What began as a small stream of Steins;Gate 8-Bit, an upcoming preorder bonus game for Steins;Gate Elite, quickly turned into quite a bit of good news for fans of the Science Adventure series.
ROBOTICS;NOTES ELITE PORT FOR THE SWITCH CONFIRMED pic.twitter.com/vZ2OjLDcpN
— ☞Teh;Vict 0 (@TehVict) June 16, 2018
At the request of viewers on his personal stream, 5pb./MAGES. executive director Chiyomaru Shikura started streaming a small portion of the new Steins;Gate 8-bit game, which will be available to all players who pre-order Steins;Gate Elite for the Nintendo Switch.
However, fans were in for a shock when Shikura finished showing off the game. Upon exiting to his system’s home screen, an application for Robotics;Notes Elite was visible on Shikura’s screen, alongside other Switch titles such as YU-NO and Memories Off: Innocent Fille. Evidently, this was not a mistake on Shikura’s part, as he began to showcase Robotics;Notes Elite on stream as well.
After showing a fair bit of gameplay, Shikura moved on to showcasing gameplay of Steins;Gate Elite, giving us quite a bit of new information on the title.
The full stream can be viewed below. In this article, we will analyze the footage of the three titles that were shown and highlight the most important information for each game.
Steins;Gate 8-Bit
Note: spoilers for the original Steins;Gate are present in this section.
Steins;Gate 8-Bit is, as previously described, a re-imagination of the Steins;Gate world in NES-style. It features pixelated graphics, catchy 8-bit remixes of Steins;Gate tunes, and an overworld that one might see in a traditional NES game.
We’ve been previously told by Spike Chunsoft that the new 8-bit game is canon, and takes place after the events of Steins;Gate. This raises some interesting questions, as the story shown in the footage would better fit a spin-off title.
(UPDATE: As of the English release of the game in February 2019, we have learned that the game is not canonical and serves as an alternative retelling of the original story.)
In the footage that was shown, there are only three lab members: Okabe, Mayuri, and Daru. Suzuha appears in a time machine and tells Okabe, Daru, and Mayuri that she is Daru’s daughter from the future. The original Steins;Gate ends with the lab having multiple members alongside the original three, and with there being little to no chance of Suzuha returning to Akihabara in a time machine from the future.
From the segment of the game that was shown on stream, it seems that the gameplay largely starts with Suzuha sending Okabe on a mission to find parts for her time machine. Okabe traverses his hometown, Akihabara, to search for these parts while under the player’s control.
All in all, the new 8-bit title is looking to be a nice addition for fans of Steins;Gate’s story. Whether or not it will somehow be written into the Steins Gate worldline canonically remains to be seen.
The game’s artstyle and music were very cute, and the story has the potential to be fun and interesting. The only concern we have as of right now is that this game will only be available with Steins;Gate Elite pre-orders. Hopefully, it will at least be sold separately sometime after Elite releases.
Robotics;Notes Elite (Nintendo Switch)
Ah, Robotics;Notes. An elusive gem for English-speaking audiences, what with its only consumable format being the anime adaptation for the West. While the adaptation was certainly not on the level of Chaos;Head’s in terms of how poorly it was adapated, Robotics;Notes as an anime was still missing quite a few essential elements that may have broken the experience for some viewers.
Despite all this, Robotics;Notes has gained quite the following in the West, even if through the anime alone. With the surprise reveal of a Nintendo Switch port for Japanese fans, it seems that a localization may be imminent.
Robotics;Notes Elite is an updated port of Robotics;Notes, released exclusively on the Vita in June of 2014. Seeing that the new port is also titled “Robotics;Notes Elite,” we think it’s safe to assume that this release will be a straight port to modern systems, with not much of note added.
Modern systems, plural. We say this, despite the game only being confirmed for Switch, thanks to a small detail that may or may not have been unknowingly shown on the stream.
It’s a bit difficult to see because of the stream’s quality, but when Shikura opened the config menu for the game, the list of buttons were not for the Switch version, but likely for a PlayStation 4 version. In addition to having the PlayStation face buttons, the touchpad and “Options” button from the PlayStation 4 controller are present.
Because of Shikura’s English tweet thread in May, it seems likely that this long-awaited entry will be localized for Western audiences. All that’s left to happen, it seems, is an official announcement from Spike Chunsoft, and with their previous statement regarding Steam releases, it may also be safe to assume that Robotics;Notes Elite will be released on PC through Steam.
Steins;Gate Elite
The final game which Shikura showcased on stream was Steins;Gate Elite. While footage previously existed for a different segment of the game, this stream strictly covered the very beginning of the game. We gained some new information from the stream, which we’ll discuss below.
In terms of presentation, we see a few visual upgrades from the original Steins;Gate visual novel. Okabe’s opening monologue, for example, has audio visualization on the player’s screen. The game’s menus also see a stylish upgrade, a welcome change to the somewhat static format of the original game.
Another notable aspect of the gameplay shown was the opening song’s animation. You may recall that Shikura recently posted the final version of the Elite opening song on Twitter. The opening animation that played on stream was slightly different from both the first version posted on Twitter, and the final version that was recently posted. It seems likely that the version shown on stream was created before the final version, and after the first version.
The most notable difference is present near the end of the song, where there is slightly more animation in the streamed version, and less animation in the final version.
(UPDATE: 5pb. Games has uploaded the final version of the opening animation on YouTube. It seems that the game will be using the version that was shown on stream.)
Another notable change from the original game to Elite is the removal of player input at the PhoneWave. In the original game, the player would be prompted at certain points to input numbers to start the PhoneWave and progress the story. In Elite, however, this entry is done automatically and without any player input.
With this removal, it seems likely that the “Homerun-level Clumsiness” achievement will be removed from Elite, as it relied on player input. This achievement has been present in all other versions of Steins;Gate thus far.
The appearance of @channel has been changed for Elite, taking inspiration from, but not quite imitating, the anime version.
Finally, we’d like to note that there were a few instances of the on-screen animation showing a character moving their lips, while in actuality, the script contained no speech. This is likely due to the anime’s script differing from the visual novel’s script in certain segments. We hope that this issue will be resolved for the final release.
Conclusion
While we were not expecting Shikura to show progress on three different titles during his stream, we’re thankful that he did, as we gained quite a bit of new knowledge regarding these titles.
We here at Kiri Kiri Basara will strive to continue providing you with the latest information regarding the newest Science Adventure titles.
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