VN of the Month May 1999 - Comic party

There should be no two opinions about this, Comic party rocked May 1999. It's very difficult for a SIM to gain my approval, but all the elements fit here perfectly. So far there have not been more than a couple of doujin games released, but this game has woken the devil of 2000s.

1. Girl Doll Toy Gaiden Azami Girl Doll Toy 外伝　AZAMI [990514] Uran Protagonist is a Treasure Hunter who comes to a foreign land to get Miron 's treasure, but is reported and arrested by archaeologist Yuki. Hero agrees to cooperate and gets released - together with Yuki they get on an adventure. Story is good, but system is troublesome so it can't be really recommended. You need to move around the map yourself with a keyboard and check every square. Uran got turned on Doll Toy and he's getting the third game in this franchise just in July 1999. That's all that's known about this game and it's a pain to get, actually. In order to run it needs both data cd and the diskette with executable file - the latter one especially rare.

2. Gogatsu no Koro 5月の頃 [990514] Hyperspace One hot May afternoon hero has some free time after school to flirt with girls inside school or outside of it. Game's on a really horrible engine akin to Macromedia flash. I did not find a way to adjust speed or skip, so it's been very painful for me. The first BGM contains a song which was very nice. Game tries to create animation effect by changing perspective a bit. But after all it's just a nukige.

3. Otona no Omochaya-san 大人のおもちゃ屋さん [990514] Desire Hero's uncle got hospitalized uncle asking his nephew to change him at the adult store. Hero got unemployed and kicked out of the apartment recently and thus needs money, so can not turn such offer down. Various types of women visit the shop and ask consultation regarding their sexual problems. Now what's hero going to do?  There are three heroines each with own ending. Just talking is not enough, it's most important to choose the right instrument for the woman in need. Anyway, it's a HCG game through and through.

4. Venus Revolution ヴィーナスレヴォリューション [990514] Art-Club Once per several hundred years the Gods summon a human to their domain for eight days to study human nature. Main character is such a summoned man. Different Gods represent different elements and main character is given cards representing different elements to use wisely in conversations. It's plain horrible. It's just a hundred megabytes in size, ugly, with only mouse control, no skipping or even instant text drawing and with zero options at all... After small introduction you're thrown on a map where you can visit different Gods and use conversation cards... That's basically it, with clever use of cards and diligence you should gain any God's trust.

5. Marionette Company マリオネットカンパニー [990520] Micro Cabin 1 In Marionette Company your character happens to come across a broken android girl (called "marionettes" in the game) weakly crying for your help inside a cardboard box abandoned in dark alleyway. You of course decide to pick the poor thing up and repair her to the best of your ability. However there's still much work to be done on her to make her as "human" as possible. There's an English review of this game.

6. Nureginu ぬれぎぬ [990520] Take Two years ago there was a series of killings with rape going on for two months, but police never found the culprit. Main character witnessed at that time how a middle-aged man was violating his acquaintance, but was paralyzed with fear and could not do anything and that woman was found dead.  Nowadays the killings have started again. Hero wants to protect everyone he knows, but will he be able to do that? Game does not have reviews, just one impression that it's an ordinary suspense game with bad save system and BGM disappearing at random. Indeed, you choose the save slot only once when you start and there's not menu to call during the game, so I guess it's just one save which really harms the replay-ability. There are about 10 choices to make and I only played it to the end once and in the end just died from... something since did not do the right things to prevent future crimes, I guess. Game system is really not nice. Only operation with mouse possible and if you press skip - it goes all the way to the next choice selection without the ability to manually stop where you want. It takes some time for the line to draw and I could not find speed adjustment. So it's a really nice game, but game mechanics killed any motivation to explore in anyone, I guess.

7. Collector コレクター [990521] Noise A few years after the big breakthrough in space navigation a gorgeous space cruise ship was hit by space pirate ship "Ganymede". Their purpose was to insult the beautiful women until they got bored and to store girls in frozen capsules. It seemed like collecting beautiful butterflies. Among the frozen hostages was Queen Julia...  Main character special agent Kazu infiltrates the pirate ship to put an end to pirates dealings.  Game's a mix of everything so that it looked like a movie - opening, fighting scenes, shooting mini-game, maze of the ship, four girls to rescue sequentially and of course lots of H events scattered everywhere.

8. Cowboy Baby カウボーイベイベー [990521] Triangle US wild west. Billy Hickok got into debts and is offered to work as a bouncer at the bar till he repays his debt.  Game's a bakage, but a really funny one and with a good tempo. Difficulty is low and even if you happen to trigger a game over, there's an option to replay just from the last choice or battle. There are also blackjack and poker mini-games, but those are mostly useful after initial game clearance, since after that bonus undressing card game appears. Only main heroine Etta gets an ending, but it slightly changes depending on how relations with her advanced so far. All girls are voiced. First playthrough takes 5-6 hours, but in order to see all the CGs multiple playthroughs are needed.

9. Hikari no Naka de Dakishimete ひかりの中で抱きしめて [990521] Sepia Hero happens to be in a bullet train that's just been hijacked. He manages to disarm one of hijackers in the toilet takes his mask and weapon. But he's tempted by the situation as he can freely harass any passengers now...  Insult SIM... which is especially funny since the title and the cover are absolutely fitting for a pure love game. There are about 10 characters for capture.

10. Me for You [990521] Aquarium Software development studio. Main character Hayama Seiichi was appointed to control the department where all the losers are sent and no results are expected at all. Now that there is a person with actual experience in software development things have got lively, but most of personnel lack the skills for serious work. Are hero's efforts wasted in the end? Basically it's a SIM and it's needed both to build relations with each team member and work towards the end goal - game release. Palette of the game is quite dim and character designs are not pretty, just as in previous Aquarium games. Not my type of a game and no reviews to check the ending content.

11. Sakura Biyori さくら日和 [990521] May-Be Soft Ronji Mizushima failed to pass entrance exams and moved to Sakura Heights boarding house to study as ronin. He chose this place because the rent was cheap and landlord was a beautiful woman. It turned out that it was inhabited only by women and thus his life in an apartment full of women begins. It's mostly remembered by the description on the box "How much ecchi can SLG contain"? And the answer is a LOT. Even though it's a raising SIM, all the girls are nymphomaniacs. Still it's most unusual for such boring genre as a raising SIM to be H-oriented, so I'll let it slip for now. There are some 8 heroines and also guests who make only occasional appearance. We take care of hero's weekly schedule for 11 months. There are four parameters to worry about.

12. Seikon ~Inbou Uzumaku Byoutou de Tadareta Soukanzu~ 性痕 ～淫謀うずまく病棟で爛れた相関図～ [990521] T・STAFF Software Hospital is engulfed in conspiracy. Chairman and director parties oppose each other. Main character is a new doctor, so he soon becomes an object of fierce confrontation with the use of even prohibited means of competition. Pretty bad quality and inevitably H tilt.

13. Corridor ~Meikairou~ Corridor ～迷回廊～ [990527] Picori Main character lived with his mother till she died. Having no place to, he came to his mysterious father in search of shelter. He was allowed to get inside. But this family has a lot of dark secrets that he will have to face now. Basically it's a nukige. There are at least several endings, but endings mostly mean a different H event path. No voicing. Dim palette.

14. Onegai! Maid☆Roid おねがい! メイド☆ロイド [990527] Neon In the future mankind succeeded to develop independent type androids, Maid☆Roid as new workers in place of human servants. The family of main character bought one such android as a maid. Actually I failed to launch the game on any system till read in the only review that game does not launch without official patch. Hero gradually gets in love with android maid in the first half of the game and goes all out in the second one. But there are also lots of other maid girls with full voiced H scenes. Hero's a rich spoiled brat and he can afford going every day to a strip club for some special service. Anyway, game's just for H and maid fetish.

15. Akatsuki no Ganshou 暁の岩礁 [990528] Ume Soft Main character is a teacher at a private girls' school. One day he and his students set off on excursion to Yokohama port and then by luxurious liner "Ingleb" to Hong Kong. However, they fall into a trap set by someone just before departure. Can they safely survive? There are nine girls and each has her own unique survival route to follow even though they all start off the same prologue. One route takes roughly one hour. There are a lot of time limit events with bad end prepared. Some routes involve mini-games. The gags are surprisingly mature and best fit for the age of 30s. So it's very difficult to stuff something more than a suspense action scenario and a hasty H-event in one-hour route and that's exactly what this game is.

16. Comic Party こみっくパーティー [990528] Leaf 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Early April, Kazuki Sendō is invited by his friend, Taishi Kuhonbutsu, to come with him to Tokyo Big Sight. He is surprised to see thousands of people waiting in line to get in. Apparently they're at Comic Party, a giant dōjinshi convention. Once inside, Kazuki meets some of the dōjinshi artists and is surprised to find himself enjoying their work. Taishi convinces Kazuki to draw dōjinshi after their visit because he recognizes Kazuki's skill as an artist, but Kazuki's childhood friend Mizuki tries to talk him out of it because she believes otakus are smelly, dirty, and disgusting. Her reasoning doesn't help because Kazuki already made up his mind and begins to draw his first dōjinshi. Game has lots of English reviews.

17. Flora Festa FLORA Festa [990528] Outou Shobou In Side A collection of thee erotic manga strips and three mazes corresponding different girls. Every corner in the maze triggers an erotic scene. This can barely be called a visual novel, only technically. No story, nothing. Each event is either HCG or H event with text only describing H event. It's more like art gallery, but that unlocks only gradually, not all at once. Engine is horrible Macromedia flash, operation mouse only.

18. Galfro ~Gal's Frontier~ ぎゃるふろ ～Gal's Frontier～ [990528] Pias Protagonist is a magazine photographer tasked with taking erotic photos of girls. Yet another nukige. Choose location, choose one of the directions for search - find girl - ask three questions - BAM - H event - repeat. No story whatsoever, but 39 heroines to see HCG.

19. Hana no Shizuku 華の滴 [990528] MBS Truth Main character lost parents early, but recently his brother died as well leaving him pension house to manage. Hero has always been in love with his sister-in-law who later became his brother's wife.  A famous novelist was staying at the pension house and he asked main character for inspiration for his new lustful story. Main character persuades his sister-in-law to comply, and the pension house turns into lust feast.  I did not expect anything good out of MBS Truth from the start, but that kind of synopsis does not even try to look like a decent game anymore. Full-scale nukige.

20. Ichibatsu Hyakkai ~Onimaru Mahjong Hyakki Yakou~ 一罰百快 ～鬼丸麻雀百鬼夜行～ [990528] Otemoto Youkai attack girls at school, but in order to draw the beast from a possessed body it's required to defeat the spirit in a mahjong game. A month is not complete without another strip mahjong game. The quota is filled, moving on.

21. Innai Kansen 2 淫内感染2 [990528] ZyX From #1, our doctor has collected a bunch of pets, including the hospital manager's daughter. To gain control of the hospital, he still has to deal with the assistant manager and a rival doctor. To do that, he needs to collect more pets. Strange that some of the girls actually love him. This is a better known nukige, but nukige nevertheless. And this time it's getting even creepier.

22. Jigsaw no Machi ジグソーの街 [990528] Sakura Soft Hero works as a private detective. One night while investigating a yakuza case he notices a girl he knows from somewhere. He saw her in a mysterious dream. He feels like his past also changed after the meeting. The Jigsaw puzzle started to collect together. To unveil the secret he needs a month. Hero and that girl shared a dream six years ago. Now hero chooses to live a new life in a dream. And with the last piece of Jigsaw puzzle set in place, a new town appears in front of him. Don't ask. Someone smoked the wrong weed. No new town appears, at least it's indiscernible from the old one. But detective gets to meet more and more girls followed by H events. There are no reviews or even impressions, but the only walkthrough around says there are two routes. The one I got ended with some Yakuza armed conflict and happy end with main heroine. Game's not voiced. Character design is rough. Almost every girl wears glasses - there are two true meganekko and others wear glasses only occasionally. So there just aren't enough appeal points to even try to get to know what's happening with the poor detective.

23. Mujintou Monogatari RR 無人島物語RR [990528] KSS Inc. Events take place on an uninhabited island around Hawaii. There is electricity and basic facilities ready. Resort love story begins now! Game's gone pretty far from its origins. There is no superficial element of prequels and there is basically everything ready and it's even a resort... really... it's survival game series, not a vacation rabu-rabu, for god's sake! Battle gets really like jrpg. This is one of the last games in the series and I think everyone got tired reinventing the same setting for the 10th time.

24. Pile Driver PILE・DRIVER [990528] Blue Gale 1 Walking to school in the morning with his childhood girl, our guy isn't feeling too great because lack of sleep. Fainting at the morning meeting and falling into the hands of the school nurse cheered him up some. He now has courage and experience to go after 9 girls. This is mostly a story game, with few choices but will get you to some pretty nice endings. There is an English review.

25. Pythian ピュティア [990528] Studio e.go! The world collapsed, before that, people would actively researching Psionics. In the new era, people who with psionics power became decadent aristocracy and dominate the continent for years. Rebellion broken out and took over, soon neighboring country took the chance to invade. Protagonist suffered amnesia, believing that artifacts have a link to his memory recovery, come to the capital to investigate surrounding ruins amid the chaos. SRPG. There are 15 chapters, each with 0 to 3 battles. Game balance is not the best. Story is very difficult to grasp - it's not integral enough and some plot twists look really random. Game features special undressing system.

26. Seisen Ren'ai Yuugi 聖戦 恋愛遊戯 [990528] Rare Frontier planet "XIAN" far from the Earth. There are no planetary governments and the two major conglomerates of Ron and Zoroa dominate and prosper by free trade. Ryuta graduated from the military academy and came to Shan, the land of memories of his deceased father. He was welcomed by Ron Ron, the general commander of the army, and was invited to the Mayfa Corps Base, which is the headquarters. In the meantime president Ray Long suddenly dies. At the same time unknown identity enemies attack the base. Ryuta picks up three young ace pilot girls and tries to organize defense. From now on they are being swallowed by the war... Tactic strategy mix. Only one girl pilots the mecha and it depends on favorability. In battle there are three types of robots: proximity type, middle range type, and long range type. Enemy turns take quite a long time. When girl attacks, you gain favorability, when she suffers damage or you're far from her, you lose favorability. One playthrough is about 8 hours.

27. Suzu ga Utau Hi 鈴がうたう日 [990528] Tactics A small town along the sea. A slight tide smell in the air ... in such a town I met a girl. Girl's name is Suzu. That small incident changed the boring summer and turned it into an irreplaceable season that I won't be able to forget till the rest of my life... Split with Key was devastating for Tactics. Their new game has the same systems as "One". The text is quite bad, but some gags are ok. You need to choose places on a the map and check if it triggers some event, so it's not really fun. Game period is 20 days. One playthrough is just 3 hours. There's no voicing. Characters are... I don't know, but anything but cute. Only Suzu route has some meaning in it, but it's not good either. A very plain and much more inferior game than "One".

28. Yashoku 夜食 [990528] Telluru Hiroyuki is the second year ronin now. He starts to lose faith in himself and gets drunk with drink regularly. One such night he descends from the last train at an unknown station and meets a mysterious woman next to a cafe. She invited him to work here as a part-time-job, and hero could not say no to working with lots of pretty girls. Now which one of the will warm his heart? Game's bright, funny at places and has very cool voicing. But in the end it's just chasing girls H oriented game. At least some girls are interesting enough to actually get to an end.

29. Zoku Gekka Bijin ~Ouka no Koro~ 続月花美人 ～桜花の頃～ [990528] 1 Town in the mountains Totamachi. There is a mountain named Sakura that holds a shrine with the same name. One day wife of shrine caretaker found a child crying at the shrine. She issued a report about the lost child to the police, but child's parents were not found.  That child was called "Akito" and later adopted. But after three years caretaker's wife gave birth to a child herself. From that day Akito became a threat for the shrine owner who wanted his own child to inherit from him. And animosity between two men grew fiercer with each passing day... There is one short review, but it tackles all the main points all right. There is daytime AVG part and night time training SIM part, but the latter one is not really necessary.

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