Tsukibito



Tsukibito (ツキビト) is an adventure game developed by SNK-Playmore for the Nintendo DS. It was revealed for the first time at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show and is slated for a 2009 release. The target audience for this title are teenagers or younger gamers.

The game's story is about "Tsukibito", supernatural beings that the normal human eye cannot see, and the young girl who can see them. It is advertised as a "heartful adventure" with a mysterious demonic fantasy twist.

Tsukibito is given a passing mention in the DS version of the ninth Days of Memories title.

Staff

 * Head - Hirokatsu Kihara
 * Supervisor, Game Creator - Kazunari Suzuki
 * Design - Monster★Soup (Naoki Ishizaka & Atsuhiro Tsuchiya)
 * Music Composer - Yoshitaka Hirota
 * Line Producer - James Wang

Hirota and Wang formerly worked on the Shadow Hearts series developed by Sacnoth.

Gameplay

 * The story is split into ten chapters, each exploring a different part of the town where the story takes place.
 * Every action determined by the player needs to use the touch screen of the DS. There are no button commands to substitute for it.
 * Once the protagonist cuts her hair, she is given the task of handling the townspeople's problems (or "Komari Goto") written on wooden boards at the northern shrine. She has to find each resident for each request and needs to handle the problem found with their respective tsukibito. During her search, she needs to talk to other residents to get an idea of the poster's whereabouts.
 * During sporadic parts of the game, the protagonist will check the online community board to get hints on the local news. She does this by breezing through comments mailed to her cellphone.
 * When the protagonist is traveling through the town, she explores each spot one at a time. These areas are indicated as green spots during the map view of the town. Each spot offers an individual render on the touch screen for the specific area. There are also three icons listed at the bottom of the touch screen during this screen. The one on the left displays the strengths and current attitude of the player's tsukibito. The middle icon allows the player to save. The farthest right icon allows the player to switch between the map or cutaway screen.
 * Touching an object of interest while in a secluded spot will have the protagonist search and identify it. People can exchange conversations with Kyoko if the player touches them.
 * As a resident speaks to their audience, their emotions emerge as food for their listener's tsukibito. These colored orbs emerge as "Ki Mochi" (a pun of "feelings" and "rice cakes"). Ki Mochi is labeled by categories and colors representing emotions (happiness, doubt, fear, sadness, ect.) and are used to level up the protagonist's own tsukibito. Leveling up the protagonist's tsukibito powers up its dances against other tsukibito (see below). There are times when the protagonist will be exempt from having Ki Mochi float towards her, meaning that she won't always benefit from every conversation.
 * When the protagonist finds the tsukibito who is causing the problem, she tells her own tsukibito to convince it to right itself. Tsukibito solve their disagreements through dances. Each dance is done in a "monkey see, monkey do" fashion. First, the opposing tsukibito will dance their respective steps shown at the bottom of the dual screen. The protagonist's tsukibito is then asked to mimic it with the cards available on the touch screen. Precise timing from the player will do more "damage" to the opposing tsukibito; missing decreases their own tsukibito's power. The player has a limited amount of time to successfully defeat another tsukibito. To sample a rough dance sequence, click on the mini-game option on the official website and select the left option in the pop-up window.
 * At times, the protagonist will need to say her thoughts to pass an obstacle. This triggers the "Koto no Ha Battle", or word battle. She needs to first pick a sentence to say to respond to her foe. After selecting this sentence, she is then asked to formulate the syllables and words together. If she makes a mistake, she won't say anything and will lose her foothold in the argument. The goal is to successfully convince the opposing party of her side on things.

Main Characters

 * Kyoko - default name for female protagonist (name can be changed by player). When the game begins, she has long hair that covers her face and wears a long dress. Constantly ridiculed for being awkward and too weird, several residents of the town complain on the community blog about her, a few eventually saying that she should just disappear. Having little faith in herself and unable to stand it, she starts the game in desperate need of help. Intending to hang herself over the cliff at the city's northern shrine, she forgets the stool she needs to reach the noose she tied. She mysteriously finds a boy hanging from the noose when she returns and saves him. Soon after, she is informed of the existence of tsukibito and has her hair drastically cut short. Forced to reinvent herself at the tsukibito's request, Kyoko tries to solve any problems found amongst the tsukibito floating near residents.
 * Kagami - a pale haired boy with a pale complexion, he is first saved by Kyoko from her own noose. Since he is unable to remember anything about himself, he mainly moans or makes baby sounds when he talks. At a lost with what to do with him, Kyoko decides to take care of him at her home and fibs that he is her cousin to curious residents. She learns his name through the community board, which reports that Kagami has been missing from school. He likes to follow Kyoko around, also being able to see tsukibito and occasionally coming to her rescue. When a nearby tsukibito wants to talk to Kyoko, Kagami is usually the person possessed by them. Later in the game, he is able to actually speak words when he remembers more about himself.
 * Saki - Kyoko's best friend and classmate who is known as a cheery and pretty girl at school. Worried for Kyoko, she defends her from being bullied. Saki has the mysterious ability to erase a person's memories yet she tries to keep her talents hidden.
 * Mamoru - a boy who somehow possesses a working knowledge of tsukibito and is fascinated by Kyoko. He asks her a series of questions regarding her relationship with Kagami, seeming interested in the girl's answers. Acts cool until he hears Kyoko praise Kagami.
 * N Association Members - mischievous children in town who are able to see tsukibito. They are easily recognizable by the multi zipper hoodies they wear. Unlike Kyoko, they desire to control tsukibito as they see them as dangerous threats to the everyday lives for people. Their leader is a member who is identified by the name Hector.

Tsukibito
Tsukibito are beings that influence the attitude of the person they float over. They are supernatural beings, neither ghosts or fairies, that have no physical form yet have distinct personalities and abilities of their own. They nickname themselves as tsukibito since they make an inexplicable impression (tsuki) on humans. It becomes troublesome for people if tsukibito make a mistake or float over a completely different person.


 * Tsuki Mushi - tiny cloud shaped tsukibito that carry people's emotions in themselves and become Ki Mochi. They carry no distinct traits of their own and often become food for other tsukibito. It follows the visitor's cursor for the flash intensive version of the official website.
 * Kokoro Utsurushi - Kyoko's mute tsukibito friend who has been following her since the beginning of the game. A white being with a huge open mouth, it influences Kyoko's easy-going yet strong willed traits. It has the unique ability to devour Ki Mochi and become stronger with the emotions carried in its food.

Residents in Town

 * Kyoko's parents - her father is a reporter and her mother is traveling with him. For the majority of the game, Kyoko lives alone at her home with an amnesic Kagami.
 * Mister Kihara - Insisting to be called Mister and not "-san", he is an older gentlemen who likes to entertain with his library of scary stories. He tells Kyoko and her friends about the ghost story surrounding an abandoned building in town. He is the self insert of Hirokatsu Kihara.
 * Mysterious Man - a young mysterious man who always hangs out at the town's bridge with his fishing pole. He is unemployed but he is very knowledgeable about mythology, local gossip, and the town's history. The town's residents don't know his name yet the school girls remark that he is unbelievably handsome for someone who doesn't seem to have a house. When Kyoko is lost, he kindly encourages her to proceed forward. He is the self insert of Kazunari Suzuki.