Machi (video game)

literally "City" (街) is a visual novel adventure game developed and published by Chunsoft and released in Japan for the Sega Saturn in 1998. It was later released for the Sony PlayStation in 1999, published as the third entry in the "Sound Novel Evolution" series, and retitled Machi: Unmei no Kousaten (街 〜運命の交差点〜). Eventually, the game was remade for the PlayStation Portable, now titled Machi: Unmei no Kousaten: Tokubetsuhen (街 〜運命の交差点〜 特別篇) and was released in 2006.

Focusing mostly on storytelling, the game is described by its creators as a "sound novel" that focuses on eight protagonists and their adventures and conflicts in the major metropolitan area of Shibuya. Depending on what decisions the player makes during the course of the game, several different endings, both good and bad, can be reached.

Characters

 * Keima Amemiya: a policeman
 * Jintarō Umabe: an actor
 * Masami Ushio: a gang member
 * Yoshiko Hosoi: the female protagonist
 * Masashi Shinoda: a student
 * Ryūji Takamine: a deserter
 * Fumiyasu Ichikawa: an author
 * Yōhei Tobisawa: a high-school boy
 * Atsushi Takamine: a Businessman
 * Norio Aoi: a high-school boy
 * Isamu Sagiyama: an Assistant director
 * Patrick Dandy: a Marriage Swindler
 * Shōjirō Kaizuka: a Politician

Reception and legacy

 * In a March 2006 article of Famitsu magazine, one of the largest videogame publications in Japan, Machi ranked 5th in a top 100 reader poll of their favorite games of all time.
 * Famitsu scored the game a 33 out of 40.
 * The Japanese drama Tōmei Shōjo Air was originally slated to be a storyline for this game or a sequel, but delays in production caused them to turn it into a television miniseries instead.
 * The video game 428: Fūsasareta Shibuya de by Chunsoft is set in the same location and has many references to Machi.