Moon Whistle
Encyclopedia
is a Japanese language
freeware
roleplaying game created with RPG Tsukūru 95
. Mainly made by Takagi Kōichirō (高木 幸一郎), also known as Kannazuki Sasuke (神無月サスケ), this game involves an adventure of a five-year-old kindergartner in a pseudo-Japan
ese city of the 1980s and 1990s, which is seldom seen within the whole RPG genre.
It still remains a remembered game of RPG Tsukūru 95. It has won an ASCII
-held monthly contest, Internet Contest Park, as well as winning two population votes on Internet Contest Park, reaching respectively #1 and #8, and an honorable mention in the ASCII Entertainment Software Contest.
characters and objects, 2D
exploring maps, cutscene dialogues, and combats ― conventional fares of old-school roleplaying games as a whole. The game's prominent feature is its setting; contrary to a regular save-the-world plot in a high fantasy
setting, the story of Moon Whistle unfolds mostly in a fictionalized modern Japanese city completed with original chip sets and character sprites. Much like the Mother series
, most of main characters are preteen children. Their wielding weapons are everyday items and toys, they wear casual clothing or mascot costumes instead of a piece of armor, and monsters they fight include weird ones like burner/tripod monsters and iron frogs. The entire music was composed for the game by the pseudonym Hyōseki Saia (氷石彩亜).
Basically its story revolves around a kindergarten-aged boy, Zenon (ぜのん), and his friends, while it also focuses on topics like alienation mainly from the viewpoint of another lead character, X Ranger (Xレンジャー). Zenon generally does not speak lines but with a few exceptions. The whole story is divided into over 20 small episodes, every of which takes place in a day. Once the player is finished with a day, the next day featured continues.
s, boss battles, leveling up, explorations, communicating with townspeople, and so forth. Its battle system is the default one of RPG Tsukūru 95 so that battles are operated in a front-view, turn-based fashion that resembles to that of SNES
Dragon Quest
games.
Later Zenon and the gang happen to visit X Ranger's hiding place, and touch the panel of a giant machine sitting in there without his consent. Then they find themselves in a strange town, where they save Tsēta (ツェータ) from Haruto (ハルト), a spoiled mean child, and are befriended with him. Once prohibited to use the machine by X Ranger, later they are allowed to go between two cities. A cat-like creature, Makkusu (マックス), is also acquainted with them.
After some events, Tsēta notices that Zenon's town is very similar to his, Motomachi City (もとまちシティ), and questions X Ranger on it. He reveals that he is a 19-year-old Zenon, who came from the future (Motomachi City) to his past (Motomachi Town) by a time machine in order to recover hopes and dreams of people. Eidosu (エイドス), a Priest of Time (時の神官), later confronts X Ranger claiming that X Ranger's action causes the timeline to shift, as well as Makkusu, who, being also a Priest of Time, helped X Ranger complete a time machine.
In autumn, a new toy Rocket Monster (ロケットモンスター) has become a fad among kids in Motomachi City. However, suddenly one of them goes berserk, and it results in severe criticism to the product by parents. Zenon and his friends find out that it was plotted by Haruto's father, who intended to damage the profits of his rival firm by harming repute of their product, Rocket Monster. In consequence, Rocket Monster has succeeded in recovering its status.
After the next year began, people in Motomachi City suddenly all got melancholic. Zenon and his friends investigate the case, and fight with X Ranger's shadow. After the battle, X Ranger realizes that this world is not real and he in reality is presumably unconscious for an attempted suicide. Also, this world of the dream was shared by the Haruto in reality. He acquires in his dream immense power, and challenges Zenon and Tsēta again, only to be defeated. Out of grudge, he destroys Sphere (スフィア), enshrined in the Shrine of Time (時の神殿), which maintains the order of worlds, while the master of the Shrine, Boratiru (ボラティル), restores it in exchange for his life. Despite this, still Sphere was split in two.
Since Sphere was broken, Zenon was no longer able to access to the future. X Ranger decides to return to his reality, and together with Zenon, visits the Shrine of Time to challenge the Final Trial, in which X Ranger faces his surrounding problems. At the end of the Trial, Boratiru's spirit awaits to kill Zenon so as to extinguish the world of the dream. With the help of X Ranger, however, Zenon and the gang defeat Boratiru. After this, X Ranger and Makkusu return to each place. In March, Zenon and Narumi attend the graduation ceremony of their kindergarten.
of Moon Whistle, was released in April 2003, which, at that time, was developed by the use of RPG Tsukūru 2000
.
via NTT Docomo
's i-appli service. The sixth episode of it featured X Ranger, Zenon, and Narumi.
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
freeware
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
roleplaying game created with RPG Tsukūru 95
RPG Maker 95
RPG Maker 95, or RM95 for an abbreviation, is the first Windows version of the RPG Maker series developed and published by ASCII, released in Japan March 28th, 1997 as . The game is ASCII's third RPG making application for the PC...
. Mainly made by Takagi Kōichirō (高木 幸一郎), also known as Kannazuki Sasuke (神無月サスケ), this game involves an adventure of a five-year-old kindergartner in a pseudo-Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese city of the 1980s and 1990s, which is seldom seen within the whole RPG genre.
It still remains a remembered game of RPG Tsukūru 95. It has won an ASCII
ASCII (company)
was a publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. It became a subsidiary of Kadokawa Group Holdings in 2004, and merged with another Kadokawa subsidiary MediaWorks on April 1, 2008, and became ASCII Media Works. The company published Monthly ASCII as the main publication...
-held monthly contest, Internet Contest Park, as well as winning two population votes on Internet Contest Park, reaching respectively #1 and #8, and an honorable mention in the ASCII Entertainment Software Contest.
Overview
Moon Whistle is a story-based roleplaying game, featuring spriteSprite (computer graphics)
In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene...
characters and objects, 2D
2D computer graphics
2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
exploring maps, cutscene dialogues, and combats ― conventional fares of old-school roleplaying games as a whole. The game's prominent feature is its setting; contrary to a regular save-the-world plot in a high fantasy
High fantasy
High fantasy or epic fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that is set in invented or parallel worlds. High fantasy was brought to fruition through the work of authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, whose major fantasy works were published in the 1950s...
setting, the story of Moon Whistle unfolds mostly in a fictionalized modern Japanese city completed with original chip sets and character sprites. Much like the Mother series
EarthBound (series)
EarthBound, known in Japan as Mother, is a role-playing game series created by Shigesato Itoi for Nintendo. The series started in 1989 with the Japan-only release of Mother for the Famicom, and was then followed up by a sequel, released in North America as EarthBound for the Super NES in 1995, and...
, most of main characters are preteen children. Their wielding weapons are everyday items and toys, they wear casual clothing or mascot costumes instead of a piece of armor, and monsters they fight include weird ones like burner/tripod monsters and iron frogs. The entire music was composed for the game by the pseudonym Hyōseki Saia (氷石彩亜).
Basically its story revolves around a kindergarten-aged boy, Zenon (ぜのん), and his friends, while it also focuses on topics like alienation mainly from the viewpoint of another lead character, X Ranger (Xレンジャー). Zenon generally does not speak lines but with a few exceptions. The whole story is divided into over 20 small episodes, every of which takes place in a day. Once the player is finished with a day, the next day featured continues.
Gameplay
While unique in appearances, its gameplay is a customary one for a roleplaying game; buying items in shops, equipping gadgets, random encounterRandom encounter
A random encounter is a feature commonly used in various role-playing games whereby encounters with non-player character enemies or other dangers occur sporadically and at random...
s, boss battles, leveling up, explorations, communicating with townspeople, and so forth. Its battle system is the default one of RPG Tsukūru 95 so that battles are operated in a front-view, turn-based fashion that resembles to that of SNES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
Dragon Quest
Dragon Quest
, published as Dragon Warrior in North America until 2005,Due to the inconsistent usage by sources since Square Enix obtained the naming rights to Dragon Quest in North America. Dragon Quest has been used by sources to refer to games released solely under the Dragon Warrior titles...
games.
Plot
Set in Motomachi Town (もとまちタウン), a fictional 1980s Japanese suburb, the story begins on Zenon's first school day following spring vacation. After school, he goes to a hill in the town together with Narumi looking for X Ranger, a superhero in a children’s TV show, who allegedly appears in Motomachi Town for some reason. After meeting a man in X Ranger's costume, Zenon and Narumi fight a bad monster in the hill in hope of helping him. Thanks to this, Zenon becomes popular enough with school-age children to be invited to their "secret base" to join them.Later Zenon and the gang happen to visit X Ranger's hiding place, and touch the panel of a giant machine sitting in there without his consent. Then they find themselves in a strange town, where they save Tsēta (ツェータ) from Haruto (ハルト), a spoiled mean child, and are befriended with him. Once prohibited to use the machine by X Ranger, later they are allowed to go between two cities. A cat-like creature, Makkusu (マックス), is also acquainted with them.
After some events, Tsēta notices that Zenon's town is very similar to his, Motomachi City (もとまちシティ), and questions X Ranger on it. He reveals that he is a 19-year-old Zenon, who came from the future (Motomachi City) to his past (Motomachi Town) by a time machine in order to recover hopes and dreams of people. Eidosu (エイドス), a Priest of Time (時の神官), later confronts X Ranger claiming that X Ranger's action causes the timeline to shift, as well as Makkusu, who, being also a Priest of Time, helped X Ranger complete a time machine.
In autumn, a new toy Rocket Monster (ロケットモンスター) has become a fad among kids in Motomachi City. However, suddenly one of them goes berserk, and it results in severe criticism to the product by parents. Zenon and his friends find out that it was plotted by Haruto's father, who intended to damage the profits of his rival firm by harming repute of their product, Rocket Monster. In consequence, Rocket Monster has succeeded in recovering its status.
After the next year began, people in Motomachi City suddenly all got melancholic. Zenon and his friends investigate the case, and fight with X Ranger's shadow. After the battle, X Ranger realizes that this world is not real and he in reality is presumably unconscious for an attempted suicide. Also, this world of the dream was shared by the Haruto in reality. He acquires in his dream immense power, and challenges Zenon and Tsēta again, only to be defeated. Out of grudge, he destroys Sphere (スフィア), enshrined in the Shrine of Time (時の神殿), which maintains the order of worlds, while the master of the Shrine, Boratiru (ボラティル), restores it in exchange for his life. Despite this, still Sphere was split in two.
Since Sphere was broken, Zenon was no longer able to access to the future. X Ranger decides to return to his reality, and together with Zenon, visits the Shrine of Time to challenge the Final Trial, in which X Ranger faces his surrounding problems. At the end of the Trial, Boratiru's spirit awaits to kill Zenon so as to extinguish the world of the dream. With the help of X Ranger, however, Zenon and the gang defeat Boratiru. After this, X Ranger and Makkusu return to each place. In March, Zenon and Narumi attend the graduation ceremony of their kindergarten.
Another Moon Whistle
As a spin-offSpin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
of Moon Whistle, was released in April 2003, which, at that time, was developed by the use of RPG Tsukūru 2000
RPG Maker 2000
RPG Maker 2000 is the second Microsoft Windows version of the RPG Maker series of programs developed by Enterbrain and published by ASCII.-History:...
.
Boku no Sumu Machi
was the omnibus of six short RPGs accomplished with RPG Tsukūru for Mobile and provided by EnterbrainEnterbrain
is a Japanese magazine publisher established on April 1, 2000. Enterbrain magazines are generally focused on video games and computer entertainment as well as video game and strategy guides. In addition, the company publishes a small selection of anime artbooks. Enterbrain is based in Tokyo, Japan...
via NTT Docomo
NTT DoCoMo
is the predominant mobile phone operator in Japan. The name is officially an abbreviation of the phrase, "do communications over the mobile network", and is also from a compound word dokomo, meaning "everywhere" in Japanese. Docomo provides phone, video phone , i-mode , and mail services...
's i-appli service. The sixth episode of it featured X Ranger, Zenon, and Narumi.
External links
Official websites:- さすけの妄想劇場Ver.3
- http://www.moonwhistle.org/