Console Visual Novels

[fun2novel]

Most of us here play PC visual novels exclusively and it can't really be helped, PC visual novels are easier to access and tools like ITH and Translator Aggregator make it easier to read untranslated VNs at least for those whose Japanese is at an adequate level.

 

Those who want to play console visual novels don't have that luxury, you are either very good at Japanese and can understand almost everything you read or you just cannot and should not touch a console visual novel. This is very sad because consoles have some of the best exclusive visual novels and the lack of translations or proper tools to play them makes it even sadder that more people don't even know they exist.

 

Do you have a favorite console exclusive VN? Do have a console VN that you really want to play but can't because of lack of Japanese? Or is there a console VN that caught your attention? Tell us your console vns and why you think it's good or why you want to play it.

 

I'll list my by consoles, some of them are on more than one console but I don't don't always mention that. Also, some games here are technically considered adventure games but since they have a presentation closely resembling a visual novel I'll include these games too.

 

Sega CD

 

Snatcher - developed by Konami and designed by Hideo Kojima. The Sega CD the English exclusive and was never released in Japan. This version is an enhanced version of the PC-Engine Snatcher (which itself is a remake of the MSX and PC-88 versions.) One of the best visual novels (technically a Japanese adventure game but how cares really, lol.) Great mystery and an interesting overall plot. Cool characters as well. The game was remade for the PSX and the Saturn with new (some would say worse) visuals, music and censorship. The best versions are Sega CD and PC-Engine.

 

Sega Saturn

 

Real Sound Kaze No Regret - created by the late Kanji Eno (D and Enemy Zero), the production of Real Sound too a special consideration people with visual disablities, it is heavily relies on sounds than text. It is certainly one of the most unique games out there.

 

Policenauts - Hideo Kojimas directorial debut, although has was the main man behind Snatcher too but he was not credited as director yet. Policenauts is a buddy cop story in the style of Lethal Weapon movies but with that Kodjima flavor. The Playstation version has been fan translated and is highly recommended. The game was also released on the PSX, in fact the Saturn version was released after the PSX version which was a port of the 3DO version (with a few graphical changes) which even that was a remake of the PC-98 version, makes your head spin? Told you it's from Kojima, lol.

 

Virus - technically an adventure game. Released on 3 discs full of high quality animation sound and visuals, you walk in this game in the same style as in D. It is an intriguing dark sci-fi mystery with some mature themes, one of the better Saturn games.

 

Playstation

 

Alive - not exactly a visual novel, it's an FMV game, an interactive movie but a very interesting one at that. There is action mystery and some romance I think.

 

Dancing Blade - created by Konami this is an animated visual novel. It looks like a typical anime style but it's an interesting adventure story and has a lot of well animated scenes. This is one of the few games on PSX that used a copy protection to prevent modchipped systems to play it.

 

Dancing Blade 2 - the sequel to the one above. Both games where also released for the Dreamcast.

 

Double Cast - the first in the Yarudora series of fully animated visual novels. These are usually romance story with some kind of mystery and thriller element. The games are actually created by ProductionIG so they have really good animation. Each of the game's visual style was different from each other, and each had a different character designer too. There are 4 main games in the series each takes place at a different season of the year.

 

Kisetsu wo Dakishimete - the 2nd game in the ProductionIG's Yarudora series. Probably the best looking of them all. For more info read about Double Cast.

 

Kowloon's Gate - a very unique and ambitious adventure game developed by Sony and Artdink. It's got a very surreal feel to it as you explore china's Kowloon.

 

Maria - also came out for the Saturn. I don't know much about this one. Visually it's not impressive but it seems like an interesting mystery story. Released on 3 discs.

 

Maria 2 - sequel to the above game.

 

Kamaitachi no Yoru - first released for the Super Famicam and later remade for the Saturn and the PSX. It is the 2nd game in the original Chunsoft's sound novel trilogy. Later is spawned its own line of sequels. This was also finally released in English under the name Banshee's Last Cry.

 

Otogirisou - the first of Chunsoft's sound novels (the 2nd was Kamai Tachi no Yoru.) Initially released for the Super Famicom but later remade for the Saturn and the Playstation. It's a creepy horror story and definitely worth trying.

 

Machi - the 3rd in the original Chunsoft's sound novel trilogy, also released for the Sega Saturn. Otogirisou was popular, Kamai Tachi no Yoru is to this day being remade and rereleased and spawned a few sequels but Machi was even more popular. The setting is modern day Tokyou, you play 8 different characters and you have to switch between them all the time, you basically play the story through all 8 character's perspectives at the same time, there is a lot of crossing between them. You might play one character then go back in time and play the same part from another character giving you more clues to the overall mystery. The game was also released for the PSP.

 

Sampaguita - the 3rd in the Yarudora series. Visually looks really good but there is a severe lack of animation, not that it's all bad but if you played the first two games this is very noticeable. The character designer here is Masamune Shirow of the Ghost in the Shell fame. For more info see Double Cast.

 

Yukiwari no Hana - the 4th in the Yarudora series. Another visual change for the series and not a very good one. The tone is much more mature than previous games but the visuals are just ugly to be honest.

 

Playstation2

 

Kamaitachi no Yoru 2 - the sequel to the very popular Chunsoft game.

 

Kamaitachi no Yoru x3 (triple) - another sequel in the same series. What's interesting about this game is that it has all three games on one disc so you get a TRIPLE (yeah, I know, I want to die, bad puns) of KTnY games.

 

Playstation3

 

Disorder 6 - in the same series as Dunamis15. Another interesting mystery coming from 5pb.

 

Imabikisou - another game in the Otogirisou series of Chunsoft's sound novels. This too is a scary horror game and one of the first HD visual novels. It was also released for Wii but the PS3 has a couple of new dlc chapters that were released for free.

 

Robotics;Notes - the 3rd game in 5pb.'s science adventure series. It didn't get the best reception on Japan but it's not completely horrible either. Available for the PS3, X360 and the Vita.

 

Shin Kamitachi no Yoru - so far the last game in the series. Chunsoft wanted to start on a new series but it seems like it didn't work out. Still worth checking this one out. Came out for the Vita too.

 

PSP

 

428 - considered to be in the same series as Machi. Taking place in the same setting with with similar gameplay type. Got a perfect score from Famitsu and one of the bonus routes is written by Nasu from Type-Moon. This game came out for the PS3 and the Wii.

 

Dangan Ronpa - an very stylistic mystery story with a high school setting. Think Ace Attorney mixed with 999. Was already released in English and also has a fan translation as well. A remake for the Vita is coming (or maybe out already?)

 

Dunamis15 - a vn by 5pb. It is an interesting mystery. Definitely wroth checking out. Was also released for the PS3 and X360.

 

Ookami Kakushi - produced by Konami, written and directed by Ryukishi07. An interesting mystery with horror elements (at least that's what I think.) If you're a Ryukishi07 fan then there is no question whether you should or shouldn't play this.

 

Sentritsu no Stratus - technically not really a visual novel but an action game with a strong focus on the story. Maybe you could look at it as a visual novel with action gameplay element? Anyway, definitely an good overlooked game.

 

Super Dangan Ronpa - the sequel to Dangan Ronpa. A remake is coming for the Vita and will be officially released in English too.

 

Tsui no Giseisha - I don't know a whole lot about it yet but this looks really interesting and would like to know more about it myself. It's a series of three games.

 

NintendoDS

 

999 - the 1st in the Zero Escape series and the game that got a lot of western gamers interested in visual novels. Directed by one of the main scenario writers of the Infinity series, 999 is a mix of sci-fi, mystery, thriller and even some horror elements.

 

Ace Attorney series - pretty much everyone is familiar with this series. The latest game was released on the 3DS.

 

Nintendo 3DS

 

Zero Escape: Virtues Last Reward - the 2nd game in the Zero Escape series and an amazing sequel to 999. More mystery, thriller, murder, and freaky moments.

 

PC-98 (console wise this is stretching it, but today it could be considered a console with plenty of exclusive visual novels worth talking about)

 

Policenuts - already talked about this game but the PC-98 version deserves a special mention. It is the biggest PC-98 game ever made, at least in terms of production values. It has hours of real spoken dialogue, something almost never seen in any PC-98 game, even more than the console versions. This version is also different enough that it's worth playing this alongside the console ports.

 

There are so many more console visual novels out there, it will can fill tens of pages with lists.

[Nerathim]

999 and Virtue's Last Reward on DS, of course.

[fun2novel]

Oh yeah of course I wanted to include those but they are available in English so I didn't do it. But you're right, they are console exclusives and are definitely must play.

[Narcosis]

999 and Virtue's Last Reward on DS, of course.

DS isn't a console, it's a handheld.

 

You forgot about PC-FX; I know it's an extremely rare machine and a no-port-for-you type of console as well (only for hardcore jp fans), but it had a bunch of good, memorable titles worthy of mentioning, Pia Carrot and Doukyuusei 2 amongst them.

[Funyarinpa]

There are few officially translated console (I'd say the OP meant both handhelds and home consoles when they said "consoles", let's leave it at that and not derail the thread) VN's, but the ones that are there... Oh man.

 

Zero Escape and Danganronpa is all I can say.

 

My current view on handheld VN's:

 

3DS is borderline nonexistent in the VN department, Vita is only going strong on JP-only ports and Danganronpa (first arrived in February, the second is coming early September). As a side note, VLR is out for these two consoles only and it is hands down the best game I have ever played.

 

DS is strong on JP side of things as far as I know, but even if it didn't, it has 999...

 

PSP probably has the biggest japanese VN catalogue of all handhelds: Corpse Party, Danganronpa (PSP version, PSV versions are remakes actually), Infinity series' ports, etc.

[fun2novel]

IceD, no I have not forgotten about the PC-FX and not about the PC-Engine either. I haven't yet gone through a list to see which visual novels these systems have that are wroth reading. I promise you that I'll update with these systems too. Just to let you know I love these systems and they have some amazing games, like the Tengai Makyou series (but the are not visual novels so I won't be including them).

 

And also, when I said console I meant hand held systems too. So if you know good games for handhelds, even if it's for the original gameboy please share your thoughts about it.

 

And yes, Danganronpa should be there too and I'll update the list.

[Vokoca]

My favourite would be Disorder6 on the PS3. Let's just say that heroines with DID make for a really fun read.

[Narcosis]

PSP has the biggest game database of all the handhelds, including some really popular PSP-exclusive titles. To be honest, the rest of the consoles, like Vita, DS or 3DS are preety much of little to no significance, when it comes to vn market. A lot of games also achieved PSP ports; in most cases, plenty of games gets ported to PSP when their popularity rises over a certain threshold, mostly profitability. Even tho Sony ceased the production of PSP, there are games still being made for it and I doubt this will fade anytime soon.

 

Check the VNDB and filter out the PSP only games and you'll see what I'm talking about.

[fun2novel]

Sure but this doesn't mean all of them are worth playing. This list is all about the really good and interesting console exclusive VNs. If this was about every console VN then there is no point you can just go to Gamefaqs and do your own research.

 

I want to bring more attention to those visual novels that no one here usually knows about. There are some amazing console exclusive VNs and I want to know about them

[DoodlyNyan]

Oreimo is pretty good. It's on PSP.

[zoom909]

Dream Club series (360/PS3) is my favorite.  Have a huge crush on Mian.  Because it is a dating sim and not a true VN with walls of expository text, I was able to play it at a reasonable speed.

 

I have many PS2 exclusives that I want to play, such as Kimikiss & Amagami.

Also a VN called Iinazuke which I have had my eye on for a long time.

And Lovely Idol (artwork by Aoi Nishimata) looks like fun.

 

And PC VN's that have gained extra characters/routes etc. on consoles exclusively, I'm interested in those as well.

 

But to date I have only found 1 PC VN that was easy enough that I successfully played it w/o using the text hooker.  And I still have a backlog of PC VNs to play.  Might as well go though those 1st, continuing to use the text hooker while building up kanji/vocab knowledge. 

[Tatsujin]

I've got a bunch of Japanese VNs for consoles and portables. My latest one is Golden Time - Vivid Memories Limited Edition (with that super sexy model, google it!).

I also have the PS3 version of Muv-Luv Alternative. Limited Edition.

Uh .. I know one or some of the Attack on Titan BD volumes have a VN to what I heard. I own all 9 volumes.

Can't remember what else I have ..

They are all factory sealed, too. Haven't popped anything. I'm planning to get Schwarzesmarken Limited Edition for PC when it comes out, or the First Press (if that's what they call it) as long as I can order it online.