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Suzumiya Haruhi no Chokuretsu
The Series of Haruhi Suzumiya
Japanese standard edition box art
Publisher Sega
Developer Cavia
CERO A
Release dates
Japan May 28, 2009

The Series of Haruhi Suzumiya (涼宮ハルヒの直列, Suzumiya Haruhi no Chokuretsu) is a 2009 visual novel adventure game in the Haruhi Suzumiya series, developed by Cavia and published by Sega for the Nintendo DS. The game follows Kyon and the members of the SOS Brigade during their summer vacation, as they investigate rumours of supernatural phenomena occurring around North High.

Developed alongside The Parallel of Haruhi Suzumiya for Wii, The Series of Haruhi Suzumiya serves as a prequel to the events in that game. Originally announced to be released alongside Parallel on March 26, 2009, the game was delayed in February 2009 and ultimately released on May 28, 2009. Much like other games in the Haruhi Suzumiya series,[note 1] the game was only released in Japan.

Gameplay[]

The Series of Haruhi Suzumiya is a visual novel adventure game, mixing traditional first-person portrait dialogue with puzzle sections and simple environment exploration.

Investigation phase[]

Haruhi DS

Talking with Haruhi in Episode 1

Gameplay follows standard visual novel structure, with the player being able to read text and see character portraits and backgrounds reflecting the current story state. A number of special CGs are present and displayed on occasion, some of which span both screens of the Nintendo DS. Text can be fast-forwarded, skipped, and read back through a history feature. The introduction, epilogue, and certain sound effects feature voice acting (though this does not extend into the main episode content itself), and the game features a 29-song soundtrack (which it partially shares with Parallel).

During the novel "investigation" portion of gameplay, players are required to mind a "Haruhi Meter," displayed on the top screen, which indicates Haruhi's current interest in seeking out supernatural phenomena. The meter ranges from a scale of "focused" to "distracted" and is able to increase or decrease dependent on story events and which event branches the player opted to follow through narrative choices, as well as through group allocations and topic stock.

At certain points in the investigation phase, the game will ask the player to allocate members of the SOS Brigade (including themselves) into groups to perform certain tasks. At this point, the story diverges and the player is able to see different scenes and events based on the group they selected themselves to be in, as well as which characters they pair with each other in the other groups. Some episodes place restrictions on who must be placed in which group, and the number of groups vary between the game's various scenarios.

Group

Example of a CG in the first episode

Topics are collectible items that can be obtained both actively through witnessing certain event scenes and passively based on the group allocations made before each puzzle phase; a summary of obtained topics is presented before the puzzle segments in each episode. As well as main topics (received for seeing important scenes), there are four categories of character topics—"Haruhi," "Mikuru," "Koizumi," and "Nagato"—with each category providing different effects when used in the puzzle phase.

Occasionally, the game will let the player explore a small isometric part of North High or its surroundings, in which they are able to talk to characters and examine objects in the world. The player can use the DS Stylus to choose where to walk to, and pan the camera with the D-Pad. During these segments, the player usually must interact with a certain set of objects or characters to proceed the story.

Puzzle phase[]

At certain points, the player will be forced into Closed space, and be challenged with restoring the area to normal by erasing "singularity points" within a time limit, in a game vaguely similar in concept to wikipedia:Minesweeper. Players must explore the area, rendered through a top-down isometric grid view, as either Kyon, Mikuru, Nagato or Koizumi and use the DS Stylus to walk between tiles. The D-Pad can also be used to pan the camera around the area, and the Y Button pauses the game and displays a map of the level grid.

By tapping and holding on a tile in the map, the player is able to investigate the tile and the eight surrounding tiles for traces of singularity points. This will change the color of the nine tiles and add exclamation marks above each tile to indicate how many singularities are adjacent to each tile (including the tile itself). If the tile is turned blue with no exclamation marks above it, then that tile has no singularities located adjacent to it and does not contain a singularity itself. A tile colored pink with a single exclamation point means that tile has a singularity adjacent to it or on it. A tile colored yellow, red or blue with multiple exclamation points contains two, three, or (rarely) more singularities adjacent or on it.

By tapping the magnifying class button on the bottom-left hand corner of the bottom screen, the player is able to enter "search" mode to reveal singularities (which take the form of different objects depending on the current scenario) once the player has an idea of where one may be hidden. Tapping a tile while in search mode will move Kyon over to investigate the tile to see if a singularity is present. If a singularity is present on that tile, it will be revealed and the player can then quickly scrub the touch screen with their stylus to erase it.

The player is limited by time and must erase a certain number of singularities (or all singularities) to restore the area to normal before Haruhi arrives. The starting amount of time the player has Before the puzzle phase, the player is choiced with picking who to play as and who to partner with Haruhi to distract her. Haruhi's progress toward arrival is visualised in the top screen, and along her path both "accidents" and "events" will occur. Accidents impose a time penalty, but can be prevented by tapping the button on the top-right hand corner of the bottom screen and expending an appropriate main topic. "Events" provide an opportunity for the player to optionally use character topics to have Haruhi's partner slow down her progress and gain time. The topic chosen will have different benefits depending on the character and on the chosen partner.

Finally, the player has the option of calling in other Brigade Members through power-ups (except Kyon), which each activate certain special effects to aid in the revealing and erasure of singularities. Once used, power-ups take time to recharge, and can only be used so many times per puzzle phase. Power-ups also have a levelling system, where repeated use will level them up, making them more effective and allow the user to use the more times per phase.

Chess[]

Partway through the game, a chess minigame is unlocked, which the player must partake in to progress the story. Additional chess puzzles can be completed in the game's extras mode. Chess challenges were designed by Miyoko Watai, of the Japanese Chess Association.

Extras mode[]

After completing the game's first episode, the player unlocks the extras mode, in which the player is able to walk around the SOS Brigade's clubroom and access the aforementioned chess mode, a completion tracker, music player and CG image browser. Additional character-specific scenes unlocked through completing story routes can also be accessed through the clubroom.

Plot[]

The Series of Haruhi Suzumiya is structured into chapter-like "episodes," which each begin with a voiced prologue previewing upcoming events in that episode.

Prologue[]

In an introductory text crawl, Kyon recounts the summer of his first year at North High, including his memories of the events that took place in The Parallel of Haruhi Suzumiya involving "girl in the white hat" — Miss Mikoto Misamaru.

During a meeting of the SOS Brigade members at Café Dream, Kyon receives a phone call from Taniguchi, who mentions rumors of a "man-eating classroom" being shared by members of North High's Computer Research Society. This raises the interest of Haruhi, who instructs the brigade to begin an investigation by holding a Summer Camp for the brigade at the school.

Episode 1: The Man-Eating Classroom[]

The members of the SOS Brigade gather at North High to investigate the reports of a so-called "man-eating classroom." In an interactive sequence, Haruhi instructs Kyon to interview members of the Computer Society. The society members confirm the sighting of a purported additional "Class 1-10," though their word is initially dismissesed as heresay. Nevertheless, Haruhi makes the brigade investigate the first-year classrooms. While walking past a window on the first floor, Kyon is startled after catching a glimpse of a mysterious girl levitating outside wearing a white summer dress and hat.

Shortly afterwards, Kyon's vision goes blurry and he is suddenly transported to a non-Euclidean space — one where Class 1-10 is real. After entering the classroom, Kyon notices how it bears resemblance to the space in which he was nearly killed by Ryoko Asakura. Nagato appears in the space, warning Kyon that it is not a construct of Haruhi herself, but rather a tertiary entity. Tasked with restoring the space to its original form, Nagato arms Kyon with a cleaning mop and instructs him to find and erase singularity points located throughout the space before Haruhi Suzumiya returns in the real world.

After successfully escaping the parallel space, Haruhi decides that the SOS Brigade should pair off to further interview the Computer Society and gather more evidence, tasking Kyon with allocating the groups. Following this, Kyon once again finds himself confronted by the mysterious girl and is transported once again to the parallel space where he is tasked with removing it once and for all, all the while the other brigade members attempt to slow the march of Haruhi.

Episode 2: The Unfinished Sonata[]

Episode 3: A Midsummer Graduation[]

Episode 4: Big Mum Flower[]

Episode 5: Nessun Dorma[]

Epilogue[]

Release[]

Chou SOS Dandanin Collection

The collector's edition version of the game

The Series of Haruhi Suzumiya was released in Japan on May 28, 2009 in two editions; a standard edition, and a Chou SOS Dandanin Collection ("Super SOS Brigade Member Collection") edition. The collector's edition included the game, a Nintendo DSi carry case, Nintendo DS Game Card carriers, art cards, and a Haruhi Suzumiya-themed miniature race car.

Music[]

Vocal Mini Album CD

Vocal Mini Album cover artwork

The game features a soundtrack of 29 songs (listed below), including an opening (Because The Earth Spins) and ending (Wonder trip), performed by Aya Hirano (Haruhi), Minori Chihara (Nagato), and Yuko Gotoh (Mikuru). The opening theme is played to an opening movie, highlighting various CG events from the game. Because The Earth Spins, Wonder trip, and the pair of vocal songs from The Parallel of Haruhi Suzumiya (alongside off-vocal variants) were compiled into Suzumiya Haruhi no Chokuretsu Heiretsu Vocal Mini Album, an album released alongside Parallel on March 25, 2009.

Track titles are taken from the music player in extras mode, translated into English, except where otherwise noted. Tracks with a dagger (†) indicates an unofficial title.

Art book[]

Chokuretsu Heiretsu Artbook Chokuretsu Cover

Title page of the Chokuretsu side of the artbook.

A single 144-page art book for both Series and Parallel was released in 2009, containing detailed walkthroughs of every episode, puzzle phase strategy guides, dialogue path branch diagrams, chess puzzle solutions, topic listings, cast interviews and high quality versions of the game's artwork.

English Translation[]

Although the game was only ever released in Japanese, an English fan translation patch by the Haroohie Translation Club is actively being produced as of November 2023. The first version of the patch (covering up to the end of the first episode) was released on April 20, 2022. An updated patch including Episode 2 was released on February 28, 2023, with another update releasing on October 31, 2023 covering Episode 3. In April 2023, the team also released Serial Loops, a cross-platform editing suite that allows the game to be easily edited.

Gallery[]

External Links[]

Videos[]

Notes[]

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