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| Banshee's Last Cry | |
|---|---|
 Super Famicom cover art | |
| Developer | Chunsoft |
| Publishers |
|
| Director | Kazuya Asano |
| Producer | Koichi Nakamura |
| Writer | Takemaru Abiko |
| Composers | Kota Kano Kojiro Nakashima |
| Platforms | Super Famicom,PlayStation,Game Boy Advance,PC,mobile,iOS |
| Release | |
| Genres | Visual novel,adventure |
| Mode | Single-player |
Banshee's Last Cry, also known by its Japanese title,Kamaitachi no Yoru,[a] is avisual novel developed and published byChunsoft for theSuper Famicom in 1994. The game is the second sound novel by Chunsoft and brought a myriad of other companies to develop similar games. The term "sound novel" was a registered trademark, but is regarded as a genre.
A remake,Kamaitachi no Yoru: Rinne Saisei, was released forPlayStation Vita in 2017 and ported to Windows in 2018.
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The player reads the text on agamebook and acts only through options that are given by the game. Each options leads to a slightly different story, with multiple endings being available after going through certain routes. Events related to the text are shown in the background, with animation being used a couple of time.
The game follows the characters Toru (Max in the English localization) and his girlfriend Mari (Grace in English), who stay at aski lodge when asnowstorm takes place. That evening, a paper note is found in another guest's room, stating "Tonight, at midnight, someone will die". When one of the lodge guests is killed shortly thereafter, the characters are drawn into amurder mystery, while being cut off from contact with the outside world.
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The game was revealed alongside a contest for readers to write related storylines. Ten of such stories were published in a book titledAnata dake no Kamaitachi no Yoru (あなただけのかまいたちの夜;lit. "Your Own Night of the Sickle Weasels"). This book was a success. A similar competition started upon the release ofKamaitachi no Yoru 2. It went out of print after many years, but was re-published when the sequel came out. The game was written by Takemaru Abiko.[1]
Kōjirō Nakashima and Kōta Katō composed the game. The soundtrack gained significant popularity and was reused in television shows aboutAum Shinrikyo. Two songs, "Sequence" and "Two People Return Alive", were used for the fourth volume of Orchestral Game Music Concerts.
Background images included the lodge inHakuba,Nagano Prefecture.[2] Exceptions are the background for bathrooms and the wine cellar, which were done with miniatures. All characters have silhouettes. The game changed the setting (including its graphics) toBritish Columbia.[3]
| Kamaitachi no Yoru: Rinne Saisei | |
|---|---|
 Cover art | |
| Developer | 5pb.[b] |
| Publisher | 5pb. |
| Artist | Alpha |
| Writer | Ryukishi07 |
| Platforms | PlayStation Vita Microsoft Windows |
| Release | PlayStation Vita
|
| Genres | Visual novel,adventure |
| Mode | Single-player |
Banshee's Last Cry was released for theSuper Famicom on November 25, 1994.[5] The game was ported toPlayStation on December 3, 1998 and forGame Boy Advance on June 28, 2002.[6] It was released in 2002 onSoftBank Mobile on April 1, and on PC on July 1.i-mode released it on January 30, 2004. It was later ported to other consoles, and was released on theVirtual Console service in Japan forWii in 2007 andWii U in 2013.[7] The story had minor changes for the script ofKamaitachi no Yoru × 3 forPlayStation 2.
Aksys Games released the game in English foriOS entitledBanshee's Last Cry in January 2014.[8][9] It was translated byJeremy Blaustein.[10][11]
A remake developed and published by5pb.,Kamaitachi no Yoru: Rinne Saisei, was released in Japan forPlayStation Vita in 2017[12] and ported to Windows in 2018.[13] The remake has a new Japanese cast, new art bySharin no Kuni: The Girl Among the Sunflowers artist Alpha and an additional scenario written byRyukishi07.[14]
Aradio drama was released onCompact Disc. The characters appeared in a different storyline with terrorists trying to acquire WMDs somewhere in Nagano. It starsHikaru Midorikawa andYumi Tōma.
The two-hour drama series was aired byTokyo Broadcasting System on July 3, 2002.[15]Kamaitachi no Yoru 2 was released on July 18 of the same year, and the first edition of the game contained a bonus DVD of the entire drama. Like the radio drama version, the television is not a rendition of the actual game (the premise is that the fans gathered to shoot a film based on the game, when one of the characters is killed).[15] It was available atHulu Japan.[1]
Banshee's Last Cry was received with great scores throughout its many releases.
The game sold 1.25 million units with remakes and ports in April 2002.[18] It sold 750,000 units for Super Famicom[19] and over 400,000 units for PlayStation.[20]
In August 2016, Spike Chunsoft conducted a poll on whether the players would purchase the game released on Steam.[21] While this game did not receive any further port to this day, its main story was made available inKamaitachi no Yoru × 3 onPlayStation 2. The latter received a port onNintendo Switch,PlayStation 4, and Steam exclusively in Japan in 2024, as part of the franchise's 30th anniversary.[22]
Due to its positive reception, sequels were developed later on, withKamaitachi no Yoru 2 (2002) andKamaitachi no Yoru × 3 (2006). OtherSound Novel games developed by Chunsoft were also made in-between following its success, withMachi (1998) and428: Shibuya Scramble (2008).
Numerous crossovers and references to the game was done after its release. TheShiren the Wanderer series feature items with names based on this series, like a sword named "Kama Itachi". TheDanganronpa franchise uses blue silhouettes for background characters, inspired by this series.No Sleep for Kaname Date – From AI: The Somnium Files features a couple of chapters based on the game. As part of their 30th anniversary event, the game had a crossover withStreet Fighter 6 in October 2025, featuring avatar costumes and a sub-story based on the game.[23]
