''J.B. Harold Murder Club'', known as ''J.B. Harold no Jikenbo #1: Murder Club'' in Japan, is a 1986 murder 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 ...

, developed by

Riverhillsoft was a Japanese video game manufacturer in operation from 1982 to 2004. The studio focused in the 1980s developing games for Japanese home computers, in the 1990s shifted to console game development, and in the 2000s to mobile games. They also pub ...

and released for the

NEC PC-98 The , commonly shortened to PC-98 or , is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2000. The platform established NEC's dominance in the Japanese personal computer market, and, by 1999, more th ...

, MSX,

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

NEC is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It prov ...

TurboGrafx-CD The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation, commonly known as the 16-bit era, thoug ...

(

TurboDuo The TurboDuo is a fourth-generation video game console developed by NEC Home Electronics and Hudson Soft for the North American market. The TurboDuo was test-marketed in Los Angeles in October 1992, before a nationwide rollout in May 1993. It is ...

) and

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 ...

platforms. The TurboGrafx-CD version featured still photographs, text and audio voices as well as the option to select the language,

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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 ...

. It was the first entry in the ''J.B. Harold'' series, which have been released on various platforms and sold 20 million copies as of 2011.

Story and gameplay

A horrible murder has taken place in the sleepy little town of Liberty. Bill Robbins, a wealthy man known for his wild

womanizing Promiscuity is the practice of engaging in sexual activity frequently with different partners or being indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners. The term can carry a moral judgment. A common example of behavior viewed as promiscuous by man ...

ways is the victim and, list of possible suspects keeps growing. As J.B. Harold the player must figure out the who, what, where and why of the case. To solve the mystery it will be necessary to travel to various locations, interview people and search for clues.''Video Games and Computer Entertainment'', July 1991, p. 44 The game is laid out over a grid map that displays various locations, though other than that, the game is mainly presented in the form of still photos.

Series

''J.B. Harold Murder Club'' is the first in the Japanese ''J. B. Harold'' series of murder mystery

graphic 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 ...

s, which includes ''Manhattan Requiem'' (1987), ''Kiss of Murder'' (1988), ''D.C. Connection'' (1989), and ''Blue Chicago Blues'' (1995). ''J.B Harold Murder Club'' was the first title in the series to be released in the United States. After the series sold 20 million copies, an

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 ...

version of the second game ''Manhattan Requiem'' was released in the

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and state (polity), states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

Nintendo DS

In 2008, an

enhanced remake A video game remake is a video game closely adapted from an earlier title, usually for the purpose of modernizing a game with updated graphics for newer hardware and gameplay for contemporary audiences. Typically, a remake of such game software sh ...

of the game was released for the Japanese

, under the title ''Keiji J.B. Harold no Jikenbo: Satsujin Club''.

Reception

Dennis Owens (in the voice of a character named "Rocco") reviewed the game for ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American computer game magazine published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 1993. It expanded greatly through ...

'', and stated that "Da goods on dis game iz dat, if youse can fuhgit dat dis iz nuttin' but a compudah game, which da game in no ways lets youse fugit, den youse might finds its to be sum kind o' complex moidah mystery." The PC Engine version was rated 21.74 out of 30 by ''

PC Engine Fan PC Engine Fan was a Japanese magazine dedicated to the PC Engine, published by Tokuma Shoten. It ran from 1988 to 1996. History The first issue of ''PC Engine Fan'' was published in late 1988. The magazine originated as a section in ''Family Compu ...

'' magazine. The game was reviewed in 1991 in ''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

'' #176 by Hartley, Patricia and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars. They wrote that it is "a great game for mystery fans" and "a thinking game that is well worth the money".

TurboDuo reviews

''Video Games and Computer Entertainment'' critic, Donn Nauert, praised the game's sound, graphics, and playability, giving it an overall score of 9 out of 10. Defunct Games stated: "This is the type of game that will no doubt appeal to the gamers who love a good murder mystery, and while it's not perfect there's no denying that it's the best game of its kind. This is the type of game you don't see much anymore, which is a real shame because for what it is J.B Harold is a lot of fun". They gave the game a score of 70%.

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

included the game in its list of titles that deserve an

, stating that it was "one of the most difficult games ever made", had "some of the most memorable voice acting of all time", and that "to this day there isn't much out there quite like it". They compared it to more recent titles such as the adventure games ''

Shenmue is an action-adventure game series created, produced and directed by Yu Suzuki. '' Shenmue'' (1999) and ''Shenmue II'' (2001) were developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for Dreamcast. '' Shenmue III,'' developed by Suzuki's company Y ...

'' (1999) and ''

Shadow of Memories (''Shadow of Destiny'' in North America) is a mystery adventure game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo and published by Konami. Originally released for the PlayStation 2 in 2001, it was later ported to Xbox (which is only releas ...

'' (2001) as well as the

role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

'' Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic'' (2003), saying that it similarly features "character interaction as the major gameplay element" and has "a similar type of multiple phrase response".

Controversy

The game generated some controversy for its reference to a fictional, unsolved rape. As Donn Nauert wrote: "I don't think this is a subject that the American public is comfortable with in a video game, even though it's not dealt with graphically..." In their review of the game, ''

'' also criticized it for not including "a warning on the box about the mature subject matter in this game" in reference to the unsolved rape case.

Notes

References

*''Video Games and Computer Entertainment'', July 1991, p. 44

External links

* * {{Vndb, id=5607 1986 video games Adventure games DOS games First-person adventure games FM Towns games FM-7 games IOS games MSX games NEC PC-8801 games NEC PC-9801 games Nintendo DS games Nintendo Switch games Rape in fiction Riverhillsoft games Sharp X1 games X68000 games Single-player video games TurboGrafx-CD games Video game controversies Video games developed in Japan