[Key]Little Busters

Sat Jul 21, 2012 12:20 pm

Little Busters! (リトルバスターズ! Ritoru Basutāzu!) is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key. It was released on July 27, 2007 playable on Windows PCs and is rated for all ages. Little Busters! is Key's sixth game, along with other titles such as Kanon, Air, and Clannad. An adult version of the game titled Little Busters! Ecstasy was released on July 25, 2008 for Windows, unlike Kanon and Air, which were first released with adult content and then had later versions with such content removed. Ecstasy was later ported to the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita. The story follows the life of Riki Naoe, a high school student who has been a member of a group of friends named the Little Busters since childhood. Riki brings multiple girls at his school into the Little Busters to have enough people to play a baseball game.

The gameplay in Little Busters! follows a branching plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the six female main characters by the player character, which increases to nine in Ecstasy. There are additional minigames added into the gameplay, such as battle sequences that resemble fighting games or baseball batting practice, which serve to give the characters experience, obtain accessories to use during battle, and improve their statistics. Both Little Busters! and Ecstasy ranked as the best-selling PC game sold in Japan for the time of their release, and Ecstasy would go on to sell over 100,000 units. Key went on to produce an adult spin-off of Ecstasy called Kud Wafter in June 2010, which expanded on the scenario of Kudryavka Noumi, one of the heroines from Little Busters! and Ecstasy.

Source: Wikipedia

Synopsis: We begin behind the eyes of Naoe Riki, a 2nd year at a boarding high school. He's meek, dependant, and cursed with fainting spells*. He's also clever, loyal, and blessed with great friends that together form the centerpiece of this story. This group of friends, the namesake of the story, is the Little Busters. Kyousuke, a 3rd year and the tacit leader of the Little Busters, recruited Riki when they were still small boys, during a time when Riki was depressed and shut-in after the deaths of his parents. Together with two other boys, Masato and Kengo, plus Kyousuke's sister Rin, the 5 Little Busters spent their childhood together having fun and busting evil.

Now in high school, Kyousuke returns from searching for work in the big city only to tell his friends that such is not the meaning of his life and that they should all play baseball together to define and confirm their existence. From this apparently nonsensical cafeteria discussion, the Little Busters grow into a full-fledged baseball team while Riki and Rin grow into the team's ace batter and pitcher, respectively. They meet new people, discover more about everyone, and have many laughs and tears in the process. But to what end?