''Jake Hunter'', known in Japan as , is a mystery

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...

series originally developed and published by

Data East , also abbreviated as DECO, was a Japanese video game, pinball and electronic engineering company. The company was in operation from 1976 to 2003, and released 150 video game titles. Its main headquarters were located in Suginami, Tokyo. The Am ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

. The property would later transfer to

WorkJam WorkJam Co., Ltd. (株式会社ワークジャム ''Work Jam Co., Ltd.'') was a Japanese video game and software development company. Its main headquarters were located in Chiyoda, Tokyo. History WorkJam was founded by Yutaka Kaminaga on Dec ...

, and then to

Arc System Works , commonly referred to as ArcSys, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher located in Yokohama. Founded by Minoru Kidooka in 1988, the company is known for arcade 2D fighting game franchises, including ''Guilty Gear'' and ''BlazBlue'', a ...

. Despite its popularity in Japan, the first of its games to receive an English language release was ''Tantei Jingūji Saburō DS: Inishie no Kioku'', retitled and released in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

on June 11, 2008 by

Aksys Games Aksys Games Localization, Inc. is a video game publisher that specializes in translating and localizing Japanese video games for English-speaking markets. It was founded by Akibo Shieh in 2006. Some of its clients include Bandai Namco Games, Xs ...

in truncated form as ''Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles''. The game was re-released on May 26, 2009 as ''Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past'', containing the originally localised three cases with new translations, plus three further cases, and a large number of unlockables including comics. No further releases would be announced until July 1, 2017, when Aksys Games revealed they would be bringing over ''Tantei Jingūji Saburō: Ghost of the Dusk'' in 2018. A prequel game, given the branding ''Alternate Jake Hunter'' internationally, was localised internally and released in 2019 with original character names and settings preserved.

History

According to

Enterbrain , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing founded on 30 January 1987 as . Magazines published by Enterbrain are generally focused on video games and computer entertainment as well as video game and strategy ...

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

, the ''Tantei Jingūji Saburō'' franchise had sold over 2,220,000 units at the time of its twentieth anniversary,https://www.famitsu.com/game/coming/2007/05/07/104,1178523760,71261,0,0.html making it one of the longest running and best-selling Japanese adventure game series in history. There are nineteen main series entries, complemented by a 25-game mobile sub-series and various examples of tie-in media. A persistent series tradition has been to use titles from songs and albums as names for installments, with most frequent reference made to the works of

Kenji Sawada is a Japanese singer, composer, lyricist and actor, best known for being the vocalist for the Japanese rock band The Tigers. Nicknamed because of his self-professed adoration of Julie Andrews, he was born in Tsunoi, Iwami (now part of Totto ...

Family Computer

The first game of the series, , was released in 1987 by

for the

Family Computer Disk System The commonly shortened to the Famicom Disk System or just Disk System, is a peripheral for Nintendo's Family Computer home video game console, released only in Japan on February 21, 1986. It uses proprietary floppy disks called "Disk Cards" f ...

. Following in the style of

Yuji Horii (also written as Yuuji Horii; born January 6, 1954) is a Japanese video game designer and scenario writer best known as the creator of the ''Dragon Quest'' series of role-playing games, supervising and writing the scenario for ''Chrono Trigger' ...

's popular Famicom adventure games, the "command selection" style games featured advanced graphics, sound effects, and distinct

hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...

scenarios to set themselves apart from contemporaries. The series employed a number of advanced game mechanics, developing techniques which would later find popularity in the industry at large. Time played an important role in the first game, with each command selected by the player causing a certain amount of in-game time to elapse; failure to solve the mystery during the allotted time period resulting in a bad ending. This time system would later be revived in the series' 7th installment. The scenario for the series' 3rd and 4th installments was written by a fledgling

Kazushige Nojima is a Japanese video game writer. He is best known for writing several installments of Square Enix's ''Final Fantasy'' franchise—namely ''Final Fantasy VII'' and its spin-offs ''Advent Children'' and ''Crisis Core'', ''Final Fantasy VIII'', and ' ...

, who added segments following the secondary lead which alternated on a predetermined basis.

Fifth generation consoles

Production was halted after the 4th installment, but would be revived internally when Data East took on series fan Tatsuya Saito. Saito would become scenario writer for the 5th game in the series, directed by Eiichi Nishiyama, imminent heir to the role of series producer, and released on the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

and

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the succ ...

in 1996. This fifth entry would see several developments on the original games made possible by the use of the CD-ROM: an overhaul of the series' graphics and sound, including an opening movie featuring an animated prelude and

voice acting Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

for the first time; a "zapping" system which allowed different branches of the story to be played by way of alternating characters; 3D-rendered mini games; and the inaugural installment of a sub-series known in Japan as the ''Mystery Casebook'' games (''Jake Hunter Unleashed'' in English releases), featuring super-deformed caricatures of the main trio encountering small-scale mysteries involving extra challenging gameplay, which would be included alongside mainline games. Most of these features would become recurrent in the series, with the 6th installment, written by Hirotaka Inaba, replacing the previous game's stylised character design with a painted realist style produced by original character designer

Katsuya Terada , is a Japanese illustrator and cartoonist from the town of Tamano, Okayama. His alias is the portmanteau . Terada's prolific visual arts practice uniquely straddles the lines between manga, fine art, and digital design. His work ranges widely f ...

, and adding a new "password" mechanic, involving hidden codes in the main game which could be used to unlock bonus content. Bearing the newly christened series subtitle "Detective Adventure Game", both this game and the next, released exclusively for PlayStation, would feature opening movies directed by

Shimako Satō (born in 1964) is a Japanese screenwriter and film director. Career Born in Iwate Prefecture, Satō attended the Asagaya College of Art and Design before studying filmmaking at the London International Film School. Her 1995 film ''Wizard of D ...

Sixth generation consoles

In 1999, a financially troubled Data East licensed out the series to

, to which Nishiyama's "Team Jingūji" would transfer when Data East went bankrupt in 2003. The transition between studios marked a shift in game design, storytelling becoming once more linear and perspective shifts scripted, setting the formula for later games in the series. With previous scenario writers unavailable, writing duties for the series' eighth installment, developed for

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

in 2002, fell to WorkJam founder Yutaka Kaminaga. The resultant game featured a number of peripheral references to the contemporary

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 ...

game ''

The Silver Case is an adventure visual novel video game developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and published by ASCII Entertainment for the PlayStation in 1999. It was directed, designed and co-written by Goichi Suda. A remastered version was released digitally by ...

''. The series continued at WorkJam with a further game for the PS2 and reimaginings of the Famicom games released as the inauguration of a line of mobile phone applications. The final game of the generation, co-developed by

Marvelous Interactive (MMV) was a multinational corporation that produced animation, music, video games and television series. MMV is known for its involvement in the ''Story of Seasons'' series. They merged with AQ Interactive in 2011 and became Marvelous AQL; the ...

for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

, marked the series debut on handheld platforms.

Seventh generation consoles

Beginning with a special 20th anniversary release for the

Nintendo DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...

, WorkJam would work with

in development of console games, now released exclusively on handheld platforms, predominantly in the form of the ''Tantei Jingūji Saburō Detective Story'' compilation line, with the addition of a

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, ...

release similar in form to earlier PlayStation installments. WorkJam licensed a series of PlayStation Game Archives releases of the original Data East games to Expris, and continued their mobile game line, featuring contributions from writers such as

Kazutaka Kodaka is a Japanese video game designer, writer and mangaka. His work is known for recurring themes of contrasting hope/despair, luck/talent, truth/lies; mixing tragedy with dark humor, numerous plot-twists etc. He was an employee of Spike Chunsoft ( ...

, to a total of twenty-four releases before it was retired.

Eighth-generation consoles

In 2011, WorkJam began to wind down production, with full responsibilities for the ongoing development of a special 25th-anniversary game 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 ...

falling to Arc System Works. Several WorkJam staff, including Nishiyama and planner/scenario writer Mitsue Kaneko, would form a new studio,

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

, while rights to various company properties including the ''Tantei Jingūji Saburō'' series passed to Expris. For the next five years the series would remain largely dormant, aside from Game Archives rereleases of WorkJam's two PS2 games from Expris, and a cameo by the title character in ''Inuwashi Urabure Tantei to Ojou-sama Keiji no Ikebukuro Jiken Fairu'', a mobile game developed by Orange and scored by longtime series composer Seiichi Hamada. In 2017, Arc System Works announced that plans for a 30th-anniversary revival had led to its obtaining of exclusive rights to Expris' WorkJam-inherited properties at the end of the previous year. Following this, the company worked with Orange and Neilo to publish several titles for handheld and home consoles, while exploring new avenues for PC delivery and reviving the mobile line for smart devices.

Characters

The main character of the series is Jake Hunter (known in Japan as ), a thirty-something (29 for the first five installments)

private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...

who operates a detective agency in the Tripudio district of the fictional American city of Aspicio (

Kabukichō Kabukichō ( ja, 歌舞伎町, , ) is an entertainment district in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. Kabuki-chō is the location of many host and hostess clubs, love hotels, shops, restaurants, and nightclubs, and is often called the "Sleepless Town" (, , ...

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

in the Japanese original). He was born the third son of a wealthy business enterprise owner, but chose to travel to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

during his youth to work as an assistant detective. He is a heavy smoker, and often assembles his thoughts with the help of a

Marlboro Marlboro (, ) is an American brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Philip Morris USA (a branch of Altria) within the United States and by Philip Morris International (now separate from Altria) outside the US. The largest Marl ...

cigarette. According to his in-game profile, his favorite alcoholic beverage is

cognac Cognac ( , also , ) is a variety of brandy named after the Communes of France, commune of Cognac, France. It is produced in the surrounding wine-growing region in the Departments of France, departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime. Cog ...

, and he drives a green

Mini Cooper Mini Cooper may refer to: *Cars of the original Mini series called the "Mini Cooper", made by the British Motor Corporation and its successors 1961–1971, and 1990–2000 *Cars of the Mini (marque), including a number of different models produced ...

. Hunter is persistently accompanied in his investigations by Yulia Marks (known in Japan as ), his

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingualism, monolingual speakers in the World population, world's pop ...

assistant, and often collaborates with his old friend Scott "King" Kingsley (known in Japan as ), a middle-aged inspector with the city police.

Voice acting

Voice acting was first used in certain game scenes in the 5th installment, and has been implemented in most subsequent releases, excluding those released for mobile, GBA and DS. Jingūji has been voiced by

Yukimasa Kishino is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Edogawa, Tokyo, Japan. He is also active in the theatrical entertainment field and is the chairman of his own theatrical group, ''Gekidan Kishino Gumi''. Some of the members of this group include ...

Akio Ōtsuka is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from the Tokyo Metropolitan area. He is attached to Mausu Promotion. The astringent and calm quality of his deep voice has landed him many roles in films, dubbing, animation, and video games. He is ...

Jūrōta Kosugi is a Japanese voice actor. His major roles include Arlong in ''One Piece'', Asuma Sarutobi in ''Naruto'', Akio Ohtori in ''Revolutionary Girl Utena'', Isamu Kenmochi in ''Kindaichi Case Files'', Big Zenki in ''Zenki,'' and Jotaro Kujo in ''JoJ ...

, and Kaoru Katō; Yōko by Tsumugi Ōsawa, Yōko Saitō,

Fumiko Orikasa is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer. She has been the voice of Rukia Kuchiki in ''Bleach'', Meyrin Hawke in ''Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny'', Chun-Li in ''Street Fighter'', Kanade Minamino/Cure Rhythm in '' Suite PreCure,'' Lotte ...

, Kazue Nakamoto,

Seiko Yoshida is a Japanese voice actress affiliated with Mausu Promotion. Biography Filmography Television animation ; 2008 * ''Nijū Mensō no Musume'' as Spectator A (ep 5) ; 2009 * '' Umineko: When They Cry'' as Belphegor * ''Tatakau Shisho'' as Ia M ...

, and

Mamiko Noto > is a Japanese actress and singer. Some of her prominent anime roles include Kotomi Ichinose in ''Clannad'', Rin in ''Inuyasha'', Kotori Monou in '' X'', Aoi Kannazuki in ''Kaitō Tenshi Twin Angel'', Durandal in ''Honkai Impact 3rd'', Haru ...

; and Sanzō by

Fumihiko Tachiki is a Japanese voice actor and narrator. Career Tachiki is known for his low voice. He serves as the narrator for '' Pride Fighting Championships'' and Dream. He and Toshiyuki Morikawa formed the band "2HEARTS" in 2003. Their song, "Ever Free", s ...

Kōji Ishii is a Japanese voice actor currently affiliated with Vi-Vo. His major roles include: Koutaro Taiga in ''The King of Braves GaoGaiGar'', Giovanni Bertuccio in '' Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo'', Shigematsu in ''Toriko'', and Prime Minist ...

Masaaki Tsukada was a Japanese actor and voice actor Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, ...

, and Naomi Otome.

List of media

Mobile series

The mobile games began development under WorkJam for flip phones in 2003. The first four games were remakes of the original Famicom games, featuring (often significant) reworking of their stories. Following Arc System Works' acquisition of the series in 2017, the original games were collected in a smartphone app, and the line relaunched with a new series beginning in 2019.

Other media

The series has been accompanied by a plethora of tie-in books, the first of which, a choose-your-own-adventure style

gamebook A gamebook is a work of printed fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making choices. The narrative branches along various paths, typically through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages. Each narrative typically does not ...

for young adults, was released in 1988. After the series revival at Data East, Tatsuya Saito would pen a prequel novel documenting the first meeting between Jingūji and Kumano. A further novel would be published in 2000, followed by a novelisation of the eighth game. Another prequel, telling a story set during Jingūji's schooldays, was published by

Dengeki Bunko is a publishing imprint affiliated with the Japanese publishing company ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks). It was established in June 1993 with the publication of '' Hyōryū Densetsu Crystania'' volume one, and is a light novel imprint a ...

in 2004, followed by a brief sequence of releases at Sesame Books, ending in 2007.

Manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

adaptations of the third and sixth games were previously made available online, and several game guides were published prior to the series' shift toward handheld platforms. Several soundtrack CDs have also been released, featuring a range of music from across the series composed by series stalwart Seiichi Hamada and others. A Drama CD featuring three short vignettes was included with early copies of the sixth game. The first four games in the series were released on the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

Virtual Console A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, Unix ...

exclusively in Japan.