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Emit (エミット) is an adventure game that is the first entry of Kou Shibusawa's "English Dream" series -followed by the two-part entry, Dark Hunter. The purpose behind both projects is to teach Japanese people the English language with the help of a thrilling narrative. Each game has English consultants with a dual language and subtitle option for players. While the English Dream series has been largely forgotten, both titles appeared on Koei's 2003 Winter Thanks Rare Campaign with cheaper prices.

The game Emit was released in three parts: Lost Child of Time, Life-Risking Journey, and Farewell to Me. Koei developed a secondary hardware called Voicer-kun for SNES users. The game was composed by Jirō Akagawa and character designs by Mutsumi Inomata. It won the 1994 Yomiuri Shimbun Prize in the 1995 Japan Software Grand Prix.

Story[]

Volume 1[]

On October 5, 1994, Yuri, a seventeen-year-old high school student, meets an elderly gentleman who asks her about a nearby watchmaker's. Yuri is puzzled by his respectful tone and the man's use of the word "Emit" to describe him. Yuri's mother, Toshiko, informs her that the watchmaker's was replaced by a bookstore years ago. Yuri decides not to get involved with the elderly man. A month later, a mysterious man approaches her, revealing that he is a traveler from another world where people's bodies age in reverse.

In Yuri's world, he ages a year every day and will age to be "too young" and die. He asks for her help to find another entrance, but Yuri refuses. In November, Yuri and her friend spot a sad, frail boy, who she recognizes. Realizing the man was telling the truth, she skips classes to help him. They find an old door in the basement and write "Emit" on it, allowing them to enter. The boy tells Yuri that she reminded him of his mother.

Volume 2[]

Yuri meets her middle school friend Ichiro, who claims to have seen her the night before at a friend's birthday party. Yuri's lookalike tells him to say "Emit" to see her again. Yuri heads to the other world, where she encounters a woman who mirrors her exact appearance. The other Yuri forces her through the doorway and closes the door. As she lands in the other world, Yuri is mistaken for the woman and arrested for traveling between worlds. The same elderly child, Ken, bails her out, pretending to be his mother. Ken tells Yuri that his mother, Julia, came to her world after being intrigued by his stories. Yuri races back to rectify the situation, but is shot by another guard while riding the elevator.

Volume 3[]

In Yuri's world, Yuri's mother and Ichiro notice Yuri's strange behavior, including a memory of a birthday party. Julia, who is a test, pretends to remember the book and leaves a farewell note. Yuri and her mother investigate Julia's whereabouts, but she flees, leaving a half-finished note. Yuri returns home with a wounded arm and tries to convince Julia to leave, but she is too weak to defend herself. Later, Julia is trapped in a bookstore, and Yuri meets Ken who is looking for her. They pose as a couple in the streets to attract her attention, and Julia leaves with Ichiro. Yuri watches construction workers work, content with the possibility of doorways to Emit in other parts of the world.

Gameplay[]

The game offers two main modes: story and exercises. In story mode, players can watch animated scenes with customizable voices and subtitles, pause to understand underlined terms, and jump to any section. Exercises consist of multi-choice questions and practice scenarios, featuring everyday language terms like times of day and formal greetings. Quizzes are not punished or rewarded, allowing players to try at their leisure.

Characters[]

  • Yuri Tanaka (田中 百合)
Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (Japanese), Danni Wheeler (English)
Yuri, a caring teenager, lives with her parents and younger brother. Despite initially wanting to know about a secret parallel world, she appreciates her home and aims to restore everyone to their proper places and bring happiness to others.
  • Ken (ケン)
Voiced by:
Yoshito Yasuhara (Japanese; older and young adult), Yuu Hayashi (Japanese; younger)
James Arnold Taylor (English; older and young adult), Robin Bufanda (English; younger)
Unnamed in the first volume, Ken introduces himself by the second. Thankful to Yuri for helping him, Ken tries to support his friend in anyway he can. Yuri eventually thinks fondly of him and her ties to his mother, at one pointing calling him "my boy".
  • Toshiko Tanaka (田中 敏子)
Voiced by: Aiko Nakayama (Japanese), Cheryl Shain (English)
Yuri's mother. Though Yuri's interdimensional travels are kept a secret from her, she becomes involved when Julia tries to take Yuri's place.
  • Yoko Ozawa (小沢 洋子)
Voiced by: Etsuko Ishikawa (Japanese), Thyra Metz (English)
One of Yuri's friends from school. She is a smart student and likes to chat with Yuri on the phone. Yoko thinks the other world is nonsensical but is fascinated by her friend's story of it.
  • Ichiro Ota (太田 一郎)
Voiced by: Shō Hayami (Japanese), Stuart Mckinney (English)
Yuri's friend from junior high school. He is well aware of Yuri's personality and is surprised to see her act completely different from before. Clueless of the other Yuri's feelings for him, Ichiro helps his friend catch her.
  • Julia (ジュリア)
Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (Japanese), Danni Wheeler (English)
In spite of her being a mirror image of Yuri, Julia is Ken's mother. She heard the wonders of the other world from her son and wanted to visit it personally. Falling instantly in love with Ichiro, she wants to replace Yuri with herself. Tired of being old in her own world, she likes Yuri's world more than her own.

Differences between ports[]

  • The Super Famicom version uses an audio CD with tracks of 10-15 seconds in length, so there is a considerable pause between each segment of dialogue as the game accesses the next track. In the Saturn and PlayStation versions, each chapter is loaded into RAM when the player selects it, allowing the scenes to play smoothly, without pauses. In the 3DO version, the cinemas are read from the CD on the fly, which eliminates load times but results in pauses between each line of dialogue.
  • The Saturn, 3DO, and PlayStation versions have a title screen. In the Super Famicom versions, the game goes directly to the main menu after the intro cinema.
  • The main menus in the Super Famicom versions are stylized to look like the pages of an old book. The Saturn, 3DO, and PlayStation versions use much simpler menu graphics, with plain white text on a blue background.
  • In the Super Famicom and Saturn versions, answering a quiz question correctly is rewarded with a blue circle saying "Yes that's correct". In the 3DO version, this is replaced with a more elaborate visual: an orange circle (still saying "Yes that's correct"), a banner reading "Congratulations", and an image of Yuri smiling.
  • The 3DO version of Emit Vol. 1 includes an exclusive mini-game.
  • There is a memory manager in each of the 3DO versions; this is because some 3DO Interactive Multiplayer models do not have a built-in memory manager.

Gallery[]

Image Song[]

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