Katawa Shoujo, the “4chan developed” English language visual novel so long in production, has finally been released after a mere 5 years of development, much to the delight of cripple fanciers the world over.
Four Leaf Studios describe the game’s storyline succinctly enough themselves:
Katawa Shoujo is a visual novel set in the fictional Yamaku High School for disabled children, located in modern Japan.
Hisao Nakai, a normal boy living a normal life, has his life turned upside down when a congenital heart defect forces him to move to a new school after a long hospitalization. Despite his difficulties, Hisao is able to find friends — and perhaps love, if he plays his cards right.
There are five main paths corresponding to the 5 main female characters, each path following the storyline pertaining to that character. The story is told through the perspective of the main character, using a first person narrative. The game uses a traditional text and sprite-based visual novel model with an ADV text box.
As might be expected, online there is some astonishment that anything good has come out of 4chan, let alone a complete game – although the fact that the game revolves around seducing maimed schoolgirls rather makes up for this.
“Cripple Girl” is freely available from Four Leaf Studios’ various homepages now.
just Hanako
I think I went to school with Lily.
Also, great game, terrible title.
OMG ITS RELEASED THANK YOU SAN COM
Was actually waiting for this lol
Yay I got Hanako FTW
The irony of me playing this is that I actually have Arrhythmia. But because my heart’s stronger than most people’s I can still do things that get my adrenaline going. But I have to avoid energy drinks, and prolonged stress (like running for too long). I actually did that once, I ended up having to lay on the ground for half an hour to get my heart to slow down even a little.
My chest feels heavy most of the time. I black out when I stand up too fast. I have trouble losing weight but I’m not in horrible shape, I’m just big, 182cm tall, 230lbs, more muscle than fat but I’m still a chub. I’ve got quite a few white hairs for only being 22. Never done drugs, rarely ever took medicine my whole life, even refraining from asprin till it was absolutely necessary. I drink lots of whole milk, I go through about a gallon every 2 days.
The thing is, I switched schools because I didn’t like the people I was around, and the teachers just didn’t care anymore. The place I wound up in had teachers that let you call them by their first name or a nickname. It was a lot more personal and respectful that way. People didn’t feel demeaned when asking for help that way.