Little Busters!/Visual Novel

Little Busters! is a visual novel with an eroge version called ''Little Busters! Ecstasy''. The visual novel was the first part of the series to be released, the manga and anime following later.

Description
Little Busters! 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 PS Vita. An English version will be released by Visual Arts in 2017 on Steam; the translation will be done by Fruitbat Factory.

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 mini games 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!.

There have been five manga adaptations based on Little Busters! and five based on Little Busters! Ecstasy. Two are serialized in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Magazine, another four are serialized in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Festival! Comic, two are in Kadokawa Shoten's Comp Ace, one is in Ichijinsha's Comic Rex, and one is in Ichijinsha's Manga 4-koma Palette. Comic anthologies, light novels and art books were also published, as were several music albums. An Internet radio show aired between June 2008 and October 2011 hosted by the voice actors of Rin and Kyousuke Natsume and Kudryavka Noumi.

Minigames

 * Besides being a visual novel; Little Busters! also contain various minigames. All minigames are optional and the outcome of minigames does not influence the story; however some scenes can only be seen if a specific minigame is won or lost.


 * Battle Sequence Minigame: Two members of the Little Busters fight each other using slapstick weapons;Little_Busters!_fighting_mode.jpg such as banana peels, eel pies and papercraft models of Himeji Castle. The winner bestows an often funny title upon the loser. There is also a ranking ; if Riki Naoe manages to climb up to the first place, Mask the Saitou will appear as challenger. In the beginning, Rin Natsume also fights Sasami Sasasegawa every evening; and one night, Rin also fights various creatures wandering in the school through this minigame.


 * Batting Practice: Every day after school, the Little Busters can practice baseball. In this minigame, Little_Busters_VN_-_Minigame_Large_01.jpg the player takes control of Riki and tries to hit balls pitched by Rin. The player must try to hit as many of Rin's balls and try to make other members catch the ball; who will return the ball to Riki so he can make a combo. There are also many cats on the field; if one of them is hit by the ball Rin will become angry. By playing the minigame and making high combos, the statistics of all members will go up.


 * Baseball Match Against the Team Captains: At the end of the common route, the Little Busters will have a baseball match against the captains of all sport teams of their school. After clearing many routes (so Rin and Riki's stats are higher) and doing Batting Practise every possible time; it is possible to win against them.


 * Dungeon Crawler (Ecstasy only): This minigame appears in Saya Tokido's route. Riki and Saya explore a dungeon beneath the school and must clear various puzzles as they go deeper into the dungeon.


 * Shooting Game (Ecstasy only): In this game Riki and Saya fight the Darkness Executives during the dungeon crawler.. First time clearing the dungeon; a circle filled with numbers 1-12 like a clock will appear; while Saya shouts either of these numbers, the player has a short time to click on that number to shoot the Darkness Executives. The game will gradually become harder as more enemies appear. The second time in the dungeon the player has to shoot the Darkness Executives himself as they enter the screen. For the game is also an easy mode available.


 * Various other small minigames such as "Saving the Cafeteria".

Little Busters! Ecstasy

 * Little Busters! Ecstasy is the adult version of Little Busters! and contains sex scenes with all the heroines. Besides the adult content, Little Busters! Ecstasy also contains three new routes, for Sasami Sasasegawa, Kanata Futaki and a new character, Saya Tokido. Saya's route contains new minigames: a first person shooting minigame and a dungeon crawler minigame.


 * An all ages edition of Little Busters! Ecstasy was released as part of the Key 10th Anniversary Memorial Box on July 31, 2009, which is known as Little Busters! Memorial Edition.


 * Little Busters! EX, is an anime adaptation of the three routes Ecstasy added, it was announced on September 16, 2013 during the KSL Life event. It started airing on January 29, 2014. The sex scenes are absent from the anime adaptation.

List of Releases

 * The original all-ages version was released on July 27, 2007.
 * Little Busters! Ecstasy, released on July 25, 2008. The adult only version of Little Busters! Also contains 3 new routes, Sasami Sasasegawa, Kanata Futaki and Saya Tokido.
 * Little Busters! Memorial Edition, released on July 31, 2009 as part of the Key 10th Anniversary Memorial Box. This is the all ages version of Little Busters! Ecstasy.
 * Little Busters! Portable Edition; which is Little Busters! ported to various (handheld) Playstation consoles. Little Busters! has been ported to Playstation 2 (released on December 24, 2009); Playstation Portable (released on November 25, 2010); Playstation Vita (released on March 22, 2012) and Playstation 3 (released on March 20, 2013).
 * Little Busters! Perfect Edition, released on November 30, 2012. This version is released to celebrate the release of the Little Busters! TV anime, it is the same as the Memorial Edition but contains an additional CG. The DVD also contains a Little Busters! desktop theme for Windows as bonus.
 * An official English translated version of the game will be released by Visual Arts on Steam in 2017. The translation was done by Fruitbat Factory. This will be an all-ages version of the game similar to the Perfect Edition.

Spin-off Games

 * Heroine Kudryavka Noumi got her own spin-off visual novel called Kud Wafter. Key also released a visual novel containing short sidestories, which is known as Litle Busters! SS. So far, 5 volumes have been released for Android and iOS; with the first released on October 29, 2012.


 * A 3D animation and dancing game of Little Busters!; Characolle: Key was released by Illusion on March 4, 2011; and contains 3D models of Rin and Kudryavka and various locations of the visual novel. On January 29, 2014, a Blu-ray game called Mio Nishizono's Locked-Room Murder Case? was released as part of the first volume of Blu-rays of the Little Busters! Refrain animation. Little Busters! also has many doujinshi games (mainly fighting games and RPG's).


 * Litle Busters! also has its own online game developed by Visual Art's: Little Busters! Card Mission. Characters from Little Busters! also appear in the online games Key Collection, Megami Engage! Break and Megami Engage! Quest.


 * Little Busters! also has its own card game: Little Busters-EX: DOTABATA Ranking Battle; which is developed by Arclight and released in 2010 and is based on the Battle minigame. Characters from Little Busters! also appear in the trading card games Weiß Schwarz, Chaos TCG and Lycèe Trading Card Game.