Otogirisō
Otogirisō (弟切草, lit. Hypericum erectum, a species of St John's wort) is a visual novel produced and published by Chunsoft. Marketed by the company as a "sound novel" rather than a video game, it is the progenitor of the developer and publisher's sound novel series and of the format of electronic entertainment now usually known generically as a visual novel. Koichi Nakamura conceived the title after showing his work on the Dragon Quest role-playing video games to a girl he was dating. On finding she did not enjoy them, he was encouraged to make a video game that he described as "for people who haven't played games before." Influenced by the early survival horror game Sweet Home, he developed it as a horror-themed interactive story. Released in March 1992, the game sold over 400,000 copies in Japan, including over 300,000 for Super Famicom and 100,000 for PlayStation.
| Otogiriso | |
|---|---|
Cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Chunsoft |
| Publisher(s) | Chunsoft |
| Director(s) | Koichi Nakamura |
| Producer(s) | Koichi Nakamura |
| Designer(s) | Kazuya Asano |
| Programmer(s) | Manabu Yamana Fukashi Omorita Kenichi Masuta |
| Artist(s) | Satoshi Fudaba |
| Writer(s) | Shukei Nagasaka Kazuya Asano Osamu Yamazaki Takashi Tsuzuki |
| Composer(s) | Chiyoko Mitsumata |
| Platform(s) | Super Famicom, PlayStation |
| Release | Super Famicom
|
| Genre(s) | Visual novel |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
A film adaptation of the game, St. John's Wort, written by Goro Nakajima and directed by Ten Shimoyama, was released in January 2001, while a sequel game, Kirigirisō, produced by Spike Chunsoft and serving as a crossover with and prequel to the Danganronpa series, was released in November 2016.