428: Fusasareta Shibuya de
Encyclopedia
is an adventure video game
created by Kōichi Nakamura
, developed by his company Chunsoft
and published by Sega
which was originally released in Japan for the Wii
on December 4, 2008. The game was also ported by Spike
to the PlayStation 3
and PlayStation Portable
.
428: Fūsa Sareta Shibuya de is a visual novel
set in the Shibuya
ward of Tokyo
where the narrative is presented using a combination of scrolling text, live action stills and video sequences. The game shares many story and gameplay elements with Chunsoft's 1998 sound novel game Machi
, the most prominent being the locale, Shibuya. Although Chunsoft does not openly state 428 is a sequel, the game contains numerous references to Machi, and an early marketing slogan reads "Breaking a long silence, Shibuya gets going again."
The game has received high praise from critics, earning a perfect score in Famitsu Weekly
, Japan's largest circulating video game magazine. The game also features a special scenario contributed by Kinoko Nasu
and Takashi Takeuchi
of Type-Moon
fame, who wrote and provided character designs for them respectively. It was subsequently announced by Sega that this particular scenario by Type-Moon would be adapted into a TV anime
adaptation titled Canaan
, which began airing in Japan
on July 4, 2009. A series of four novels based on the game is to be published by Kodansha
between the months of September and December 2009.
adventure game where players take part in events from the perspectives of multiple protagonists, all acting in parallel with no knowledge of each other. Set in the modern Japanese city of Shibuya, Tokyo, the characters are involved in a mystery that cannot be solved without their interactions, and the plot is advanced by following clues found within the game's text and accompanying video sequences and making decisions on which path each protagonist should follow. Depending on the player's choices, a number of new scenarios become available, which ultimately lead to different outcomes and endings.
, Magnolia
or Vantage Point
.
For instance, the game opens with a detective (protagonist #1) waiting for a kidnapper to pick up the ransom money, which is being carried by a girl. Another character, a young man out for a walk (protagonist #2), happens to encounter the scene. Protagonist #2 now has a choice to approach the ransom-carrying girl or not; If he approaches, his story reaches a dead end by being wrongfully arrested, but not only that, the detective's story also reaches a dead end by making the wrongful arrest.
The player's role is to figure out whose actions are affecting whom, and find the right choices to lead every protagonist to the conclusions of their storylines. The game offers a time chart screen where the events of all the protagonists' stories are listed in chronological order.
Blue-colored text is interspersed within the body text. The colored text, called Tips, can be selected with the controller like a hyperlink
. Tips, when selected, provide a short page of explanatory text, much like a tooltip
. Tips can reveal the definition of a technical term, provide some insight on the topic, or just provide a short digression from the story at hand.
Red-colored text, also selectable, marks the name of a different protagonist and allows the player to jump from one protagonist to another. Jumping from red text is often the only way to make a character's story move forward.
The game unfolds in a ten-hour period, which begins at 10:00AM of April 28 and ends at 8:00PM. The game is broken up into one-hour segments. Leading every protagonist to the end of the hour unlocks the next hour to be played.
magazine gave 428: Fūsa Sareta Shibuya de a 40/40 score. This makes 428 the ninth game to receive a perfect score from the magazine since its inception in 1986. It is also the second out of five Wii
games to receive the score, the others being Super Smash Bros. Brawl
, Monster Hunter Tri , New Super Mario Bros. Wii
and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
. This is unprecedented in Famitsu history as it marks the first time that two games released on the same video game system received perfect scores within the same year. The game additionally won the publication's Dramatic Prize for its 2008 awards.
The Wii version of 428: Fūsa Sareta Shibuya de was the eighth best-selling game in Japan during its week of release, selling 34,000 units. Year-end sales of the game totalled 53,315 units. The game was later released under Nintendo’s "Everyone’s Recommendation Selection" of budget titles.
The game was later ported to the PlayStation Portable
and PlayStation 3
and released in September 2009.
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
created by Kōichi Nakamura
Koichi Nakamura
is a Japanese video game designer. A programming prodigy, Nakamura gained fame while still in high school; in 1982 he entered Enix's national programming contest and claimed first place with his entry, Door Door...
, developed by his company Chunsoft
Chunsoft
is a Japanese video game developer specializing in console RPGs and visual novels. It was founded by Koichi Nakamura, a video game designer from Enix...
and published by Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
which was originally released in Japan for the Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
on December 4, 2008. The game was also ported by Spike
Spike (company)
is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. Most of the staff were part of Human Entertainment. Human's Fire Pro Wrestling series is owned by Spike.-Games developed:*Crimson Tears*Dangan Ronpa: Kibou no Gakuen to Zetsubou no Koukousei...
to the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
.
428: Fūsa Sareta Shibuya de is a visual novel
Visual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
set in the Shibuya
Shibuya, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, it has an estimated population of 208,371 and a population density of 13,540 persons per km². The total area is 15.11 km²....
ward of Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
where the narrative is presented using a combination of scrolling text, live action stills and video sequences. The game shares many story and gameplay elements with Chunsoft's 1998 sound novel game Machi
Machi (video game)
Machi is a visual novel adventure game developed and published by Chunsoft and released exclusively in Japan for the Sega Saturn in 1998 and then for the Sony PlayStation in 1999...
, the most prominent being the locale, Shibuya. Although Chunsoft does not openly state 428 is a sequel, the game contains numerous references to Machi, and an early marketing slogan reads "Breaking a long silence, Shibuya gets going again."
The game has received high praise from critics, earning a perfect score in Famitsu Weekly
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
, Japan's largest circulating video game magazine. The game also features a special scenario contributed by Kinoko Nasu
Kinoko Nasu
is a Japanese author, best known for writing the novel Kara no Kyoukai and visual novels Tsukihime and Fate/stay night. Renowned for a unique style of storytelling and prose, Nasu is amongst the most prominent visual novelists in Japan.-Biography:...
and Takashi Takeuchi
Takashi Takeuchi
is a Japanese artist, noted as the co-founder of Japanese visual novel and anime development and production enterprise TYPE-MOON, and for his illustrations on TYPE-MOON's visual novels, Tsukihime and Fate/stay night, which were both later adapted into anime and manga series. He has frequently...
of Type-Moon
TYPE-MOON
is a Japanese game company, best known for their visual novels, co-founded by author Kinoko Nasu and illustrator Takashi Takeuchi. It is also known under the name for its publishing and corporate operations...
fame, who wrote and provided character designs for them respectively. It was subsequently announced by Sega that this particular scenario by Type-Moon would be adapted into a TV anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
adaptation titled Canaan
Canaan (anime)
Canaan is a 13-episode anime television series, conceptualized by Type-Moon co-founders Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi, based on the scenario that they created for the Nintendo Wii visual novel 428: Fūsa Sareta Shibuya de, which is noted for being one of the few games to be have been awarded a...
, which began airing in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on July 4, 2009. A series of four novels based on the game is to be published by Kodansha
Kodansha
, the largest Japanese publisher, produces the manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, and Weekly Shonen Magazine, as well as more literary magazines such as Gunzō, Shūkan Gendai, and the Japanese dictionary Nihongo Daijiten. The company has its headquarters in Bunkyō, Tokyo...
between the months of September and December 2009.
Gameplay
428 is a visual novelVisual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
adventure game where players take part in events from the perspectives of multiple protagonists, all acting in parallel with no knowledge of each other. Set in the modern Japanese city of Shibuya, Tokyo, the characters are involved in a mystery that cannot be solved without their interactions, and the plot is advanced by following clues found within the game's text and accompanying video sequences and making decisions on which path each protagonist should follow. Depending on the player's choices, a number of new scenarios become available, which ultimately lead to different outcomes and endings.
Parallel gameplay mechanic
The game differs significantly from other sound novel / visual novel games in that players read through and switch between multiple stories that take place in the same timeframe, each seen from a different character's point of view. Decisions made in one character's story can inadvertently affect the story of another character in unforeseen ways. The format can be compared to films such as Pulp FictionPulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...
, Magnolia
Magnolia (film)
Magnolia is a 1999 American drama film written, produced, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, narrated by Ricky Jay, and starring Tom Cruise, Philip Baker Hall, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, and Jason Robards in his last feature film appearance...
or Vantage Point
Vantage Point (film)
Vantage Point is a 2008 American political action thriller film directed by Pete Travis. It was adapted from a screenplay written by Barry L. Levy. The story focuses on an assassination attempt on the President of the United States as seen from a different set of vantage points through the eyes of...
.
For instance, the game opens with a detective (protagonist #1) waiting for a kidnapper to pick up the ransom money, which is being carried by a girl. Another character, a young man out for a walk (protagonist #2), happens to encounter the scene. Protagonist #2 now has a choice to approach the ransom-carrying girl or not; If he approaches, his story reaches a dead end by being wrongfully arrested, but not only that, the detective's story also reaches a dead end by making the wrongful arrest.
The player's role is to figure out whose actions are affecting whom, and find the right choices to lead every protagonist to the conclusions of their storylines. The game offers a time chart screen where the events of all the protagonists' stories are listed in chronological order.
Blue-colored text is interspersed within the body text. The colored text, called Tips, can be selected with the controller like a hyperlink
Hyperlink
In computing, a hyperlink is a reference to data that the reader can directly follow, or that is followed automatically. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text with hyperlinks...
. Tips, when selected, provide a short page of explanatory text, much like a tooltip
Tooltip
The tooltip or infotip is a common graphical user interface element. It is used in conjunction with a cursor, usually a mouse pointer. The user hovers the cursor over an item, without clicking it, and a tooltip may appear—a small "hover box" with information about the item being hovered...
. Tips can reveal the definition of a technical term, provide some insight on the topic, or just provide a short digression from the story at hand.
Red-colored text, also selectable, marks the name of a different protagonist and allows the player to jump from one protagonist to another. Jumping from red text is often the only way to make a character's story move forward.
The game unfolds in a ten-hour period, which begins at 10:00AM of April 28 and ends at 8:00PM. The game is broken up into one-hour segments. Leading every protagonist to the end of the hour unlocks the next hour to be played.
Story
A major event that could jolt the world has been triggered in the streets of Shibuya. Five main characters have 10 hours to come together and solve the mystery behind what originally seemed like an ordinary ransom kidnap case.Characters
- A man who loves Shibuya more than any other, Achi is the former head of KOK, the most influential street clan in Shibuya. He has since left KOK and now spends his days cleaning up the streets and picking up trash. During his daily street cleaning routine, he encounters and saves a girl who was nearly shot by a man with a gun.
- A young detective from the Shibuya Police Department, Kanou is one of the detectives standing near Hitomi, a girl whose twin sister Maria was kidnapped for ransom. The kidnapper had specified Hitomi to bring the money to its pickup location, Shibuya station plaza. As the criminal shows up and runs with the money, Kanou begins to chase him.
- A virus expert and the father of Hitomi and Maria Osawa. As the lab director of Okoshi Pharmaceutical, Osawa leads a hermit-like life. A week after his US business trip, he receives a series of mysterious e-mails that indicate someone had conducted an unauthorized clinical trial of an antiviral drug he had been researching.
- A hot headed freelance writer, Minorikawa receives a desperate phone call from his former superior, Toyama. Toyama, now the president of a small publishing company, was swamped in debt and now forced to complete the latest issue of his magazine in a single day. Minorikawa offers to help finish the magazine.
- A mysterious person in a cat suit. Tama, a person of unknown identity, is working inside a cat suit as a by-the-day temp worker in order to buy a certain object she found at a general store. She begins her work of promoting a diet drink, "Burning Hammer."
Reception
Famitsu WeeklyFamitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
magazine gave 428: Fūsa Sareta Shibuya de a 40/40 score. This makes 428 the ninth game to receive a perfect score from the magazine since its inception in 1986. It is also the second out of five Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
games to receive the score, the others being Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl, known in Japan as , often abbreviated as SSBB or simply as Brawl, is the third installment in the Super Smash Bros. series of crossover fighting games, developed by an ad hoc development team consisting of Sora, Game Arts and staff from other developers, and published by...
, Monster Hunter Tri , New Super Mario Bros. Wii
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
is a 2009 side-scrolling platform video game published and developed by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. The game was released on November 12, 2009 in Australia, November 15, 2009 in North America, November 20, 2009 in Europe and December 3, 2009 in Japan...
and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
is an action-adventure game for the Wii console and the sixteenth entry in the Legend of Zelda series. Developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development, it was released in Europe on November 18, 2011 in North America on November 20, 2011, in Japan on November 23, 2011, and on November...
. This is unprecedented in Famitsu history as it marks the first time that two games released on the same video game system received perfect scores within the same year. The game additionally won the publication's Dramatic Prize for its 2008 awards.
The Wii version of 428: Fūsa Sareta Shibuya de was the eighth best-selling game in Japan during its week of release, selling 34,000 units. Year-end sales of the game totalled 53,315 units. The game was later released under Nintendo’s "Everyone’s Recommendation Selection" of budget titles.
The game was later ported to the PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
and PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and released in September 2009.