The Origins of Visual Novels

This is a seriously good video. Absolutely the best explanation I have seen of the genre and its history. Well done

the translation of Tsukihime game is what sparked interest in visual novels.

good video ! ;)

Hey great video! Like another commenter said it's very fascinating how English-speaking communities have just recently caught wind of visual novels when over in Japan they've got seemingly really deep roots in the entertainment industry. I learnt a lot from your video, also just wanted to say the background music you used is absolutely amazing, gave the video some cosy and homey vibes. Cheers

Every time someone asks "what's a Visual Novel?" or mentions visual novels on the Internet I link this video, it's a great introduction to the history of the genre.

I started learning Japanese in the late 90s just to be able to play Visual Novels, and I don't regret it, I really enjoy the genre.

P.S I was surprised you didn't feature Sakura Taisen in the section of genre blending, that franchise is very underrated for how good it is and it's from Sega!. At least the first game actually received an English fan translation not too long ago so now more people can get into it, I really can't recommend it enough.

"ah, the occident didn't got many visual novels"
meanwhile... "plumbers don't wear ties" lol

I'm really late to the party but what a great video essay! Katawa Shoujo was my first VN, I was in my freshman year of highschool at the time, it was really impactful at the time, especially knowing it was made by a ton of people just on 4Chan!

It wasn't until after I played Katawa Shoujo I found Visual Novel Database, and dove headfirst into reading Japanese VNs. Its definitely niche still, but I'm glad its gotten some popularity. More traditional Japanese visual novels are pretty darn good, and a lot of people miss out on some great stories! Hoshizora No Memoria - Wish Upon a Shooting Star is a great example game.

Great video. It is kinda crazy to think about the language barrier, it really is still relatively new here but with such a deep history. I only really got into them by accident a few years ago through Corpse Party and Steins;Gate. I never knew I’d get so intensely hooked.

VNs are actually in decline in Japan now, which is a shame though i can see why. A lot of developers are now leaning into the gacha game market

Amazing video. I'm in love with visual novels. I think that Novels/Graphic Novels/ Visual Novels and Video Games are the best way to make a good story.

I played school days and stuff with my friends in high school, but the first “visual novel” type game I played was 999 and Vlr and it’s the most immersive medium for something I got soo immersed in the Characters and story.

What would you say to any westerner who sees a visual novel made in ren'py or something similar and they would say something like, "That's not an adventure game."?

Are dating sims adventure games as well?

this was a simply wonderful video, please continue making these, i am going to start working through all your uploads asap after seeing this

So then what were dating sims before they were visual novels?

Watching this shit at double speed cause goddamn u sound like Ben Stein

Saying games commonly referred to as visual novels aren't like Phoenix Wright or danganronpa just comes off as contrarian to me. Like who gives you the right to say it isn't a visual novel with gameplay elements? 90 percent of danganronpa is reading during visual novel sections that other 10 percent doesn't make it not a visual novel. It makes a visual novel AND that. I think your getting too caught up on classification and it feels more concerned with being pedantic or being able to say you have the "right" definition of a VN

Ha.. after hearing his voice in Basement Bros' latest video, I thought it sounded familiar.
After hearing some more, I think it reminds me of Joseph Anderson (who made one of my favorite game reviews ever)

As a gamer that his first Vn was katawa shoujo and in the years i played like crazy every game that have a translations, your video give me a greater understatement of the history of this genre of game that i love, thanks

Ok, so the games of semicolon universe being officially named named science adventure makes much more sense now

nice!

I have just finished to see your video, simply amazing man.
The passion and the hard work that you put into making this video is truly beatiful.
You have a new subscriber, man

Thank you, this was very interesting and clarified a lot of things about visual novels for me.

Amazing video

As someone who was around pre-KS, that game had such a massive boom that yeah, it is responsible for a lot of western awareness of the genre. I only have one friend who got into VNs before then, and she played 999 at the age of eight because wooo parent rating awareness. Aksys was doing some publishing of them, but they started and ended at otome games for the PSP. And Fate/Extra but that game sucks. JAST was around as well, but they were mostly relegated to nukige with the occasional less sex-driven game like Yume Miru Kusuri.

Also, neat bit of information: Kagetsu Tohya, the pretty bad Tsukihime "sequel"/spinoff, has Otogirisou but with the Tohno siblings and the maids as one of its ten sidestories. I don't think it has choices, though. So it's probably just the true end.

My first visual novel was Radical Dreamers which I played in 2003.

Oh fuck thank god I was about to EXPLODE

I do not speak Japanese 🤣🤣🤣🤣 nice bro🏃🏃🏃

Visual novels seem to have a big influence on Nagasaka

Seeing Katawa Shoujo cited as the "entryway" VN for the Western market really puts into perspective the circles I used to dig around in years before that date and think that anyone moderately down the anime pipeline back then was pining after the Innocent Grey catalog, knew that Ever17 never knew when to bloody end and that someone would inevitably drag Saya no Uta back into the spotlight (with Phantom of Inferno not far behind) for n-th time that week - yet turns out it was the 「d a r k d a y s」

Loved this video! I know this video is a bit old, but it's funny. I recently read the Kimitachi No Yuri Remake translation that came out after this video was released, and completed it like a month ago. It was interesting to see it talked about.

I love your videos

Woah.

Very surprised to hear a lot of people only found out about VN's after Katawa Shoujo! I'd played loads of fan translations before then, and constantly looked at VNDB for more recommendations! Glad they are a lot easier to access these days! Great video!

Muy disfrutable el vídeo, me han hecho pensar mucho (⁠・⁠∀⁠・⁠)

Your video is excellent. You have a knack for storytelling.

Great video, but what about Yu-no? Did I miss it or was it just not featured

Thank you for making this video! I grew up with Japanese culture and its game so I played lots of JP Adventure games when I was a kid. Seeing westerners calling the game like Ace Attorney or Danganropa Visual Novel really annoyed me. I used to go and correct them but they just insisted on what they believed. This should clear up the misunderstanding that NOT all Japanese Adventure games are Visual Novels.

Very very interesting video. You opened my eyes. I want to experience everything this genre has to offer!!

I will come back to this vid if I want to find a new visual novel to read. nice vis

Really interesting video! The depth of information and quality of the video was fantastic. You definitely earned a sub!

cool. I like the background music you used.

Nice run down, thanks

This is a super informative video, really love your channel!

This was a very well-presented and informative documentary on the history of a much maligned and misunderstood genre. Too much cultural jingoism (on both sides of the Pacific) blinds us to the way that gaming, like other abstractions created in particular cultural milieus, can branch and evolve over time and distance. I feel that visual novels, along with “walking simulators” like Dear Ester set off debates in Western gaming culture about what constitutes a “game” which, outside of academic debates on narratology vs ludology, seem kind of pointless, especially since adventure games as a genre is arguably the most elastic and fuzzy around the lexiconic edges. With the proliferation of Western-based visual novels as well as other text-heavy adventure games and hybrids thanks to tools like Ren’Py over the past few years, history as presented in this wonderful video is a panacea to any ill-informed attempts at gatekeeping.

Your video piqued my curiosity with its blink-and-you-miss-it mention of dating sims, though. It’s another native of non-Western gaming that, I had assumed, sprung up in response to the popularity of visual novels. Knowing that this isn’t the case makes me wonder how they came about as well.

This is a great video.

No creo que leas este mensaje ya que esta en espa;ol, pero meh... Este video fue publicado varios dias atras en el subreddit de VN y hasta ahora es que lo veo y... Excelente video... Demasiada calidad en todos los aspectos, no entiendo como tienes tan pocos subs. He visto que otros videos tienes e igualmente tocan temas que me interezan... Ojala el genero fuera un poco mas popular en la comunidad hispana para tener a creadores de contenido como tu