is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

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 ...

developed by Lillian, and was originally released as an adult game for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

on September 26, 2008. The game is described by the development team as a . The gameplay in ''Twinkle Crusaders'' follows a linear plot line, which offers pre-determined scenarios and courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the five female main characters. ''Twinkle Crusaders'' has also been adapted into four manga adaptations: a four-panel

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

adaptation was serialized in the

bishōjo In Japanese popular culture, a , also romanized as ''bishojo'' or ''bishoujo'', is a cute girl character. ''Bishōjo'' characters appear ubiquitously in media including manga, anime, and computer games (especially in the ''bishojo'' game genre) ...

magazine ''

Dengeki Hime was a Japanese magazine published monthly by ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks) publishing information mainly on adult visual novels. The magazine started as a special issue of the now discontinued ''Dengeki Oh'' in 1997, and in 2001 it be ...

'', a second adaptation was serialized irregularly in ''

Dengeki Daioh is a Japanese shōnen manga magazine published by ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks) under the ''Dengeki'' brand. Many manga serialized in ''Dengeki Daioh'' were later published in ''tankōbon'' volumes under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Co ...

'' and concluded with four chapters, an

adult An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

one-shot One shot may refer to: Film and television * One-shot film, a feature film shot in one long take with no edits, or manufactured to look like so * ''One Shot'' (2005 film), a Sri Lankan action film directed by Ranjan Ramanayake * ''One Shot'' (2 ...

manga chapter was published in the adult magazine ''Megastore'', and a fourth adaptation entitled ''Twinkle Crusaders GoGo!'' was serialized in ''Dengeki Daioh''.

Plot

The player assumes the role of , the protagonist of ''Twinkle Crusaders''. Shin is the student council president of , a position which he thought came with free meals from the cafeteria, as he has been raised in a poor family and is in need of money. Unfortunately there's no such thing as a free meal.

Gameplay

Twinkle Crusaders is a combination of

and turn-based strategy game. The novel portion consists of large amounts of often comedic conversations between characters, based on selections the player makes. There are also a lot of

Easter eggs Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tra ...

hidden within the game that can be discovered by choosing certain options during gameplay. The battle portion of the game consists of turn-based "scenes" where the player must reduce the opponent's Hit Points (HP) to zero using various battle strategies. In order to proceed with the story, the player must successfully defeat the enemy.

Development

''Twinkle Crusaders'' was first announced as the first project to be developed by the visual novel developer Lillian in the Japanese bishōjo magazine ''Tech Gian'', on November 21, 2006. Art direction and character designs were provided by Rei Kannagi and Kotamaru who assisted Kannagi in the process. While the scenario in the game was worked on by Shigeta and Hideto Mayura, with Hozumi Nakamoto who provided assistance in the preparation of the story. The music in the game was composed entirely by Amedio. With the exception of Hozumi Nakamoto, the entire development team has previously worked on previous titles developed by Pajamas Soft, such as ''

Prism Ark is a Japanese erotic video game and the sequel of ''Prism Heart'' developed by Pajamas Soft. Its first release was on August 25, 2006. This work contains adult-only content of a sexual nature. An anime entitled ''Prism Ark'' began airin ...

''.

Release

Before the game's release, three

game demo A game demo is a trial version of a video game that is limited to a certain time limit or a point in progress, which leads to the player buying the game if they liked it. A game demo comes in forms such as shareware, demo disc, downloadable sof ...

s were distributed online at the visual novel's official website, while a separate demo were distributed at retail stores. The demos gave the player a glimpse into the characters and the story of the game, and also introduced the player to the gameplay system, typically the battle system used in the game. The full game was first released on September 26, 2008, as both a limited edition and a premium edition. The limited edition release included the game itself, an arrange album titled ''Kira-kira Sound Festival'', an art collection by twelve different artists, and a clear plastic casing. The premium edition release included the extras found in the limited edition release along with a silver necklace, and is limited to one-thousand units. An all-ages version entitled ''Twinkle Crusaders GoGo!'' was released for the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

published by

ASCII Media Works ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...

on September 9, 2010, and contains additional content not found in the original release, namely a new heroine and promoting a sub heroine to heroine status. A release for windows 7 named ''Twinkled Crusader Remaster'' was released on 24 June 2010, since this was released before ''Twinkled Crusaders GoGo!'', it does not contain the extra content from it.

Internet radio show

internet radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...

show to promote the ''Twinkle Crusaders'', titled was first streamed online on August 27, 2008, as a pre-broadcast episode. It began its regular broadcast on September 10, 2008, and was streamed online bi-weekly on Mondays. The radio show is hosted by

Kimiko Koyama is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Tokushima City, Tokushima Prefecture. Filmography Anime ;1997 *''Coji-Coji'' (Piroro) ;2001 *''Comic Party'' (Ikumi Tachikawa) *''Chibi Maruko-chan'' (Natsumi Murata) ;2002 *''Happy Lesson'' (Uzuk ...

and

Shizuka Itō is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Tokyo, Japan. She is represented by Ken Production. She won a "Best Actress in Supporting Roles" award at the 10th Seiyu Awards for her roles in ''Prison School'' and ''Sailor Moon Crystal''. She is w ...

, who voiced Melilot and Herena in the visual novel, and is produced by Onsen.

Manga

Before the game's release, a four-panel

manga adaptation was serialized in

magazine ''

'' between the December 2007 and October 2008 issues sold on October 30, 2007, and August 30, 2008, respectively. The story of the manga is based on the visual novel, despite it not having been released yet, and was illustrated by

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

Kotamaru, who has also contributed to the art in the game. A second manga adaptation was serialized irregularly between the April 2008 and August 2008 issues of ''

'', published by ASCII Media Works on February 21 and June 21, 2008, respectively, and concluded with four chapters. The second manga was illustrated by Jin Arima, and unlike the first manga which is inspired from the visual novel, the story of the second manga's story is instead based on the game's storyline. A

manga chapter was also serialized in the

magazine ''Megastore'' on May 17, 2008. The manga chapter was drawn by Yasushi Kawakami, and contained adult content not found in the other two manga adaptations. A fourth manga adaptation entitled ''Twinkle Crusaders GoGo!'' began serialization in ''Dengeki Daioh'' July 2009 issue on May 27, 2009, and was illustrated by Hijiki and in October 2010.

Reception and sales

From mid-February to mid-March, the limited edition of ''Twinkle Crusaders'' was the eighth most pre-ordered title, according to a Japanese national ranking of PC games. It was then ranked as the most pre-ordered title in Japan from mid-March to mid-April, the fifth from mid-April to mid-May. The game was also the second most pre-ordered game from mid-May to mid-June, only falling behind '' Little Busters! Ecstasy'', after which the game was again placed as the most pre-ordered title in Japan for two consecutive months.

References

External links

Official ''Twinkle Crusaders'' PC visual novel website

Official ''Twinkle Crusaders'' PSP visual novel website
*{{vndb, 666 2007 manga 2008 manga 2008 video games 2009 manga ASCII Media Works games ASCII Media Works manga Kadokawa Dwango franchises Bishōjo games Dengeki Daioh Drama anime and manga Eroge Fantasy anime and manga Japan-exclusive video games PlayStation Portable games Romance anime and manga Romance video games Seinen manga Video games developed in Japan Visual novels Windows games