SHUFFLE! ON THE STAGE
Love-Sim PS2 port from PC, released on Oct 20, 2005.
Ten years had passed since the discovery of the 2 gateway to Shinkai, the world of Shinzoku (Gods), and Makai, the world of Mazoku (Devils). Since then, humans, shinzoku, and mazoku have been living together in the human world ever since...
Ever since his parents passed away in an accident eight years ago, Tsuchimi Rin (土見 稟) lives with his childhood friend Fuyou Kaede (芙蓉 楓), much to the jealously of other boys in their school. One day, two new families move in next door to the Fuyou household: The Kings of Shinzoku and Mazoku, along with their daughters, Lisianthus (リシアンサス) and Nerine (ネリネ). Rin's life will never be the same again, for not only the 2 girls are now the new transfer students in his class, he has to pick one of the two girls... as his future wife!! Can Rin survive the daily grind of having so many girlfriends...??
SHUFFLE! ON THE STAGE is based on the original hentai PC game SHUFFLE! by Navel back in January 2004. All hentai contents are removed for the PS2 release, and certain CGs are edited to remove any "panty shots". For the PS2 version, 2 supporting girls are now available for "playing", bringing the total number of "playable" characters to 7.
Featuring character designs by Nishimata Aoi (西又 葵) (yes a female hentai game character designer...) and Suzuhira Hiro (鈴平 ひろ), that's how the hentai game catched my eyes in the first place... and that's why I have to buy the PS2...
Links:
PS2 Version Official Site (Kadokawa)
PC Version Official Site (Navel) (don't worry, not much
hentai content there...)
Game Review
Warning: spoilers!!
The overall game is pretty easy to play, once you play through it a couple of times. There are not alot of "choices" to make throughout the game, so once you make all the correct choices in the first half of the game, the second half will show the interactions between Rin and the girl of your choice...
リシアンサス (Lisianthus, or "Sia")
The daughter of "Shinoh", she meet our guy Rin eight years ago when she visited the human world with her dad. Good at cooking and all household chores, her only weakness is in studying, especially English...
Secrets: Has a twin "devil" sister, キキョウ (Kikyou), living inside her. (Her birth mom is the sister of "Maoh" Forbejii...)
Difficulty: Easy, but there are 2 outcomes, one with both Sia and Kikyou sharing one body. The other is Sia and Kikyou separated into 2 beings... in order to get this outcome, you will require to make 3 correct choices late in the game...
ネリネ (Nerine, or "Rin")
The daughter of "Maoh", she told Rin she met him eight years ago too, when she visited the human world with her dad. Not good at cooking or any household chore (her dad did it all... including her lunch box), she is good at studying, as well as attack type magic... Her singing is so good it is also known as "The Bell of Angels".
Secrets: Nerine did not meet Rin eight years ago, as she was too sick to travel. It was her clone, Lycoris, who met Rin. (Lycoris is the second test subject for the joint research between Shinzoku and Mazoku.)
Difficulty: Easy, in fact, one of the easiest. Also with the most "cheesy" CGs among the girls...
芙蓉 楓 (Fuyou Kaede)
The longtime childhood friend, Rin moved in and lived with her and her dad ever since Rin lost his parents along with Kaede's mom in an accident eight years ago. Taking care of Rin's daily life becomes her sole purpose in life...
Secrets: Her feelings for Rin is more or less to the point that she better confess now... but her childhood past with Rin may shock you...
Difficulty: Easy, very easy, just need to pick the right choice when it comes to kaede, and avoid all other girls. If you go with the "let's please all the girls at once", then you will get to see the extra "lunch box showdown!", the three-way battle among Sia, Nerine and Kaede... let's just say Rin will experience both heaven and hell at the same time...
時雨 亜沙 (Shigure Asa)
The sempai of Rin and Kaede. Also known as "Shocking" Shigure for her amazingly good cooking skills. She taught Kaede how to cook when Kaede joined the school's cooking club. She loves to greet Rin everyday with a slap on his back, and hates magic lessons and magic in general...
Secrets: Her frequent illness is caused by inheriting her mother's tremendous magic power. (Her mother, Shigure Ama, is the first test subject for the joint research between Shinzoku and Mazoku. She vanished along with the whole laboratory when her power overloaded, and thought to be dead...)
Difficulty: Easy, just need to make sure you pick the right choice in 3 places early in the game to capture her heart...
プリムラ (Primula, or "Rimu")
The third test subject, created artificially for the joint research between Shinzoku and Mazoku, she comes to the human world to meet the one called "Tsuchimi Rin"... emotionless as first, can she regain her emotions by living with Rin and Kaede...?
The only "young girl" entry in the game, it is very interesting to see her change though...
Secrets: The stuffed "neko" she carried was given to her by Lycoris...
Difficulty: Somewhat difficult, especially if you don't know that you have to first crack one of the girl first in order to have a chance to crack her...
カレハ (Kareha)
Classmate of Shigure Asa, has a tendency to enter "fantasy mode" whenever she hears something about Rin and other girls...
Difficulty: Very easy, as a bonus character in the PS2 version, all you need to do is to make one particular choice in the game and she will be all yours...
麻弓＝タイム (Mayumi Thyme)
Classmate of Rin and Kaede, she is always ready for hot new scoops around the school. A half-human, half-mazoku, she is self-conscious when it comes to her bust-size...
Difficulty: Medium, as a bonus character in the PS2 version, there are 4 to 5 choices that you have to make correctly in order to please her...
This is the first game that I cannot find a strategy guide online that is "complete" for this game, which means I have to do a little trial-and-error to finish the game. Still, it is not a hard game, with lovely CGs, great character designs, and a pretty good storyline makes this game one of the better love-sim game I have ever played.
The bnous part: Once you finished the whole game, you can watch the original OP from the PC version, as well as a special section for viewing each character in different facial expressions...
Note: I bought the "DX" version, which comes in a box, along with some goodies. You can check that out here. (It is in the bottom part of the entry...)
CG: 8
Difficulty: 5
Storyline: 9
Character Designs: 10
Overall Rating: 9