Tokimeki Memorial is the only masterpiece of the month.
1. Circle Mate サークルメイト [940513] Softhouse Bonbee Bonbon
Hide is a member of the Club where members that enjoyed sexual pleasures were gathering. One day he gets to know that another club member Yuko is killed by the train and another club member Asako stops going to school because of that. A hired detective suspects Hide in this crime, so Hide starts his own investigation.
This is an utsuge game full of depression and H scenes. The atmosphere resembles Crazy Fruit from 1992 the most. The mystery is quite shocking upon unwinding. This work has a lot of dark charm and is much less hardcore than contemporary utsuge, so should not be overlooked if you search for a good mystery story.
2. Twilight トワイライト [940514] Studio Twinkle 1
In "Twilight", the protagonist, who works for a mysterious magic-using organization, is set to Transylvania, to investigate the murder of a nun known as Sister Christa. A woman named Karen, who also specializes in black arts, goes to the monastery with the hero, but obviously has her own agenda. The goal is to find out the truth by questioning the suspects, keeping an eye on one's own safety...
In the beginning of the game, the player can choose any of the six possible scenarios, each dedicated to a different suspect (all female). They all take place in the same monastery, but dialogues, events, etc., are completely different. The interaction in "Twilight" is confined to periodical decision-making; many of the decisions are "wrong", leading to the hero's death or otherwise premature ending.
Atmosphere is created by live-photo images and monotone colors. It's a short one, possible to finish 6 stories in one hour. Drawing and character design are mediocre at best.
3. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 12 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第１２話 [940520] Silence 1
In this episode Lime, Bass and Kokona depart to the magical world for the final confrontation against two powerful demons and their horrifying fusion known as the Hellraiser.
The final episode the includes a serious battle and that also gives an epilogue for the whole series.
4. Super Ultra Mucchin Puripuri Cyborg - Marilyn DX スーパーウルトラむっちんぷりぷりサイボーグ マリリンＤＸ [940525] JAST 1 2
Kenji was just a regular teenage boy who had a normal life, which included a girlfriend. However, everything changes when one day he comes home and discovers that his insane father has created a female cyborg. His previous attempts failed because he used an artificial brain; this time, to avoid this mistake, he takes out his son's brain and puts it into the cyborg. Poor Kenji gains a second life - as a beautiful artificial woman, whose task is to oppose a dubious world government organization.
A bakage with RPG elements. RPG elements presented by physical strength and tactical fighting with enemies. Basically, the game has no plot apart of going somewhere with the aim to return initial body. Point and click system is used. So a weird work with a weird title it is.
5. Tokimeki Memorial ときめきメモリアル [940527] Konami 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
You are a young boy who is going to study three years at the Kirameki High School in Japan. Your goal is to win the affection of one (and possibly more) of the twelve beautiful girls who also study with you, especially of Shiori, with whom you were in love some years ago. This is a simulation game with a high-developed statistics system. You have to increase your statistics in different disciplines, depending on the girl you are interested in. You communicate with people via your telephone, and date girls by going with them to various places. You have to keep your promises, otherwise a girl will become angry and even tell bad things about you to other girls, which will spoil your reputation.
There are tonns of English reviews on this game, so I'll only notice that it's the first classic dating sim and one of the first full voiced VNs. Its influence on following dating sims and galge was immense.
6. Holidays In The Sun なつやすみがまちどおしい [941] Bolze 1
You play as a girl who has made it her goal to have sex over the summer holiday. She can accomplish this by either being passive or active at various points in the story.
There is an English review.
7. Liqueur りきゅ～る [94] Atelier Oz
Hero comes to a town in search of adventures and gets to help different girls to get out of difficult situations.
Ero-centered doujin game.
8. Morina もりな [94] Active Gamers
Morina is a lively school girl. She has another busy day as usual when she reaches a mysterious world.
Only pc-88 version is free and available to get and I hardly understood anything out of it.
9. Raika 蕾花 [94] Ringerbell
A stripping card game with five girls as possible opponents and reward after each three games won.
PC-98 version is a card game without visual novel mixes, but Win version might be different. H event is point-and-click with an additional reward of 2-screen CG for getting within time limit.
10. S.A. 2 S.A. 2 [94] A-Inn
A collection of two short erotic stories.
Scenario 1 is about main character's childhood friend being insulted in front of him. Protagonist tries to step in, but is coerced to have sex with childhood friend himself.
Scenario 2 is about main character dating a quiet girl. But this girl has a dark secret - she is forced into a bad group where she gets into intimate relations with strangers.
One of the well-known doujin series notorious for its graphic.
11. Wanderers [94] Crystal Soft 1
You're an adventurer and your best friend is that girl on the cover. So, what do you want in your adventure? Treasure and excitement! What does your best friend want? Lesbian elf sex! And so, both of you go off on a quest filled with magic, mystery, wonder, and elf boobs. There is an actual plot in there somewhere about ancient ruins, but it gets ignored for the most part in favor of more lesbian elf sex.
There is an English review.
Mirage 2 - Torry x Neat x Roan no Daibouken is the only masterpiece of the month.
1. Mirage 2 - Torry x Neat x Roan no Daibouken ミラージュ２ トリーＸニートＸローンの大冒険 [940309] Discovery 1 2
The sequel to Mirage is set in the same world and features some recurrent characters, although the protagonist and the story are different. The main character is a young monster hunter named Etranze. He needs to slay a certain amount of monsters to reach a higher level, but meanwhile is struggling to be accepted among other heroes. This changes when he befriends Torry, Neat, and Roan, the three lovely ladies who work (of all places) in the local church. Soon Etranze is summoned by queen Irene, who sends him on a quest to find a magical artifact that will save her kingdom from great peril.
You travel with the youngest of sisters Tree only as your support. A very solid user-friendly RPG with a good balance. Quite simple in systems, but that may be only for the best. Story scale is large and there's lots of depth, so the game sets a very high level standard for future RPGs. A masterpiece, of course.
2. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 10 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第１０話 [940310] Silence 1
In this episode Lime, Bass, Mizuki and Kokona travel to the countryside. The girls decide to visit the hot tub, leaving Bass outside. A friendly BEM from a previous encounter appears and suggests that its kind may be used by the heroes to further their goals.
More fooling around before the final! And it was high time for a fanservice episode, so here you go a hot springs episode. And the result is three monster jewels at once.
3. LIKE [940311] Ange
Hero is summoned from America by his father and forcibly put into all girls school to find a bride.
After releasing "Kiss" Ange got a lot of attention. And Ange had really cute character designs. There are only three commands to choose from, so system-wise it's a step back from "Kiss". There are all kinds of girls, but need to choose just one and turn everyone else down. But if decision is made, game goes right to ending and that was weird. The only bright point is actually the ending where you get to see the afterstories of each of girls you dumped. So it's a charage through and through, and rather mediocre one.
4. Viper-V10 [940311] Sogna 1 2
The third Viper has the same structure as the two previous entries: three unrelated stories with little interaction, but many animated sex scenes.
The stories this time are:
Northern Lights describes a competition between two young apprentices of kendo. The protagonist, a young boy, is challenging the girl Asuka, who claims to be better than him. He needs to practice in order to win, especially because Asuka promised him she will do whatever he wants if he defeats her...
Children's Play tells the story of a teenage girl named Yuki, who is in love with an older school mate. One morning she goes to school, only to discover that someone has made pictures of her masturbating to the boy's photo...
Read Under follows the adventures of a team of three female soldiers who have to infiltrate the base of an evil robot simply known as "Boss". One of them is captured, and the other two have to save her at all costs.
There is an English review and it's more than enough for a collection of short animated H stories.
5. Fechi ふぇち [940318] Cat's Pro. 1
Feti is a short game that doesn't have a real plot; its entire text is a conversation between two "office ladies" (sometimes shortened in Japanese language usage to "OL"), Eri and Kazumi. They chat mostly about men, clothes, and sex. The conversation develops, until the two young women begin to get intimate with each other.
Game focuses on several fetishes at once including peeping fetish, of course. It's definitely an unusual game, but it's only two diskettes, so the lack of contents does not let it to pretend for something more.
6. Possessioner ポゼッショナー [940318] Queen Soft 1 2
he year is 2035. A series of mysterious incidents began to occur in Tokyo. Young women disappeared under strange circumstances, and returned brainwashed, commanding armies of bionic monsters and assaulting human settlements. Such women were called "Possessioners". A special all-female squad was formed to face them in combat and bring them back to humanity.
Game has a cool SF setting and CG, but actually it feels more like an eroge with the systems akin to Choukou Sennin Haruka. You constantly fight with your 4-girl team and watch lesbo scenes after each fight with the lost side. Fights are actually very challenging, so need to know well the strong sides of each girl and eliminate weaker enemies very fast. So it's pretty much a lesbian eroge, but the first to originate from battle rpg mix.
7. Injuu Gakuen ~La Blue Girl~ 淫獣学園 ～Ｌａ★Ｂｌｕｅ Ｇｉｒｌ～ [940324] Dez Climax 1 2
Miko was just an ordinary Japanese teenager attending the prestigious private Himenogi Girls High School. Everything began to change when she witnessed two of her classmates making love to each other. While taking part in various sexual activities, Miko gradually realizes that supernatural demonic forces have taken control of the school.
Based on manga by Toshio Maeda.
La blue girl is probably the most famous hentai franchise. There's a good English review of it.
8. Emit Vol. 1: Toki no Maigo EMIT Vol.1: 時の迷子 [940325] Koei 1 2 3
Emit is an adventure game that is the first entry of Shibusawa Kou's "English Dream" series. The purpose behind the projects was to teach Japanese people the English language with the help of a thrilling narrative.
On October 5, 1994, a seventeen year old high school student named Yuri meets a polite yet mysterious elderly gentleman at the crosswalk. Although puzzled by his questions, she answers them honestly to the best of her ability. As Yuri walks across the street, she hears the man mutter the word "Emit" to her. Yuri thinks nothing of the conversation until an oddly familiar yet attractive young man approaches her a month later on the street.
There are English reviews.
9. Yami no Ryousen 闇の稜線 [940325] Illusion
A car fell from the cliff and its driver is heavily wounded. He lies on the side of the cliff bleeding and awaiting his last seconds to tick. The driver wakes up in the house bandaged, but with a light memory loss. He was found and helped by a local family. First thing he gets to remember is that he went on a trip to ask Mayumi's father for marriage permission. But at the moment that he arrived, villa got attacked. Mayumi was raped and killed. He discovers from the newspaper that he is the main suspect and now it's the time to go undercover and find out the truth.
The game actually starts as main hero lies on the cliff and it's by the end of it when he goes to uncover the truth. It's a suspense mystery story so during villa attack memory flash it's important to take notes to take a trail. But at the same time it's also a borderline work with strong NTR motive. Scenario alone has a lot of impact, but the game system here is absolutely outstanding as well. There aren't commands like watch, talk etc. Instead, there is a set of commands unique for each scene. Some of them are needed to be repeated at times. Another surprising feature is animation - it's not just eyes and lips, but also other parts of body, which is rare. At times text takes full screen as NVL, but most of the time it's kept compact in the right down corner. I really wanted to like this first Illusion game, but it ended up a nukige with some plot as side-dish. I struggled through first three scenes during the first hour of play, but when the heavily wounded hero regains consciousness only to see the hostess riding on top of him I lost all the hope in the story.
10. Floppy Bunko 25 - Sadistic Gamers Syndrome - Episode 3 フロッピーブンコ25 サディスティックゲーマーズシンドローム エピソード3 [940326] Sixteens
Remake of Sadistic Gamers Part 3 Telephone Play
No point bothering over remakes, and it is a remake according to link.
11. Emit Vol. 2: Inochigake no Tabi EMIT Vol.2: 命がけの旅 [9403] Koei 1 2
After Yuri's friend Outa Ichirou tells her that he met her the other day, even though Yuri hasn't seen Ichirou for a year, it becomes clear that a dimensional doppelganger is trying to steal her identity.
There is at least one English review.
12. Emit Vol. 3: Watashi ni Sayonara o EMIT Vol.3: 私にさよならを [9403] Koei 1 2
Ichirou and Yuri's mother start getting suspicious of the doppelganger, not to mention that Yuri's return wrecks her plans to steal her identity.
There is at least one English review.
Dragon Knight 4 is the only masterpiece of the month.
1. Bacta 2 The Resurrection of Bacta Bacta 2 The Resurrection of Bacta [940205] Himeya Soft 1
The sequel to Bacta directly continues the story initiated in the first game. The paranormal investigator Jinpachi Tanaka was unable to defeat the female demon Dirsala, and she intends to resurrect the mysterious magical creation known as Bacta. In order to prevent that Jinpachi must work together with the local police and his faithful assistance, all the while continuing to save young women from demonic possession in his own unique ways.
There was just one obscure japanese review on the game, so gave it a try for an hour. And it was totally like prequel. Same "noone knows about Bacta", same gags at every step, same cool black glasses protagonist. Game is based mostly on examining everything and execution of fun commands that are present at every screen like dance in the street or launch an earth-sky system missile and plot is secondary since you don't have real aim or directions - just click at everything till encounter some event at one of the locations - then repeat. Searching for flags was troublesome for me since you really need to bruteforce it. Once I went for 2nd round of clicking everything just because i needed to look around at the street to notice i'm being watched and advance plot. Unlike Bacta 1, here the story ends and that's why there's more satisfaction in it.
2. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 09 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第０９話 [940210] Silence 1
In this episode Bass and Lime encounter a vaguely familiar little girl in a shopping mall. Shortly afterwards Lime is attacked by her archenemy W. Pegasus. Even Bass in his demonic form has trouble defeating the enemy, but the two receive unexpected help.
Fooling around is over now as the final approaches and old enemy shows up.
3. Ponkan ポンカン [940211] Ponytail Soft 1
Ponkan consists of three unrelated scenarios. In the first one a young private investigator attempts to unravel a sex-related conspiracy. The second scenario is set in medieval fantasy environment and focuses on two warrior sisters who got captured and thrown into a dungeon by monsters. Finally, the third scenario is dedicated to "sex fighting" between young women of various cultural backgrounds.
So multiple stories genre is still alive in 1994. But the essence of it stays intact - to put in bizarre H situations together.
4. Metamorph Meena メタモルミーナ [940218] Apple Pie 1
In "Metamorph Meena" the player controls Mai, a little girl who has a crush on an older boy who, naturally, doesn't pay any attention to her. But one day she meets two imp-like creatures, one of whom is Pal, the 153rd prince of a magical world called Dream Star, and the other his court magician Pul. The two turn Mai into an adult young woman, and she begins to explore her newly found sexuality...
I did not get far in the game due to nkpt glitch and anex86 inability to hook the game, so Mobygames article is all we've got.
5. Dragon Knight 4 Dragon Knight 4 [940225] Elf 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Set 15 years after Dragon Knight 3 our hero Takeru along with Luna has finally settled down. All is at peace untill word of a mysterious force from another time invades Takeru's world and request for his help along with his allies has been sent.
Takeru thinking it a good opportunity decides instead to send his son Kakeru on this adventure in his place.
In retaliation for Takeru's decision, his old comrade Baan(Rolf in the English version of Dragon knight 3) sends along his own son Seiru to accompany Kakeru.
With the torch passed from father to son will Kakeru and Seiru make their fathers proud?
There are a lot of English reviews.
6. Etsuraku no Gakuen 悦楽の学園 [940225] C's Ware 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Amamiya Gakuen, a secret pleasure garden prohibited to men, is the site of a investigator's disappearance. What has happened to her? Her friend Yumi, has sent someone to find out. Inside of the ALL-GIRLS high school, lies a variety of voluptuous leasures. Everyone is indulging in not only lesbian pleasures, but all sorts of other temptations. Yet there lies a horrific secret hidden behind Amamiya Gakuen's walls...
Game is localized and has multiple English reviews.
7. Jankirou 雀妃楼 [940225] Red Zone 1 2
Jankirō is an adult mahjong game. Only the four-player variant of the Chinese tile game is available. Player-controlled male protagonist can choose to travel through any of the three magical gates. Each gate contains five female mahjong opponents, from which the player must select three. The characters are united by themes: one gate leads to medieval characters and fantasy-themed creatures (a princess, a female elf, etc.); another contains exotic characters from past cultures or fetishes (including a woman wearing Nazi uniform); the last gate accommodates more regular young woman with specific biographies.
I've no words for strip mahjong.
8. Floppy Bunko 24 - Sadistic Gamers Syndrome - Episode 2 フロッピー文庫２４ サディスティックゲーマーズシンドローム エピソード２ [940226] Sixteens 1
You play as a student who is having trouble with his studies. Lucky for you, your teacher is willing to give you a supplemental lesson. If you’re smart enough, this lesson can turn into sex.
There is an English review.
Fuzoroi no Lemon and Welcome to the Cinemahouse are masterpieces, but the latter one has fewer elements of visual novel genre and thus Fuzoroi no Lemon is the game of the month.
1. Marble Cooking マーブルクッキング [940101] Negative 1 2 3 4 5 6
Marble, the young and innocent apprentice of magic, has always been curious about one of her master's possessions, the magic "Wand of Wishes". One day the curious girl uses the wand; as a result, an evil demon is unleashed into the world. The spirit of the wand, a rabbit-like creature known as Sirius, tells Marble that it is now her responsibility to save the world from the demon, whose vile plan is to brainwash and sexually abuse ripe pretty young girls!
So there are seven stages, at which we... place carrots to summon a rabbit and watch HCG between the scenes. Something tells me this game is not so much about the story... Anyway, game even has English translation and a big faq in English... for those who want to reach perfection in placing carrots!
2. Gao Gao! 1st ~Radical Sequence~ ＧＡＯＧＡＯ！１ｓｔ ~ラジカルシークエンス~ [940107] Four-Nine 1 2
The protagonist of the game is a college student named Yuuji Shibata. One evening, just after hearing on the news that someone has stolen a tiger, he goes out to a convenience store. On the way back, in a dark alley, he notices a strange creature, a young girl with cat ears and tail. She doesn't seem to remember anything about herself, except her name beginning with the syllable "Mi...", which afterwards earns her the nickname Mi. Yuuji brings her to his house and tries to introduce her to the world of humans. (which, naturally, also involves techniques of human procreation). But will Yuuji be able to keep Mi as his companion (sexual and otherwise), or will he have to face her mysterious past?..
I've prepared a full review of the game.
3. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 08 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第０８話 [940110] Silence 1
In this episode Lime, Bass and Mizuki go to a fair and watch a magician's show. A BEM has disguised itself as one of the props, and Lime must become a magician herself in order to trap it.
A light comical episode with circus focuses as theme. It's still far till the end, so fooling around is in full blossom.
4. Nanba Kousuke Ikasete Nanbo! 難波康介イカせてなんぼ! [940110] Altacia
Kosuke is a graduating high school student who lives alone in Shinjuku. He has a secret passion for his classmate Miki and is anxious to confess his feelings to her before the final exam day. But as soon as he settles a date with Miki she dissapears and an unknown floating girl appears in a flash, then stumbles and looses consciousness. Girl is declares that a "holy war" is approaching and that the fate of humankind and Miki depends on Kosuke now. It turns out that legendary princess Kaguya actually married one of her five guards and while Miki is a descendant of Kaguya-hime, Kosuke comes from the line of her husband. In order to save Miki, Kosuke needs to sublimate passion of other girls.
I can't help surprise seeing such elaborate plots devised just to chase girls. We circle around the subway stations looking for girls. But actual process is done in simulation manner. There are even stats for it. Game does not have a single japanese review or impression and I did not go far either.
5. Bell's Avenue 2 ベルズアベニュー２ [940114] Signa Works
A collection of three main stories and several short kinetic stories:
1. 小犬のワルツ
2. UNDERDEEP
3. パラゴンの災難
4. FORUM
5. BA散歩
6. しおりの部屋
7. minimum hour
The structure and the content are very close to the previous part. Same over-sized body parts present.
6. Fuzoroi no Lemon 不揃いのレモン [940121] Softhouse Bonbee Bonbon 1
Machida Haruko, nicknamed "Faru", is a young girl who was living together with her sister Mei. Mei has mysteriously disappeared, and one day Faru received a package, which contained a video showing her sister, tortured by unknown people, crying in agony. The young heroine heads to the high school Mei studied in. She tries to get a job there, in order to investigate the circumstances of her sister's disappearance, and bring her home safe...
Yet another Classmates rival and this time even with the time concept. Main character is a shemale... so trap protagonists attack started in yearly 1994... Heaven's voice system was particularly useful, it's basically tips of what to do when stuck or bored. Game is strong in every division. There a lot of unique and cute characters. Story tries to have a serious narration, but with a shemale in girls school gags are inevitable and game manages to keep that balance of seriousness and bakage. So you wonder around the school , talking to several teachers and several students in order too proceed with the story. Characters can be absent at their spots and it's possible to miss an important event. For that the system of moving back in time with a nursery cabinet is introduced. In the second half of the game money is used a lot so it's important not to waste assets on fortune telling and such. Irregular lemon actually managed to save the fun parts and not to fall behind in any aspect, so it's definitely a masterpiece game.
7. Miho 美穂 [940128] Red Zone 1
Miho Premium Collection no.003 is dedicated to predominantly sexual experiences of a Japanese young woman named Miho during her work at a hospital as a nurse. The game's story is rather sparse, consisting of various encounters with doctors, staff members, and patients, most of which lead to sexual scenes, often with unsavory medical undertones and torture.
Red-Zone title with hospital as theme. Does not have value apart of H.
8. Welcome to the Cinemahouse ようこそシネマハウスへ [940128] Hard
Player controls film director of Cinema House on the planet Paraiso which is in the middle of war. Much of the crew was conscripted, military censure is ravaging, but for a man of passion everything is possible.
Each character has behavior patter lasting for 24 hours. According to that pattern we devise a plot and arrange actors in SLG part. Mostly we just approve or disapprove suggested variants, so it's not difficult. It's possible to talk to actors and those talks are masterfully done. If you done screening but want to start anew or shoot additional scenes, the schedule gets tight. There is also human relationships dimension and unexpected troubles that come up. Parents would naturally object in indecent role offered to the child. But the ADV part of the game is probably even better. You can walk around the town talking to inhabitants in the top down camera Classmates style immersing in the atmosphere of warring city. Even though the length of the game is not big, the degree of freedom and the replay value is great. Believe it or not, many people are calling this game their favorite game among all the pc-98 games and it's definitely a masterpiece.
9. Koukou Kyoushi Sei Erika Jogakuin Hen 高校教師 聖エリカ女学院編 [940129] Wishbone 1
The game has a rather simple premise: the protagonist is a young man who is looking forward to his first day on a new job, that of a teacher at the prestigious St. Erika Girls' High School. Naturally, he won't be busy with teaching alone; the goal is to get acquainted with the various female characters that populate the school, including the nurse and many of the students.
A game with huge map and lots of walking around. Point-and-click system does not make things easier as well. It's difficult to get to H events and huge time investments seem to be needed to figure out the rest.
As usual, December stacks the most masterpieces. HHG Heart Heat Girls , Rance IV - Kyoudan no Isan - , Demon City , Kawarazaki-ke no Ichizoku , Zoku Youjuu Senki -Suna no Mokushiroku-. I found Demon City the most enjoyable and thus it's VN of December 1993.
1. Injuu Genmu 淫獣幻夢 [931201] Ringerbell 1
The plot of Injū Genmu is rather simple: the King of Beasts commands you, a lowly minion, to venture into the world of humans and bring him young, pretty girls. To do that, he must defeat them in the traditional Japanese matching card game hanafuda.
There seem to be 12 rounds overall with HCG after each win. I have real doubts that this card game can be called a visual novel - maybe windows version, but definitely not pc-98 one.
2. HHG Heart Heat Girls ＨＨＧ ハートヒートガールズ [931202] Cat's Pro. 1 2 3 4
HHG is set in a futuristic world, in which humans co-exists with androids, highly advanced cybernetic organisms. However, this co-existence is anything but peaceful, since android are going rampant, and a special police force known as ACP ("Anti Criminal-cyborg Police") is specifically assigned to deal with them. Two young and lovely police officers, Angelica and Apple, receive a S.O.S. signal from two army pilots, who were attacked by a mysterious female cyborg who called herself Patricia von Kreuzel. Upon arriving at the crime scene, the heroines find no survivors. Together with their colleague, a young detective named Keith, they must investigate and solve this case.
There are English reviews, including mine.
3. Anniversary ~Natsuyasumi no Omoide~ アニヴァーサリー ～夏休みの想い出～ [931203] Chime 1
Anniversary: Memories of Summer Vacation tells the story of a young girl named Ringo. One night, Ringo witnesses an impish girl named Cherry seducing another girl. At first she feels repulsed, but after a while finds out that she is excited... soon she and Cherry become lovers and soulmates, unaware of the fact that Cherry is being hunted by the authorities...
Graphics are very vivid, but number of commands is big. The story is funny, but filled with numerous spontaneous H yuri events.
4. Dragon Half ドラゴンハーフ [931203] Micro Cabin 1 2
One of the games based on Ryuusuke Mita's eponymous manga. The story focuses on the manga's protagonist, a cute half-human, half-dragon girl named Mink. She is in love with a pop singer and dragon-slayer Dick Saucer; however, to win his love, Mink has to find a magical potion to turn her into a human. In the game, Mink and her friend Lufa and Pia are having a vacation on the beach, listening to Dick Saucer's concert on the radio. When Dick mentions Mink in his "special thanks" speech, she decides to find him no matter what, even if it means changing her own nature.
Cute. Simple. Addictive. Fun. There is a review in English.
5. Gakuen Monogatari '93 ~The Instinct~ 学園物語＇９３ ～Ｔｈｅ Ｉｎｓｔｉｎｃｔ～ [931203] Foresight 1
Millions of light years away from Earth, on a planet called Cicero, there existed a highly advanced civilization. However, it was all but destroyed by a life form known as "Barius", a parasitic creature that caused living beings to completely give up to their sexual instinct and innate aggressive tendencies, effectively turning them into monsters. To avoid global contamination, the inhabitants of Cicero left their planet. The remaining creatures, infected with Barius, used a capsule capable of space travel, and eventually showed up in our galaxy. The capsule containing ferocious monsters is nearing the Earth. Unaware of this unimaginable danger, the protagonist of the game, a young teacher in a girls high school, thinks of nothing but sexual pleasures...
I did not get much liking towards this erotic bakage. I am not fond of its graphics as well. The number of commands could be smaller. Still the pace is good and music is joyful
6. Youto Densetsu 妖刀伝説 [931208] Altacia
Jubei is a high school student who comes from a shaman family of shrine protectors. The shrines hold the barrier between this world and Makai. One day the barrier gets breached and closest people to Jubei get attacked by a monster.
I was actually very impressed by the game. Great music, fascinating story, fast-pace development, bright colors, wide use of animation. I only regret of not being able to finish it as pc-98 version gets stuck shortly after switch to last diskette.
7. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 07 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第０７話 [931210] Silence 1
In this episode a new type of BEM has found a way to upset people's stomachs by disguising itself as food. Bass and Lime attempt to tackle the BEM, and Bass feels that violence would be the only solution.
The second arc begins with a comedy episode as if nothing really happened last time. It's nice that the stories don't repeat previous ones, but have a different approach each time.
8. Rance IV - Kyoudan no Isan - ランス4 －教団の遺産－ [931211] Alice Soft 1 2 3 4
Hundreds of years ago, the Master of Magic decided to use his immense power to bring peace to mankind and to annihilate the demons on the Earth once and for all. In a grand battle that lasted thirty-two years, his army defeated the demonic forces. However, as always in such cases, something went terribly wrong. Now the one who must correct things is Rance, a young warrior with nothing but sex in mind. As always, with the aid of his lovely slave Sill, Rance will prevail in his fight against darkness... but not necessarily against his libido!
There are English reviews.
9. Maten Gakuen ~Jigoku no Love Love Daisakusen~ 魔天学園 ～地獄のラブラブ大作戦～ [931213] Birdy Soft 1
The tribe of demons dwells above the Himalaya mountains. The demon king Zenon is harboring a plan to occupy the Earth and subdue the humans under his yoke. But first, following a demonic ritual, he sends his son to a Japanese private high school. With his side-kick Zabo, who can miraculously change forms and genders, the young demon offspring is incarnated in a human form and has to deal with the hormonal problems most human teenagers suffer from.
The last work of Birdy Soft. Technically there will be one more ugly weird work in 1996 and some nukige in 2002, but those don't count. The quality level is unstable according as the main staff left without finishing the work. Many different character sprites are reused over and over. But I liked the characters and the atmosphere.
10. Gokko Vol. 03 Etcetera Gokko Vol. 03 Etcetera [931216] Mink 1
"Etcetera" describes quite well the content of this game, which is the third volume in the Gokko series. While the two previous games were dedicated to certain themes or scenarios (doctor and school girls, respectively), the third one is a collection of multi-thematic stories of a sexual nature. The protagonist is a young Japanese male (default name Shouhei), and his first objective is to seduce his boss's sexy sister. In following chapters, the hero encounters other women (sports car driver, journalist, etc.), each encounter ending the way one would expect from an eroge.
Lots of exotic situations this time.
11. Dennou Tenshi: Digital Ange 電脳天使 デジタルアンジュ [931217] IDES 1
A guy goes out one day and happens upon a vagabond floppy disk. He takes it home, loads it up on his computer, and watches in amazement as a girl pops out of his monitor. Some giant mecha land outside his house; female pilots emerge from the machines and congregate with the disk-born chick, who can control the mighty pink mecha. They all hang around for a while, lounging, talking, and bathing. A few mean girls (including an unpleasant "copy" of the pink-mecha pilot) show up in their own giant machines.
There's a nice English review.
12. Doppyun Donpisha ドッぴゅんドンぴ写 [931217] Peach Soft
Hero is an aspiring photograph to cover women photo sessions. But he actually is tired of those neat photos and wants to shoot usual girls outdoors in their natural environment and without being caught by the police. He looks up to a colleague who agrees to accept the hero as his apprentice if he made nude photos of a list of girls.
Another Classmate imitation. I did not get to the girls part, but it's reported that the destructive power of this title had some notable impact on eroge history.
13. Yami no Ketsuzoku: Harukanaru Kioku 闇の血族 遥かなる記憶 [931217] Naxat Soft 1
Harukanaru Kioku is a re-imagining of earlier Yami no Ketsuzoku games. The basic plot follows the events that began in the first installment, but it is told in an entirely different fashion, with different scenes, dialogues, etc. For example, the game begins a short while before the starting point of the first chapter, and contains conversations between the protagonist Miyu Izawa and the murder victim Marie, which were not present in the original story. The visual style of the game is also quite different, with bright anime-like graphics atypical of the previous entries.
Those remastered versions... Cuter, lighter version for pc-engine. Same serial killings and same key to them in Mexico. Voiced and... conversations can not be skipped, so it would be a torture for X68000 version owners. Actually, all three japanese reviews out there could not withstand unskippable dialogues. So great feature indeed!
14. Demon City デーモンシティ [931221] Cocktail Soft 1 2
On the continent of Barnhedge, there lies a kingdom named Vagrand. The inhabitants of the country are followers of what they call the "True Religion", which teaches them, quite simply, to enjoy life in all possible ways, without controlling their desires and lust. As a result, the capital of Vagrand became the center of corporeal pleasures, and its neighbors started calling it the "Demon City". The player controls a Vagrand knight who is sent by the princess Leticia on a confident mission. But intrigues and uncontrolled lust surround the hero everywhere: opposition in the palace, a young girl named Milk who wants him all for herself, and the mysterious cult of the Moon are all there to make the hero's life hard...
Game has a borderline synopsis to my standards. Yuaranas who we play by actually has a profession of sex fighter which means that he is bestowed with power to forcibly adhere women to the religion of universal pleasures. He has 31 wives (only one appears in game though) and he's got much influence. There are seven characters to capture - princess, dancer, knight, librarian, nun. But actually there are less than 10 H-scenes which is not that much. Overall there are six chapters and just one ending. The setting is impressive. "Blue Moon" cult is expanding its believers circle preaching return to "love and purity" and the king orders us to reform that sect and bring them back unto orthodox pleasure religion. At the same time the strongest military unit in kingdom "Black Wing" wants to kill the heretics. Game is made by my most esteemed Cocktail Soft studio and I prepared a full review of it.
15. Kawarazaki-ke no Ichizoku 河原崎家の一族 [931222] Silky's 1 2 3 4
Rokuro Saito is an ordinary Japanese high school student. Summer vacation has arrived, and, as it often happens, he is out of money. Then he hears that Kawarazaki, a wealthy and powerful magnate, needs someone to take care of his mansion during his absence. When the boy arrives there, he is surprised to discover that the mansion is mostly populated by young attractive women - relatives, employees, maids, etc. Naturally, he is willing to concentrate on his job only inasmuch as it doesn't impede his advancements on the other "mission" - get friendly with every girl and... you know the drill. However, soon he begins to realize that something more sinister is going on in the mansion...
I rate this work as a masterpiece and for that I owe an explanation. I still can't stand nukige, but this work was one of the pioneers of multi-story multi-ending traits and on top of that it spawned the "museum" type visual novels boom. And most importantly it finally derivated from command selection formula towards ADV with branches on choices. Today it feels like a totally normal game with a tilt into nukige, but at that time modern visual novel composition was way too bold. After a series of very narrow-minded works, Kawarazaki-ke no Ichizoku finally made the name of Silky's recognizable. Silky's was an experimental brand to produce multiple stories packs and minigames, but from this work it finally found its niche and concentrated on big stories with erotic content incorporated, but not being the only content provided. The work is also is polished well with great sound and graphics. That all makes it a masterpiece despite my desire to keep masterpieces list clean from nukige.
16. Night Walker Mayonaka no Tantei ナイトウォーカー 真夜中の探偵 [931222] Tomboy 1
Shido Tatsuhiko is not only a private eye…he is also a vampire with no real memory of his past. Joined by Yayoi Matsunaga, a female government agent, Riho Yamazaki, an orphaned teenage girl working as his secretary, and Guni, a little green imp, Shido must face demonic creatures known as Nightbreed. Meanwhile, Cain, the vampire who made him what he is now, is seeking him…
Character design for this game is outstanding and there are some really good CG, but the plot actually lacks excitement and results in weak impression. It is one-way road with only couple additional CG to be missed on wrong choices. Quite an average adult work about vampires, so it was suddenly remembered only five years after release since the game mysteriously got anime adaptation.
17. Sei Jeremiah Gakuen 聖エレミヤ学園 [931222] Lunar Soft 1 2
Nishina Hitoshi is an agent of Secret Police and missioned to investigate the murder case in the Saint Eremiya girls school. Five girls of the school died from the destruction of soul. The destruction of soul is a very rare phenomenon, so it's entirely extraordinary that it happens at 5 girls at the same time in a place. To figure out the case you get a job of chemistry teacher in the school, with your standing concealed. And a girl-partner Kamishiro Izumi gets an entrance into the school as a student. You and your partner work severally and exchange information sometimes. St. Eremiya is a mission school and the president and the chief teacher are nuns.
There are two English reviews.
18. Zoku Youjuu Senki -Suna no Mokushiroku- 続妖獣戦記 －砂塵の黙示録－ [931223] D.O.
It is now the year 2048. You are the captain of Anti Strangebeast Special Police (A.S.S.P.) created to deal with the nuclear post-apocalypse gene outbreak.
You've repelled the beasts from the Sophia police district, but the battle is long from end. Next A.S.S.P assignment is to destroy the beasts outside Sophia police district and to weaken them. The time of direct conflict has come.
It has a well-known English localized prequel Youjuu Senki -A.D. 2048-. At first I blocked second part as eroge due to high amount of rape, tentacle rape and monster rape, but the third part in trilogy released in November 1995 was so amazing, that I had to reconsider about second part as well. So second part was released just two months after prequel and it at has roughly the same synopsis. The scale of the story got bigger, the volume increased as well. The SRPG part in Yuujuu Senki A.D. 2048 was horrible and it averted many serious SRPG lovers. In second part SRPG system is improved, so gameplay can be enjoyed. It's a well-rounded work that fixed the faults of prequel and prepared ground for the excellence of following part. The characters here are already alive, but the story still lacks real drama that would only take place in third game.
19. Sei Shoujo Sentai Lakers 聖少女戦隊レイカーズ [931225] Apple Pie 1 2 3 4 5
Akira Daidōji was just an ordinary teenager until one night he had a strange dream. When he woke up he was contacted by a mysterious stranger from another planet who told him that the Gadram Empire is attacking his homeland because they need the power of the so-called Laker Crystals to survive. Akira was chosen as the next guardian of the crystals. In order to defeat Galvan, the dark leader of Gadram, Akira has to discover five young girls with special powers and assemble a team for the upcoming battle.
TBS with usually two stages of battle - first initial attack and then fighting in phantom zone. Between the battles there are events, often with H-scenes. The feature of this game is difficulty with landing attacks, especially at the beginning with chances of about 60% and even in the final sequences not going over 80%. So constantly need to unilize attacks from sides and rear that increase attack raiting thus swarming each enemy one by one. Also characters acquire EXP even when defending against an attack.
20. LEX Kyonyuu Monogatari LEX 巨乳物語 [93] Studio Sold Out
A digital comic adventure in search of big breast girls.
Each girl has a short situation introduction followed by inevitable H scene. Backgrounds are filtered photos.
21. Gegera no Joshikou Indoka Keikaku! Part 1 げげらの女子高印度化計画！Part.1 [93] Studio Sold Out Pie
An all-girl school introduces co-education due to diminished number of students. Main character is one of the lucky newcomers. He gets a cold welcome by three girls clenching fists and one even holding a baseball bat. But when there's a will, there's a way.
There are encounters throughout the school, but there is also a quiz that gives additional HCG as reward.
22. Anna Midaller's アンナミダラーズ [93] Toukyou Club
Anna Midaller's is a cafe known for its pies, especially cream pies. This place is crowded. Let's investigate its popularity.
Pretty random scenes, full H-tilt.
23. Tantei Imasato Misa Jikenbo: Itoshiki Onna yo, Satsui no Bishou o 探偵今里美沙事件簿 愛しき女よ、殺意の微笑を [93] Maimai My name is Misa Imazato. It's been three years since I started helping my father. My father is a retired police officer working as a private detective. Today he is outside the office pursuing a case. However, my father does not consider me an independent adult, so I'm always only answer telephone calls. What can I do to make him recognize me as a full-fledged detective? This time Misa will try to solve a new case herself. But her client suddenly burns down. And it turns out to be the beginning of a well-engineered serial murder case.
It's a detective story, so not for me
24. Tantei Imasato Misa Jikenbo: Sonzai Shinai Futatsume no Shinjitsu 探偵今里美沙事件簿 存在しない二つめの真実 [93] Maimai
Amateur detective Misa starts her second case secretly from her father. This time two terrifying truths appear before Misa, and she needs to investigate both of them.
It's a detective story, so not for meIt's a detective story, so not for me
Ooedo Tantei Kamiya Ukyou Vol. 2 is the only masterpiece of November 1993.
1. Ooedo Tantei Kamiya Ukyou Vol. 2 大江戸探偵 神谷右京 Ｖｏｌ２ [931105] Altacia
Ukyo was introduced to a client, but that client was found dead hanging on a rope. Moreover, Ukyo was attacked by someone shortly. Now it's his duty to investigate the truth behind the incidents.
This time the story is about the debtor. New girl character is introduced and she helps with the investigation. It has everything that prequel had but with better atmosphere with more professional approach. Graphics is good enough and there is eye and mouth movement to make it lively. Directorship can also be praised since backgrounds and objects change each other in a nice fancy way. The game has an easy-going atmosphere and some HCG. All that makes it a masterpiece work, the last in the series since the series took the turn for the professional detective investigation rather that entertainment.
2. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 06 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第０６話 [931110] Silence 1
In this episode a treacherous BEM uses magic that puts Lime to sleep near a swimming pool. Lime is then captured by a powerful demon named W. Pegasus, and it's up to Bass to rescue her.
A serious and dramatic ending of the first arc. Only first six games are released on Saturn with voice and further six games have FM-Towns releases at best. Somehow pc-98 version gets stuck on the same place, so video footage is couple minutes short of the ending.
3. Kindan no Ketsuzoku 禁断の血族 [931112] C's Ware 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
The protagonist of this game is a young boy named Ken Ohsato, whose parents were killed in a traffic accident. His father had worked for a big corporation before he died; its owner, a very wealthy woman named Reiko Hayami, decides to give the poor boy a new home. As Ken enters his new residence, he is pleasantly surprised to discover that from now on he will share a house with Mrs. Hayami's five young and beautiful daughters. But not all is simple - soon the young hero will find himself involved in complex relationships he would actually prefer not to have...
Game has many English reviews.
4. More and More もああんどもあ [931112] Cuisse
Koichi Shima runs a detective business in a downtown of Tokyo. He wonders around the district looking for work.
Game's hardly known at all, but the mood is joyful, girls are nice and scenario has lots of comedy elements. It's an enjoyable work to play, but I could not get used to spontaneous H events.
5. Chiemi 稚恵美 [931119] Red Zone 1
There are three different scenarios. You end up on a different plane depending on which scenario you choose. You'll conduct an interview with the director in the beginning and how you answer her questions determines which path you take.
There is an English review.
6. Dead of the Brain 2 [931126] Fairytale 1 2 3 4 5
The events of the game take place shortly after the ending of the first game. The devastating zombie invasion, caused by the scientist Dr. Cooger and his resurrection medicine, was finally stopped, and the young hero Cole could marry his sweetheart Sheila. But alas, if only everything could be so simple... A biker gang starts terrorizing the town. Sheila and Cole find a dead body in Cole's apartment. And soon they discover that not all the traces of the resurrection medicine were destroyed...
There are English reviews.
7. DOR Special Edition '93 ＤＯＲ ＳＰＥＣＩＡＬ ＥＤＩＴＩＯＮ＇９３ [931126] D.O. 1
DOR Special Edition '93 is neither a compilation, re-release, nor a remake; it is an independent entry in the DOR series. Typically for the series, the game consists of three completely unrelated scenarios. They can be accessed from the initial game "hub", which is viewed from a top-down perspective and allows the player to control the sexy demon Akuma, the series' mascot, as she runs around a small town, visiting houses that lead to the game's features: playing the scenarios, viewing the pictures, getting acquainted with the developers, etc.
The first scenario tells the story of a Japanese businessman and treasure hunter named Hiroshi, who has organized a perilous expedition into South American jungle, hoping to find the legendary spring of eternal youth. However, on the way to their discovery, the group has to confront monsters and other dangerous specimens of the jungle...
The second scenario is set in a pseudo Middle-Eastern environment, and focuses on a man named Farouk, who was cursed by an evil magician. In order to remove the curse, Farouk travels through a vast desert to a nearby town, hoping to find people who would help him in his predicament.
The third scenario directly continues one of the scenarios of DOR 2. It is sub-titled Armored Fighter Gyleban, and is the second part of the story. The protagonist is the leader of a squad of female fighters, who confront an organization under the leadership of the evil Grauber. Grauber's warrior, a young girl named Meiya, switches sides and decides to help the heroes in their battle.
I liked it how the stories got longer and more exotic, but overall it's the same DOR experience as usual.
Again a month without masterpieces. Nooch 2 Remy no Gyakushuu is the only hookable story-centered game, so I nominate if for VN of October 1993
1. ANGEL [931001] Cocktail Soft
A collection of three short stories based on "Angel" manga:
1) Command selection adventure on the three days of Academy Sports Tournament which result in selection one of three girls.
2) Branching choice selection adventure containing one day of Academy Sports Tournament with 20 different endings.
3) SIM part teaching a girl to be sexually appealing which takes one week.
The characters are taken from Angel anime, so the designs are nice. But I can't really rate an erotic-centered anime adaptation multiple stories highly even when just one of the traits present, but when all three...
2. Gokko Vol. 02 School Gal's Gokko Vol. 02 School Gal's [931007] Mink 1
Gokko Vol. 02: School Gal's (sic) is very similar in structure to the previous volume, but - as the title implies - with a different theme. The player controls a young male protagonist (default name Lance), who has spotted a beautiful girl near the gate of the prestigious Finlandia Girls High School. He is determined to gain access to the school, which is also attended by his sister. Though men are strictly prohibited from entering the school building, the hero is resourceful enough to find a way in; what happens afterwards should be clear to anyone familiar with the many high school-themed bishoujo games...
First work was about hospital, this one is about school. Well, at least this time it's some kind of story. The series stands out because it has partial voicing and that all on those diskettes. Overall it's a light story with an emphasis on viewing beautiful CG.
3. Nooch 2 Remy no Gyakushuu ヌーク２ レミーの逆襲 [931008] Softhouse Bonbee Bonbon 1
Some time has passed since Umechiyo helped the genius girl Piliru to uncover the conspiracy in her homeland Paru. Now Piliru is about to attend a prestigious university in Japan. However, Remy, the leader of the Gilbert organization, will not give up so easily. She enlists the help of a foreign nation and concocts a devious plan. In addition, the relationship between the two heroes doesn't progress well. Umechiyo must find a way to stop Remy and restore peace and order.
The main difference from prequel is introduction of parameters, but they just roughly tell us how far we are in the story. Last time we saved the world from medicine that made all girls worldwide lewd, this time we get to the roots of the same nymphomaniac illness in one girl. The pair of Umechiyo and Piliru is as fun as always. The number of minigames has increased, but their quality degraded. Also at chapter 4 the game system suddenly turnes into Classmate-style one and it gets confusing since flag system turns over. The overall impression is slightly worse than that of the prequel, but this VN does not get boring and it's a rare trait.
4. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 05 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第０５話 [931009] Silence 1
In this episode Lime and Bass witness a strange incident in the school: for an unknown reason, female students are losing their clothes. The heroes immediately realize that the magical prank is being performed by a BEM.
The stage is now some doujin events and cosplay is the theme, so I'd call it a fan-service episode before the culmination in 6th part. The monster here is not particularly memorable, but he has a nice reasoning behind stealing Chinese dresses.
5. If 2 イフ ２ [931016] Active 1
IF 2 contains three separate scenarios (as opposed to four of the previous game); they are numbered 5, 6, and 7 (continuing the count from the first IF), but have no relation story-wise either to the preceding scenarios or each other.
"Scenario 5" is a rare example of "mainstream" eroge which deals with a male homosexual relationship. The adult content here is text-only; there are no graphics that depict explicit sex. The hero of the game is a young man who lives together with his boyfriend. A girl who works with him in the company seems fancy him, and the protagonist has to deal with her advances and his partner's jealousy, questioning his own orientation in progress.
This scenario has a branching story line; the premise is that the hero, a college student, is desperate to find a date. The episode is dedicated only to one day of the hero's life; during this day, he must locate and convince a girl to have a date with him. Depending on the player's choices, the story develops in various different directions from there.
The final, "seventh" scenario stars a female protagonist, a high-school student named Kumi. One night she dreams of her male classmate having a romantic relationship with her. Upon arriving in the school, however, she sees another girl obviously trying to seduce the man of her dreams. Will she be able to reclaim him for herself - and if so, by what means?..
Another ambiguous short stories collection. The first story is quite different in the way that it mimics Classmate on a much lesser scale.
6. Crescent クレセント [931021] Silky's 1 2
Crescent is divided into four unrelated stories, which can be accessed directly from the main menu in any order. The first story is set in a fantasy scenario with a protagonist who tries to defeat a sexy female magician and her equally sexy female demonic minions; the second story involves a visit to a female detective, which evolves into an erotic encounter and unexpected violence; the third story is a visit to girls' locker room in a school; finally, the fourth story features an Asian-style mansion inhabited by pretty young women.
Yet another multiple stories erotic work of 1993. The peculiarity of this work is that it allows both command selection and point-and-click gameplay and the stories actually change according to that selection, so we get 8 stories instead of four overall. The same artist as in Nova is in change here, so character design is very good.
7. Rakudai Tenshi Colon 落第天使コロン [931023] Peach Soft
Colon is an angel apprentice. One day on the way to an angel school, he caused a car accident with a car escorting three sinners who escaped to the human world possessing women bodies. Colon now needs to find those sinners if he wants to qualify for the angel exam.
The only way to separate the woman body from sinner soul is to make her excited, so development is quite normal. There are three chapters and as many as 11 girls to capture. There plot girls need special approach since going too easy on one girl may block the next girl progression.
8. Gokuraku Mandala 極楽まんだら [931029] Fairytale 1
Mandala is a mystical circle in Buddhist sacred art, while Gokuraku is the Japanese term for Sukhavati, "Pure Land", the heaven of Buddha Amitabha. It is not surprising that the game with such a name concerns itself with Buddhist themes, though mostly in a comical way. The three heroes of the game, a man named Tamon (the player-controlled character), the girl Amako, and her parrot Gon, are on a quest to find the mysterious Death God, who stole a valuable jewel from a Buddhist temple where Tamon was working.
Gag point-and-click adventure. I was overwhelmed by the level of craze and did not follow it through.
9. Ms. DETECTIVE - File #2: Sugatanaki Irainin ミス・ディテクティヴ ファイル#2 姿なき依頼人 [931029] DataWest
Akane feels bad lately and following her friend advice she goes to a hot springs resort. But on the way there she sees a white ghost...
Another DAPS masterpiece with lots of animated live action scenes. I did not get to the detective part since the game is not hookable and that cuts motivation.
10. Vampire High School バンパイアハイすく～る [931029] Interheart
Kerotan is a teacher in girls high school and he's always having troubles of students actions. One day student council president purchased an original coffin from Romania. After that the behavior of some students got strange and two scratches on the neck of professors got itchy. Perhaps students can explain what's going on.
Game is actually quite short and can be done within an hour for a fast reader. And the majority of large 9 FDD volume occupied two-screen CG. Yes, they were popular with many games at that time. Characters are well done, especially the eyes. But as in any Interheart work, HCG take an important place here.
Youjuu Senki -A.D. 2048- is not really a masterpiece at all, but without strong competitors I find it entertaining enough to be called VN of the September 1993.
1. Nurse Yuu no Muma Sensen ナースゆうの夢魔戦線 [930904] Wendy Magazine 1 2
"Nurse Yuu no Mumasensen" is an adventure game with a rather cryptic story. The player controls a young nurse named Yuu, who finds herself near a secluded military hospital, unable to understand whether she is dreaming or not. She then begins to work at the hospital, becoming more and more intrigued by the events happening in it.
There is an English review.
2. Ooedo Tantei Kamiya Ukyou Vol. 1 大江戸探偵 神谷右京 Ｖｏｌ１ [930908] Altacia
Detective Kamiya Ukyo is asked for an investigation, but the client is killed with her head chopped off. There was Ukyo name in the will, so agency took up the case.
The series had its fan base, but game was postponed for a long time due to underdeveloped graphical technologies. Author of the script was an active detective at that time and game synopsis based on real events. Still, first two games had about 60% of fiction still involved to give the story more depth. And since the work was written by criminal expert, there is quite much uncommon terminology used. These first two works are still done in anime manner and for pc-98, but later works for Windows platform get much more serious design and reality feeling. First work is not polished enough to be considered a masterpiece, but second work is right in that zone.
3. Tinkle - Zenimusume てぃんくる [930909] Agumix 1
The great evil was prevented by the four legendary heroes, but the threat has awoken again. Elven heroine Narushi and her loyal pet set on a journey to get four crystals that would break the enemy's defense. Each crystal is hidden in a three-layer labyrinth.
There is a Polish review available with some machine translation.
4. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 04 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第０４話 [930910] Silence 1
In this episode Lime and Mizuki work as waitresses in a local cafe in order to detect the presence of a BEM. After having located the monster they become unexpectedly attached to it, which makes it harder for them to recover the jewel.
Each episode is very individual. This time Mizuki plays the most important role while our heroes just observe the drama from the side.
5. Mouryou Senki Madara Daikongourin Hen 魍魎戦記ＭＡＤＡＲＡ 大金剛輪編 [930910] Kogado Studio 1 2 3 4
The game is based on the manga series Moryou Senki Madara. The story is set in a mythological era in Japan, and focuses on twin brothers, Madara and Kage-Ou ("Shadow King"), sons of the evil Emperor Miroku. While Kage-Ou follows in the footsteps of his father, Madara fights against him and for the good of mankind. The game begins as Madara is gravely wounded in his fight against Miroku, but is saved by a young warrior named Seishinja, who lives together with his sister Himika. Before Madara is cured, Seishinja has to fight demons himself, with the help of the legendary sword Kusanagi.
This is a small part of a big franchise of some five series of manga and supporting content. First you have to fight alone, then Madara awakens and main character shifts. Unless you have the game manual, you wont be able to know chakra (magic) combinations. This VN ending differs from original manga since the main character here is set to destroy the world and recreate it for himself and no happy ending is seen.
6. Night Shifter ナイトシフター [930910] Four-Nine 1
Once upon a time, there was a young boy who loved motorcycles. Riding through the night on his bike was what he enjoyed most - until one night he crashed into a car, and was taken to hospital. There, he wakes up to find out that he'll have to go through some injections and infusions, which scares him so much that he faints... and immediately finds himself mysterious transported to a bizarre magical realm, somewhat inspired by Alice in Wonderland, with well-dressed rabbits, smoking caterpillars, but also plenty of cute girls. It turns out that this Wonderland isn't that bad - but how hard will it be to conquer the hearts of its pretty inhabitants?..
Looks like this game imitated Classmates, but without time dimension and with much lower production values. Lawful and Chaotic personalities only influence some CG and speech. Choices that have to be done from time to time hardly influence anything at all. So there's hardly a plot, just exploration of Wonderland with ultimate aim to get out.
7. Viper-V8 Viper-V8 [930910] Sogna 1 2
The second entry in Sogna's long-running Viper franchise, Viper V-8 has the same format as its predecessor: three separate short stories with minimal interaction and animated sex scenes.
The three stories are:
Friday the 18th: Obviously, a parody on horror movies, telling the story of three young girls who were sexually assaulted by mysterious masked men when camping near a forest.
Demon's Night is set in medieval times and describes a battle of three young heroes against a vicious demon. One of them is killed in battle, while the other (a girl) is captured by the demon; the remaining warrior, a young man named Ryu, has to rescue his friend.
Alien Wars takes place in the future. A young space pilot named Sylvie is ambushed and captured by aliens who have nothing else in mind but to have sex with her...
There is an English review.
8. Ayumi-chan Monogatari あゆみちゃん物語 [930915] Alice Soft 1
The premise of Ayumi-chan Monogatari is rather simple: the protagonist, a young boy named Kouichi, is in love with the most beautiful girl in his school, Ayumi Kawai. One day she admits that she also loves him, and they begin a relationship.
Plot is virtually non-existant and the whole point is to try each intimate date something new to get new CG and eventually get 100% CG. Very few works had CG galleries accessible in game and I don't think any measured completeness of opened CG in percentage. And thanks to graphics and cute character design the game was really popular. The game was made in close partnership with the active bbs fans which is also an impressive model that no other company could pull out. It's an important game for the visual novel history, but apart of all the novelty I only see a nukige here.
9. Custom Mate カスタムメイト [930917] Cocktail Soft 1
A young man finds a mysterious box. Making sure no one is at home, he opens the box and finds a scroll with a magic incantation inside. He chants the magic spell - and immediately a cute female elf appears. She says she can create any girl the hero wants. But once the girl is created, he has to figure out how to win her good graces...
An easy seduction SIM which precedes a wave of SIMs in the second half of 1990s. Graphics is quite uneven.
10. Kachou Shima Kousaku: Super Business Adventure 課長 島 耕作 スーパービジネスアドベンチャー [930917] Yutaka 1 2
The game allows the player to play the role as a Japanese salaryman as he goes on his "employment adventure" in order to accomplish negotiations for business deals. Occasionally, the player will have to do stuff with his girlfriend and explore his office building in order to accomplish things from his employer.
Game was based on popular manga and it's very realistic - it deals with dirty corporations ethics, racism, pregnancy... so it was scraped for release in the West. Series are closely connected with the original, at times for the bad, at times for the good. For example, letters are presented as in the original with its complexity, but some of the choices player makes won't have effect at all since they weren't reflected in the original. So it might be a nice game to try unless it was japanese famicom only.
11. Youjuu Senki -A.D. 2048- 妖獣戦記 －Ａ．Ｄ．２０４８－ [930917] D.O. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
The apocalypse known as "The Third" occured as a result of mankind's tasting the deadly fruit of nuclear technology. The massive radiation released in the holocaust of world war mingled with the genetic fallout from biological weapons, creating horrific mutations that came to be called "Yoju". These beasts bred in the bodies of humans and multiplied, covering the blighted landscape and pushing humanity to the brink of extinction.
It is now the year 2048. As mankind's final gamble in the struggle against the Yoju, a squad of genetically engineered cyborgs was created - the Anti Strangebeast Special Police (A.S.S.P.) whose members possess combat ability far beyond that of normal humans. They have been programmed with the complete database of anti-Yoju strategies and tactics researched over years of war. These female biosoldiers have become humanity's last line of defense against total annihilation, and you have been chosen to command them.
There are English reviews.
12. Ah! an Ah! an [930922] Wendy Magazine
A collection of two short stories:
1) Face of Hakuhaku
2) Yukari laboratory
Both of stories have 2 and 3 branches and endings, respectively. Game was ment to be Vol.1 of the series, but never got continuation. Drawing won't be to everyone's liking. H events are the center of the game and those are animated. The stories are too short even considering branches.
13. Kidou Keisatsu Patlabor - Griffon Hen 機動警察パトレイバー グリフォン篇 [930930] Riverhill Soft inc. 1 2 3 4
Digital Comic Patlabor is based on the anime series Patlabor. In the near future, officers of Tokyo Metropolitan Police pilot giant robots called "Labors" to combat criminals. Like most installments of the anime and manga, the game focuses on characters from Special Vehicle Section 2, Division 2, and the playable character is Noa Izumi. More specifically, the game follows the so-called "TV timeline", involving the Labor Griffon.
There are English reviews.
14. Shangrlia 2 SHANGRLIA2 [930930] Elf 1 2 3
For a while peace was reigning in the magical Kingdom of Hyunckel. However, dark forces have emerged again. Commanding hellish creatures, they managed to capture the top female generals of the Hyunckel army, sealing them in special devices resembling eggs. Only three generals remained free, and they must liberate their companions and re-capture the land.
There's little to be said. You either played prequel and don't need review or not played prequel, then it's better to start with that. The complexity of rules increased with sequel significantly.
A very weak month. But if choosing among ero-centered games, a mahjong game and an animated little masterpiece, I'd choose the last one. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 03 Wa is VN of August 1993.
1. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 03 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第０３話 [930806] Silence1
In this episode a fit of jealousy on Lime's side sends Bass to the hospital. Upon arrival, however, the two discover a very strange hospital manager and begin to suspect yet another BEM infiltration.
This time the story is not so much about a youkai at all. Heroes just happen to find him after they deal with their own problems in the hospital. The recurring jokes start to appear and the series start to remind more of an anime episodes rather than a real game.
2. Mahjong Gensoukyoku II 麻雀幻想曲II [930806] Active 1 2 3 4
Mahjong Fantasia 2 is a direct sequel to the first Mahjong Fantasia game. The story mode begins with a reminiscence of the events depicted in the first game. The hero, Ring, is back with his girlfriend Tania, but mourns the loss of the lovely elf Raspberry. He travels to the Village of Elves, where he discovers that there might be a way to resurrect Raspberry - but it involved finding seven sacred golden tablets, guarded by fearsome opponents, which must be defeated in a game of mahjong...
There are English reviews.
3. Poison Needle ポイゾンニードル [930810] May-Be Soft
A collection of three short stories:
1) "Yuka's after-school"
2) "PM 12:00"
3) "Melody played with a finger"
The stories are really short and ero-centered reaching some 30 minutes playtime total. The CG level is very uneven.
4. Denwa no Bell ga... 電話のベルが… [930817] Cocktail Soft 1
The protagonist of this game, a nameless young man, receives a phone call from his girlfriend. She is distressed and asks him to meet her immediately. From that point on, whatever happens depends on what the player decides to do...
This is a grandfather of all the works with a big number of bad endings since the whole point of the game is in watching the bad endings rather than getting a single right one. But in the end plot does not matter at all and the focus of the game is solely H scenes.
5. Collector D Bangaihen - Gokuraku Dainishi Chiku Sales Daisakusen コレクターＤ 番外編 極楽台西地区セールス大作戦 [930823] D.O.
After a successful mission in one residence unit the vibrator designer decided to spread his business over the whole town district.
Top down view is much more comfortable than the 3D maze of flats. Graphics have been improved substantially. So only this version is polished enough for sale. The game system remains almost the same as the prequel.
6. City Knights シティナイツ [930826] Dott Kikaku
Kusanagi Milan is the leader of the city knights girl heroes unit. Their bitter enemy is Dr. Wariwari who is a bio-scientist who has plans for the world unification and defeat of city knights.
Three incidents have happened in Shinjuku with victims losing their underwear. Kusanagi Milan hurries to the most recent incident location for investigation.
Another game that I could not find reviews for. And I think I know why now. I failed to find something while moving on the map for 10 minutes. And can't even trigger any door open. So the game is not really a pushover.
7. Marionette Mind マリオネット・マインド [930827] Studio Milk 1
Marionette Mind is a collection of three interrelated short stories depicting the adventures of an artificially created young woman. Each story is told and seen from the point of view of a different protagonist. In the first story, a young puppet-maker creates a doll of a young woman that becomes miraculously alive, and very soon discovers her sexuality. In the second story, she helps a broke performer in a puppet theater to improve his business and life. The third story is dedicated to battle puppets known as "kugutsu", where the artificial woman finally finds her home.
There is some attempt to synchronize the stories as the last one is played from the viewpoint of Rio during the course of first two stories, but that's a failed attempt since the endings are very weak. After all, Studio Milk mostly produced games of genres different from ADV and joined the race only for some fast profit.
Words Worth and Bunretsu Shugoshin Twinkle Star are the star pair of July 1993. But it would only be fair if a visual novel and not an RPG-heavy game was VN of July 1993 and thus Bunretsu Shugoshin Twinkle Star has the upper hand.
1. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 02 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第０２話 [930709] Silence 1
In this episode Lime disguises herself as a schoolgirl to detect a BEM who was sighted in girls' locker room. Lime and Bass must find a way to lure the little monster out and avoid unnecessary embarrassment.
In this series we get to know that not all the youkai are bad ones and need to be fought - some just need to finish some task and then they can leave this world. Lime selflessly sacrifices herself for the common good.
2. Kuroneko Kan 黒猫館 [930709] Fairy Dust 1
The game's protagonist is a young man named Okita. His friend Murakami has recently found a part-time job: housework in the Kuroneko ("Black Cat") mansion, which belongs to a rich and mysterious family. However, since then, Okita hasn't received a word from his friend. Worried about this strange silence, Okita travels to the mansion. There, he finds out that Murakami has left. He decides to stay and investigate the suspicious circumstances. But he is not prepared to the assault of wild eroticism that the mansion's inhabitants will soon unleash on him...
There were two OVA series produced by Fairy Dust - one was a part of Cream Lemon series and the other was a new OVA. The game events create a link between those two animation works. Overall it's a high quality museum maid work with frequent animations and thus targets a specific auditory.
3. Naomi ~Bishoujo-tachi no Yakata~ 奈緒美 ～美少女たちの館～ [930709] Red Zone
Naomi and Mina are two school girls who get enter a western-style building and get lost there. What awaits them inside?
Multi-ending multi-story ADV or normal visual novel as we call it now. Unlike Kawarazaki family here there are not many endings and those aren't that different. Most of the time there is a dark screen with some items on it at times, so it's a dim work. The only characters are females so yuri is inevitable.
4. CAL III: Kanketsuhen キャルIII 完結編 [930710] Birdy Soft 1 2 3
Two years have passed since Wataru Ishibashi, an ordinary high-school student in modern-day Japan, visited the magic world of beautiful goddesses and rescued his girlfriend Mika. It seems he can now finally enjoy a peaceful time with his beloved girl. But one day, his old friend Ches, a cute cat-like fairy girl, appears in his room and summons him to the world of gods. It appears that Venus, the goddess of love, is in trouble. Looks like Wataru is about to begin another adventure in the world of gods!
There are two good English reviews out there, but there's actually some story behind this game that we can't miss on. Cal III was originally being developed as an RPG, but then main staff had an argument with the director and established their own company. There was nothing to be done but to scrape those plans and hurriedly shift the work development into another adventure game. And there are lots of consequences to that. First of all, character design and images part totally changed, there was no more sexiness of Cal and Cal II. Game was supposed to be based around rpg gameplay, so there are zero puzzles in the game, few choices (many of which are just one choice), almost no game over parts. Plot gets pretty bizarre with weird events happening and all of the Alice in the Wonderland crew coming to rescue the sinking ship. To substitute for that pretty much everything is voiced, even narrator explanations, which hurts the tempo a lot if listening properly since just the opening would take over an hour. So it's an uneven work that differs greatly from prequels and it holds no special place in visual novel history. But for fans it was a devastating failure.
5. Gokko Vol. 01 Doctor Gokko Vol. 01 Doctor [930714] Mink 1
The story of Gokko Vol. 01: Doctor is quite simple: the protagonist is a young man who dreams of becoming a great doctor, study abroad, and win the Nobel prize. In reality, however, he is just an ordinary aspiring physician who has to practice his medical skills in a Japanese hospital. However, seeing how all the doctors, nurses, and patients turn out to be gorgeous young women, the hero quickly forgets the Hippocratic oath in favor of his less altruist, but more basic instincts...
Theme is hospital. There is a system of scores and choosing bad options or the same option twice reduces the score. There is no saving in the middle of each of 5 scenarios, so bad answers are recognized by trial and error, there is a constant feeling of tension. H events are done in point-and-click fashion, but there are also scores there...
6. Gakuen Monogatari ~Ikenai Houkago~ 学園物語 ～いけない放課後～ [930717] Peach Soft 1
By the end of the 20th century, women have acquired a prominent role in the human society. Entertainment, arts, and politics are increasingly dominated by women. Therefore, a special emphasis is put on educating young women, preparing them for the turbulent social life. The world's most prestigious educational institution is the Japanese Eikou High School. Becoming a teacher in that school is the highpoint of the career of the protagonist, Takigawa Noboru. But as it always happens (well, at least in bishōjo games), the moment the hero encounters all those gorgeous female colleagues and students, he forgets all about education...
The teacher is actually an agent sent to investigate the strange rumors about this school. But it really seems that the teacher forgets about everything and just enjoys the scenery. It's a one-way scenario, but movement has to be done with commands and the same corridors need to get passed over and over.
7. Tenshi-tachi no Gogo VI -My Fair Teacher- 天使たちの午後ＶＩ -My Fair Teacher- [930720] JAST 1
In this installment of the Tenshitachi no Gogo series, the player takes the role of Tatsuya Shindou, the new teacher in the girls-only Shirakaba High School. Following the tradition of the series (as well as many other hentai games), the protagonist's only interest is in having sex with as many girls as possible, regardless of their age and social status, and even regardless of their consent...
The main branch games of the series continue to be crap since fourth one and only specials remedy it. This time there's a big number of commands and a horrible interface that harm the impression. A legitimate loli makes an appearance here and it was not appropriate for many people. The main plot is about the teacher to unwind the case of serial rapes happening in the school, but it's difficult to call it a plot, more like a louse aim.
8. Words Worth [930722] Elf 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
God created Light and Shadow and separated them with the power of the divine Words Worth Tablet. One day, the Words Worth Tablet shall be read and all will be understood, and Light and Shadow will join and become complete. But someone has shattered the Tablet. The Tribe of Light and the Tribe of Shadow each blame the other and war ensues for 100 years. The story revolves around the bumbling but very skilled Prince Astral of the Tribe of Shadow who may be the one to bring the Tribes together and restore peace.
There are English reviews.
9. Kurukuru Party ~Princess Quest~ くるくる☆Party ～プリンセス・クエスト～ [930723] Tomboy
The hero rescues the princes and gets an opportunity to participate in the great treasure hunt along with several competitors.
I was quite surprised by the fact that I could not find any impression in Japanese on the game... until I tried it myself. It's just a tabletop game with four other competitors. Dice+card are used. The "story" synopsis is generic and it could easily be just game part without any synopsis at all. I don't really consider this game to be a visual novel at all.
10. Cal Gaiden - Tiny Steps Behind The Cal キャル外伝 タイニィステップ [930724] Birdy Soft 1
Cal Gaiden is not directly connected to other Cal games story-wise, completely abandoning the protagonist Wataru Ishibashi, the storyline concerning ancient Greek gods, and the multi-cultural fantasy setting. Instead, it follows the exploits of Satoru, a young man who its trying to find the love of his life. There are four possible candidates: the initial romantic interest Mari Inoue, the elusive Manako Sakamoto, and two co-workers - Ami and Yōko.
Now that you know the story behind Cal III - Cal Gaiden also presents under a new light. Cal Gaiden was issued just two weeks after Cal III and its most prominent feature that it's not Cal at all. There's absolutely nothing in common apart of the fact that both are bishoujo games. And the game seems to be of quite good quality, but after Cal III fiasco very few players even tried this and those who tried were outraged by the use of Cal in the title while having nothing in common to it. So there aren't good japanese reviews of the game.There are three chapters, each for for a heroine (3rd one paired for two coworkers). The unusual thing is that ex-girlfriend Mako plays an important role in each of the three scenarios. She's persistent, short-tempered and proactive. A good thing is that the story is about grown-ups so it would fit nowadays just wine with the market overflooded with surgarly school charage.
11. Collector D コレクターD [930726] D.O.
By the year 2000 an incurable disease has spread and men and women have become unable to have normal sex without vibrators. Hero is a designer of such vibrators. He comes to a new residential area as a sales agent.
There are 8 girls in 8 flats and the key to success is to prepare the right vibrator. Very few colors are used here and even H scenes look bleak.
12. Bunretsu Shugoshin Twinkle Star 分裂守護神トゥインクル☆スター [930729] Studio Twinkle 1
The hero of the game, a high-school student named Touma, has a strange dream, in which he is a hero, a savior of the world in a parallel dimension. And now he is dying, having sacrificed his life for a beautiful woman whom he calls Ruby. Touma wakes up, unable to understand anything, and suddenly realizes it was not a dream... at least not entirely. A magical symbol is engraved on his forehead. Touma realizes that he will have to learn more about his heroic destiny. Meanwhile, a young, seductive English teacher arrives at his school...
Birdie Soft independent branch Studio Twinkle. So the magical symbol is split between 6 parts and hero needs to find four other girls and each of girls corresponds to each of four chapters. The work is notable for its humor and crude but multiple animations, including transformation scenes almost like those of magic-girls. As for humor, it's very vivid in first two acts, but later on hardly noticeable. The choices are mostly present only in conversations, so it feels more like nowadays ADV. There are battles with enemies, but they are handled with simple minigames. So it's a high standards birdie soft fun game without command selection and without major flaws, thus worthy to be called a masterpiece.
13. Dareka... Special 誰か… スペシャル [9307] Wendy Magazine 1 2
Some mysterious things have been happening down at the space station. Odd energy readings, a naked girl materializes out of thin air, voices everywhere...
Can you find out what's going on? Investigate, speak with people, piece together what this is. People are holding secrets. Lives are at stake.
There is an English review.
Can Can Bunny Extra was a real hit at the moment of publishing. It is VN of June 1993.
1. Toumei Ningen - Arawaru Arawaru 透明人間 あらわるあらわる [930604] Red Zone
Main character is a science teacher with a weak constitution. He was working on a medicine to fortify constitution and accidentally got a substance to grant invisibility. To complete the original medicine he needs to collect women fluids, but as a side mission he's going to have a revenge on those who bullied him in the past.
Two prominent features of the work is dark palette graphics and isometric CG that require special glasses to watch properly. There is no story apart of synopsis so it's a one-sided erotic work.
2. Erion Quest エリオンクエスト [930609] Arkham Products
Heroine fights half-naked female demons with might and magic in order to protect her sister.
There are multiple endings depending on battles outcome and directions taken. But the special and and the half-naked female enemies are definitely the biggest attraction.
3. Houma Hunter Lime Dai 01 Wa 宝魔ハンターライム 第０１話 [930610] Silence 1
A magical world populated by supernatural creatures exists alongside ours. Once in a while a portal between the two opens. Demons known as BEMs ("big-eyed monsters") have stolen precious jewels and escaped to Earth through that portal. It is up to two demon hunters, Lime and Bass, to assume the likeness of a teenage girl and boy and restore peace and order.
In the first episode Bass (controlled by the player) and Lime are trying to stop a BEM who looks like an oversized candle and attempts to turn people into wax statues.
A great start for the series and the only opportunity to see Lime in her angelic form. Game's highly animated and fun, but short.
4. Lua Lua [930610] Interheart 1
Lua Melinda is security guard in a factory. Bad people are sneaking inside the factory and you need to investigate what is going on.
I was at loss what to do. Synopsis and cover are normal, but knowing early Interheart works it's quite evident they are all ero-centered. But then I stumbled upon this marvelous English review ... which is much better than the game itself and that I had a lot of fun reading.
5. Irium イリウム [930611] Orange House 1
The world Irium is a world ruled by magic. One of the most powerful magicians of Irium, the young and lovely Seria, decided to pay a visit to the magic-less world which is our Earth. There, she met a young man; they fell in love, and had a child together. But Seria eventually had to return to Irium. The child, who was named Masaya, grew up on the Earth and turned to be a normal teenager, unaware of the magical powers sealed within him - until a messenger from Irium appears on the Earth and tells him that their world is in great trouble, and he is the only one who can save it...
This game was unusual because first half was adventure mode and second half rpg mode, both quite long. Another thing is that Orange House was one of the first companies to introduce midi music. Several H scenes were of dark and guro nature which was unusual. The RPG part is annoying due to few warp spots, absolutely the same dungeon interrior with automap and random nature of enemy spawns. But still the game is mostly known for beautiful red-cheek girl images. There was even mosaic to combine that opened up an uncensored girl image.
6. Vastness Kuukyo no Ikenie-tachi ヴァーストニス 空虚の生贄達 [930611] P's PSYTEC Co., Ltd. 1
Vastness consists of three mini-stories unrelated to each other. The first follows the sexual escapades of a female student who seduces her schoolmates; the second mainly focuses on a treatment of a particular kind received by a man from a female doctor and nurse in a hospital; the third tells the story of a young girl who discovers her sexuality and eventually gets married.
Game is produced by a bishoujo magazine and contains three heavily erotic stories with little to discuss.
7. Can Can Bunny Extra きゃんきゃんバニー エクストラ [930625] Cocktail Soft 1 2 3
Looking at him, he ain't much. But Kenta scores with every girl he meets. Why, Well, he has a love-struck goddess who's decided to help him out. After the celestial sweetie takes a shine to him, she grants him the ability to seduce seven different women to find out which one is his true love, and in the end, it is a big surprise who his actual true love is.
There are English reviews.
8. Oh! Pai Ｏｈ！Ｐａｉ [930625] Silky's 1 2
Oh! Pai is an adaptation of a tile game that has similarities to mahjong, though with much simpler rules. The player competes one-on-one against any of the six young women featured in the game. Each opponent offers a different thematic set of tiles (e.g. a stereotypical shy schoolgirl uses teddy bears, pink clothes, etc.), but the game rules are always the same: form simple combinations of three or more identical tiles to win. After each successful round the girl removed a part of her clothes. Another stripping card game. At least this time it's not mahjong, but some new game with invented rules.
9. Viper-V6 Viper-V6 [930625] Sogna 1
Viper V-6 is the first in the long-running Viper series of animated adult games. It contains three separate stories:
The Devil Came tells the story of a teenager named Ogawa, who was unpopular in his class and summoned a demon to exact revenge. But the demon turned out to be female, so his wishes naturally assume a different direction...
Afternoon describes a scene during a beauty contest. The defeated participant thinks that she was unfairly judged, but her fury at the winner turns, in front of the amazed spectators, into erotic desire...
Double Impact features two young female detectives, Miho and Kumi, who pretend to search for jobs as maids in order to infiltrate a mansion in which mysterious disappearances have been taking place. The first work of Viper series and quite a successful one - the demon story even hot its hentai anime version. Viper games are short enough and fun enough, so there's little use in discussing them - faster just to watch.
Prostudent G and Nova are the masterpieces of the month, but when there's a choice I'd choose anything over bakage and thus Nova is VN of May 1993.
1. Noltia ノルティア [930514] Flat 1
Noltia contains three scenarios, which are not related to each other story-wise. All the three share traditional Japanese adventure gameplay, with "Look - Talk - Think" verb command pattern, no inventory, no puzzles, and plenty of text.
The first one can be played as either of its two main characters - the boy Aruto or the girl Kyoko. Both are not what they seem to be: Aruto is working for a registry organization in the World of the Dead, and he has to bring Kyoko to judgment, where it will be decided whether she goes to heaven or hell after death. However, Kyoko is actually an angel, whose goal is to save Aruto from killing himself. Both characters have special bars - the well-being of the protagonist and the proximity of the opponent to the protagonist's goal. Command choices can increase or decrease either of these statistics. Wrong choices can lead to Game Over.
The second scenario casts the player in the role of a high-school student named Yoshihiko, who is hired by a gym teacher to take erotic pictures of high-school girls and bring them to him. This scenario allows movement through school locations (menu command "Move"), and, depending on the player's choices, Yoshihiko can succeed in taking the most erotically satisfying pictures, or achieve one of the "bad" endings.
The third scenario is a realistic depiction of a relationship between a young man named Eiji and his little sister Miwa. The player can choose to play as either one of them. Eiji is dating Miwa's schoolmate, and Miwa tries to understand the change in her own feelings. In this episode, the gameplay is rather straight-forward Japanese adventure.
Only third story is serious enough. It also uses zapping to switch protagonists, which is really fresh. A very nice experimental work without emphasis on H-element. It's one of the works that allows us to speak of 1993 year as the golden age of visual novels with lots of original stories and emphasis on scenario.
2. Tenshi-tachi no Gogo Special 2 天使たちの午後SpecialII [930514] JAST
Main hero is high school student. But he also steals money and assets from villains to return it to the proper owners. One day he received a request by mail to get "Blue Diamond" out of debt situation.
The only common part with the predecessors is that it's a school mystery. Game series is changing very slowly over time and thus starting to look bleak compared to competitors. Anyway, character design is cute and it's still possible to enjoy the game heartfully.
3. Prostudent G ぷろすちゅーでんとG [930515] Alice Soft 1 2 3
By the end of the 20th century, radical educational reforms have transformed the Japanese society. Students were split into opposing groups, and the more aggressive of those eventually formed a dominant organization named Order of Black Phoenix, centered on the cult of a mysterious person known as "The Queen". Outcast students have escaped to a secluded island near Okinawa. A wandering lazy and lecherous manga and anime fan named Gorō Endō teams up with a female teacher and a few students to lead an opposition force against the oppressive governing circles.
Bakage from AliceSoft. Even the synopsis does not make any sense. And it should not - in fact, it's possible not to follow the story and still enjoy the game in he fullest. All kinds of elements are mixed together with constant parodies, gags and unrealistic events happening. I prepared a full review of it.
4. DOR Special Edition Sakigake ＤＯＲ ＳＰＥＣＩＡＬ ＥＤＩＴＩＯＮ 魁 [930521] D.O. 1
DOR Special Edition: Sakigake is the fourth entry in the DOR series. Unlike all the previous games, it contains only one scenario instead of the usual three.
The scenario follows the story of Kensuke Funaki, a young boy who attends a prestigious private high school, where the students specialize in sports as well as various theatrical activities. The biggest event of the school is an all-female wrestling competition. Kensuke finds himself in a promising situation: in order to secure his support, the young and pretty competitors are willing to go far - very, very far...
The story does not differ much from other DOR stories. But this game's feature is unusual sound and partial voicing.
5. Nova ノ・ヴァ [930528] Cat's Pro. 1 2
The protagonist of the game awakens in the cryogenic chamber of a spaceship, unable to remember anything from his past and only vaguely recalling his name. Something strange is happening on board the ship, and it is possible that unknown creatures have found their way into it. The protagonist meets other crew members and together they try to find out what exactly is going on.
The first serious work of Cat's Pro and already a masterpiece according to my rating. Actually Nova has three stories that happen roughly at the same place in the same circumstances, but only first story has enough longevity and complexity. It also has the most mystery and SF elements in it. Three stories is an experimental structure to satisfy as many players as possible. Still the selling point of the game lies in magnificent graphics and sound.
6. Hitomi Zaka ひとみ坂 [93] Higashikai Hotsujuku 1
The story itself is about a group of friends from high school after school is over. Everyone hangs out in a coffee house, goes on dates in said coffee house, plays occasional games of football, and sometimes go out to do stuff like visiting the fair or play the piano.
There is an English review.
7. S.A. S.A. [93] A-Inn
A collection of two short erotic stories
Scenario 1 is about a parent and child coming to main character's house for recruitment purposes. Protagonist manages to coerce child to intimate relations.
Scenario 2 is about main character graduating from high school and gathering to move out. At the same time imouto starts to gain consciousness as a woman. Siblings share their memories before the departure.
Short erotic stories, but with great visuals.
8. The Ooya-san - Tamattemasu yo! Yachin ga!? ザ・大家さん たまってますよ！家賃が！？ [93] Soft Circle Courreges
Ohayama Harumi is the son of apartment complex owner. One day his father gives him a telephone call and asks to gather rent from five girls that are late with the payment.
The girls prefer to seduce the guy and he's such a virgin that can not say no. Nothing special.
There aren't masterpieces this month, but I find Quintia Road 2 to be the most interesting story-wise and thus it's VN of the month.
1. Mahou no Shougakusei Clit-chan 魔法の小学生クリットちゃん [930491] Toukyou Club
A letter comes to a man living alone. It's an invitation to a magic girl academy for a week with the freedom to do whatever he wishes there.
It's just a lolicon doujin game.
2. Yougen Doumu 妖幻道夢 [930413] Ponytail Soft
A youkai broke the seal placed on the shrine resulting in youkai outrage.
The system is choosing places on the map and restoring the seals in each spot. If we succeed in summoning the youkai of the area the battle in the form of quiz game begins. Game is notorious for dwelling on traditional japanese folklore. Still CG are probably the selling point of the game.
3. Quintia Road 2 クィンティアロード２ [930415] Communication Group Plum 1 2
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.
4. Lipstick Adventure 3 リップスティックアドベンチャー３ [930423] Fairytale 1
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.
5. Ranma 1/2 - Byakuran Aika らんま１/２ 白蘭愛歌 [930423] Klon 1 2 3
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 are English reviews.
6. Image 2 イマージュ２ [930427] Software House Parsley 1
Like its predecessor, Image 2 consists of three episodes, which are unrelated to each other story-wise and can be accessed from the main menu; each episode can be played in two different ways ("scenarios"). All the three episodes are set in medieval/fantasy environment.
The first episode tells of a "cursed" treasure room somewhere on the outskirts of a town; the only one brave enough to venture there is a young hero named Recardo. In scenario A, Recardo has to find a way to defeat a demon, using objects from the treasure room; in scenario B, he has to face a female demonic creature and seduce her without getting killed in the process. Scenario A has a large turn-based battle that can be lost; the key to winning is usage of items.
The second episode stars the fighter Rush and his female companion Femir; traveling across the desert, they enter a town, and Rush decides to participate in a fighter competition. This episode differs from the other ones (and most other Japanese-style adventures) by having free movement in top-down environment. Scenario A puts the player into Rush's role; the gameplay here contains slight, mini-game-like elements of role-playing, as Rush has to win turn-based battles, gain money, and buy better weapons, equipment, and items to survive. In Scenario B, the player controls Femir. While Rush is fighting his battles, Femir investigates a strange disappearance of female warriors.
The third episode is the most traditional one, both from the point of view of story and gameplay. This rather minimalistic episode depicts a meeting between the young boy Fand and the girl Remia, who is from another town. Fand shows her around, the two have a date, and the rest of the episode evolves according to the player's decisions for both characters (Fand in Scenario A, Remia in Scenario B).
Second part is a huge way forward from the first one. This time each episode has a real story and there are even several branches in some. I was really grateful for the RPG episode in particular. The game is still ero-centered, but with a story emphasis now.
7. JYB ~Mehame Haruuga wa Himitsu no Jumon~ JYB ～メハメ・ハルーガは秘密の呪文～ [930428] Cocktail Soft 1
The game's hero, a young man named Otomegawa, encounter Chururu, a cheerful female magical creature, who accidentally curses him to become a woman. Only the princess of the Magic Land can lift the curse. The princess has been reborn as a human being and is currently living on the Earth. The problem is that as a human, she has no access to her magical powers that would help Otomegawa solve his predicament. Only a moment of true ecstasy (and since this is a hentai game, we all know what it means) will awaken her true potential! Luckily, the princess also happens to be lesbian, which perfectly suits Otomegawa's current condition and the means necessary to achieve the goal...
It's more like a detective game where we search for a girl that fits description. Game incorporates concept of time alike Classmate, so difficulty level is very high. At the same time there are as many as 15 girls which further increases playtime if aim to clear. An unusual and well known game at that time.
8. Metal Eye Metal Eye [930428] Elf 1 2 3 4 5
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.
9. Ripple Cafe リップルカフェ [930428] Garuda
A collection of three short stories:
1) Maze dungeon
2) Life in Neorvous
3) Orchestra hit
Game is not hookable and obscure, thus it's difficult to comment on the content. At the very least the stories vary greatly and have significant story components. There are also game overs on the wrong selection.
10. Bishoujo Hunter ZX 美少女ハンターＺＸ [930429] Softhouse Bonbee Bonbon 1
In the 1990-ies, increased tension between powerful countries of the world and economic crisis have eventually lead to open hostility. By 2018, the world was nearly destroyed in a devastated war. A handful of scientists working for peace have devised a plan - called "Project ZX" - to prevent this disaster from happening. All they need are a dozen of young, pretty girls, who would be trained with the newest scientific equipment. The hero of the game is a lazy teenager, fan of computers and - surprise! - pretty girls, and he is the one who is entrusted by an old scientist to find and recruit these special girls, aided by a robotic bird named Chico.
For the first time I see a noble aim of saving the world in a nanpa game. Game is divided into two parts with a free girls order. But the girls in the second part get information from the girls in the first part and thus are much more difficult to capture. There are 15 girls available for capture.
11. Four Flush フォア フラッシュ [930429] Agumix 1
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. Spontaneous H scenes killed the atmosphere for me.
12. If イフ [930429] Active 1
IF contains four scenarios, which are unrelated to each other and can be accessed directly from the main menu:
The first scenario stars a 19-year-old young man who accidentally makes a wish and summons a cute-looking female demon, who is ready to serve his "master"... in various ways, including what you just thought.
This scenario is sub-titled Triangle, and is dedicated to a high-school student who has a rather uneasy relationship with the girl he likes. One day he meets a female childhood friend, which further complicates his love life...
Set in medieval (feudal) Japan, the scenario tells the story of a young man who is on his way to the capital city, to study martial arts by a famous teacher. He gets sick and has to stay in a mountain village. Soon he notices that strange things begin to happen there, and has to find a way to release a woman from a curse that was placed on her.
The last scenario is set in a small village that lies deep in a forest, in a fictional country, and focuses on a young boy named Indy. He fancies the daughter of the village elder; one day she is kidnapped by strangers, and Indy swears to rescue her.
There are several features of this work. All the stories take place in different time periods and have a short text introduction each. Another interesting innovation is that each scene has its own set of commands and at most two selections of the same command are needed to proceed with the story. So it's more than a command selection, but less than a choice selection type.
13. Shinc [9304] Libido 1 2
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.
Marine Philt is the only masterpiece of March 1993.
1. Hatsukoi Monogatari 初恋物語 [930305] Game Technopolis 1 2
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 high enough to enjoy it.
2. Bell's Avenue ベルズアベニュー [930312] Wendy Magazine 1
Bell's Avenue is a collection of three very short games, all of which play like minimalist Japanese-style adventures and have stories that revolve around sex. The interaction follows the standard verb-command "Look-Talk-Think" template, without any sub-menus that would allow interaction with different objects.
The Lyrical Story After Rain, the shortest of the three, is an episode from the life of a lonely teenage girl, who meets another young girl on the train and later has erotic fantasies involving her.
Paragon Wing Bird is considerably longer and has a sci-fi theme, the protagonist being a male adventurer from the Earth, who has encountered a race of human-like creatures in deep space and is interested in their sexual traditions.
Kara is the longest of the three, is set in a high school, and describes a group of young girls who are eager to have their first sexual experience. This game allows menu-based navigation through various locations in the school and non-linear story progression, which can change depending on the player's choice and order of locations to visit.
Bell's Avenue also contains Under Deep, a very short futuristic story, basically consisting of two bizarre sex scenes and having no interaction at all, and Minimum Hour, which presents, in a comical way, a few ideas for sex-based arcade games, which are not playable.
Yet another multiple ero-oriented stories under one title. This time even without cute heroines. And since it's Wendy Magazine, without males.
3. Marine Philt マリンフィルト [930312] Fairytale 1 2 3 4
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.
There are English reviews.
4. YES! - Youthful Eager Stories [930312] Himeya Soft
A collection of three short stories:
1) "Last kingdom" is about the queen being escorted out of the kingdom by the guards due to the order of the king who is about to meet kingdom destruction.
2) "BT-3" is a love story between the android BT-3 who suffers a space shuttle crash and a local girl, who gets involved in fight after pursuers find the crash location.
3) "Western mansion vampire" is a about a school girl who enters a western mansion to rescue her friend who was missing after visiting that place.
Whoa, even Himeya Soft followed the craze and made its own multiple stories game. But unlike the other companies these three stories are short and ero-centered, but scenario driven and and intriguing to read. Both character design and CG styles are familiar to me, so I enjoyed the work moderately.
5. Aa! Megami-sama! ああっ女神さまっ [930320] Banpresto 1 2 3 4
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 English reviews.
6. Marginal Storys マージナルストーリーズ [930331] Forest 1
Marginal Storys (sic) is composed of two short visual novels, which are accessible from the main menu and are not related to each other story-wise.
The first one, entitled Forbidden Rhythm, is a bizarre horror story. The protagonist, a young man named Kyouichi, finds himself in an old mansion, which seems to contain an evil energy - dead bodies, ghosts, apparitions haunt Kyouichi, who has to recall childhood events and the incestuous feelings towards his sister.
The second story is named Cosplaytor II (sic), and is set in Tokyo, in 2019. Entertainment as we know it has disappeared off the face of the Earth, replaced by a global virtual reality game, that became the ultimate reality for many people. The player controls an agent known only by his codename ("Z"), who has to investigate criminal occurrences that might lead to a world-wide cyber-conspiracy.
I'm prejudiced against multiple stories works, but this work stands out among those. The reason is the horror atmosphere that's created partly by peculiar palette and drawing, but mostly thanks to the great sound support. Those cicada sounds get really stuck in the mind. The shortness and the hazy ending leaving the conclusive events to the imagination hurt the overall impression, not leaving it rise as a masterpiece.
7. Wonpara Wars ＷＯＮＰＡＲＡウォーズ [930331] Mink 1 2 3
God has created a paradise called Wandante. Men, women, and animals lived together in peace. But where there is God, there is also Devil; where there is love, there is also hatred. The hatred between men and women grew, until it resulted in a bloody war. Having superior physical strength, men were victorious for a while - until female demons offered their help to women's army. Men's army was nearly destroyed. It was at that time that the hero, named Leopard Chateau-Lyon, appeared in Wandante. He is the only hope of the men, the one who will have to defeat the demonic women and to bring peace to both genders.
There is an English review.
8. Psychic Detective Series Final Vol. 7: Solitude (Gekan) サイキック・ディテクティブ・シリーズ・ファイナル Vol.7 ソリチュード（下巻）[9303] DataWest
Katsuya Furuyagi lost the psychic ability, so he dives into the mind of his former lover in coma state Aya Shingonji with the help of Rosemary. Will he bring back his love to the world of light, get over his trauma and perhaps save the world or is there only desperation ahead?
First of all, the game cost 12,800 yen upon release, same as the 6th part of the series, so quite few fans decided to buy the game after the negative reception of 6th part. The tempo of the game got even worse due to the need to move through the rooms one by one thoroughly searching them over and using DAPS replay ability. There are puzzles and to solve those many recollection scenes are shown which was watching the same scenes again for the veterans of the series. There is no such thing as happy ending in this last work and thus the aftertaste is quite sour.
Cosmology of Kyoto publication month is unknown, so I just put it to February that had relatively few titles. Cosmology of Kyoto is the only masterpiece of February 1993 and thus VN of the month.
1. 3x3 Eyes ~Sanjiyan Henjou~ 3x3 Eyes ~三只眼變成~ [930205] Nihon Create 1 2 3 4 5 6
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.
There are many English reviews including mine.
2. Bishoujo Audition - Idol o Sagase! 美少女オーディション アイドルを探せ！ [930205] Tomboy
The previous winner of MISCON left it with a scandal and now the reputation of the competition is on stake. Only the best candidates should pass the audition.
A minor title. You hold an audition and try to get through a whole mess of different stats.
3. Hacchake Ayayo-san 4 - Sexy Olympics - Ayayo's Live Affection はっちゃけあやよさん４ セクシーオリンピック ＡＹＡＹＯ＇Ｓ ＬＩＶＥ ＡＦＦＥＣＴＩＯＮ [930213] Hard 1
Ayayo's Live Affection is the fourth entry in the Hacchake Ayayo-san series. This time Ayayo and Tomoko meet new friends who convince them to participate in the Sex Olympics. The rest of the plot consists of various sexual encounters that constitute this bizarre tournament.
The new part of longest standing erotic series, now with improved graphics and animation. Ero-centered bakage.
4. Animahjong V3 あにまーじゃんV3 [930226] Sogna 1
In this pre-Viper game by Sogna, an elderly mahjong master with no sons seeks a male successor. When he discovers the protagonist, he offers him one of his three daughters for a wife. His daughters, Rumi, Miyabi, and Yumika, disagree because they've never met him, so the old man suggests they play strip mahjong with him in order to get to know him. Since they are all skilled mahjong players, they think they will embarrass him and agree.
This time the strip mahjong goes with some kind of synopsis and animation. But it does not affect the outcome.
5. Cat's Part 1 Cat's Part 1 [930228] Cat's Pro. 1
Cat's Part 1 casts the player in the role of an unnamed protagonist, presumably young, male, and very interested in the members of the opposite sex. One fine day he meets Stella, the queen of magic world. She tells him that her duty is to sustain the balance between worlds, but now her power is fading, which means a new queen has to arrive and take her place. To find this queen, Stella tells her companion Pixie to open the gates to seven different worlds: three modern-day ones, three futuristic ones, and one "past", and sends the hero on the quest for balance in the world... and numerous sexually fulfilling encounters with pretty girls from different dimensions.
Point-and-click adv travelling the seven different worlds looking for queen. Despite being a dog the hero gets to observe all kind of erotic situations in each world. The graphics and sound support are also above average, so it's an ok debut work for Cat's Pro.
6. AIDS Watashi o Aishite... Jinai Seijin ＡＩＤＳ私を愛して・・・神愛聖人 [93] Medic
Main hero is an ordinary salary-man of 25 years old. He has a girlfriend, but they have not spent much time together since the beginning of the week. Now hero gets a bonus payment at work. How will she spend the money?
The premise of the game is to show how a night adventure can turn into death disease and how easy it is to go to public health examination.
7. Cosmology of Kyoto [93] Soft Edge 1 2 3 4 5 6
Step into the mind of an ancient Japanese person in the Heian period in ancient Kyoto. Live their fears, fight their demons, and understand their history and legends by actually experiencing them first hand.
There are English reviews.
8. Himitsu Chouhou Buin - 00Nanako-chan 2 秘密諜報部員00ななこちゃんII [93] Overture
Nanako has become a full fledged spy out of an apprentice. Now she gets a new important mission.
This time there are much more locations and it's easy to get lost.
There are no masterpieces this month, but I rate Mamono Hunter Youko: Tooki Yobigoe above others and thus it's VN of the January.
1. Gram Cats 2 グラムキャッツ２ [930108] Dott Kikaku 1
Marine and Sayaka arrive to the Scherer Island which is known as a luxury resort with a great hotel and famous nudist beach. Their goal is to investigate island secretly for the traces of an alien base.
I prepared a full review.
2. Mamono Hunter Youko: Tooki Yobigoe 魔物ハンター妖子 ~遠き呼び声~ [930108] Tenky 1 2
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.
3. Tenshi-tachi no Gogo V ~Nerawareta Tenshi~ 天使たちの午後V 〜狙われた天使〜 [930114] JAST
Main character is a lover and a producer of a selling singer. An incident occurred in which the acquaintance was shot dead during the singer live performance ruining the event. Hero decides to start his own investigation.
The reason why the hero starts an investigation is very weak. There are many interrogations to be done, so the game differs greatly from the other parts of the series. There are many bad endings and most of H events are only accessible while pursuing those. The poor interface resembling pc-88 games leaves a feeling of a half-baked game.
4. Akiko 亜紀子 [930122] Red Zone 1
Akiko Yagami is a young woman who has just accepted a teaching job offer from the Noble Girls High School. She is determined to be a good teacher and concentrate on her work. But upon arriving, she realizes that the school is a playground for wild sex. Akiko is seduced by her female boss, witnesses sex scenes between students, and finally gives in to her urges...
Fairytale X-Shitei disbanded after the scandal, but it does not mean Fairytale dropped its adult direction branch. Redzone took the place and even remade Kounai Shasei series adding censorship so that those could be sold again. In this first work Redzone accepted the rules of the game and produced a censored game, but of extreme content. The game has little in the story department apart of the fact that Akiko appears to be a secret agent sent to uncover the disturbing events in this school. The game was first in the sales in January 1992 which shows that the theme answered the wishes of the audience.
5. Premium II [930128] Silky's 1
Premium 2 has exactly the same premise as its predecessor - play through four erotic scenarios, each dedicated to a specific theme, without any over-arching story line. The gameplay is exactly the same as in the previous game: the player goes through simple context-specific commands to trigger the next scene. The situations are entirely dedicated to sex.
CG beautiful as ever and the "plot" part is quite non-existant. There are some bad endings on poor choices.
6. Fushigi no Umi no Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water ふしぎの海のナディア THE SECRET OF BLUE WATER [930129] Hudson Soft 1 2 3 4 5 6
Fushigi no Umi no Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water is one of the several games based on the anime series of the same name. The game assumes familiarity with the story of the anime, taking the player directly into the time frame of late episodes, where Grandis and the jewel thieves have already joined Jean and Nadia on their travels with Captain Nemo on his submarine "Nautilus". Following a dramatic scene that reveals more about Electra's past, the crew is stranded on a mysterious island. Jean, Nadia, Marie, and the lion cub King decide to explore it, and discover an ancient civilization in the process.
There are English reviews.
7. Beast 3 ビースト 3 [9301] Birdy Soft
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.
Game is now set outdoors! So we search information from inhabitants of one area, get the lead to next area and so on. There's almost no H-scenes. There are a lot of gags on the previous parts scattered around. So the serious atmosphere of the first parts is totally ruined, maybe for the best. Still, beast trilogy stays one of the three pillars of Birdie Soft company on par with Joker and CAL series.
Doukyuusei and Koroshi no Dress 3 are the masterpieces of December 1992, but I just can't rate a good story game lower than a very good, but still nanpa game. Koroshi no Dress 3 is the VN of December 1992.
1. Chikyuu Bouei Shoujo Iko-chan ~UFO Daisakusen~ 地球防衛少女イコちゃん ～ＵＦＯ大作戦～ [921204] Chime
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. Mirror 鏡 －ｍｉｒｒｏｒ－ [921209] Studio Twinkle 1
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.
3. Moonlight Energy ムーンライトエナジー [921210] Interheart 1 2
The heroine of the game is a high school student named Maki, who is focused on just one thing: sex with girls.
Interheart first game and a nukige right off the bat. The story is extremely lightweight and comical.
4. Ginsei Senshin Guynarock 2 銀聖戦神ガイナロック 2 [921211] Silence
2125. Half a year after the first incident. This time the SIS crew stumbles upon another ghost spaceship. Having found nothing, they move on, but two girls develop some body abnormalities. What kind of disease is brought from the abandoned spaceship?
A new Silence game which means it's not a long, but a highly animated game. This time the contents is less hardcore and presented by nude body parts at best. The turn of events here is curious, but not as thrilling as in the prequel. Perhaps for that reason the prequel gets a remake later from Sogna, but this second part does not.
5. Will no Dengon ウィルの伝言 [921211] Cocktail Soft
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.
6. Dalk [921215] Alice Soft 1 2 3 4 5 6
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.
7. Doukyuusei 同級生 [921217] Elf 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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.
8. Floppy Bunko 14 - Sadistic Gamers Syndrome - Episode 1 フロッピー文庫14 サディスティックゲーマーズシンドローム エピソード1 [921218] Sixteens 1
You play as a boy who is getting real bad grades. You get a tutor in the form of a strict looking woman who is secretly into some vaguely kinky stuff. She thinks that smart people are sexy, so if you show her how smart you really are, then maybe the game will start to get sexual. The quiz will cover all sorts of topics, though none of the questions are presented in a way that makes it particularly funny.
There is an English review of the game.
9. Pastel Lime パステルLime [921218] Naxat Soft 1 2
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.
10. Red [921219] Discovery
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.
11. Koroshi no Dress 3 殺しのドレス３ [921220] Fairytale
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.
12. Mischif ミスチフ [921223] Basement 1
Long time ago, the Magic World and our world were not on good terms. But now, it has become different - or has it?.. In any case, a young spoiled boy named Frito, from a rich Magic World family, has to get married - and his father tells him to choose a spouse from our world. Frito's trusted servant, an elf-like creature named Fin, finds three suitable girls: a Japanese high-school student (naturally), a maid, and a Wild West farmer girl. Who will become the happy bride?..
The second and last title of Basement who gave us Armist. Despite the fantasy setting quite a normal nanpa game. The difficulty is actually high since you can easily overdo something during H scene point and click session. There is an ending for each of the brides plus a hidden ending.
13. Beyond the Wall of Stars [921223] R. A. Montgomery 1 2 3
The planet Celadon is in trouble and needs help. In this story, you will become part of the expedition team which will try to reach Tara, a recently settled planet far beyond the Wall of Stars. Along the way, you'll get to affect the outcome of the story by making a series of critical decisions about direction, strategy, tactics and teamwork.
It's EVN, so it naturally has English reviews.
Dracula Hakushaku is the only masterpiece game of November 1992.
1. Iris-tei Serenade イーリス亭小夜曲 [921113] Agumix 1 2
Iris Tei Serenade is set in a medieval fantasy land. For seven years, the two most powerful countries - the Empire of Aimar and the Kingdom of Langbard - have been at war with each other. In order to secure the victory, the people of Aimar turned to Imar, their hero and guardian angel. Imar's mission is to infiltrate the Langbard kingdom. However, once he arrives there and stays at the inn run by three young and lovely sisters, his mind turns into a direction quite different from war and politics...
There is an English review.
2. Jan Jaka Jan 雀ＪＡＫＡ雀 [921113] Elf 1 2
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.
3. Nooch - Abakareta Inbou ヌーク あばかれた陰謀 [921113] Softhouse Bonbee Bonbon 1
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 a 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 walkthrough was not as easy to get as it is nowadays.
4. E [i:] Tokyo Kyonyuu Story Ｅ［ｉ：］東京巨乳ストーリー [921120] Apple Pie
Hero works at the counter of a coffee house along with five beautiful women. He lives on the second floor of the same building since it belongs to his father. One day he discovers a TV set that is connected to hidden cameras around the coffee shop...
On par with the title of Tokyo big boobs story the aim is H even with every girl. We get to decide each day which girl to help around the shop.
5. DOR Part 3 DOR Part 3 [921127] D.O. 1
DOR Part 3 is, as the title implies, the third entry in the series. The game's structure is identical to that of the predecessors: three completely unrelated scenarios, which can be accessed from the main menu.
The first scenario deals with a young man who is bored working for a company called D.O.. Luckily, on that particular day the company decides to interview a few young and pretty women, and naturally, the hero is glad to jump at that opportunity...
The second scenario depicts an average guy on a plane who pretends to be a real hijacker, threatening the passengers and coercing the female flight attendants to perform services of sexual nature for him.
The third scenario tells the story of a mad scientist, who has invented a machine that would turn human being into his willing slaves. At first, the scientist decides to use this machine on his cute female assistant, but in an unexpected turn of events, new victims appear...
New set of nukige stories.
6. Dracula Hakushaku ドラキュラ伯爵 [921127] Fairytale 1 2
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.
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.
7. Psychic Detective Series Final Vol. 6: Solitude (Joukan) サイキック・ディテクティブ・シリーズ・ファイナル Vol.6 ソリチュード（上巻） [921127] DataWest
Several months after the events of the "Nightmare" part.
- "Aya Shingonji is alive, I need your help" said the man who visited the hero at the hospital room. Katsuya Furuyagi lost much of his psychic force after the "Nightmare" incident when he spend almost all of his power to to drag the consciousness of murdered Langhao who got resurrected to the body of Rosemary girl. Aya was Katsuya former lover who lost consciousness and existed on a vegetative level with life support system. Is Aya truly alive? The biggest crisis of the series approaches.
This is the first half of the final volume of the story and things get terribly complicated here. Lots of previous works are interlinked here, so trying to discuss the story without a firm knowledge of previous parts is useless. Retrospective scenes jumps here and there all the time and it's difficult to follow the story. The game only covers a week of living in the Aya parents house prior to the dive into Aya mind which happens only in the following game, so evaluation of this part as a stand-alone game is not high.
8. Camisole キャミソール [9211] Flat
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.
Ginga Ojou-sama Densetsu Yuna is the only masterpiece game of October 1992.
1. Yawara! ヤワラ [921001] Sofix 1 2 3
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
2. Present 2 プレゼント２ [921006] Orange House
Collection of three short stories:
- "Incest". Hero does not have siblings but meets a magical angel one day and confesses his dream of having a sister to him. When he comes home a sister is waiting for him.
- "Cat girl Mina". Heroine catches a cold and takes a day off school. As she wakes up she finds a human shaped cat on the bed of the other room.
- "Southern Cross". Noah plan to colonize another star is going to be carried tomorrow. Hero spends the last night before departure with his lover in a hotel.
Stories composition is similar to the prequel. The main difference is that there is now more explanation of the setting in each story, so there is less negative impact.
3. Mayumi まゆみ [921009] Cocktail Soft 1
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.
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, manage to get inside the needed room and fight your way out. That's very much it. Screen is too small to enjoy the scenery. Story is quite serious, without spontaneous ecchi.
4. Charm シャルム [921010] P's PSYTEC Co., Ltd. 1
Charm is a visual novel that consists of five very short episodes from the life of a teenage girl named Eriko. The episodes can be accessed separately from the main menu. In the first episode, Eriko describes her ambiguous feelings towards her half-sister. In the second episode, Eriko has sexual fantasies about her female teacher. In the third episode (without adult content), Eriko participates in a cosplay. The fourth episode tells about her relationship with a female classmate, while the fifth is dedicated to her ambitions and desire to become popular with the boys.
Five short stories requiring only pressing enter to progress. Game is unusual for presenting a yuri episode. Pale colors, yuri theme and woman as main heroine create a light unique atmosphere. Game is not so much about physical relations, but more about the mindset and the anguish of the heroine.
5. Presence [921016] Sur De Wave
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.
6. Sweet Angel スウィートエンジェル [921018] Active 1
The player takes the role of Seisa, a bald-headed photographer. He likes sneaking into a high school and taking pictures of pretty girls. But one day he was caught and beaten by a girl who didn't want to be photographed. So Seisa plotted an elaborate revenge scheme: he managed to learn a spell that allowed him to look like different girls. Naturally, being one of the girls, it becomes much easier for our heroes to earn their trust - and to seduce them!
We tackled on Sweet girl 2 earlier, and this game is indeed its modified version. Same control of the hero movements, same multiple school locations to search for some new characters to appear each time, same impure intentions of the hero.
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
8. Kerakera-sei けらけら星 [921030] Cocktail Soft
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 dokan protagonist and some protagonist drama that looks entertaining. So it starts as bakage, continues as youth drama and ends as a bakage again as the hero chooses the friendship with his best friend over the romance with a girl. A very curious concept.
My Eyes! is the only masterpiece game of September 1992.
1. Ryuu no Hanazono 龍の花園 [920904] Family Soft
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.
2. My Eyes! My Eyes! [920910] Birdy Soft 1 2 3 4
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.
There is an English review.
3. Premium [920917] Silky's 1
Premium consists of four scenarios, each one of which is dedicated entirely to sex (sometimes with a bit of conversation and very straight-forward seduction before). There is no real story, just a series of encounters of nameless protagonists with different types of young women. Each of the four scenarios is dedicated to a specific occupation, which are: school girl, maid, magician, and finally Buddhist nun.
Second Sikly's game and again a nukige with top notch graphics.
4. Ms. DETECTIVE - File #1: Iwami Ginzan Satsujin Jiken ミス・ディテクティヴ ファイル#1 石見銀山殺人事件 [920918] DataWest
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.
5. Dengeki Nurse 電撃ナース [920922] Cocktail Soft 1 2 3
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
6. Super D.P.S. Super D.P.S. [9209] Alice Soft 1
Super D.P.S. is the fifth entry in the D.P.S./Dream Program System series. Like the other D.P.S. games, it is a collection of three short scenarios, which are unrelated to each other story-wise and can be played separately. Those scenarios are presented as cartridges played on a fictional console named Dream Program System. Each scenario allows the player to choose between two different protagonists, or two different personalities for the protagonist. All of the scenarios feature nudity and/or sexual situations.
The scenarios in this game include:
1. A rather disturbing tale entitled Maria and Kanpan, which focuses on a young female robot specialist who falls asleep and is sexually "explored" by one of the robots. The player can view the events from either the girl's or the robot's point of view.
2. An adventurous scenario, which depicts the dangers encountered by a young couple in a tropical forest populated by local tribes. The two are imprisoned and have to find a way to escape. The player can choose to control either the heroine or the hero.
3. A scenario with sci-fi elements, involving a famous female space pirate named Camelia, who raids a space ship together with her pretty lieutenant. The story varies according to the player's choice to control Camelia herself, or a male soldier on the ship who captures Camelia's lieutenant.
The first visual novel to implement as much as 256 colors with pc-98. Apart of that usual DPS content.
Kiss is the only masterpiece game of August 1992.
1. Kiss [920801] Ange
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 魔法少女りな [920807] Family Soft 1
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. 48 Night Story 48夜物語 [920821] Silky's 1
Guess the favorite sex position of each girl based on their personalities and get a reward on the right guess.
Silky's debut work and it's already terrible. Simple mechanics, no story. 48 girls. Elf-style drawing is top class, as usual.
4. Tesera Kimi wa Kegareta Tenshi ka Seinaru Majo ka!? テセラ キミは汚れた天使か聖なる魔女か！？ [920821] IDES
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.
5. Pleria - The Royal Emblem Pleria - The Royal Emblem [9208] Orange House
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.
July 1992 has some fierce competition. I consider all of Armist , Phobos , Shinjuku Monogatari and Can Can Bunny Premiere as masterpieces. But since I rate serious SF stories above the others, Phobos is VN of July 1992.
1. Armist Armist [920703] Basement 1 2
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. Image イマージュ [920710] Software House Parsley 1
Image consists of three short episodes; each episode, in its turn, contains two different scenarios. The two scenarios within each episode are similar to each other, featuring the same main female character, and sharing many of the scenes (mostly of sexual nature); however, the identity of the protagonist, the circumstances leading to the development of the story, the dialogue, and the commands required to choose in order to complete the scenario are different.
All the three episodes are rather minimalistic, featuring only the protagonist and the female character; the object is always to have sex with the latter. The first episode introduces a girl from the tennis club, the protagonist being either an older boy or a younger classmate. The second revolves around a female high school student who stays in the school after classes; the protagonist can be a male classmate or a male teacher. Finally, the third episode is dedicated to the lovely school nurse, with the protagonist taking two alternate routes to win her graces.
An ugly narrow-minded game. Wrong choice leads to game over.
3. Yumeji - Asakusa-Kitan 夢二 浅草綺譚 [920710] Fairytale
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.
4. Alice no Yakata 2 ALICEの館２ [920715] Alice Soft
An Alice Soft fan-disc containing four short games and varied extra content, such as being able to listen to the complete soundtrack of all their previous games.
The following games are part of this collection:
1. A mini-RPG set after the events of Rance 3. You take the control of Patton as he tries to beat an M Land attraction during Hunty's absence.
2. A short adventure game about a pair policewomen trying to solve the case of a serial rapist.
3. After the disappearance of Rance at the end of Rance 3, the princess of Leazas Lia takes her frustrations out on monsters she takes captive. You play as a valiant Okayu Fever as he assaults Leazas castle to save the captive monsters.
The game inherits the Rance 3 battle system and is composed of a set of preset encounters.
4. A quiz game in which you get a naked CG or a short ero scene with an Alice Soft heroine after succesfully answering the questions. Includes heroines from the Rance series, Toushin Toshi and D.P.S. SG Set 2.
I can't really stand fandisks.
5. Phobos フォボス [920716] Himeya Soft 1 2
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 Bacta and Phobos were written by Mr.Abe and they share such features as charismatic hero and grappling atmosphere. But while Bacta 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.
6. Shinjuku Monogatari 新宿物語 [920723] Fairytale 1
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.
7. Can Can Bunny Premiere きゃんきゃんバニー プルミエール [920730] Cocktail Soft 1 2
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.
8. Kikou Soushin Val-Kaizer 機甲装神ヴァルカイザー [920731] Silence
In 21st century humanity started other planets colonization. Along with "bioloader" research to create a strengthened outer protective skin was underway. The lead researcher was afraid of military use of bioloader and set an explosion in the laboratory. His sister was found on the place of explosion miraculously saved.
The company originated from MIN and had close ties with Sogna, so it's not a surprise that it's a graphics oriented story with frequent use of animation. This is a fast-paced action story about Luna, her kidnapped sister, military organization and small robot Val-Kaizer who has some connection with Luna. Game features pseudo-rpg exploration while escaping the facility, but overall is a very easy command selection type of game. Game does not have HCG, but at the end it features part 2 of the story with HCG, but part 2 never came out. The visuals and cute characters make this short game very entertaining.
De-Ja 2 is the only masterpiece game of June 1992.
1. Mahjong Gensoukyoku 麻雀幻想曲 [920606] Active 1 2
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.
2. Uchuu Bouken Shoujo Nami Davie Jones ~Umi no Akuma~ 宇宙冒険少女ＮＡＭＩ Ｄａｖｉｅ Ｊｏｎｅｓ ～海の悪魔～ [920624] Popcom Soft
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 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.
3. De-Ja 2 DE・JA 2 [920625] Elf 1 2 3
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.
4. Hoshi no Suna Monogatari 2 星の砂物語２ [920625] D.O. 1
The second entry in the adult detective/mystery series describes another case in the life of the young amateur detective and nearly professional seducer of pretty women, Gengorou Imai. The stage of events is once again a boarding house in the country, this time in the winter season, with skiing and other attractions. Gen is having a good time with the young, but "demanding" Reiko Honda, when the news strike: a family friend, a young foreigner named Eddie, is stabbed by an unknown assailant. The only clue Gen can find right away are strange letters written in blood: H and O. What do they mean? Why would anyone want to harm the young boy? With the help of the many pretty girls at the boarding house and its surroundings, Gen begins the investigation, determined to find the criminal...
Another murder case, but now on a ski resort. This time there are even multiple endings prepared. But the governing element of the game is eroticism and graphics. The story really feels inferior here.
5. Bishoujo Tsuushin - Chat no Susume 美少女通信 CHATのススメ [920630] Cocktail Soft
Interactive chat with girls from previous Cocktail Soft games.
This is the first attempt to make an interactive chat and it's indeed a crude one. You can't even choose phrases, just icons that are meant to represent some emotion. The girls talks is also robotic-like - it's not interactive at all. Game should be treated just as a fan disk to meet favorite characters again.
Kurutta Kajitsu is the only masterpiece of May 1991.
1. Kurutta Kajitsu 狂った果実 [920501] Fairytale 1
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.
2. Minimum Guynarock みにまむがいなろっく [920508] Techno Brain
This is an alternative version of Ginsei Senshin Guynarock telling the shortened version of the story with chibi characters.
The playthrough is done withing some 7 minutes, for real. The second part of the game is issued in December 1992, so my best guess is that this game is to refresh the memories on the events of the prequel and produce some gags.
3. DOR Part 2 DOR Part 2 [920519] D.O. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
The sequel to DOR is structured exactly the same way as the first game: play any of the three unrelated scenarios, accessible directly from the main menu.
The first scenario takes the player into France of 16th century, during a witch hunt. The playable character is a young girl who is falsely accused of being a which and is taken into a dungeon, interrogated, and tortured.
The second scenario follows the adventures of a young boy who has lost his way in a forest. Suddenly he meets a cute little female elf, who is willing to help him find the right way, in exchange for some other favors...
The third scenario is named "Armored Fighter Gyleban" and is in a way a parody on sci-fi anime movies. The player controls a commander of a unit of female fighters with enhanced abilities, that must stop an evil organization from conquering our world.
Since the English localized version included one story from DOR part 2 all the reviews apply here as well.
4. Réserve 2 [920501] MIN
The final chapter in the Reserve series once again stars Mio but this time the creatures from the diminsion she travelled to in the first game have come to her school and are haunting her classmates and teachers. She suspects there's something funny about the new girl in class - who turns out to be Koumori in human form and hiding out from Lucifer and his minions.
Game's very short and oriented on ero-scenes while losing to different monsters.
The 4th Unit - Wyatt is the only masterpiece game of April 1992.
1. The 4th Unit - Wyatt 第４のユニット ＷＹＡＴＴ [920403] DataWest 1 2
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 last episode in the story before company went bankrupt so the story is left unfinished. 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 are also improved. Difficulty-wise it has become relatively less punishing with only one serious pitch moment to reload a lot.
2. Dr.Stop! Dr.STOP! [920415] Alice Soft 1
In Dr. Stop! you control Takumi, who works in a hospital and whose mind is mostly occupied with female patients, most of whom are young and pretty. One day, during a visit to a patient, an explosion occurs. Who caused it - one of the patients or an outsider, or maybe a staff member? It's up to you to investigate, and win the affection of your lovely patients.
An unusual work in that text takes from half of the screen here to the whole screen and the pictures change location all the time and are sometimes presented by just a modest square in the corner. It's a suspense game in the hospital, but also a charage. All the characters are weird, but funny enough. In the end the lack of backgrounds and graphics is a big hit on the impression.
3. Lam-Mal 蘭丸 [920424] Fairytale
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.
4. Dead of the Brain ~Day of the Living Dead~ DEAD OF THE BRAIN ～死霊の叫び～ [9204] Fairytale 1 2 3 4 5 6
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 English reviews on the game.
5. Lunatic Fantasy Lunatic Fantasy [9204] Studio Light Cross 1 2
The story starts with an amnesiac woman, who is only able to remember her name - Fab, waking up in the forest. With the help of local dryads Fab reaches a nearby town and stops at the tavern. Suddenly she is approached by a blind girl who proclaims: "Mommy, you finally returned"...
There is an English review.
