The two Super Nintendo games that Koharu mentions near the end of episode 4 of Hi School Girl are SOS (also called “Septentrion” in Japan) and the Japanese exclusive Otogirisou, Chunsoft’s first self-published title and the very first sound novel (a type of digital novel with multiple endings that served as the progenitor to the visual novel genre). Otogirisou is an especially interesting reference since the game was published in 1992 but only became popular sometime after due to word-of-mouth, so it makes sense that the characters in the show would be talking about the game a year after its initial release in 1993.
Linkle Liver Story (リンクル・リバー・ストーリー) - Sega/Nextech - Saturn - 1996
Aishsha, paul_met and Pennywise have released an English translation patch for Linkle Liver Story, an action RPG for the Sega Saturn. The game is very reminiscent of the Zelda series which should come as no surprise since the game was developed by the same team that created Crusaders of Centy, another Zelda-style title on the Genesis. The release is worth celebrating not only because Linkle is a cult classic in Japan but also because translations for Saturn games are extremely rare (in fact you could almost count the number of English patches for the system on one hand). Download the translation patch over at the team’s blog here.
Roberta Williams’ Mystery House had a huge impact on the adventure game genre in the West and Japan. You can even see its influence on Kamaitachi no Yoru, Chunsoft’s second sound novel and the game that popularized “novel” style video games in Japan. Not only is the story similar, with both being about a group of people trapped in a house with a murderer, but there are also a lot of visual similarities to the Japanese version of Mystery House created by Star Craft. Here are a couple of examples.
Ihatovo Monogatari (イーハトーヴォ物語) - Hector - Super Famicom - 1992
Tom, DDS Translation and FlashPV have just released their English translation patch for Ihatovo Monogatari (The Stories of Ihatovo). The game is a top-down adventure game for the Super Famicom that is based off the many works of Kenji Miyazawa, a very popular author in Japan who wrote a lot of children’s stories. To find out more information about the game read HG101′s article on the title and of course download the patch for the game over at Rom Hacking Dot Net. Also if you want to watch some anime adaptations of Miyazawa’s works might I suggest The Restaurant of Many Orders, Night on the Galactic Railroad and Gauche the Cellist.
During the 14:00 chapter in 428: Shibuya Scramble, which mainly takes place in a mall, several of the protagonists keep running into a creepy waitress that works at a buffet called the “Imabiki Chinese Restaurant”. While playing the game, I kept wondering why the character was giving off J-Horror vibes every time she showed up. But then I finally realized that it must be some kind of reference to Chunsoft’s previous sound novel released on the PlayStation 3 called “Imabikisou”.
Imabikisou is a horror game that features a creepy hand on its cover with the same black fingernails worn by the waitress in 428. The restaurant’s title, Imabiki, is even named after Imabikisou and there are posters all over the mall in this chapter advertising the game.
This is a really cool hour-long documentary about the making of 428: Shibuya Scramble. I kind of wish a subtitled version of this had been included in the English release of 428 because there seems to be a lot of interesting anecdotes being shared about the game’s development. Like here where it appears they are talking about how there is a character similar to Minorikawa in Jiro Ishii’s previous game, 3-Nen B-Gumi Kinpachi Sensei for the PlayStation 2. Even if I can’t understand what is being said it is still cool to watch the behind the scenes footage and see the actors/actresses from the game outside of their costumes (and speaking).
