999 Gush Part 1: Nonary Evangelism

As mentioned in our last podcast, the most recent game to break the top 10 on my spreadsheet of “RPG-ish games I’ve beaten” is 999: NINE HOURS, NINE PERSONS, NINE DOORS. If you’ve stumbled onto this article, know that it is the first of a few I’ll be writing about the game. And it will be the only one that is spoiler-free.

This DS title, localized by the lovely folks at Aksys Games, combines elements of survival-horror mood, Japanese “visual novel” presentation, Myst-style puzzle mechanics, and plenty of pseudo-science conspiracy theory goodness to continually disorient the gamer (or rather, reader). Indeed, this game is 80% reading, 20% playing. There is no “fail state,” short of getting bad endings. The puzzles don’t come with time limits, and you can’t get stuck in your puzzles. You will reach an end in each playthrough; unfortunately, said “end” is almost assuredly your death.

But that’s okay! There is a way out, and though a walkthrough is certainly your best guide to a way out, it’s more fun to solve the “meta-puzzle” of forcing the narrative to help you escape. 999 sports six different endings, but the journey towards each ending is satisfying in every single instance.

So what the heck is this game about?

“I’d like to play a game. The Nonary Game.”

Jaded game critics who spent a mere 30 minutes with this game probably wrote in their publication “this is a Japanese clone of the Saw movies” and gave it a low-to-average score. Yes, the plot revolves around a life-or-death game called the Nonary Game. You put nine people in an enclosed environment with a variety of traps and puzzles, give them a time limit to get out, and see what happens. It’s a social experiment of sorts, wherein, if all nine people can actually work together and trust one another, all nine could potentially get out alive. But that’s highly unlikely.

The word “Nonary,” if you missed it, refers to the number 9. It’s a game of 9s. You got 9 people (numbered 1 through 9), 9 doors (also numbered 1 through 9), and you have a time limit of 9 hours to escape. In the game’s opening sequence, you’re taught about a mathematical concept called the “digital root.” Basically, add up numbers together, and if the sum of those numbers is more than one digit, add those digits, and continue to repeat this pattern until you get to a single digit. You may remember this as a test to determine whether or not a number is divisible by 3 (if its digital root is divisible by 3, so too is the original number). Anyway, a combination of 3 to 5 of the numbered people can go through a numbered door, given the digital root of these individuals is equal to the number on the door. Some high-tech devices ensure the exact number of people enter; if they try to break the rules, they explode. Yes, bombs in digestive tracts, and don’t even think you’ll be able to fish it out one way or the other. That, too, would likely cause an explosion.

In the setting of this particular Nonary Game, it looks like you’re on a boat. A big, big boat. You play the role of Japanese college student “Junpei,” who wields the number 5. He doesn’t recognize any of his 8 peers, save for one: number 6, who goes by the nickname “June” (but Junpei knows her real name “Akane”). They went to grade school together. Coincidence? Fate? Design? This, among about 20 other supremely interesting questions, are answered by going down each of the game’s various paths.

I’ve been so hooked on this game that I’ve been forcing friends and relatives to play it. I even bought multiple copies of the game to make sure more people could experience it. I love these graphic adventure titles on the DS (Phoenix Wright, Ghost Trick, Hotel Dusk, etc). But 999 tops them all, easily. You’ll feel like a fool if you miss your chance to buy this game.

Don’t believe me? Take note of this example.

Up until the end of this decade, a company called Hirameki International had been releasing PC-based visual novels in the United States with a full English text translation. The translations were usually a little sloppy, but it was a great way for non-Japanese-speaking Japanophiles to get their groove on (though, it should be noted, Hirameki didn’t delve into the wide world of eroge: perhaps that’s why they went bankrupt). Most of their games were actually just released as DVDs, and “chapter menus” were used to select items, navigate hallways, or make decisions in branching storylines. You could actually play full games on your DVD player using a password system. It was a clever way to bypass the ESRB, but it was also a hindrance since there were no save files.

Among the many titles Hirameki published, even though they’re long out of business, most of their titles (such as Hourglass of Summer or Phantom of Inferno) can be purchased, sealed, for bargain-bin prices (ten to twenty dollars) from various dealers on Amazon. But one particular game they published has had a sharp increase in value over the last 6 to 12 months. That game is Ever17.

Ever17 is part of KID’s “infinity” series, and has a focus on numbers. The plot to Ever17 is — get this — a bunch of kids are trapped in an amusement park and have to find their way out. Sound familiar? That’s because the lead writer, basically the creator, of Ever17 and 999 are the same person. Kotaro Uchikoshi is his name, and I suspect he’s going to be an important name on both sides of the Pacific in the coming years, because he has fantastic ideas for interesting visual novels.

Anyway, you want Ever17? Expect to pay out at least $170 for that roughly-translated DVD version that Hirameki published. Or, just cross your fingers that Aksys will publish the Xbox 360 remake of the game, which is presently being printed in Japan.

All this to say that the pedigree for the game is high, and if you’ve heard or felt the hype for this game, I’d urge you to not ignore it.

In our next post, we’ll have a spoiler-heavy dive into the science, pseudo-science, and mythology behind 999. Don’t read it unless you have reached the “true end,” or if you never plan to play the game.