Kamaitachi no Yoru 2: Kangoku-jima no Warabe-uta

Kamaitachi no Yoru (lit. “The Night of the Sickle Weasel”?) is a sound novel developed and published by Chunsoft. The game was first released on November 25, 1994 for the Super Famicom. It became available on the Virtual Console in February, 2007 for 800 Wii Points. The story-line was written by Takemaru Abiko and production was directed by Kazuya Asano and Koichi Nakamura.

Kamaitachi no Yoru was the second sound novel developed by Chunsoft, and its popularity brought a myriad of other companies to develop similar games. The term “sound novel” was originally a registered trademark of Chunsoft, but is now regarded as a whole genre of its own. The game sold close to a million copies (including remakes and ports), making it a financial success as well.

Kamaitachi no Yoru has been ported on the PlayStation as “Kamaitachi no Yoru Tokubetsu Hen” (December 3, 1998) and the Game Boy Advance as “Kamaitachi no Yoru ~Advance~” (June 28, 2002). It has also been released on the J-PHONE as “Kamaitachi no Yoru mini” (April 1, 2002), and on PC as “Kamaitachi no Yoru internet” (July 1, 2002). i-mode began its own release on January 30, 2004. The main story was also included in the PlayStation 2 sequel Kamaitachi no Yoru × 3, with minor changes made to the script.

The game plays similarly to a gamebook. The player reads the text from the game screen, and makes choices which will affect the outcome of the game.

Though the concept of the game is simple, it is rather difficult and time consuming to finish the game with every single different ending. Clues are often misleading, and in scenarios where the player must point out the villain, solving the mystery is nearly impossible without fully understanding the trick used in the murder. Hints are often hidden in seemingly obscure or ridiculous statements made by Toru and other characters.

Kamaitachi no Yoru 2: Abiko Takemaru, the creator of “Kamaitachi no Yoru” decides to invite all of the people he has based his characters on to his mansion on the otherwise deserted island of Mikadzuki. When they arrive they find themselves stuck on the island with their host inexplicably missing and an unknown culprit hunting down people according to an old song.

The Special Pack comes in a box that features the game and includes a premium DVD. PlayStation 2 the Best includes Kamaitachi no Yoru 2: Kangoku-jima no Warabe-uta (Special Eizou CD).