Sakura Santa
Sakura Santa is the eight installment in the Sakura series, developed by Winged Cloud and published by MangaGamer, released on December 21, 2015.
On the Christmas holiday season in Japan, after witnessing the luckiest day of his life, Koji, a university student, has the option to choose between dating a trickster fox spirit, his reserved childhood friend and Santa Claus herself.
- Accidental Pervert: Koji, according to himself.
- A-Cup Angst: Itsumi had this in the past, and it influenced her feelings for Koji.
- All for Nothing: Itsumi wonders if her feelings for Koji were for nothing, as he could have rejected her.
- As You Know: Koji and Itsumi talking about their friendship in middle school and now, as well as events that have happened at the time.
- Author Appeal/Creator Thumbprint:
- Fan Service: Check. Big Boobs: Check.
- Call Back: During their first date, Itsumi says the same thing to Koji as when he saw her naked and changing her clothes:
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"There's no need to be bashful around me, Koji. We're adults now, aren't we?" |
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- Childhood Friend Romance: Koji and Itsumi. It's the premise of her route and Lampshaded in the good end.
- Dangerously-Short Skirt: Santa's outfit and Itsumi's casual clothes.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Koji describes the way the cream spill all over Itsumi in the most suggestive way possible. Eventually Lampshaded.
- Dutch Angle: Many of the titillating CGs.
- Exposition (speak): Used with Tamika and her father to prove that Santa knows every child on Earth.
- Hand Wave: In Itsumi's first event, Koji says to the cafe owner that his schedule for work could be inconsistent since he might be seeing some friends. This is to let him see Akina or Santa if he ever desires.
- Harem Ending: Juggling between the three girls in a specific way will grant this ending.
- Kuudere: Downplayed with Itsumi, who didn't show her emotions a lot in the past, but she does have them.
- Idiot Ball: Never once during Itsumi's outburst did Koji say he had feelings for her. [[Justified}}, as he didn't know what to do.
- Then again, saying that after his genre-savvy, but clumsy answer would have been blunt and confusing.
- Insistent Terminology: As Itsumi says to him in her route, Koji refers to the suggestive events he sought out to witness at middle school as "misunderstandings".
- Koji mentions "fun things", or as Itsumi says back, adult magazines.
- Genre Savvy: Deconstructed. In Itsumi's route, Koji says to her that he knew she was attracted to him. Suddenly, she gets angry that he didn't tell the fact to her earlier in the past, saying she had regrets about her missed confession. She then confuses his answer in the process and leaves, heart-broken.
- A straight example later on. The shop owner notices that there must have a fight between Koji and Itsumi. He orders Koji to fix the situation, because "it's affecting business".
- Male Gaze: Koji does this to his love interests many times, and he knows it. The girls even talk about it with him, having fun with the concept.
- Mythology Gag:
- In the Akina route, Koji says he's not an awkward teenager or anything...
- In Itsumi's cafe, there are backgrounds of previous Sakura games (Beach, Fantasy) used as paintings. Koji seems to think he has seen them before, but dismisses the thought by saying it's probably his imagination.
- In Itsumi's route, Koji has a thing for swimsuits...
- Phrase Catcher: Koji says "You cheeky fox" to Akina a lot in her route.
- Strangled by the Red String: Lampshaded on Christmas Eve with Akina on her route. After all, they only met a few days ago. Justified, since they had such a flirtatious and emotional bond over time.
- Out of Focus: When Koji focuses on one girl, it's like he never met the other two.
- Really 700 Years Old: Akina says it has been "several hundred years" since she volunteered for the shrine position.
- Selective Obliviousness: In Itsumi's route, Koji fakes his oblivion to Itsumi's very obvious signals because he wants to avoid confronting his feelings for her.
- Sex Sells: In-Universe. The shop owner knows fully well that he is using Itsumi's sexiness to bring in customers.
- She's All Grown Up: Koji thinks and says this to Itsumi.
- Third-Act Misunderstanding: In each route:
- After the revelation that Akina was using Koji's wish for her own reasons, she assumes that he is angry about the fact and locks herself up inside the shrine, even though Koji is extremely grateful to Akina and his experiences with her.
- Itsumi gets offended by Koji's savvy response to her confession and grows frustrated at him, misunderstanding his intentions.
- Either, way, it's resolved very quickly.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: At a crucial and dramatic moment in the story, depending on the route and the Love Interest, the player can decide to meet someone other than the involved person.
- What an Idiot! Koji to himself, on the aftermath of Itsumi's outburst.
- What If: In-universe. At one point in her route, Itsumi thinks about what would have happened if she stayed in the town with Koji. Defied by him, who says not to think about that.
- When She Smiles: Koji's thoughts discusses this about Itsumi.
This category is intended to be an index of individual games that have pages on All The Tropes. Category:Video Games by decade lists many of these games by the decades that they were first released.
- For trope sub-pages that discuss video games, see Category:Video Games
- For tropes common to video games, see Category:Video Game Tropes
- For video game genres, see Category:Video Game Genres
Visual novels are a medium using the narrative style of Literature, but in a digital format that could technically be considered a Video Game. Visual novels put emphasis on the plot and on characterization, rather than on action scenes. They are effectively a digital version of the Choose Your Own Adventure books, with music, pictures, and occasionally even voice acting or movies. However, unlike most Choose Your Own Adventure books, they usually branch off into distinct storylines early on, and have a lot less choice points.
The level of gameplay can vary, leading to difficulty in defining the boundaries of the medium. On the far video game end exist games such as the Ace Attorney series, with Kinetic Novels (visual novels completely devoid of interaction) and Linear Visual Novels on the far literary end such as When They Cry. Because they are treated as games, the fact that many of them tell well-written, compelling stories can be easily overlooked. Games like Hotel Dusk: Room 215, Jake Hunter, and the Ace Attorney series are bringing this style of gameplay into markets outside of Japan, where they are much more recognized.
Visual novels that are also eroge tend to tie every storyline to a specific romanceable character, a habit which has carried over to most of the rest of the medium.
Because the market for Dating Sims is virtually non-existent outside of Japan, people tend to assume that any Visual Novel that is a Romance Game should be called a Dating Sim, when they are actually quite different. (It doesn't help that most Visual Novel-style Eroge are marketed as "Dating Sims" when they are translated for the US market.) Using well-known examples, the Ace Attorney series has very much a Visual Novel style of gameplay, while the DOA Xtreme series is probably the game closest to a true Dating Sim with mass-market appeal in the US.
Most Japanese visual novels never get an official release outside of Japan, though this is beginning to change with companies such as MangaGamer and JAST licensing more and more visual novels. Still, the bulk of visual novels are translated by dedicated fans if they are translated at all. Many of the novels on this list have an existing Fan Translation, partial or full.
There are also a small but growing number of English-developed visual novels, generally created by indies and not sold through mainstream channels.
VNDB is a database dedicated to visual novels, in the vein of IMDB. It also lists any existing fan translation a novel may have.
See Visual Novel Tropes.
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"Ahaha! Everyone loves me, huh? Gal games sure are easy."
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Romance Games, known in Japanese as ren'ai (romantic love) games, are a category of videogame that covers several mechanics and demographics. The distinguishing factor of these games is that the primary goal of the game is to establish a romantic relationship between the Player Character and one or more of the NPCs. Although the genre originates in Japan, they are also made elsewhere, particularly in the form of "Doujin-soft" (noncommerical fanmade games).
Most ren'ai games are Visual Novels (a type of Interactive Fiction) or Dating Sims (a type of Simulation Game), although many are hybrids, such as Role-Playing Game/Dating Sim or Action Game/Visual Novel. Many ren'ai games contain some erotic content; those where this is a major feature may be classified as eroge (short for "erotic games").
Romance games can be broken down into the following types:
- Bishoujo Games
In Japan, the term "Bishoujo (beautiful girl) game" covers any game for men that offers pictures or animation of attractive girls, regardless of gameplay style or narrative content (see Bishoujo Genre). In the West, the term is generally used to cover ren'ai games aimed at a male audience.
- Otome games
Otome (maiden) games cover any game aimed at a female audience that is not a Boys Love game; the majority are Visual Novels with romantic elements. Many are made by departments or subsidiaries of bishoujo game companies; for example, Tokimeki Memorial has an otome game spinoff, Tokimeki Memorial: Girl's Side.
- Boys' Love Games
Games aimed at a female audience that feature male-male romance. Like otome games, most are Visual Novels and many are made by departments or subsidiaries of bishoujo game companies; for example, Togainu no Chi was made by Nitro+ CHiRAL, a subsidiary of Nitro+.