Maple Colors is a Japanese erotic visual novel and adventure game developed by CrossNet and published by Apricot, released on July 25, 2003 for Windows. The game was later ported to the PlayStation 2 by HuneX and published by Kadokawa Shoten on March 31, 2005; adapted into a two-episode animated series by Image House and localized in North America by Critical Mass. The game was made a sequel released in 2008.
PLOT:
Yoshijirou Saku is a young Japanese transfer student of the fictional Kouka Academy, an institution renowned for its theatre. A rebel by virtue of his delinquency, Saku and schoolmate Mirai Aoi are wrongfully held responsible for a fight when they come to the aggressive aid of a defenseless student being bullied; faculty members ruling to expel them and their disorderly class. Yukihito Aizen, the respected though contemptible head of the drama club, with eyes set on Mirai, proposes a commutation requiring the offenders to enlist their entire class in a play or else face expulsion.
CHARACTERS:
- Yoshijirou Saku: Yoshijirou Saku is the unlikely protagonist of the series. A recent second-year transfer student, his life takes an unexpected turn when he is blamed for fighting and threatened with expulsion, along with classmate Mirai Aoi. Given the chance to redress his actions, Yoshijirou is assigned to recruit his entire class, a notorious group of disobedient misfits, to perform in a play lest having to leave school permanently with them.
- Mirai Aoi: Loud and headstrong, Mirai Aoi is a second-year student and the most iconic character of the series. Known among her class by the nickname "Captain", Mirai is a temperamental, fastidious leader, determined to combat the ridicule and undermining she and her group regularly receive from the rest of the school. An accomplice by association, Mirai is required to assist Yoshijirou in appropriating their class for the play; a task she grows to respect and admire him for.
- Momiji Aio: Momiji Aio is a second-year student, recognizable by her long pink hair and flamboyant wardrobe; aspiring to be a playwright and director. A short, friendly girl, Momiji is meek and easily intimidated by nature; on stage, a serious and capable actress. She is good friends with Mirai.
- Sora Suzuhara: Distant and reserved, Sora Suzuhara is a second-year student who is also on the swim team. With a preference for solitude and disinterest in others, Sora is antisocial, nihilistic, mysterious, and deadpan. Through her acquaintance with Yoshijirou however, Sora becomes emotional, open and appreciative.
- Amu Uzuki: Amu Uzuki is an adolescent entertainer, actress and celebrity, widely known and recognized across Japan for her acting, affluence, and looks. She visits Kouka Academy in response to the play being arranged and offers to participate in it; taking a fondness for Yoshijirou. In spite of the fame and fortune she commands, her classist family, constant traveling, few friends and nonexistent love life take a toll on her.
- Motoko Sakimori: Direct and quiet, Motoko Sakimori is a second-year student who doubles as the local Shinto shrine miko. She is recognized for donning her robes in place of a school uniform, serious, tough-love attitude, nage-waza martial arts and purple hair. In a fashion similar to Sora, Motoko opens up around Yoshijirou, showing a less seen, tender side of her; one including an affection for anything cute.
- Youko Momoi: Youko Momoi is a second-year student who is on the girl's softball team as an ace pitcher. A friendly though clumsy girl, Youko is easily intimidated, buckles under pressure and struggles with theatre. Of all the characters that appear in the game, Youko is the only one bespectacled female.
GAMEPLAY:
Unlike the formula of most visual novels, which are noted for their minimal interaction, Maple Colors is slightly different in that it combines elements of an adventure game with that of interactive fiction. Though reasonably limited, players control chibi versions of characters, able to travel around isometric maps, perform tasks, collect items and even participate in mini-games. In a more recognizable fashion, players watch and listen to sequences of story and then select choosable actions or responses when they are presented. As choices are intricately linked to alternating routes of plot, the direction of the story is changed, leading to erotic scenes between characters and ultimately one of various endings. In order for the player to watch all the possible endings in this regard, he or she will have to effectively replay through the game several times, all the while making different selections.
The Playstation 2 version removes the erotic content of the game.
MANUFACTURER'S DESCRIPTION:
1 school romance adventure of the whole class is ultra-individualistic character. The heroine of more than 20 people, including men's and teachers, various story a total of 68 people deployment. At the school festival that was ahead after one month, the hero that supposed to do the play game of the drama club! He really, it summarizes the classmates of individualistic complete set, or be able to win the drama club opponent! ?
FEATURES:
- First & Third person perspectives.
- 2D graphics
- Cartoon graphics
- School & Anime themes.
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