to carry with you which is pretty tight considered the number of locations and options. There are two branches and three endings here. At the end of of the game you are warped to Skapon 2, but the sequel never saw the light of the day.
|
|---|
37. Twilight Zone 2 トワイライトゾーン２ [8810] Great 1
Youko, the protagonist's girlfriend, has disappeared. In order to find her he must venture into the dreaded mansion inhabited by sex-hungry women.
The prequel with the command input was hardly playable so now it's pseudo-rpg from first person view. This is an eroge to and from - attack items are erotic journals, defensive items are condoms, fights are H events and venerological infections are status penalties. There is no automapping feature in this game and the territory is huge so manual drawing of a map is needed. This work is memorable for the enemies which had lots of types. It had fish girls, cat girls, dog girls etc
|
|---|
38. Yaritai Houdai やりたい放題 [8810] Lucifer Soft
A nanpa game to choose one of four women and seek their favor in a dialogue.
What differs this game from a usual nanpa game is the high difficulty level. You make choices, but get the result only much later so there is no way to determine what the wrong answers are. In the 1980s kinetic novels and and command selection adventures were considered inferior since anyone could bruteforce them with enough time. But text parser was obsolete as well, so new methods to bring freshness and uniqueness for the genre were thought of.
|
|---|
Touhou Kenbun Roku ("The Travels of Marco Polo") is an adventure game that uses the then-ubiquitous NES adventure game system of having a series of menu commands with which to interact with the world. As a text-heavy Japanese adventure game, some fluency with the language is required in order to play it.
The game depicts a troublemaker sent from the future back to 1275, when Marco Polo was in the midst of his explorations.
There is enough English information on the game.
|
|---|
40. Byakuya Monogatari ~Winchester-ke no Matsuei~ 白夜物語 ～ウィンチェスター家の末裔～ [881111] East Cube
College student Hiroyuki Sato came to a hot spring resort and was shocked by western type mansion known as witch's house and decided to sneak in.
This is a museum horror game inside a mansion, but also with comedy elements. It's command selection with verbs selected from vertical row with 2 and 8 keys and nouns selected from horizontal rows with 4 and 6 keys. I tried to bruteforce commands as usual, but I spent over 10 minutes on the 2nd scene and was not able to move on... this game is the hell for bruteforcing. The game is reported to feature battles inside the mansion and multiple endings, especially bad endings.
|
|---|
41. Cosmos Club コスモスクラブ [881111] JAST
Main character is a freshman student who gets to enter a student dormitory "Cosmos club" full of girls. He is secretly in love with one of the girls and seeks her attention.
This work could easily be a part of Tenshitachi no Gogo series, but for some reason it's not. Basically you search for your secret love everywhere and pick wrong doors at times. You get your hands on a certain key and can open only one door with it and the branching depends on which door you get to open. There are two good endings depending on whether you bring the girl some 5 yen coin or not. There are also bad endings. One of the good endings actually has the explanation on the "cosmos" part of the title - it's not just the name of the dormitory.
|
|---|
"When the dark priest Soron threatened to engulf the world in shadow, heroes and wizards alike rose against him.
All were defeated.
But a lone warrior still stands..."
You play the role of a samurai that must destroy the forces of Soron. You find, however,
that you cannot defeat him alone, so you must find a light mage who will aid you on your
quest, and most importantly, the sacred weapon known as the Samurai Sword.
There are English reviews of this game.
|
|---|
In 21th century, there are three main powers on the Earth. The free world and the communist block carried over from the 20th century; the third power is the New Communist Federation. Since a program of denuclearizing was supported by all those powers, the New Communist Federation developed a devastating non-nuclear weapon: the satellite "Raiden". The two other powers competed with the New Communist Federation, developing their own killer satellites, and the danger of total annihilation became once again an issue. Seeing no future for the Earth, humans started to colonize other planets. In 22th century, they sent an experimental ship "Septemius 1" to a star six light years far away from the Solar System. The ship's main computer, "Racoon", sent a strange message before stopping any communication. You are Keith McDonnell, a seventeen-year-old crew member of the ship "Septemius 2" that was sent to investigate the strange disappearance. Will you be able to uncover the mystery?
There are English reviews on the game.
|
|---|
44. Snatcher Snatcher [881126] KCET 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
On June 6, 1996 , a chemical weapon known as Lucifer-Alpha under development in Chernoton, Russia, is released into the atmosphere, resulting in the death of 80% of the Eurasian and Eastern European population which in turn results in the death of half of the world's population. The contaminated area becomes uninhabitable for a decade, when Lucifer-Alpha mutates into a non-lethal form. This tragic event later becomes known as "the Catastrophe".
Fifty years later, a breed of artificial life-forms or bioroids known as "snatchers" began appearing in the artificial island of Neo Kobe City, killing their victims and taking their place in society. Nobody knows exactly what they are or where they come from. As Gillian Seed, an amnesiac working for an Anti-Snatcher task force called J.U.N.K.E.R., the player's goal is to track down the source of the snatchers and discover Gillian's mysterious connections with them.
There are English reviews on the game.
|
|---|
Chátty is the second entry in System Sacom's Novel Ware series. Its story is set in the future and involves a man who was framed for a crime he did not commit. In attempt to clear his name, the protagonist discovers a device that allows interdimensional travel, and ventures into a parallel dimension in search for answers.
Chatty is pc-88 exclusive which determines technical limitations. I would not call it a novelware at all since all you do is struggle through command selection most of the time. A professional novelist was working on the scenario and it's indeed a serious adult story with even some H scenes included. There are multiple endings in this work. System-wise it's unusual in the way that there is an inventory and items in it to manage. This work established novelware principles as a genre, not just one unique work and thus holds the historical credit for it.
|
|---|
46. JACK ジャック [8811] Thinking Rabbit
You are a detective in Los Angeles and need to investigate a murder case with a more veteran policeman. Man was murdered in hotel room and had baseball chip in his pocket.
Thinking rabbit was well known for good adventure stories. Casablanca had a very good plot. This one is not an exception. Black and white America was already stylish. Feature of the game is Joker command that could let you achieve unexpected results but could as well be wasted easily. There's less excitement than in Casablanca, but it's same fulfilling since it tackles with complicated human relationships rather than tricks.
|
|---|
It features the japanese singer pop singer Noriko Ogawa, who was just 15 years back in 1988. The games starts with an invitation to one of her live concert. The player, the Lucky Boy as called in the game, will take a day out and probably end up on a date with the young and cute singer.
Game has English reviews.
|
|---|
48. Doki Doki Shutter Chance!! ドキドキシャッターチャンス！！ [881208] Elf
An action game to make photos of 10 girls while evading the teacher within a time limit.
The first Elf work, but I'm not really sure it can be called a visual novel. Well, there are couple pages of synopsis and rules description. It's a pure action game with the only reward in the end. Game is very difficult since there are barriers everywhere and it's not clear where to move. On top of that when you make a photo the girl should stay in the range for like three seconds. If the teacher gets you, you'll have to start anew. I'm not even sure where those 10 girls are since there seem to be few characters on the map. And it all has to be done within a strict time limit on top of that! There are three editions of the game - girls school one, nursery and bus editions.
|
|---|
49. Tantei Jinguuji Saburou: Kiken na Futari 探偵 神宮寺三郎 危険な二人 [881209] Data East Corporation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Detective Hunter and his assistant Yulia have been invited to watch Yulia's friend Sabin participate in a motorcycle race. It doesn't all go too well when he crashes in the race, but when the racing team checks up on him it turns out to be Thomas, Sabin's apprentice, under the helmet. The mystery deepens as another friend of Yulia is found murdered in a hotel room.
There are English reviews of this game.
|
|---|
50. Telephone Club Story テレフォンクラブストーリー [881210] Wilduck
Enter a private room and make a call. If conversation is good who knows what it may lead to...
A nanpa game with short etchi scene in the end of each girl part. Three rooms out of five are available and the other two are empty. The heroines are 28 year old married woman and two high school girls of 18 and 16 years old. There's a conversation and it's needed to fill in blank spaces out of the list of pretty absurd variants. It's possible to make 7 mistakes overall.
|
|---|
The legend of Kaguya-hime is one of the most popular stories in Japanese mythology. Once upon a time, an old man went to the forest to cut some bamboo, and found a little baby girl. He took her to his house and named her Kaguya-hime. She grew up there, and soon became the most beautiful girl of Japan. Many young men, including the son of the emperor himself, tried to conquer her heart, but for no avail. One day Kaguya-hime confessed she was a moon angel, and returned back to the moon. In this game, you control the son of the emperor, and you'll do your best to reach Kaguya-hime and to protect her. You must overcome various obstacles and meet characters from Japanese folklore.
There are English reviews of this game.
|
|---|
King Kaiser, the mighty ruler of the country Fa-Ral, had a daughter named Lisa, who became gravely ill. Anxious to know what will become of her and his kingdom, the king looks into a magic crystal. The crystal tells him that the one who can make things right is a boy named Shion, who lives in a quiet village far away from the capital city. The king tries to find Shion, but forces of darkness have plans of their own...
Game has English reviews.
|
|---|
Akira is a graphic adventure game based on the 1988 animated movie of Katsuhiro Otomo's epic Manga. Released in 1988 by Taito for the Famicom console, the video game version has the player in the role of Kaneda. Events begin with Kaneda and his motorcycle gang in police custody after their friend Tetsuo has been abducted by the military.
Game has English reviews.
|
|---|
Fictional baseball player is condemned as murderer. He has to hide from police and find the culprit to clear his name.
There is enough English information on the game.
|
|---|
55. Bishoujo Noriko 媚少女ＮＯＲＩＫＯ [8812] System House Oh!
A part of "Sexy voice" series.
Noriko Noriko sees a strange dream where she is attacked by Sexdroid. When she consults a psychiatrist about it, he suggests an experimental therapy.
The game has no other meaning than watch a collection of HCG accompanied by lewd voicing and some animation. Noriko part has the fewest choices in the series and is presented by three consecutive rape scenes that are scrolled in 5 minutes time.
|
|---|
56. Datenshi Kyouko Part 1 堕天使ＫＹＯＵＫＯ Ｐａｒｔ１ [8812] System House Oh!
A part of "Sexy voice" series.
Three esper fallen angels are sent to Kyoko to play with her.
The game has no other meaning than watch a collection of HCG accompanied by lewd voicing and some animation. Wrong choice here results in rewinding back.
|
|---|
57. Endan Tokugawa Kouryuuki ~Gorakuin~ 艶談・徳川興隆記 ～ごらくいん～ [8812] STUDIO ANGEL
Main character occasionally activates time machine and gets to 1582, right after Oda Nobunaga is ambushed and killed. The purpose in this work is to take decisions so that the wars in the country are eliminated and stability establishes for 300 years to come.
I was so excited about this work that I made a full video playthrough till happy end with English machine translation. Game covers the most famous period of Japanese history and tackles it with a lot of care. Over 30 real historical figures are concerned here. There is only one right path to happy ending and the others lead to mysterious girl telling you what was done wrong and asking to try again. There are some more girls encounters if wrong paths are taken, but there are over 10 H scenes even in the main path which I'd even call abundant. This game is a huge masterpiece and it's great that the Western audiences can immerse into it thanks to hook-ability of the game.
|
|---|
58. Makenshi Kumiko 魔剣士ＫＵＭＩＫＯ [8812] System House Oh!
A part of "Sexy voice" series.
Kumiko was indulged in self-satisfaction when she was warped to the island 's ruins where she is attacked by a monster who is an incarnation of her ancient enemy.
The game has no other meaning than watch a collection of HCG accompanied by lewd voicing and some animation. The longest story in the series.
|
|---|
59. Project A-ko 2 プロジェクトＡ子２ [8812] Tatsumi Publishing
Two minigames of slot machine and cards are used to outscore opponents who have enormously more points at the start.
The first part of the series was interesting for its gameplay. This time it's just some cards game and slot machine. You start with 100 points while the second girl has 2,000 at the start and the third has 48,000 at the start. I did not have the patience to see what happens when you actually outscore the other girls.
|
|---|
60. Satsujin wa Tegami ni Notte 殺人は手紙にのって [8812] TwinSoft
Main character is high school student who hears of his friend being fatally hit by train. He has 7 days remaining till school studies start and he intends to find out the truth behind this accident.
The cover is funny, but it's not a light story. Serial murders, attempt suicide, main hero orphan. Most of the game passes in investigating the school and then the university where the murders occurred. The difficulty level is low, so it's possible to bruteforce. Solving this mystery does not really make an impact.
|
|---|
61. What's Michael ホワッツマイケル [8812] Micro Cabin
Cat Michael's beloved got lost and he searches around the town for her.
The adventures of the cat are quite trivial, but if you saw the anime there's a good energetic music, lots of face expressions and beautiful graphics to enjoy. Game's mostly a comedy, so there are many funny scenes in it.
|
|---|
A business man in Peru and a girl visiting Japan both suddenly fall victim to a strange disease that turns the skin green and partially disfigures the face. The most unusual thing is that these two incidents occurred at the same time. Brian Pall, a journalist from the London Post, was on a flight to London when suddenly one of the passengers is struck with the same disease. These series of outbreaks have lead Brian and his partner, Eris Miler, to start their own investigation. Their discoveries eventually lead them going up against a mysterious religious group.
Game has English reviews.
|
|---|
The game is based on old Japanese legends about Yamato Takeru, a legendary hero of ancient Japan. The game starts when Yamato Takeru is a thirteen-year-old boy. His father was killed under mysterious circumstances. Searching his things, the boy found a postcard that gave him his first clue for the investigation. From that moment, his adventure begins.
Game has English reviews.
|
|---|
64. Gamma Force in Pit Of A Thousand Screams Gamma Force in Pit Of A Thousand Screams [8812] Tom Snyder Productions 1 2 3 4
In a dangerous world, individual superheroes are not enough. Even the best of them - a humanoid made of flame, an elf princess with a mean bow, and a musclebound waterbeast - can't do it all themselves. When they come together, they are the Gamma Force. Can anybody stop them?
Game has English reviews.
|
|---|
65. Josei Shain o Ikasu Hou 女性社員を活かす法 [8812] Champion Soft
Main character is a cosmetics sales division section manager in an Osaka big company. He has a wife and a child, but he does not know how to deal with this subordinates who are mostly beautiful women. He will have to determine an effective approach towards them so that the company flourishes.
There is not a single written world on the game on the web, so I'll have to pull the thoughts from my short experience of the game. First of all, I liked the game despite the fact that it's not in the Alice Soft freeware list. It's a really good game, but I guess an overly serious one, so it did not fit the target auditory of reborn Alice Soft company. Day by day you watch the women of your section and you make decisions like to praise them or to scold them or to call them for a talk. My approach was pretty random and I was actually waiting for a H event to pop up... but nothing happened. In about two weeks of random behavior on my behalf I got game over, so I'm not even sure if it's an eroge or not. It's hookable, so I'd hope to see attention to this game in future.
|
|---|
67. Shadow Hunter シャドゥハンター [8812] Champion Soft
A famous writer announced his engagement and his bride started to get threats and blackmail. Main character is a detective set to identify the stalker and protect the girl. But as investigation proceeds a murder happens.
Another Champion Soft game that did not get in freeware Alice Soft list. And it uses the same game system as MYSTY which was very crappy. So we gather as much information as possible without taking breaks since those bring a band end. The majority of time is spent while searching inside the buildings. And eventually the mystery gets revealed.
|
|---|
68. Yoru no Tenshi-tachi ~Shitetsu Ensen Satsujiin Jiken~ 夜の天使たち ～私鉄沿線殺人事件～ [8812] Clest
Hero is a detective investigating suicide case. Sister of the deceased girl claims that railroad crossing was the place that girl used to visit a lot.
A sequel to Derringer. Derringer's purpose was to introduce Miki who was 13 years old. And it was rather short game, felt more like a promo material for next game to come. Also there should have been the 3rd Miki game to depict Miki gradually becoming an idol, but it was cancelled. In this game Mike is 19 and she has become an idol now. There are also several friends of Miki present, so it's a nice girl company to enjoy.
It's the second game after Lipstick ADV. (Lipstick ADV. was issued first) where girl is not a capture object, but a full-fledged character to follow main hero. It was also the first attempt to make a mascot character, grandfather of all idol games.
|
|---|
69. ZorkQuest: Assault on Egreth Castle ZorkQuest: Assault on Egreth Castle [8812] Tom Snyder Productions 1 2 3
The Egreth Castle, once the royal abode of the proud king Duncanthrax, has now become a terrifying, haunted place. Trolls, hobgoblins, and night gaunts have turned the castle into their permanent residence. On top of that, an evil, insane, and powerful wizard is controlling everything that happens in and around the castle. A caravan of brave adventurers, guided by a magical amulet, reaches the castle. Will the heroes be able to overcome all obstacles and find a way to defeat the evil?..
Game has English reviews.
|
|---|
Your Lipstick ADV VNDB link is actually sending people to the first Jake Hunter detective game, here https://vndb.org/v5962. Thought you would like to know.
Sorry. Fixed.
Post a Comment