5pb.Games – A List of Notable Games
Desheng Chen
5pb. has ported several world famous visual novels from the PC into gaming consoles, as well as made games out of some popular anime series such as “Ano hana” and “Haiyore! Nyaruko-san”. I shall highlight some noteworthy games ported by 5pb.
In this article, I briefly discussed 5pb.’s original games. Do have a read if you haven’t already done so.
Muv-Luv Alternative – One of the most legendary visual novels in history. Has the highest score of 9.25 in the entire visual novel database. The only other game in vndb with above 9.00 score is 5pb.’s most representative original game, Steins;Gate. 5pb. brought this game to Xbox 360, and very recently brought to PS Vita this game and its prequel, Muv-Luv, as a two-in-one game.
Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse – A spin-off of Muv-Luv Alternative. This game is set in the same world as Muv-Luv Alternative, but in a different country and features different characters. Total Eclipse started out as a light novel, and later received a manga and anime adaptation. 5pb. developed the game from scratch for PS3 and Xbox 360 platforms, so it’s not just a port from the original PC version.
Ever17 – A very popular science fiction visual novel with a mind-blowing plot written by renowned writer Uchikoshi Kotaro. 5pb. brought this to Xbox 360 in collaboration with Cyberfront.
Cross+Channel ~To all people~ – Another hall of fame entrant in the world of visual novels. Written by Tanaka Romeo, who also wrote for “Yume Miru Kusuri: A Drug That Makes You Dream” and “Rewrite”. 5pb. brought this game to PS3 and PS Vita.
Sharin no Kuni, Himawari no shoujo - Yet another famed visual novel, is perhaps Akabeisoft2’s second most well-known work, only behind G-senjou no Maou. Originally only available on the PC from 2005 to 2010, 5pb. brought it to the Xbox 360, PSP, and PS3 over the next few years.
Corpse Party series – This series is known for its extreme gore and has a large following in the west. 5pb.’s brought four games to the handheld console; “Corpse Party Blood Covered : Repeated Fear”, “Corpse Party : Book of Shadows”, and “Corpse Party : - The Anthology - Sachiko no Renai Yuugi Hysteric Birthday 2U” for the PSP, and “Corpse Party - Blood Drive” to the PS Vita.
I’m sure that many visual novel fans out there have played at least one of the games mentioned here. 5pb. has always tried to bring more popular visual novels from the PC to other gaming platforms, so that more gamers have access to these hidden gems. No doubt they will keep doing so as well. In case you haven’t played any of these games, go check them out! I have already played all of them and yes, they are incredibly good!
For those interested in these games, you can browse 5pb.'s games on their official website. 5pb. does have an online shop, but it isn't very foreigner-friendly. A better alternative will be Amazon.
