3RRSS Nonomura

By now, I'm sure this game is well known to Saturn import adventurers.
It has become infamous for two reasons: one, for being the only red
label adventure game available on the Saturn (I still have to check Can
Can Bunny to see how that is though) and two, for stopping import
gamers right in their tracks with what seemed for such a long time, to
be an impossible part to get through. However, the right choices were
figured out and we got through. And here's what I have to report on
the mysterious people of nonomura hospital.

It all started with the hospital. Seemed that the owner of the hospital
had died. But no one knew the cause. Could it have been murder? If so,
who could be the culprit? You play Kaiburu-san, a 32-year old detective
sent to investigate the mystery. However, this hospital houses more
then sickly patients. No, there are nurses here who could give you a
very nice check up and check down if you know what I mean. And
being the seducer you are, you know that you could get info out of
them if you just got closer to them. However, the old man's wife is
watching you very carefully. What could be going on here? Will you
solve the mystery? Or will some evil fate be bestowed upon you? That's
up to you and the choices you make in the game. As you can see, the
story is fantastic: mystery, horror, topped off with a hentai flare.
Perfect.

You come across many characters, some willing to help you, and
others that will be your rivals. For instance, later in the game a rival
detective comes to work on the case, and you two can never see eye
to eye. But who does he work for? Also, who is the girl in the
wheelchair and what secret is she hiding? And what about those clues
you keep finding like the scalpel and the cigarettes? What does the
button under the bed do, and exactly what happened in the attic? It's
questions like these that make this game very worth playing.

The game play is like all the other import adventure games. Pictures
with text boxes beneath them and every once and a while you are
given a choice to make, and whatever you pick decides the outcome
of what happens next. And every few minutes there will also be save
points. There are many different files to save to, so save often and
save different ways of doing things. So if the thought of looking at
anime pictures and tons of Japanese text doesn't thrill you, then this
might not be the game for you. However, those in love with the genre
will love this game.

There are 9 endings to get to, with a few bonus ones (like 5a and 5b).
Some of them are really easy to get, but are the bad endings like
endings one and two really early on in the game. These show you being
thrown out of the hospital. But some of the later ones dive more into
the mystery of what happened to the owner. I don't want to give
anything away, but the outcome of that little story was not what I
expected. After each of the endings you get hints from one of the
characters on how to get further in the game. But being in all
Japanese you may not understand a word of it.

This is an older game, and so the graphics reflect that. They are not as
flashy or up to par as say Pia Carrot. However, eyes blink when
characters are on screen, so things are not all static. Typically, there
are not too many backgrounds in the game. It's basically your room,
the nurse center, the headmistress's room, by the coffee machine, and
then some other random ones. The CG in the game is great-especially
if you are a fan of the more perverted stuff. Being a red label game,
there is topless nudity and it's not too hard to get. So while the game
may not be as colorful and rich as games released later, it is definitely
worth it here. Stand out CGs include, flipping out a nurse's skirt,
grabbing a nurse's rear end, the weird bondage chamber in the attic,
and always staring at panties. Like I said, this game is definitely for an
older audience.

Full voice over for all the characters makes me a happy man.
Sometimes you'll see that the male roles never get voices, and only the
girls do but here everyone has one except for you. So good job on that.
The music is also showing some age, in that it doesn't sound as full
and complex as more recent material. It's kind of jazzy, and at times
reminds me heavily of old detective movies. So for theme value alone it
hits the mark. Lot's of piano pieces here. Unfortunately, there is no
sound test to listen to it all, and that never sits well with me. There are
also sound effects like doors opening, phones ringing, etc. These help
you understand just a little bit better on what is going on.

With a good amount of endings, this will be one game that will keep
you coming back. Also you can view all the CG in the game you have
seen, and at the end it tells you how many more pics you need to get. I
need 9 left. Most of those are when you get to ending 9, you get a nice
full screen pic of the girl you were closest too in the game. You can
also look at all the endings you have gotten as well. So, replay is in
good hands.

Import Warning:

This is a new section I'm going to be debuting here to help others see
how difficult an import game is to play. Since this is a text-based game,
if you don't know any of the language you'll be lost in the dark. But
some of the choices are left in Katakana. So words like Coffee,
nurses's center, sex machine, alibi, and other things are easy to read
Also by holding the "L" trigger down, you can quickly scroll through all
the text, making it very fast to play. Voices can also be turned off and
on. Now the old deterrent in this game was that about 10 minutes into
the game you were given six questions, with two-three choices each.
And you had to answer them in a certain way to get past this part,
otherwise you got bad ending number 2. Gamefaqs user
''Vysethedetermined" gave me the correct numbers to get by, and
once you get past that, it's very easy to get most of the other endings.
Currently, there is no known English walkthrough for this game, but
Vyse is making one as we speak, and is seeking the help of others. So
very soon, this game will be very import friendly Recommended to
adventure fans who like their games saucy.

So there you have it. In my eyes, this was a very fun game to play. Sure
the sex stuff was good, but also the overall story was engaging. The
game can also be had very cheap if you look around (mine was mint
with spine card for 10 bucks) and it is one of the better adventure
games I have played so far on the system. It's showing some signs of
age, but it still holds up to be a great game. Go out there and solve
that mystery!

Review By: Orochi Sonic