kivandopulus

1. Four Flush VNDB 2. Lipstick Adventure 3 VNDB 3. Metal Eye VNDB 4. Quintia Road 2 VNDB 5. Ranma 1/2 - Byakuran Aika VNDB 6. Shinc VNDB 1. Four Flush VNDB In the future, the cities of the Earth merge into a single megalopolis. Life has stabilized, and each new day is similar to the preceding one. Human beings have lost connection to the culture of the past. The huge city doesn't even have a name, and is simply called "City". Poor people live in the slums, and have no access to the quarters of the rich. Corruption reigns. The hero of the game belongs to an organization of assassins known as "Card". His last mission is to kill corrupted policemen who have been trafficking drugs. The hero must hide, but his relationships with other "Card" members are anything but clear... Hard boiled SF setting with good visuals, sound and frequent animation. What's more to desire? Sometimes there's just something missing. Commands vary for each scene, so immersion is greater than in usual interactive adventure. But after great introduction the work lingers without much tension. Drawing is done my popular manga artist, but it won't be to everyone's taste. Story ends in a satisfactory fashion, but lacks excitement. 2. Lipstick Adventure 3 VNDB This entry in the Lipstick Adventure series continues the story of the young private detective Gorou and his sweetheart Otomi. After attending a friend's marriage ceremony, they return to Gorou's office and find a strange package in the flowers. The package contains pictures of Otomi and several other girls, her schoolmates, some of them naked. Gorou heads to Otomi's high school to begin the investigation, without realizing that he will soon become involved in a sinister conspiracy... Final work of the series. Well, there was 4th game 8 years later made by a new company, but that was an ordinary eroge already. So in 3rd Lipstick Adventure Mami is again a schoolgirl and events take place roughly a year after first game. It's also new for the series to finally have a good sound support. From time to time perspective changes to Mami's eyes. H element was totally eliminated with provocative moments and occasional naked breast being all that's left. The plot got an unexpectedly serious dimension. First you find photos of Mami's classmates naked, then the spouse of former school director was found dead. So story was not too light-hearted. Overall good old Lipstick Adventure was back in its most technologically advanced form. It's still a great game, especially for those who played previous two parts, but compared to audacious newcomer VNs of 1993, it's fabula just got old. 3. Metal Eye VNDB In Metal Eye, the player takes the role of a young weapons expert named Findhill. His father was apparently involved in a project that dealt with creating artificial life forms. But recently he has disappeared without a trace. Findhill remained alone, in a small town surrounded by vicious monsters. He wants to become a hunter, just like his father once was, to get rid of the monsters roaming the wilderness, and get to the bottom of his father's disappearance and his mysterious project. As the next Elf game, it was stormed out of the stalls by the army of Classmates fans. But actually Mr.Hiruda was not in charge of the scenario this time. The battles balance was laughable, the encounter rate high, but need to struggle through to get to the real game, right? Not really - you fight through and see bed scenes with beautiful girls, that's how VN rpgs work. So many players felt betrayed. It was actually a good SF story with animated battles some novelty RPG features. So quite an average RPG, but the problem was that such average games hurt Elf reputation greatly. 4. Quintia Road 2 VNDB News Chrome is a young FBI agent who was pursuing an evasive target on a mission. Suddenly, the suspect disappeared into a portal. Following him, News found himself in a desert. Before long he meets a princess named Sarah who asks him to aid the inhabitants of the magical world Quintia against a mysterious sorcerer. Unlike prequel, there's no English review for this game and information is scarce. In the world News was teleported to magic got out of control. Fairies and dragons became an everyday sight. And evil magician Edwin Rune was preparing to dominate the world. Same five kingdoms persisted, same commands, including feature anxiety command that could do something good or something bad. Game got light RPG elements as heroes got stats, basic inventory items and real tactical battles. But at the same time story got linear, you can't choose where to go anymore, so satisfaction was not high. Playing the prequel is required to understand the gags scattered around the same locations. 5. Ranma 1/2 - Byakuran Aika VNDB The game features an original story centering on a new character, Arisa Nanjo. After Ranma Saotome's friends go missing, it is up to him to track them down. There is a sufficient number of English reviews here. 6. Shinc VNDB The plot of Shinc is as simple as its title: the hero - aptly named Hero Narcissus - is a lone adventurer in search of a job. He arrives at a town which is populated mostly by young sexy women. The hero hasn't even enough money to visit the local brothel. Since the king hasn't asked him to rescue a princess (yet), his first quest, given to him by the pretty weapon shop owner, is to venture into a nearby cave, "Realm of Anguish", to defeat the monsters lurking there and retrieve valuable items. Naturally, this is just the beginning of a long career, which involves saving the kingdom and becoming a true hero. RPG with quite simplified rules for this genre. The only prominent feature of this work is scrolling CG, so that 1/3 of the screen is seen to up to 1/8th of the screen. Quite mediocre plot, so game may have value only for RPG fans.

1. Aa! Megami-sama! VNDB 2. Hatsukoi Monogatari VNDB 3. Marine Philt VNDB 1. Aa! Megami-sama! VNDB Based on the anime series Ah! My Goddess, the game follows the story of a Japanese high-school student named Keiichi, who has accidentally summoned the powerful, yet very lovely Norse goddess Verdandi (mercilessly misspelled Belldandy in the game) and pronounced a wish to stay with her forever. Now the gorgeous goddess has become a part of his life, and the two find themselves involved in constant misunderstandings and comical situations, yet also develop feelings for each other... There are several nice English reviews here. 2. Hatsukoi Monogatari VNDB An ordinary Japanese student finds a floppy disk on the street; using his computer to load data from it, he miraculously summons Foltjunia, an intergalactic warrior who fights evil in her robotic armor with three companions. However, Foltjunia has lost her powers and as a result stays with the hero, giving him advice as to how to conquer the love of a schoolmate. Game Technopolis games have always been weird AND bad. It's not an exception, as usual. Biggest flaw lies with the system. SLG elements are overflowing for a sim. Text usually takes half of the screen, images are small. BGM is monotonous. Mouse is not responsive... In this raising sim... you're even raising the protagonist to suit the girl. Maybe it was novelty and all, but production values were not nearly high enough to enjoy it. 3. Marine Philt VNDB In the first half of the 21st century, humanity started building space satellites, trying to sustain the working conditions in outer space by using a drug known as Marine Philt. Eventually the project was abandoned. One of the deserted satellites fell onto the Earth, causing a radioactive accident that forced the inhabitants of Neo Tokyo to dwell underground. One day, a young man named Seed heard a news report about a gruesome murder that occurred in a research facility. Together with his friends, Seed ventures into the building, only to discover another horrifying result of the satellite crash, which may put the entire city in immense danger. Several English reviews here give quite a vivid description of what this game is about.

1. 3x3 Eyes ~Sanjiyan Henjou~ VNDB There were as many as three titles prepared, but Animahjong V3 turned out to be a strip mahjong game and Bishoujo Audition - Idol o Sagase! - a totally obscure game. 1. 3x3 Eyes ~Sanjiyan Henjou~ VNDB Sanjiyan Henjō is based on the manga and anime series 3x3 Eyes. Pai, a young girl from the immortal tribe of sanzhiyan, three-eyed demons of Chinese origin, wants to become a human again. She meets a Japanese teenager named Yakumo Fujii, whom she accidentally turns into a "wu", an immortal obedient servant of a three-eyed demon. Together, Pai and Yakumo try to regain their lost humanity. Somehow there are as many as three English reviews out there. Enjoy!

1. Beast 3 VNDB 2. Mamono Hunter Youko: Tooki Yobigoe VNDB 1. Beast 3 VNDB One day Mr. Sato rang saying that she felt foggy. When Soga and Kotone made it to his place, man was missing. First step is to seek at university where he was last seen. What's only known of this game is that now outdoors! Players only remember first game since the second was so unnoticeable. So now in third game half of the talks are just gags on the first part. So we search information from inhabitants of one area, get the lead to next area and so on. There's almost none H-scenes. So the serious atmosphere of the first parts is totally runed, maybe for the best. Still, beast trilogy stays one of the three pillars of Birdie Soft company on par with Joker and CAL series. 2. Mamono Hunter Youko: Tooki Yobigoe VNDB Tooki Yobigoe is a direct sequel to Mamono Hunter Yōko: Makai kara no Tenkōsei, continuing where the story of the previous game left off. Yohko, Shoma and Setsuna are attacked by demons on the flying ship, and have to use their recently found powers to fend them off. As opposed to the previous game, where Shoma was the protagonist, Yohko is the player character in the sequel. There is not much of a story here, but there's much action, so it looks even better than the prequel. It's one-way road and it's impossible to die here. It's a one-time game, but light and fun so it should be treated this way.

Year 1992 was much to my liking with few eroge and a great number of elaborate plots. There were on average four-five games per month that fulfilled my criteria so the winner in each month was quite evident. The notable features of year 1992 included: - Implemented censorship rules resulted in private parts censored and at some cases companies set self-censored to a degree when no private parts were visible or no nudity was shown at all - Regulations led to bigger emphasis on the story and experiments with the genres - Horror mysteries with gore pictures started to appear as a genre - Several sepia color works appeared to underline the warm atmosphere of the past events - Pure romance works crawled to light, but Nanpa games were still larger in number - In several games individual endings for each heroine were implemented - As for system, several games had very weird choices for text window and icon/command window The number of good high quality games increased significantly. Can Can Bunny Premiere, Count Dracula, De-Ja2, Doukyuusei, Ginga Ojou-sama Densetsu Yuna, Killing dress 3, KISS, Kurutta Kajitsu, My Eyes!, Shinjuku Monogatari were such games. And there was a good number of works with good atmosphere and story. At first I was pretty sure that Crazy Fruit (Kurutta Kajitsu) must be the game of the year 1992 since the year gave birth so many horror mystery novels. Then I got really intrigued by Shinjuku Monogatary and finished it on emulator with capture2text OCR to get text and this game turned out to be of much lesser scale than it was supposed to. Basically novel takes 2-3 game days total and majority of time pseudo-kidnappers just go sightseeing around the town with the cheerful willingly kidnapped girl. But then I got to Doukyuusei (Classmate) and it struck me as a very bright and novelty game. It was supposed to be another nanpa game or dating sim, but turned out to be a collection of stories that you choose yourself. It's a game of events as something keeps happening everywhere and it's up to you whether you stop and try to get to know the people there or keep on exploring. Game has very attractive characters and huge replayability potential. It's not a strategy, not an RPG, but the amount of freedom you're given makes you think it's an entirely new genre. So Doukyuusei is the only genius game that can be the game of the year 1992.

1. Chikyuu Bouei Shoujo Iko-chan ~UFO Daisakusen~ VNDB 2. Dalk VNDB 3. Doukyuusei VNDB 4. Koroshi no Dress 3 VNDB 5. Mirror VNDB 6. Pastel Lime VNDB 7. Red VNDB 8. Will no Dengon VNDB 1. Chikyuu Bouei Shoujo Iko-chan ~UFO Daisakusen~ VNDB Defender of the Earth girl Iko-chan defends the planet against alien monsters. This is a part of media franchise that by 1992 counted three OVAs, TV Dorama and manga. Battles are done as a card game, but it's hardly possible to lose. It's more like a parody to the series, so no point discussing it without knowing the original. 2. Dalk VNDB Hero gets involved into conflict between gods Martis and Mira. As a servant of Martis, he needs to unseal this goddess, protector of women. Fourteen girls will fight alongside in his quest deep into the mountains. The game is an RPG and it was famous for 1,000 faces on the pc-98 box. Game had personal different scenes for each of 14 girls to accompany hero. And after clearing the game there was a 1000-floor dungeon to dwell deeper and deeper. It was indeed a colossus work. There are complaints on the battle map part, clunky moving part, but overall it was a good relaxing time killer with pleasurable gameplay. 3. Doukyuusei VNDB Takurou is a high-school student who transfers to a new school and who wants to find his only one partner during last summer break before the graduation. It was the first epidemic VN. Released on 17 december, it was a perfect Christmas present. 14 girls to combat for attention. Concept of time introduced, so there is always something new showing up with consecutive playthroughs. It's map movement on the global map and point-and-click type inside buildings. But together with the concept of time, multiflag, individual routes for each girl, nampa elements and first class romance scenario, there was a feeling it was a totally new genre. It was this multi-layer system that created the impression of game supremacy. You could enter an any building out of dozens, talk to any character so satisfaction was above a typical ADV novel. Cute loli Himo was supposed to be the main attraction and main heroine, but surprisingly many players like Hisa girl with a tsundere character the most. So it might be the beginning of tsundere stamp as well. There are a lot of working ladies as well. The scenarios were unique and well made and picture does not lag behind. BGM was perfect. Later versions got voicing as well. Console versions had no H images and H scenes and it was still good. Original game did not have much emphasis on romance, but windows remake tried to follow the trend and the charm of the work was gone to a point. So it was a revolutionary game in many aspects and a great popularization of the genre, so many people considered this game to be starting point and never knew about the previous games. 4. Koroshi no Dress 3 VNDB Masashi Satoru is a Shibuya policeman set on a series of murders targeting only single males. And suspicion immediately falls on his lover. First of all I should mention prequels. First part was issued in 1987 and it was a genius work, but with not enough volume at that time. Next part drifted away from suspense into eroticism and generally considered weak. So now we come to part 3 which is spiritual follower of original. Graphics are more anime-style compared to realistic style of previous games. A feature of this game is cuts from the viewpoint of the criminal which rose interest greatly. One by one new murders take place and inter-human connections of the victims get exposed. And the story has an adult feel and look. With those criminal cuts it's watched almost as dorama and all the tension brings to a satisfaction in the end. So it's a masterpiece work of its time. 5. Mirror VNDB Young man enters the shop "Mirror" and touched the doll as the puppet-like owner Heine said. The next moment he found himself in a hospital with amnesia facing the woman who looked like a doll. Now it's time to find out the truth, if there is one. New Birdie Soft brand so expectations are already high since visuals and sound should be on high level as always. But new studio name and being an 15+ work hurt the sales badly. So it is a romance story in the hospital, but with a quirk of suspense and good atmosphere created by talking with nurse and patients. And it's an ADV which is very rare while interactive adventures were dominant. Overall a high quality comfortable to play game with an intriguing story and good text. 6. Pastel Lime VNDB Yū is a young apprentice magician who lives in the Fairy World. One day, a magical error occurs, and Yū finds herself on Earth. In order to return to her world, the little fairy must find three stones that must be inserted into her magical brooch. A young girl who finds the first stone becomes Yū's companion (and the game's protagonist), and together they must find and recover the other stones. There's a good English review on this game here. 7. Red VNDB Investigation assistant got a letter mentioning Luna city and the letter was posted a month ago from the location of explosion accident. So investigation started. This very solid work was buried under overwhelming popularity of Elf's Classmate. Science fiction setting, very likable characters and intriguing plot - it had everything to get popular. On the other side the work was clustered - it used icons for interaction, shooting modes and additional commands and phrases in dialogues. H-scenes weren't obligatory and after clearing they became available in reminiscence menu anyway. Otherwise it's a one-way scenario. 8. Will no Dengon VNDB Heroine Lucia lives in a peaceful town of "Will". She hears from boy Rui who she helped in the forest that the neighboring town Wolfe is going to attack. There was a legend that once per 400 years a demon comes down to Will and Wolfe intended to utilize his power. To stop the assault Lucia is preparing to attack the front base of Wolfe on an aircraft. The setting is rather elaborate and it's very unusual for Cocktail soft to issue a serious all-age science fiction story. The story had big emphasis on mechanisms, but soon forgot about then. This devil part looked totally unsuitable for the setting. Commands are given in words rather than in icons at the top of the screen, but there is little motivation for exploration since command feedback was limited. The relationship between two main hero mechanics was good. But the scenario was lacking and without H part it did not have a success.

1. Camisole VNDB 2. Dracula Hakushaku VNDB 3. Jan Jaka Jan VNDB 4. Nooch - Abakareta Inbou VNDB 1. Camisole VNDB Heroine Tenjin Shima is a manager of the lingerie shop, but on the behind this is a private investigation organization. One day a request is received from the National Universtity to find the professor missing for a week already. All that's known is that professor was interested in excavation of an ancient civilization and searched for a hidden treasure. Synopsis looks exquisite, but story is quite simple. It develops without any mystery solving. Second half is crumpled and ends poorly. Many characters that show up aren't even involved in story in any way, more like random characters to fill the gaps. Game's very short as well, reaching 2 hours length only for slow-readers. 2. Dracula Hakushaku VNDB Count Dracula wakes up after 300 years of slumber only to find his seven vampire brides dead and the world not terrorized by vampires anymore. Time to turn things to their original state! But first need to get rid of hunter Abraham Van Helsing annoying presence. Abrupt English articles tell us basically nothing about the game. Point and click adventure by Fairytale. Or better say choose icon-point and click game. You actually move with arrow buttons at moving sections from a first person perspective and there are even items to get. Graphics is very impressive and characters are beautiful. By the end of 1992 the regulation of ero scenes in games in Japan was very harsh, that's why there were very few games that relied on ero scenes alone. Drakula Hakushaku has ero scenes, but rather few and unconvincing. Instead of sexual desire hero is more interested in sucking blood. Story is exciting, gory and satisfying. So this indeed is a good action masterpiece with great atmosphere. 3. Jan Jaka Jan VNDB Hero gets robbed on a street, but since this town is famous for mahjong tournaments, he decides to get money this way. All mahjong games look alike to me. Here you can buy items to increase your condition. You actually need to win four mahjong dojo girls and in order to do that you earn money to afford entrance fee and one by one make those girls respect your skill in the game. Some games can't be won without special item. 4. Nooch - Abakareta Inbou VNDB Umechiyo finally met with his childhood friend Piliru, but she is now pursued as she holds knowledge about her country underground activities. It's not really criminal story. Piliru is just 180 IQ girl who knows the secret recipe to drug curing cancer. Game has many alluring points, like charming characters and good tempo. Light and fun work. The flags are a bit difficult to track, but that's ordinary. But the game received many negative reviews just due to the fact, that right before the last scene there's like 16 puzzles timed for 2 minutes. It was impossible for most of players to complete the game because of them. And review was not as easy to get as nowadays.

1. Ginga Ojou-sama Densetsu Yuna VNDB 2. Kerakera-sei VNDB 3. Mayumi VNDB 4. Presence VNDB 5. Yawara! VNDB 1. Ginga Ojou-sama Densetsu Yuna VNDB Yuna is a 16-year old winner of Galaxy Beauty contest who then became "The Savior of Light", a magical girl in power armor suit that can befriend opponents with an aim to defend the Universe. The series is quite popular and even this first game has a good number of English reviews here. 2. Kerakera-sei VNDB Hero attends a marginal boys school, hangs out with his friend Tamaki and likes to peep at top class girls school in the neighborhood. And he gets an invitation to girls school cultural festival from their bitter enemy, glasses girl Kumiko who managed to stop the peeping every time. Cocktail Soft made something fresh out of school story again. It looks very much like a bakage, but it's actually a youth growth story with not very deep protagonist and some protagonist drama that looks funny. Quite little is known of the game so moving on. 3. Mayumi VNDB Generic high-school boy gets a letter from his sweetheart Mayumi that she's transferring to a faraway school. Something in the tone of the letter looks suspicious, so he travels to that school and finds out that Mayumi is kidnapped and this school has something to do with it. Again Cocktail Soft and again little to say. Mystery investigation adventure. You overhear that grandson of school president kidnapped Mayumi and the most unsatisfactory part is that he could not even explain why. So you investigate, you manage to get inside the needed room and you fight your way out. That's very much it. Screen is too small to enjoy scenery, story is quite serious, without spontaneous ecchi. 4. Presence VNDB A sequel to Nostalgia 1907, Presence tells a totally different story. Hero is a psychoanalytic on board of a hijacked aircraft. Can the terrorist be reasoned with? Is there any hope for survival? Suspense work and with a tragic fate. Its financial fiasco led the company to a bankruptcy very soon. What two games have in common is dangerous incident on a vehicle. But this work is more about hypnosis, persuasion and mind battle. Colored graphics looked like a step back from atmospheric sepia tones of Nostalgia 1907. Interface looks poor in comparison to prequel. Criminal is not persuasive and he never kills anyone. Game has very advanced animation for pc-98 and sophisticated talks, but Nostalgia 1907 fans could not forgive the game for being this much different from original. 5. Yawara! VNDB Manga adoptation. Hero is a journalist who once witnesses how Yawara beats up and offender on the street and decides to write a report about her. There is actually a good English review from one of the most funny reviewers out there, so I would not interfere.

1. Dengeki Nurse VNDB 2. Ms. DETECTIVE - File VNDB 3. My Eyes! VNDB 4. Ryuu no Hanazono VNDB 1. Dengeki Nurse VNDB Tanchi is a doctor at the hospital. His boss reveals him the truth about Tanchi parents and crime syndicate Black Cross. At the same time there is a Black Cross female agent with codename 0074 who stays at the same hospital. There is a very nice English review here. 2. Ms. DETECTIVE - File VNDB Chisato Higari is a detective to receive a request to find client's missing father. You get to know that father is in Omori but when you get there there is a news report about his death and at the same time your client disappears. Is the corpse floating in the sea of Japan truly client's father? Where did the client disappear? Point and click adventure with live-action videos, so can be also described as interactive movie. Game had quite a big impact since it was the first game to have videos inserted and to have sound synchronized with the video. Local town locations are also represented truthfully. What hurs the game a lot is small picture/video size and constant repeats of videos on the same actions, like a car moving to some location. 3. My Eyes! VNDB Woman researcher Ryoko is nearing a groundbreaking discovery as she learns how to listen to and give information to a whale Gigi. However there are powers that would like to use mammal communication for their own benefit. Again, there is a very good English review here. 4. Ryuu no Hanazono VNDB Hero comes back to his hometown to reunite with his childhood friend. However, the girl only leaves a note "Dragon flower garden" and disappears. Hero comes to her school to learn about her whereabouts. Mystery novel that features concept of time. Characters and events change depending on time of visit. Just imagine Eastern Express to get the grasp of it. Needless to say, difficulty was very high. Multiple endings depending on hero actions were incorporated. Game was only released for MSX 2, so it was never widely known.

1. Kiss VNDB 2. Mahou Shoujo Rina VNDB 3. Pleria - The Royal Emblem VNDB 4. Tesera Kimi wa Kegareta Tenshi ka Seinaru Majo ka! VNDB 1. Kiss VNDB Hero is a student who is invited to take part in the culture festival of an all-girl St Ange school. But to get admission he needs to get permission from five school student council officials. Oh just another charage. Wait. It might be the first charage apart of sims that got a separate ending for each of five girls. Thus this small game is probably the prototype of every second game that's released nowadays. Well, it might be partly a sim since you have a meter of sympathy that can drop or rise according to your answers. And even during H-scenes you need to choose right options or the love-meter drops. What stands out is very beautiful graphics and really good text. The same artist was responsible for this game who made characters for De-Ja. Also many items drawn on the map had animations upon click. There's also map movement incorporated. So it was a masterpiece game and had a long lasting effect on the whole industry, but was forgotten rather soon due to brilliant charage that spawned after that. 2. Mahou Shoujo Rina VNDB Rina wanted to get attention of older Tatsuya boy so she made a wish upon falling start to get older. The star held a small dragon imp who granted her power to get older, return to her normal self and even to take the appearance of other people. A magical girl story that's actually just a magical girl story. After all the more and more weird and etchi anime of our days that's a rare find. Well, actually, it's not that pure. In order to get into initial form a lesbian scene is required, but at least without any implicit details. The charm of this work is light adorable romantic atmosphere and bright shoujo type graphics, as well as some animations. 3. Pleria - The Royal Emblem VNDB Pleria is a proof of succession to the throne in distant future imaginary kingdom and it was stolen by rebel army. Princess Miria asks her cousin Ariane to search for Pleria. Ariane takes priest apprentice Rena with him and sets on a journey. SF mecha imaginary fantasy kingdom distant future... that's what happens when you desire both typical fantasy setting and battles on mecha robots. Battles are made with command selection as well, but are given the rpg look. What this game is good about is the relationship between Ariane and Rena. They are in love with each other from the start and they care for each other and support each other gently. Graphics is good with many animated parts. Sound is good because it's among the few first games to use midi music. But the flow is not particularly thrilling and ending is abrupt upon finding Pleria, so overall impression is average. 4. Tesera Kimi wa Kegareta Tenshi ka Seinaru Majo ka! VNDB A mystery thriller where the hero helps mysterious girl Tessera to look for missing classmates. The main feature of this game is multiple starting points depending on skills and occupation of main hero. So the branching and variety is large. As with many Technopolis games, some redundancy in system is involved. You need more than one click to advance the phrases which is very annoying. Game has a mediocre feeling, but eyes and mouths are animated, so it can be enjoyed if you like one of the girls.

1. Armist VNDB 2. Can Can Bunny Premiere VNDB 3. Phobos VNDB 4. Shinjuku Monogatari VNDB 5. Yumeji - Asakusa-Kitan VNDB 0. Image VNDB 1. Armist VNDB You're the head of detective agency Armist and among your assistats are two deminoids or in other words androids with animal features. And a huge deminoid producing company requested to investigate a mass murder on its grounds. There are several survivors after the incident, so we start questioning them. One by one enemy demigods show up and eventually their leader as well. So the volume is not really big.But game is obnoxiously beautiful. There is a large number of awesome CG. There is almost no H-scenes, but fancy outfits make up for it. What makes this game awesome is that the communication choices that have been used up disappear so excessive repetition is avoided. So it's a great light fun short game to enjoy. 2. Can Can Bunny Premiere VNDB Lonely man returns home after work only to find seven Gods of Luck sitting in his room. Goddess Swatty explains that she's going to use the power of seven Gods of Luck to help hero find a girlfriend. There is an English review, but it's written by a person without knowledge of Japanese. So first three works in the series had nothing common with a VN. And it's the first work to introduce well-known in pc-98 era Swatty goddess. Basically, this is a Nampa game. Compared to earlier strategy Can Can Bunny games the degree of difficulty has fallen considerably. So it's a nice game with good characters and talks and no H material. The only problem that year 1992 is the year of Classmate game made by Elf and that game marked a totally new era for VNs dividing the games on before Classmate and after Classmate. 3. Phobos VNDB Mars colonists broke out a war for independence. Mech and android war came to a truce, but Mars resources were too exhausted to continue course on independence. Half a year later military secrets documents were stolen from Mars and private investigator from the Earth Ryuuichi with his android assistant Leyla are tasked to recover them. Himeya Soft games hold special place since they were the first to start translating their games in English. The more intriguing are their untranslated early works.This is a cyberpunk work so the city a major role - high tech devastated by war, Chinese mafia, gambling and giant companies - they all make atmosphere feel serious and cool. On the other hand there is a vivid depiction of protagonist anxieties after surviving the war and loosing his wife there seeking for a substitute in an android. So the first half of the game definitely gives a masterpiece impression, but after that a much more hasty direction is seen. The incident gets settled but the heart wounds of the hero remain and what persists is the feeling of lingering sadness. Both scenarios of Bakuta and Phobos were written by Mr.Abe and they share such features as charismatic hero and grappling atmosphere. But while Bakuta was more of a horizontal axis work with much fun scattered around and many unexpected events, Phobos is rather a vertical axis game with impact on logical unwinding story line. And it was very rare for that time to put so much emphasis on scenario alone. For that Phobos should be given credit as a hidden gem of pc-98 era. 4. Shinjuku Monogatari VNDB Hero inherited an antique shop after her father who had disappeared. She has good intentions, but gets into various problems and does not even neglect transportation of white powder as luggage. And eventually she becomes a target of a professional killer. This work has exactly one suiting word - "experimental". After Saori incident Fairy Tale explored many directions, but this one is probably the boldest. First, graphics is made in sepia color. Second, this is an all-age story. Third, character design is prepared by manga writer and it totally differs from anything presented in VN games before. Fourth, almost all images imitate a cinema and there aren't still images - every CG shows the motion. Fifth, a rare girl perspective. There were several popular youth novels in 1980s and this work definitely has that spirit inside. Running away from the house, meeting new people, travelling around the country - that kind of spirit. And this game has a huge number of charming characters. Game has a very fresh look and great spirit. It is one of the best games of 1992 and is unduly forgotten. 5. Yumeji - Asakusa-Kitan VNDB The hero is a painter who got famous for a painting of a girl. But five years later he lost his wife and his paintings lost its colors, yet he remains well known. One day he had a dream that another man was selling his counterfeit paintings, but could not grasp the essence of a woman. And to get to the essence of a woman they went to a strip show. Again FairyTale and again quite an experimental work. Picture is again in sepia tone. Setting is Taisho democracy era which is rather unusual. Unlike Shinjuku Monogatari there are a lot of still standing CG and models here. It's more like a literature work, but with a rather weak ending. And due to the Saori incident just several months before the game's release, most of the H scenes were self-corrected. So this work remains one of the experimental era weird works that nobody knows about, with a very good Taisho atmosphere, but unsatisfying ending. 0. Image VNDB Block Reason: <2 hours (and I'm measuring each of 3 stories separately)

1. Bishoujo Tsuushin - Chat no Susume VNDB 2. De-Ja 2 VNDB 3. Mahjong Gensoukyoku VNDB 4. Sotsugyou ~Graduation~ VNDB 5. Uchuu Bouken Shoujo Nami Davie Jones ~Umi no Akuma~ VNDB 1. De-Ja 2 VNDB This time you're interested in the legend of crystal skulls. But your only lead to them is the mad archaeologist who is found dead. I've prepared a full review in the previous post. 2. Mahjong Gensoukyoku VNDB The hero was a price of a small country but he became just an adventurer after a witch destroyed his country. He studies to be a mahjong warrior and participates in mahjong competition with the hand of Tanya as the prize. Mahjong undressing game. I tend to hate Mahjong with all my heart, have not even watched a single Mahjong theme anime - and there are a LOT of them. So moving on. 3. Sotsugyou ~Graduation~ VNDB You play as a homeroom teacher of five girls the last year before graduation. You manage their schedules and solve their problems to get them to the best colleges in Japan. There are several English reviews here. It's just isn't a work that left a noticeable impact on the genre. 4. Uchuu Bouken Shoujo Nami Davie Jones ~Umi no Akuma~ VNDB In 2991 in addition to speed of light space navigation humankind acquired the technology of hyper jump system (HJS) from ruins of ancient alien civilization. The government now succeeded in production of minimized versions of such hyper portals and one such device was planted in the suitcase of space delivery company pilot Nami. Game is based on manga so it's very dense in details and has elaborate in plot. It utilizes command selection bruteforcing. It's quite unexpected to see such an old-school space adventure in 1992. Anyway the game is quite an obscure one with too few reviews around to discuss its qualities and it was only issued for pc-98. 0. Bishoujo Tsuushin - Chat no Susume VNDB Block Reason:Fandisk (just interactive chat with girls from previous games of Cocktail Soft)

Foreword: I liked De-Ja a lot so sequel was a natural choice. Title: De-Ja 2 Original Title: デ・ジャ２ Developer: Elf Release Date: 1992-06-25 Summary: After events of De-Ja you're the winner in life. You have fame, respect, money and the love of pretty Gachako. What else to wish for? New adventures and unveiling new mysteries, of course. You get intrigued by the story of "crystal skulls" and one mad archaeologist knows exactly how to find them... VNDB Link:https://vndb.org/v2349 Game Type: Command selection with elements of point and click adventure visual novel Story Length: 12 hours. Complete Story Clearing Difficulty: Easy! Comments of Difficulty: You can see story progress in percentage. Difficulty was surprisingly subpar to prequel. The greatest planets puzzle was rather easy since the only information you got was light to the light and dark to the dark and it was repeated over and over. Compared to infodumping of prequel puzzle, it was a paradise. There was also the puzzle for piracy - the puzzle that you were supposed to clear only if had brochure shipped with the game. But unlike prequel, there was no randomization on this part, so in just 3-4 errors you inevitably make it to the finish and you don't even need to load game for that. Character Design Rating: 6/10. Story Rating: 8/10. Protagonist Rating: 7/10 Game Quality: 8/10 Overall Rating: 7/10 Rating Comments: Well, that's a harsh one! It's classic Elf adventure that we're talking about! But that's how I feel. I see every element as inferior to De-Ja either for a reason or sometimes because that's not fresh anymore. I felt bad about too many things. Length got almost twice as long. CG got really scarce. Protagonist stopped being that badass hooligan, Gachako got lots of bi@tch traits. And with all this huge length (some people claim to spend over 30 hours on it) very monotonous gameplay, quite an inarticulate story line and lack of really funny moments to cheer up in the mids of the journey. Structure: 100% division just as prequel. Story: Because of implemented command selection variant I may have missed some parts of it since you have to click at everything up to five times and while reading same lines over and over tend to skip even important parts. So one mad archaeologist makes us really interested into the crystal skulls story. But you soon find him dead in his own house almost simultaneously with his daughter. As you prove to each other that you're not the killers there's a natural desire to investigate the death together. With the safe deposit key found in his pocket you discover a green crystal skull inside the cash. With that you make your way to Palau temple and thread by thread approach the secrets of this temple and locations of two other crystal skulls. Archaeologist daughter get mysteriously killed in the process and with Gachako you manage to unwind this knot of secrecy only to discover the identity of the enemy and his plot just in the final of the game. I don't think I spoiled much, actually since there are lots of characters and details not even scratched. Characters summary: There are quite many characters here, but I found all of them (besides old acquaintances from De-Ja) quite dull. Girls were pretty, but I was shocked by their minor role as one-scene filler in the mids rather than original characters the prequel had. There is exactly one other girl that Hatsushiba Hakase got into relations with, the mad archaeologist's daughter. But she appears kind of late, disappears kind of soon and she plays an important plot role. Without spoilering too much, I'd just say that's she's not really mad archaeologist's daughter... a Gachako: Whoa! Miss Gachako got even more... how do you say it... mature. But as for me her character went awry. All she's saying all the time is "Say that you love me", such sleazy talk. She demands constant attention, behaves as if she owns Hatsushiba Hakase and bi@tches about everything. But the culmination for me was meeting her with another guy (archaeology institute worker from De-Ja) by chance. Her motivation was "You aren't paying me enough attention so I wanted to have fun and invoke jealousy". That's just boring, really. I just see here how netorare Elf is being born in this very moment. And it's not even close to the really intriguing relationships like in C's Ware "Desire". Just stupid woman stuff. Protagonist: So it's same Ryuusuke, but he's called Hatshushiba Hakase so often that original name rarely shows up. He's still cool and he's kinda totally pro sticking his hands everywhere. Just impression is not as fresh. But Protagonist is really a savior of this game. Sexual Content: Look at the picture and hereby try to believe that there is nothing going on with this girl. She's just a hotel owner. Not a scene... nothing. And now imagine that there are lots of other cute girls that play their minor roles that have nothing but the flirt. And now you know the sexual content of De-Ja 2. Apart of Gachako and that archaeologist daughter there is actually nothing. But there are as many as two H-dreams. So even this part is lacking. Affection for the Characters: Low overall. Women play too small roles and there aren't charismatic males. CG Score: 7/10. CG aren't bad. They are just way too scarce for this volume. Women are depicted with care, but you better remember this or that stance because you'll hardly be able to see another one. Sound Score: Voicing is good in multi-pack version. No protagonist voicing of course. Addictiveness: I'm rather spectical about this work. Technical Aspects: So game is command selection. And quite a determined one. It's not rare that you have to click everything up to 5 times to progress. It has point and click moments only to search the dead body or among the shelves of books or on a desk. It could easily be pure command selection, not much of a change. It's said to be such mix because players weren't ready to such bold jump to point and click on ELLE release. Pretty weak argumentation. There are animated objects like in ELLE, but they are scarce and they aren't fun when you select them upon the look menu and finding them out directly by clicking. So yet another step back from ELLE. Conclusion: It's not going to be game of the year 1992 of my choice. Most of Japanese reviews I read claim this game to be another masterpiece. It might be, actually true. All I rant about is that I was not thrilled since the beginning, then there was not a definite goal and not even a clear enemy, just some loose events that somehow manage to lead somewhere out of coincidence. Repeating choices mechanics did not let me enjoy the talk puns. I did not like the characters. And I especially did not like the ending where upon real 30 minutes time you're being told what this game was really about, what were the people and circumstances behind the so random events which somehow managed to lead to a final. It's like you played for 15 hours and did not even notice events were made up for it. How could I even notice that behind the randomness and foolishness. I'm sure this game can be enjoyed a lot if you find the story or the character of your liking. I failed to find an appeal point and little irritations piled into this review.

1. J no Higeki Las Vegas Renzoku Satsujin Jiken VNDB 2. Kurutta Kajitsu VNDB 1. J no Higeki Las Vegas Renzoku Satsujin Jiken VNDB 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. Basically it's remake of JACK VN back from 1988, now for pc-98 machines. And it was not officially released, more like published unofficially after company bankruptcy. And since we tackled on JACK story and appeal points previously, moving on. 2. Kurutta Kajitsu VNDB Satoshi Kanou encountered a cheerful girl at professor party and it turned out that she's been cheerful for the first time in her life towards anyone, so Satoshi was invited as tutor in the house. However Satoshi witnesses an accident with professor's older sister and he soon finds himself into a whirlpool of events. It's a classic depressing mystery novel - utsuge made by the same Fairytale company as Dead of the Brain and Lan-Mal last month. And it's the first utsuge, before that the genre did not exist. It has a suspense tv drama as the origin, but the theme was changed for the game and much more cruel scenes were incorporated. Year 1992 is known for a big number of depressing games, but Kurutta Kajitsu presides over them. Story might be not too original, but the perfect graphics and scenario left a lasting impact on the generation of players. One by one everyone around main hero starts to die in a most unnatural manner and you probably won't be able to look at some of the home appliances the same way after reading this VN. And as with most utsuge, there is no happy ending ... only jealousy, anger, hate, depression, pain and despair.

1. Dead of the Brain ~Day of the Living Dead~ VNDB 2. Lam-Mal VNDB 3. The 4th Unit - Wyatt VNDB 1. Dead of the Brain ~Day of the Living Dead~ VNDB Cole's friend Doctor Cooger invented a tissue that caused zombie infestation. Now Cole and assistant Sheila need to find a way to stop them. There are two English reviews on the game. Looks like quite an unusual game for the genre. 2. Lam-Mal VNDB Yagyu Jubei orders secret order ninja Ranmaru to investigate Yoshiwara murder case and you are an assistant of Ranmaru. The story looks serious with the Edo period Joy resistance as a theme, but actually story is all messed up from youkai to the aliens. What's weird about the system is that upon command selection you need to click on the head part in right lower corner and clicking on bare brains is not too nice... While story moves in ordinary command selection pattern, battles are done in RPG manner and weapons can be bought. Some subtle aspects of the game leave a pretty sour aftertaste. So even if you're ready to listen to an unserious story, there's no guarantee that you'll enjoy it. 3. The 4th Unit - Wyatt VNDB Judge Badnack is restoring vicious criminal organization and for doing that he kidnapped Zero and took control of UN assault space satellite Wyatt. Bio-win and Dalzy must use any means necessary to oppose Badnack and rescue Zero. This is the 7th (!) installment of the series. Its first episode appeared in 1987 and was very short and technically lacking, so I neglected next episodes that were relatively small. But this is the last episode in the story before company went bankrupt so the story is left unfinished. The series revolves around mysterious amnesiac girl Bio-Win who is found naked on the board of an alien ship shot down by Japanese air forces. Each episode was done in interactive movie manner with a lot of animated sequences and limited time to make a decision. And Bio-Win joined bionic soldier unit till her memory returns. This 7th episode is the most technically advanced with timed choices left only for battle scenes so it finally can be run like a normal VN. BGM and voice sounding were also improved. Difficulty-wise it has become relatively less punishing with only one serious pitch moment to reload a lot.