Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The early draw is simple: you guide Conan around a cruise liner, inspect points of interest, and try to turn scattered remarks into a coherent case. Exploration uses a bird’s-eye view, then conversations pull you into a more direct visual-novel-style exchange. That split suits the character well. Walking the ship gives the case a sense of place, while questioning people is where the actual detective work starts to click.

Keywords are the heart of the investigation. You pick them up through testimony and item clues, so progress depends on paying attention to what people say and recognizing which detail may matter later. It is a familiar adventure-game structure, but it works especially well for Conan because deduction is supposed to come from small observations rather than brute force.

The tradeoff is that this kind of mystery game asks for patience. You are not here for fast action or for a loose, freeform investigation where every theory gets equal room to breathe. You are following a designed chain of clues, and frustration can creep in when you have not yet found the detail that advances it. Still, the loop has a satisfying rhythm once you settle into it: search, question, collect a lead, then return to the people and places that suddenly mean more.

Graphics

The game contrasts bird’s-eye cruise-ship exploration with first-person dialogue scenes and character portraits laid over the investigation view. That makes the shift from moving Conan around to studying a witness feel clear and purposeful, with the close conversation framing fitting the detective format better than a purely overhead approach would.

Story

A murder mystery aboard a cruise liner is a natural home for Detective Conan. The ship keeps the cast and the possible evidence close together, while the mystery-trip premise gives the journey an immediate reason to put strangers in one uneasy shared space. You begin with the fun of a themed excursion and quickly get the kind of suspicious circumstances the series does best.

Conan remains the right center for this setup. Shinichi Kudo’s predicament, a brilliant teenager trapped in a child’s body and operating as Conan Edogawa, gives every investigation an extra layer of tension. He has the mind to read a room and spot a contradiction, but he cannot simply move through the situation as an ordinary teenage detective.

Do not expect the cruise setting alone to carry the experience. What matters is whether you enjoy building a case from dialogue, clues, and the changing meaning of a keyword. Fans who like Conan for its methodical deductions should find that focus more rewarding than anyone looking mainly for a dramatic action adventure.

Overall Experience

Norowareta Kōro understands the part of Detective Conan worth adapting to a handheld adventure: the pleasure of being handed a suspicious detail and gradually learning where it fits. The Game Boy Color format keeps the experience tightly focused, and the cruise liner gives the investigation a contained stage instead of sending Conan on a sprawling detour.

Its limitations are also easy to see. The keyword-driven structure can feel guided, and the pace lives or dies on your willingness to read testimony carefully and revisit leads. That is not a flaw if you want a classic detective-game cadence, but it makes this a narrower recommendation than a broadly accessible adventure.

Give it a chance if a Conan case on a locked-in cruise setting sounds relaxing rather than restrictive. The payoff is the gradual satisfaction of moving from overheard statements and found clues toward a solution, with Conan’s familiar detective perspective carrying the game through its deliberately modest scope.

Retro Replay Score

7/10