February 2012 Eroge Releases

For a month that is full of delays, sequels, fandisks and delayed sequels and fandisks, the most anticipated title is probably SAGA PLANETS’ Hatsuyuki Sakura. Don’t judge an eroge by its cover as the story appears to be much darker beneath the pastel surface. If you want something a little lighter, try out Sugar pot’s Tsukumo no Tsuki or light’s Kami no Yu.

A month full of Micchi’s lies and easy commentary is a win for me. Sadly though there is not much here I feel much inclined to actually look forward to let alone play, as much as I dread commenting on the lineup of new games next month I sure hope there is more worth acknowledging.

Twinkle☆Crusaders -Passion Star Stream-

Company: Lillian
Game site: ティンクル☆くるせいだーす -Passion Star Stream-
Release date: February 10, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from January. Passion Star Stream is the sequel to Lillian’s popular PC and PSP title Twinkle☆Crusaders and it is composed of 4 parts. “Twinkle☆Crusaders Venus Embryo” is the ending chapter to Kurukuru where new character Illear takes Synn away with her with the intention of destroying the world and remaking it as a world just for the two of them. In the crossover story “The Queen of Witches”, they travel to the witches’ world and meet the cast from Pajamas Soft’s Princess Witches. However, the only way they can return is to defeat the queen. There is also an ero-comedic ‘if’ story, “Ku RUKU-ru!” and icharabu after stories.

For a small extra cost, you can also get Twinkle☆Crusaders Starlit Brave Xtream!!, the PC port of PSP game’s battle royale. It features characters from other companies, such as Yoake‘s Feena, Flyable Heart‘s Yui, Tenshin Ranman‘s Sakuya and Koisora‘s Kayoko.

Entertaining game with a powered up battle system featuring more characters and skills. The story is pretty much slapstick comedy, so even if you haven’t played the original, you can easily dive into this one right away. The battle is kinda chaotic and it takes a bit of getting used to, but I love all the shiny effects and combo attacks ^^

Do I care? Not bloody likely.

Mmm… see-through camisoles…

Mahou Bishoujo Magical☆Moerin♪S

Company: Rainbow Cyc
Game site: 魔法美少女まじかる☆萌えりん♪S
Release date: February 10, 2012
Comments:
Masaharu spends noisy days together with his imouto who’s a little lacking in morals. On his way home from school one day, he came upon a mahou shoujo surrounded by people in black tights who could easily be mistaken for perverts. He recognized her as his osananajimi who had left a year ago. The next day, the bad guys turned to attack him and other mahou shoujos showed up to fight them. Will they be able to protect him?

This is a remake of the original Magical☆Moerin♪ from 2009. It was originally cancelled (when it was labelled Revolution instead of Super), but was since revived. It’s a mahou shoujo parody baka-ge which doesn’t take itself seriously in the least. I feel bad for laughing at just how awful it is. Also, what’s the point of a mahou shoujo game if there are no animated transformation scenes!? I think the highlight is his imouto who assaults him every morning and intends to take his virginity. Ganbare, imouto-chan.

Should have left this game in the canceled bin. Maybe were this made to be a silly game based on comedy in a more normal setting it may have had some merit, but even ignoring my strong dislike of mahou shoujo the very inclusion of such a theme tends to weaken the gap value of how the comedy relates to daily life. Without any real story or anything special comedy or setting wise, all I can say is try harder next time.

Princess-Style

Company: メテオ (Meteor)
Game site: Princess-Style
Release date: February 24, 2012 Delayed to March 30, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from December. Madoka’s family were descendants from the nobles, but they have fallen on hard times. However, due to his father’s financial successes, they’ve regained some of their wealth. His old-fashioned father was strict about speech and appearances and arranged his transfer to the prestigious Ookusu Gakuin to help him become a proper man. On his way to the dorms on the first day, he came upon a beautiful girl in the school’s courtyard, who looked like a princess straight out from a children’s book. While he was entranced by her beauty, she suddenly opened her eyes, looked at him and let out a scream, causing him to run away startled.

When he reached the boys’ dormitory, he found the same girl from before, Orfina, in his room. She is the princess from a small Northern European country who came to study at the school. However, she refused to live at the embassy and snuck into an empty room (which was now his) with her servant Kanon. Even though it was against the rules, she was determined to stay there and ends up taking over most of his room. Thus began his strange co-living with a proud princess. Over time, he became closer to her. Madoka had a difficult time adjusting to the high culture at the school. There is a group known as the Reijinkai where those in the nobility gather. They invited Orfina to join them, but were turned down. After some commotion, he ended up creating the Shakoubu with Orfina to oppose the Reijinkai. Which group would be able to gather more members?

I’d gladly have a cute princess living with me; it would’ve made school a lot more fun. However, I don’t really understand why they had to introduce the ‘club vs club’ aspect when there’s already so many plot devices at their disposal. Meteor’s games are more about character than story (see: Yaya) and this seems to be the same as usual for them. Ayame is really cute (and a double A!).

This game feels like a twisted combination of Duelist x Engage and Princess Lover with some KoiChoco thrown in for good measure. Not the best combination by any stretch and I can only question why they bothered to include so many plot devices in a story that is devoid of well.. story. The entire club battle theme would have been best used on the route of a specific heroine or heroines rather than as a general story device while the whole princess in his room thing is just plain boring with how the writers force that situation to bring the characters together. Perhaps had the creators been bothered to take the time to develop the setting and story better they could have given the characters in this character based game a background that brings out their charms. Instead we get a trite and cliche charage that has no value in terms of originality or artwork, sure if you enjoy reading the same stories about the same characters in the same situations this may not be so bad. I for one feel that this is yet another game to add to the pile of forgotten games that could have been had the creators bothered to take five extra minutes to brainstorm and flesh out the design and story of their game.

SHINY DAYS

Company: オーバーフロー (Overflow)
Game site: SHINY DAYS
Release date: February 24, 2012 Delayed to April 27, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from November. Setsuna starts doing part-time during the summer break at the popular seaside cafe Radish even though she isn’t used to being a waitress. It is because Makoto, who she secretly has feelings for, lives nearby and she might happen to meet him. Instead, she has a disastrous first meeting with Inori, who ends up rooming with her.

This in an another story based on Summer Days, focused on the popular Setsuna and a new heroine Inori. Of course, Sekai, Kotonoha-sama and Kokoro are back as well. The first-press limited edition includes the baseball game ‘Strip Battle Days’ which was previously announced as an April Fool’s joke. Yes, Kokoro is among your opponents.

This series has the worst protagonist ever, had they done a better job on him I could see some merit in the repeated spinoffs, but as I will never be able to deal with that distasteful scumbag of a protagonist all the enjoyment from the bad ends is gone for me.

I think part of the appeal is that Makoto is so downright awful that anyone else by comparison looks better.

Which would not be so bad were he not the protagonist, I would rather play as Micchi than Makoto in an eroge.

Hey! Only I get to do that!

Fine, then I would rather play as Azu.

fortissimo EXS//Akkord:nächsten Phase

Company: ラクリマ (La’cryma)
Game site: fortissimo EXS//Akkord：nächsten Phase（フォルテシモ エグゼス アコルト：ネクステン ファーゼ）
Release date: February 24, 2012 Delayed to June 29, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from December. The 18+ version of fortissimo, adding three new routes for Sakura, Momiji and Sarasa. Kuri from the novel will also make an appearance, along with two new characters, Roki and Kurokishi. If there was one chara that deserved more story about her, it would be Momiji. Fans will surely be happy about this.

I think I will wait to hear if this is as bad a minefield as the original before I try it, at least with the new routes this is finally a game worth considering. Still, all it amounts to is more or less original + fandisk with HCG.

Kami no Yu

Company: light
Game site: かみのゆ
Release date: February 24, 2012
Comments:
The ofuro in Yoshito’s apartment blew up suddenly. To him who loved being in the ofuro more than eating, this was a serious situation. His best friend Anri suggested that he visit a nearby bath house… which happened to be a bath house for gods!

The bishoujo turned into a monster, the loli became a sexy onee-san, the strong girl turned ultra-shy, and even Anri was now a girl!? Whoever blew up the ofuro is a great god!? He ended up being forced to work at Kaminoyu and he must wash the backs of the girls!? What will happen to his normal life!?

A pretty wacky game from two first-time writers in Oota Yuu and Yoshifuji Masataka. Is it just me or do AKINOKO.’s heroines keep getting skinnier? Might be an interesting pick if you’re up for random hijinks.

I am at a loss, do I laugh or cry for this game? Apparently they aren’t even trying to cover up the lack of story, which by itself is fine, but will it even be funny enough throughout the game, and will the rather perverted nature of eroge bath scenes turn the game into boring fanservice? Of course the start of the game will likely be funny enough to be worth playing, however I have to doubt whether that will continue throughout the duration of the common route and even more so when it comes to individual routes. Since I want a good comedy game to play lately I think I will give this game a shot though in the hopes it ends up being a good investment in lighthearted entertainment.

Hatsuyuki Sakura

Company: SAGA PLANETS
Game site: はつゆきさくら
Release date: February 24, 2012
Comments:
Hatsuyuki is a rare delinquent at Shirosaki Gakuen, grudgingly showing up in class in order to graduate. During the first snow in December, he met a beautiful girl in a pure white dress who was wandering about the old town searching for her rabbit Nemu. A few days later, the girl Sakura transferred into his school, with the intention of bringing him with her to the last winter.

This is the latest game in SAGA PLANETS’ ‘seasons’ series, following Kamihami, Natsunagi and Kisaragi. Don’t just dismiss this game as just another moe-ge, as there is a darker side than what the synopsis suggests, not unlike Natsunagi. I’d actually suggest you go play the trial and get a feel for it; it’ll leave you wanting more. Of course, the characters are cute as usual, especially Sakura, Yoru and Shiro. Hatsuyuki is not your typical kind protagonist, so that’s a nice change (I hope he warms up in the end). I really like the different OPs, including the usage of cute 3d chibi models. Definitely my pick of the month! Play it or else! Garurushiro!

Don’t let Micchi fool you these games are no darker than barbecued lamb. Tragedies do not make games dark, deep, or unique just a little sad or bittersweet, Sixth Sense style endings do not suddenly turn a moege into something more. While there may be room for growth with the likely inclusion of some major plot twist near the end, frankly the plot setup is lazy and lame, following the typical guy has a memorable meeting with girl who then becomes mysterious transfer student A who exists to provide a pair of pants for our protagonist to invade. The creators could have at least been more subtle in their setting, characters, and motivations. Of course Micchi would like the childish character designs, so if you happen to also suffer from a mental disability known as pedophilia and care not for a good story or character development, SAGA PLANETS has heard your prayers and delivered with a cast whom aside from chest size appear to be from a neighboring primary school rather than high school.

I didn’t read past your first sentence T_T

Don’t worry, you can still be nice and get her hopes up that someone could love her disfigured and useless self before leaving her alone forever. So don’t let it get you down and read the rest of my insightful wisdom.

PV

Prologue

Grisaia no Meikyuu -Le Labyrinthe de Grisaia-

Company: フロントウイング (FrontWing)
Game site: グリザイアの迷宮 -LE LABYRINTHE DE GRISAIA-
Release date: February 24, 2012
Comments:
The sequel to last year’s top eroge Grisaia no Kajitsu. It features additional stories for the heroines, delves into the background of the mysterious protagonist Yuuji, and adds a route for his older sister Kazuki. Needless to say, it’ll be highly anticipated by a lot of people. You should play the original title if you haven’t done so too. The visuals and OP are as wonderful as usual.

This reminds me that I have yet to play the original past a few hours, some of the characters were annoying and the plot moved slowly. Although I am interested in the new route and some background for the protagonist, even though there were so many things about this game that annoyed me because of how stupid and or dead wrong they were. Oh well fandisk so not worthy of full commentary anyway, may entice me enough to play through the original though.

PV

Tsukumo no Tsuki

Company: Sugar pot
Game site: ツクモノツキ
Release date: February 24, 2012
Comments:
Keita lived together with his weak imouto Maya while being supported by their relatives. He didn’t have any memories prior to his childhood accident, but otherwise he’s enjoying his life. Lately he often had a strange dream about a girl dressed in white – a dream which seemed to grip his heart tightly. One day at Maya’s suggestion, they headed to a place they’ve been to in the past, which he didn’t remember due to his accident. They reached a small shrine on a hill where a mysterious girl named Tsukumo appeared. She embraced him and said, “I’ve been waiting, oniichan”.

I really love the art – it’s so cute and loli!. The OP is also really catchy. And there’s TWO imoutos! I can’t choose between Maya and Tsukumo, so I’m gonna take both! Hau omochikaeri~!! Well, no problems with graphics and sound, but my main worry is the story. While the synopsis seems like it could be good, the scenario writer Onoue Shouta hasn’t really written any titles that has impressed me. Nekokoi, D-EVE in you and 77 aren’t games you’d write home about. That being said, I’d still probably check this out… for the imoutos!

So this game is about lolicon on loli action with “Onii chans” being thrown around left and right. Lets face it, this game is nothing more than a lazy way to appeal to the little sister loving demographic, there is nothing else to this game aside from the little sisters being all over their brother while acting cute. Unless nothing aside from cute (And very loli) heroines matters to you, then just like Micchi you will be happy to look forward to something made to insult the consumer by cutting every other corner possible.

Navel＊Plus

Company: Navel
Game site: ネブ＊プラス
Release date: February 24, 2012
Comments:
This is a fandisk featuring the three heroines chosen in the NAG 2012 popularity poll: SHUFFLE!‘s Sakura, Oretsuba‘s Asuka and Sekajo‘s Tsubakiko. Lots of icharabu. I guess Navel fans love long-haired girls…

Boring + fandisk = not even worthy of a comment.

Princess X FD ~Iinazuke wa Owaranai!?~

Company: Poison＠Berry
Game site: プリンセスXFD ～許嫁は終わらない!?～
Release date: February 24, 2012 Delayed to March 2, 2012
Comments:
This Princess X fandisk contains 12 short stories, showcasing all the non-human girls that you’ve come to love… maybe a bit too much. Not really my cup of tea; I think I’m content with normal girls.

Oh man, that green Octo-lion on the cover is hot. Other than that not sure why I should care about a game that tries to appeal by throwing a bunch of characters together to cover a specific demographic.

Wow, I didn’t even notice that. You just like green things, don’t you?

Green things are obviously superior to blue or salmon ones.

Hotchkiss

Company: 戯画 (GIGA)
Game site: ホチキス
Release date: February 24, 2012
Comments:
Shigeru is a smooth-talking 2nd-year student at Tsunekusu Gakuen, which prides itself on offering an enjoyable school life for all students. To this end, there is a shop that almost every student knows about, selling everything from exam cheat sheets, scouting reports for upcoming matches, photos of girls, and even things that look like love potions. In the past, good luck charms for attaining love were also sold there and were quite popular.

This shop is known as ‘gakuen seikatsu sougojo kenkyuukai’ (research society for helping each others’ school lives), shortened as ‘gojoken’. Shigeru went to check it out of curiosity and instead found the school idol Yukino there as a replacement salesperson for the leader. Irritated at her awkward service, he decided to help himself, but ended up being mistaken for a salesperson by the other students. One day, Yukino called him up to the rooftop and gave him a stapler. She told him that it was a stapler of eternal bonds.

Japanese staplers are romantic. HOld me, and snaTCH my KISS! I love eroge subtitles. The artwork is wonderful, but that’s about it. With two first-time writers working on this, the product ended up being neither good nor bad. It’s just there, but at least it looks good. The simplicity of the characters is supposed to be a charm point, but there isn’t anything that make them stand out and makes it hard to fall in love with them. Nana is an osananajimi I wouldn’t mind having though. Unless you don’t mind playing through a whole game of ‘common route’ material, it might be better just to get the CGs.

Oh how I wish I had a store to sell cheat sheets, I wouldn’t have even had to wake up long enough to tell what the subject was or even pay attention to the test questions. Aside from that entirely pointless gimmick, there is nothing aside from an extremely standard and sub par high school romance eroge. In some sad attempt to try to come up with something original the use of a stapler to tie into the store is just as pointless as the school store selling things that undermine the entire point of a school. Without a plot or setting worth driving the writing and character development you can be this won’t be worth the time it takes to read, unless of course you have some pathological attachment to the visual character designs.

Isn’t the entire point of a school to have fun? Who needs education anyways – we all know good grades don’t automatically mean you get good jobs….

I always thought the point of a school was a place to nap during the day

No wonder you’re always so lazy.

Better than using the time to harass lolis.

Shinigami no Testament ~menuet of epistula~

Company: 3rdEye
Game site: 死神のテスタメント ～menuet of epistula～
Release date: February 24, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from January. A long time ago, there was a magic book called the ‘epistula’ which was able to grant any wish, whether it be great wealth or eternal life. However, a sudden mysterious death befell all who had their wishes granted. It was believed that a shinigami came to take their lives. Over time, this tale gradually disappeared from people’s memories. Now, there are reports of a mysterious serial hunter and whispers of an urban legend around town. Rui watched as a student from his school disappeared in a back alley. Standing there illuminated by the moonlight was a shinigami.

Rui has the ability to see through people’s lies, so he ends up not trusting anyone and doing everything he can to avoid being with others. The characters and setting are definitely there, whether or not 3rdEye can take advantage of this setup to improve from BLOODY†RONDO remains to be seen. The BGM on the game site is quite nice. Might be an interesting pick up if you like your games with a dose of battle action.

So out of sheer morbid curiosity I looked up what epistula meant, turns out in latin it means “Letter”. Now I know Japan is notoriously bad at using other languages but letter.. really now. Names for their magic books (At least it’s not the played out necronomicon I suppose) aside the theme vaguely reminds me of one of the worst series of all time, Death Note. The connection between death gods and a book that takes lives, somewhat reversed but still reminiscent of the basis for that series. While the seeing through lies bit for the protagonist is interesting it does remind me of Iris Zero so I suspect through interaction part of the basis of the story will be the distinction between good and bad lies. After Bloody Rondo I do have my misgivings about their ability to make use of their own concepts, this is even more of a tightrope in terms of plot than Bloody Rondo was so I sure hope they can pull it off.

On the bright side no matter how bad this may end up being it cannot possibly be worse than Death Note, see I can be nice once in a while.

Shojo to Maou to Tactics ~Maou Soudatsusen~

Company: Chariot
Game site: 処女と魔王とタクティクス ～魔王争奪戦～
Release date: February 24, 2012
Comments:
This is the sequel to Shojo to Maou to Tactics. After Tatsuya returned to Cielo Pantasia, Elis had intended to pass the title of maou to him. However, no one else approved of it and a tournament was declared with the winner becoming the new maou. More RPG goodness. Does it make sense to still have ‘shojo’ in the title when all the heroines aren’t virgins anymore…?

Have fun.

Hatsukoi Zensen.

Company: I.D.
Game site: 初恋前線。
Release date: February 24, 2012
Comments:
New release date after being pushed back from January. This is the fandisk for I.D.’s debut title Hatsukoi Yohou., containing after stories for the main heroines, as well as another stories for the subcharacters Haruhi, Kokoa, Megumi and Tatsumi, along with new heroine Miyuri. For a game whose appeal is that its drawn and written by women, I find it intriguing that the new heroines seem to be getting smaller. Kokoa and Haruhi are so cute, but it’s hard to view them as proper heroines than imouto subchars. They’re both under 140cm!

Fandisk for a game that would require a gun to the head for me to even consider reading, have fun with the creepy artwork for those who actually care.

Sora to Kumo to Kimi no Koi

Company: クライン (KLEIN)
Game site: 青空（そら）と雲と彼女（きみ）の恋
Release date: February 24, 2012 Delayed to March 23, 2012
Comments:
A few days into the new school year, Takayuki gazed at the clouds in the sky from his favourite spot on the roof and drifted off to sleep. When he woke up, he noticed a boy about to confess to a girl. Unable to leave, he ended up watching as the boy was quickly turned down by the girls, who he recognized as the new transfer student known as the ‘one with the steel skirt’ since no one has been able to win her love. However, she turned to him and kissed him to his utmost surprise.

A seemingly normal school love story, coming from KLEIN. And of course there’s the requisite imouto in Kurumi to tempt me. However, I don’t have high hopes for this. It’s KLEIN after all.

One day a random and unremarkable boy happened to be at some random location and by sheer chance ends up being confessed/kissed/raped by the most sought after girl in his tiny little school. Of course these actions lead to jealousy in the one or two girls who secretly had feelings for our unremarkable protagonist and acts as a catalyst to bring in more random females attracted to his protagonist pheromones. Either that or he is the only person in the world to get a bottle of Axe that works as advertised.

I think eroge protagonists are on to something….

Whatever they are on, I want some.

Taiyou no Puromia Flowering Days

Company: SEVEN WONDER
Game site: 太陽のプロミア Flowering Days
Release date: February 24, 2012
Comments:
This is the fandisk for Taiyou no Promia, taking place a few months after the closure of the original. Kodama gets to spend his summer with the ‘six flowers’ (and Promia) at Reno-Leno’s suggestion. Also, what is the meaning behind the deluge of shooting stars in Milsant? I don’t intend to play this, but swimsuits are the essence of a fandisk. What fan doesn’t love their fav chars in a swimsuit?

Fandisk for a terrible game, have fun.

Nekonade Distortion Exodus

Company: WHITESOFT
Game site: 猫撫ディストーション Exodus
Release date: February 24, 2012
Comments:
The sequel to the family-centric Nekonade Distortion. It contains omnibus stories for Kotoko, Yui, Gizmo, Shikiko and Yuzu, in addition to the Exodus story, which revolves around the remaking of the backyard and the subsequent battle against the ‘system’. Not a big fan of the OPs for this nor the original, but they sure are different.

This game could not keep me interested long enough to care about a sequel.

PV

Micchi’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Hatsuyuki Sakura
2. Tsukumo no Tsuki
3. Hotchkiss

Zen’s Top 3 for This Month

1. Tsukumo no Tsuki
2. Grisaia no Meikyuu -Le Labyrinthe de Grisaia-
3. fortissimo EXS//Akkord:nächsten Phase

Get your FD fill this month since March is going to be almost all new titles…

There can never be enough fandisks to make my job easier.

Fine. We’ll make it harder next month then.

How do you feel about writing a paragraph of green text too next month?

No thanks.