User:TarkusAB/sandbox/Twilight

Twilight Syndrome

Main series

 * Twilight Syndrome: Tansaku-hen and Kyūmei-hen (PlayStation, 1996): These first two volumes follow the adventures of Yukari, Chisato, and Mika exploring rumors at their school and across town in 1996. Initially planned to be one game, it was split into two volumes due to development timelines.  They were later released in one package in July 1998 as Twilight Syndrome: Special. A mobile version of Kyūmei-hen was released in 2008.
 * Twilight Syndrome: Saikai (PlayStation, 2000): The game features an original plot. An adaptation with an original scenario was released for mobile phones in 2001.
 * Twilight Syndrome: Kinjirareta Toshi Densetsu (Nintendo DS, 2008): The story follows Mizuki and her two friends, Riko and Reika, who she meets after moving to a new high school. After students begin receiving mysterious chain mail text messages from an anonymous sender, the three girls decide to investigate.

Related games

 * Moonlight Syndrome (PlayStation, 1997): This game stars the original characters from the first pair of Twilight Syndrome games, but takes place in a parallel reality. 
 * Yuuyami Doori Tankentai (PlayStation, 1999): Set in a city in economic decline during Japan's recession of the 1990s, three junior high students explore urban legends in their town.



Series overview
Twilight Syndrome is a series of adventure games about high school girls investigating paranormal urban legends. The investigation of each rumor is split into individual chapters. Typically each chapter begins with the characters discussing a rumor and then embarking to investigate it on foot. The environments are explored in a side-scrolling manner, and the game periodically shifts to still image scenes with scrolling text. The games have heavy visual novel elements and the player must make numerous dialog choices during their adventure that will affect how the investigation progresses. If successful at making the correct decisions, the player will clear the scenario with the normal or best ending and unlock the next scenario. If it is failed, the player must retry. The realistic 3D sound effects are a staple in the series, and are best experienced with headphones. The heart rate monitor on screen is another repeating element.

History
The series was launched by Human Entertainment in 1996. At the time, the company was working with 3D sound technology on arcade machines. The sound effects were received well by players, and the sound team thought it would be interesting to develop a game based on school ghost stories using this technology. Development began but soon it was not progressing well. The game's director had scheduling conflicts, so Goichi Suda was put in charge as director after finishing work on Super Fire Pro Wrestling Special (1994). Only three of the planned ten scenarios had been developed with only three months left of development time. In order to manage timelines, Suda divided the scenarios between two releases. Most of the game was already planned so he did not have much creative input. The first five scenarios were released as Twilight Syndrome: Tansaku-hen (Search volume) on 1 March 1996, and the final five scenarios following the same storyline were released four months later on July 19 as Kyūmei-hen (Investigation volume).

Following the release of the original two games, Suda began work on Moonlight Syndrome. As writer and director, Suda was able to have significant creative input this time around. While the original games focused on supernatural horror, Suda wanted to shift away from paranormal elements and write about violent incidents caused by people. After the game was released on 9 October 1997, Suda decided to leave Human Entertainment as he was unsatisfied with his bonuses, and felt the company would soon be bankrupt. Following his departure, he formed his own company Grasshopper Manufacture.

After Human Entertainment folded in the late 1990s, some of the former staff went on to form Spike including some involved with Twilight Syndrome. The staff decided they wanted to develop a game that borrowed heavily from Twilight Syndrome 's gameplay system, and added a new sense of realism. After two and a half years of development, Yuuyami Doori Tankentai was released on 7 October 1999 in limited quantities. It is considered a spiritual sequel to the original series.

The producer from Yuuyami Doori Tankentai later reprised his role for the third game in the main series, Twilight Syndrome: Saikai. The team seeked for the new game to evolve on the original series formula in the same way as Yuuyami Doori Tantenkai. They included lead male characters and junior high students to add variety, and added a new photo mode to walk around the school and take photos of spirits. The previous games had 2D characters over 3D backgrounds, so this was the first in the series to use 3D polygons for the characters as well. It was released on July 27, 2000.

The fourth game, subtitled Kinjirareta Toshi Densetsu (The Forbidden Urban Legend), was released on the Nintendo DS on July 24, 2008. The game borrows the same adventure gameplay as in earlier series entries, but uses the DS's touch screen for additional interactivity with in-game objects. The development team included horror film director Osamu Fukutani, and live actors were used to photograph the in-game images and record dialogue. The team used binaural recording methods from Arnis Sound Technologies to record the sound, making for convincing 3D sound atmosphere if played with headphones.

Film series
The first film based on the series, Twilight Syndrome: Sotsugyō (Graduation) was released on November 23, 2000 starring Wakana Sakai. It is set four years after Saikai, and was filmed entirely in digital video. Two more films released around the time Kinjirareta Toshi Densetsu was released for the Nintendo DS. Dead Cruise was released on August 2 2008 and Dead Go-round released two weeks later on August 16. In Dead Cruise, six friends depart on a cruise and discover a game that can change reality and kill people in real life. Dead Go Around follows seven people brought to a theme park to participate in a deadly game.

Reception
The series picked up a fan base. Writing about the original game two games, Den Faminico Gamer wrote that they were great single-player experiences thanks to their strong atmosphere. They felt the individuality of the three girls was well characterized, and they enjoyed the unique side-scrolling movement in a horror game. Famitsu enjoyed the unique gameplay as well, and the 3D sound. Writing about the third game, Famitsu again praised the sound atmosphere and believed the polygon graphics bettered the production value.

Legacy
The series has never been localized outside Japan. In reply to being asked about the possibilities of localization, Goichi Suda stated he is concerned that it will not be easily understood by foreign audiences. Also, as he did not write the original scenarios, so he's not interested in revisiting them. Suda's studio Grasshopper Manufacture has borrowed settings and characters from Moonlight Syndrome for some of their works including The Silver Case and Flower, Sun, and Rain. Sude hired one of the writes for The Silver Case based upon reading his work in Twilight Syndrome Truth File, a guide retelling the incidents of the first two games from the fictional perspective of journalists.

A minigame called Twilight Syndrome: Murder Case appears in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (2012). It is about students investigating a murder that occured in their school.

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 * https://www.engadget.com/2008/06/16/new-twilight-syndrome-video-isnt-as-creepy-as-the-old-twilight/
 * http://www.siliconera.com/2008/04/14/spike-scares-ds-owners-with-twilight-syndrome/
 * https://www.gameinformer.com/index.php/b/features/archive/2017/03/01/suda-51-shares-the-secrets-of-the-silver-case-and-his-legendary-career.aspx
 * http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/clock-tower/
 * http://www.siliconera.com/2016/11/09/suda-ooka-weigh-return-silver-case/
 * http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/the-silver-case/
 * http://www.itmedia.co.jp/games/gsnews/0009/18/news04.html
 * http://www.itmedia.co.jp/games/gsnews/0007/14/news02.html
 * http://www.itmedia.co.jp/games/gsnews/0110/03/news08.html
 * http://www.itmedia.co.jp/games/gsnews/0301/14/news12.html
 * https://www.4gamer.net/games/138/G013812/20120717044/
 * https://www.famitsu.com/k_tai/news/1221733_1350.html
 * https://www.famitsu.com/present/gamepre/1216260_1342.html
 * http://news.denfaminicogamer.jp/horror2016/hr-review031
 * https://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1216092_1124.html
 * https://web.archive.org/web/20020606103640/http://www.spike-online.net:80/new_folder/twilight/index.html
 * https://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20080723/ts.htm
 * https://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20080522/ts.htm
 * https://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20011228/twi.htm
 * http://dengekionline.com/elem/000/000/073/73809/
 * site:game.watch.impress.co.jp
 * ++More in google custom search

From strategy guide interview
Discussing Grandish House

きっかけはウチのアミューズメント部門が開発したマシンなんです.
 * Q:ではまず、どういうきっかけでこのゲームを作ることになったのかを教えてください.
 * A:小林：そもそもきっかけというのはウチのアミューズメント部門が開発した「グランディッシュの館」というマシンなんです. ヘッドフォンをつけて３D音響を使った音響効果のみで恐怖を体験できるものなんですけど. それがかなり好評だったんですよ. そこで、音だけでここまで怖いものに映像をプラスしたらどうなるんだろう、とうい考えが開発の発端ですね. そしてさまざまな試行錯誤の末に、アドベンチャー形式が適しているのではという結論がでたわけです.

誰もいない学校の怖さ
 * Q:世界をいわゆる学園ものにした理由は？
 * A:小林：僕なんかの世代もそうだったんですが、学校って＿談話が多かれ少なかれありますよね. それと夜の学校の怖さ. 昼間は何ともないんですが、誰もいないときの怖さ. こういう感覚って、世代による違いこそあれ誰もが供通して待っているイメージだと思うんですよ. そのイメージをゲームの中でヒューマンなりのアレンジをしてみようということで、＿台はああいう形になりました.

Sources talking about Grandish House at Yokohama Dreamland

 * https://ricebag.net/travelreport/yokohama-joypolis-defunct/
 * https://gamedrive.jp/news/1502332966
 * https://games.yahoo.co.jp/news/item?n=20170810-00000008-ygame_gamedrive
 * http://dreamland.yokohama/90%E5%B9%B4%E4%BB%A3%E5%BE%8C%E5%8D%8A%E7%99%BB%E5%A0%B4%E6%96%BD%E8%A8%AD