999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors came out on iOS this week in Japan. English version coming in Autumn. i.e. earliest is September. Except in this iOS version, they removed the puzzles in favour of a “comic-book style presentation and multi-path flow chart” that lets you hop to different parts of the plot." (and from what I read, this is a good thing)
While the iOS version is currently Japan-only, 999 lead writer and director Kotaro Uchikoshi said on Twitter that he thinks an English version "will also be released by autumn." There’s no official word from Spike Chunsoft as yet, but given how both 999 and Virtue’s Last Reward made their way west, a successful breakout across the ocean looks promising. [joystiq.com]
Great, it’s gone from one handheld platform that I don’t own to another handheld platform that I don’t own. :/
The puzzles themselves weren’t particularly mindblowing, especially in the English release, but the character interactions during the puzzle segments really added quite a bit of personality to the game. I wonder if those were somehow carried over.
If they release it on PC, it’ll be a dream come true
Well, this won’t be the same without the puzzles… this game is really enjoyable on the DS as it is.
NO PUZZLES!? I don’t see how this is a good thing. The final puzzle is so memorable and crucial to the game’s plot, I don’t see how they could remove it.
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*SPOILERS*
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The final Sudoku puzzle is a fitting swan song to the game. Appropriate to the game’s name, it’s 9 squares each with 9 boxes using 9 numbers. The child June didn’t know Sudoku, so it’s fitting she reached out to Junpei in the future who was not only older/wiser, but Sudoku is also more mainstream today than it was in the past, at least from an American perspective. It’s the most intense Sudoku puzzle ever, and one of the game’s finest moments. I love how you have to rotate the DS because you’re solving it from June’s perspective.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzCiKsasHIk
***MORE SPOILERS***
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Earlier, the facial recognition puzzle Junpei solves is later entrusted to Ace in another route. This is a crucial turning point in discerning Ace as the culprit. Ace is unable to solve what should be a simple puzzle due to his inability to distinguish faces. How do I know this is a simple puzzle?… Because I had to fucking do it earlier! This makes Ace’s inability to do it all the more dramatic!
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I could go on, but anyone who buys this iOS version is missing out on a large part of what made 999 so memorable.
I’ll play the English version when it comes out. Actually I have been wishing for more VN’s to hit the platform since I think an iPad is a perfect fit for Visual Novels (I loved playing both Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate on it for example).
What I REALLY want is an iOS version of VLR since I don’t own either a 3DS or a Vita. I should really work on fixing that…