is a

shooter game Shooter video games or shooters are a subgenre of action video games where the focus is almost entirely on the defeat of the character's enemies using the weapons given to the player. Usually these weapons are firearms or some other long-range ...

developed by

Grasshopper Manufacture is a Japanese video game developer founded on March 30, 1998 by Goichi Suda. They are well known for creating titles such as ''killer7'' and the '' No More Heroes'' series. History The company was founded on March 30, 1998 in Suginami, Ja ...

and published by Level-5. It was originally included in the ''

Guild01 The is a compilation of video games produced by Level-5 for the Nintendo 3DS in cooperation with various game designers. The first compilation, , consists of four games and was released at retail in Japan on May 31, 2012. Three of the titles have ...

'' compilation for the

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

in 2012, and later made available separately on

Nintendo eShop The Nintendo eShop is a digital distribution service powered by the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, and by a dedicated online infrastructure for the Nintendo Switch. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the eShop was en ...

. A stand-alone high definition version was also released for the

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

in 2013.

Gameplay

The player flies Kamui into the map and the Touch Screen is used to fire missiles or lasers at enemies. At the end of each stage exists a Spike which can be revealed by firing missiles or lasers around its location. They are considered bosses and its thick armor can be pierced using a special technique that requires rapidly drawing circles on the Touch Screen.

Plot

An invading country is stealing all of Japan's energy. The player controls Shoko (voiced by

Kana Hanazawa is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer. A prolific voice performer in anime, she has amassed several film and television credits since her debut in 1990. She won the Seiyu Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2015, and won the Newtype ...

), a high school girl who became President of New Japan after her father's assassination, as she enters the

mecha In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines controlled by people, typically depicted as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the mean ...

''Kamui'' to fight back.

Development and release

''Liberation Maiden'' was result of its creative director

Goichi Suda , known by his alias Suda51, is a Japanese video game designer, writer and director. Affiliated with Human Entertainment from 1994 to 1998, he founded Grasshopper Manufacture in 1998 with a number of other Human Entertainment staff to produce thei ...

's interest in developing for the

, which dates back to before the release of the console. It features animated cutscenes created by Studio BONES and the main theme song, , performed by

Marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

. ''Liberation Maiden'' shares stylistic traits with other material from

's repertoire, particularly ''Pure White Lover Bizarre Jelly'', an in-game anime within the '' No More Heroes'' universe. The game was released in Europe on October 4, 2012, in North America on October 25, 2012, and individually in Japan on November 14, 2012. A later high-definition version was released internationally for the

systems on March 7, 2013.

Reception

In Japan, ''Liberation Maiden'' was released as part of ''

''. It has received mostly positive or average reviews on 3DS, but it has sold poorly. In the west, ''Liberation Maiden'' also received mostly positive or average reviews on both platforms.

Sequel

visual novel A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...

sequel to the game, titled ''Liberation Maiden SIN'', was developed by 5pb. for the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

on December 5, 2013. A

PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international territo ...

version was later released on July 31, 2014. Both versions have not been released outside of Japan.

Notes

References

External links

''Liberation Maiden'' official website''Liberation Maiden SIN'' official website

''Liberation Maiden''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

Guild (video game series) 2012 video games Bones (studio) Grasshopper Manufacture games IOS games Level-5 (company) franchises Level-5 (company) games Nintendo 3DS eShop games Nintendo 3DS games Science fiction video games Shoot 'em ups Single-player video games Video game franchises Video games developed in Japan Video games featuring female protagonists Video games scored by Akira Yamaoka Video games set in Japan Video games set in the 22nd century {{shooter-videogame-stub