Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram

Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram (STEINS;GATE 線形拘束のフェノグラム, Senkei Kousoku no Phenogram?) is a visual novel released on April 25, 2013 for the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360. A port for the Playstation Vita was released on November 28, 2013, and another port was released for iOS on August 19, 2014, with a PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows version released on February 20, 2019. It contains a mixture of scenarios, set during and after the original visual novel's story-line, but in different world lines.

The title is an apparent reference to the "linear bounded automaton", a limited form of the Turing Machine concept in computer science.

Scenario 1: Dr. Jekyll Online (Okabe)


(Hi, Dimalungma is here. It's 2018 2019 :D and this article seems a bit raw, so i'll try to do something about it. I will make short versions of each chapter's plot without spoilers, and a long one for those who can't play the game but want to know what happened. I am just a usual fan, but I will try my best. See ya!)

Short:

Takes place in 0.337199α. Depicts Okabe playing Alpacaman and trying to help people around him, by using time leaps and D-Mails to prevent future crimes. But a simple task to help Nae to buy a game turns out to have unpredictable consequences...

Long:

The story starts with Okabe saving Faris and Mayuri from a hijacker, who was trying to steal the RaiNet-related van as an act against the new "RaiNet 3D" game release. Apparently, Okabe is using The Time Leap Machine to prevent crimes, using his costume and special Alpacaman Tools. The only one who (probably) knows about Okabe's "sidejob" is Mayuri, as she is the one who sewed the costume.

Okabe then goes out with Nae to help her buy the new "RaiNet" game. But he fails due to resellers, specifically 4oC and his gang, who cut the line directly in front of Okabe and Nae buying the last copies right in front of them. To prevent Nae from crying, Okabe decides to change the past by time leaping. He dons the Alpacaman costume, laces 4oC's food with laxatives, which forces 4oC and his gang to abandon their spot in line.

Later that evening, Okabe is informed of another incident involving 4oC - where he and his gang attempt a "dine and dash" and end up taking Luka as a hostage, which ultimately results in Luka being sent to the hospital from the effects of a stun gun. Okabe decides to time leap once again. This time, Luka is saved, and 4oC is caught. But after dialogue with Mr. Braun and Suzuha, Okabe learns that his actions caused 4oC go to jail. It is revealed that 4oC was homeless, and was taking odd-jobs from scalpers to survive. Okabe concludes that 4oC was a victim of society, as people never become bad by their own will.

Okabe decides to time leap once more in order to find the mastermind behind the reselling scheme. With Daru's help, he finds out that the scalping scheme was organized by an organization called the "Rounders". It rings the bell, though Okabe can't remember why. Okabe locates one of their warehouses in Radio Kaikan, finding boxes of inventory and pirated merchandise. Okabe hatches a plan to set off the fire alarm and sprinklers in order to destroy the merchandise and allowing the police to come and find illegal goods. When the plan is set into motion, one of the scalpers attempts to diffuse the situation, but Mayuri suddenly appears and is almost kidnapped. Okabe leads Mayuri away from the scene and returns back to Nae, still waiting in line for the game. The scalper arrives at the line, informing 4oC and the rest of those hired to stand in line, that the goods are ruined, calling off the job. Furious, 4oC demands payment for the time they spent in line. After a short argument, the scalper reluctantly pays 4oC, putting himself in the red - mentioning that there was apparently a due date for the reselling. Nae successfully buys the game, 4oC got his money, everyone is happy, and they all lived happily ever after... NOT.

When Okabe and Nae come back, they find that Mr. Braun still hadn't returned home. Moeka arrives that evening and informs Okabe that Mr. Braun was dead. They frantically turn on the television to see a news report stating that Mr. Braun had committed suicide by jumping in front of a moving train. Okabe finally remembers and concludes that the lead organizer of the scalpers was actually Mr. Braun, and it was highly unlikely that he would leave Nae alone in the world like this, and that it was likely that he was thrown to his death by the Rounders for missing the deadline of the reselling job.

Okabe returns home and asks Mayuri the meaning of "justice", if every action he made only caused more suffering. Then he decides to time leap once more, to choose the path of least resistance. Okabe decides to go line up with Nae earlier, to ensure the success of buying the game, 4oC still cuts the line, but someone else other than Nae is unsuccessful in buying the game, and Mr. Braun successfully pays everyone in the line for the reselling job, and meets his deadline. Yet, after returning home, Okabe fails to find Mayuri to tell her the results of his time leaps. Okabe asks Daru if he knows Mayuri's whereabouts, but Daru starts acting awkwardly, and leaves the Lab without answering. A few days later, Kurisu appears at the lab in a black dress finally reveals the horrible truth...

Exactly one year ago, 13 August 2010, the Rounders attacked the lab, and Mayuri was killed. Okabe was desperate, he couldn't save her, no matter how hard he tried, how many times he leaped. It broke him. As a coping mechanism, Okabe imagined that Mayuri was still alive, and helped him make the Alpacaman costume. Kurisu now works for SERN, as they took her father. But Okabe denies everything in disbelief, as he runs around the town to find someone who will confirm that Mayuri is still alive. He is unable to find anyone, and even Faris admitted to him that she was just playing along the whole time to help with his grief.

Finally, Okabe finds himself at Mayuri's grave. After another talk with Kurisu, he decides to burn the Alpacaman suit on top of the infamous Radio Kaikan. He wears the Alpacaman head one last time, as he only sees Mayuri while wearing it. After his final conversation with the imaginary Mayuri, he burns the costume down. After thinking for a while, he finally decides, no matter how hard it will be, he will time leap to 2010 and save Mayuri.

Scenario 2: The Caged Bird Sings (Daru)
Short:

Takes place in 3.019430δ. Depicts how Daru met his future wife, Yuki Amane on Comima by accident. Yuki was cosplaying Chopstick Girl, and she was mistaken for Moeka by SERN, who gave her secret information. After realizing the mistake, Rounders decide to kidnap her. Daru has no choice but to save Yuki.

Long: It is the first day of ComiMa, and Moeka decides to cosplay for the event. Mayuri makes her costume of Chat Noir, a popular new character from an anime called "Phantom Thief Chat Noir" with a black bodysuit and cat ear helmet. Daru dreams of seeing Moeka in a black bodysuit, and spends some time looking for her at the convention. During his search, he accidentally meets his future wife, Amane Yuki, for the first time. Yuki is cosplaying as Chopstick Girl, a side character from RaiNet. After short conversation, Daru leaves. Thinking about his fateful encounter with the beautiful cosplayer, he ultimately comes to terms that he will never have a chance with a girl like that, he dejectedly returns to Akiba, to drown his sorrows by admiring his convention loot.

Later that evening, while browsing threads on @channel, Daru finds a thread started by someone with the username "Chopstick_Girl". Intrigued, Daru starts following the thread and finds out that the poster was at the most recent ComiMa and was given a piece of paper with a strange code by a person in a black cloak. {B14 7H 8H Y9}. Daru thinks that it may be Yuki, due to her username handle, and attempts to show off his hacking skills by cracking the code. Soon after, Kurisu arrives at the lab, and finds Daru reading the thread, and accidentally reveals herself as a fellow @channel user and attempts to help Daru crack the code. However, after a few hours, Chopstick_Girl writes that she cracked the code but gives few details. Everyone following the thread thinks Chopstick_Girl is a troll, as she mentions that the code had lead her to a bomb. A few minutes later, the same user writes that this all was a joke and nothing happened.

Daru is still convinced that the messages were not troll posts, and that the poster might be in danger. After multiple leads that do not come to fruition, Daru decides to use his hacking skills to find some of Yuki's personal information. He is able to find her name and her phone number, and attempts to call her. Yuki's phone is originally picked up, but no one answers, but a faint female voice is heard on the other end. Daru uses GPS tracking to physically locate Yuki's phone, and sees that it is located at Akihabara Train Station. Upon reaching the station, he finds the GPS location of the phone is somewhere in a section of the station that is closed off. He wanders onto the fourth floor and encounters 2 men who are in possession of Yuki's phone, and they ambush him. He is saved by Suzuha, who retrieves Yuki's phone, and asks Daru for his assistance to save Yuki. She reveals that Yuki is her mother and brings Daru to the top of the Radio-Kan building to showcase the Time Machine. Suzuha had been in contact with Yuki, and wanted to meet her in this era, and had requested to meet up at ComiMa, however, this entire incident occurred before Yuki and Suzuha were able to meet. Daru offers to send a D-mail to change the past, and brings Suzuha back to the lab, only to find that the 42 inch CRT had broken earlier that morning, rendering the PhoneWave unusable.

Suzuha leaves with Mr. Braun to have the CRT fixed by the manufacturer, and leaves Daru with Yuki's phone. Daru then notices a manhole in front of the lab that has 77 4H 8H 99, and he deduces that the code that Yuki was given refers to a specific manhole cover. Daru eventually finds the correct manhole in an alleyway near a Laox store in Akihabara. He bumps into Moeka and asks her to call the police, and messages Okabe his location. He climbs down into the sewers and eventually finds himself in Manseibashi Station, an old abandoned train station. There he hears Yuki, who is locked inside a room. Daru introduces himself and tells her that he came to save her, and returns to Yuki her phone, detaching the Upa keychain to allow it to fit through the small eyeslot. He hears footsteps and is confronted by Moeka in her black bodysuit, and informs Daru of the Rounders' terrorist plan to bomb the sewers of Akihabara. The original plan was for the Rounders to pass Moeka the locations of the bombs, while she went undercover in cosplay at ComiMa. However, the Rounders mistook Yuki for Moeka, as Chopstick Girl and Chat Noir have similar outfits, and gave the code to Yuki by mistake. Yuki was able to crack the code and found the bomb, but was caught by the Rounders and was imprisoned. Moeka points a gun at Daru, asking him who he was working for and how much information he knows about the Rounders. Daru attempts to subdue her, but gets shot in the leg, and ends up getting handcuffed to a nearby railing.

It turns out that the metal Upa keychain had stopped the bullet and Daru was mostly unharmed. However, Daru notices the bomb Amane mentioned, and realizes that there is less than 10 minutes left on the countdown. He uses his phone to call police but is unable to tell them about the bomb with Yuki nearby. He then calls Suzuha, and she quickly understands situation after a few "yes/no" questions. She finally reveals her father's name, and comes just a minute before the explosion. Suzuha quickly grabs the bomb and runs away with it just before the explosion, despite Daru's attempts to stop her.

After the accident, Hashida and Yuki were freed by the police, but the Rounders were never caught, and fate of Suzuha was never revealed. A few days after the kidnapping, the satellite on top of Radio-Kan disappears.

Scenario 3: Vermillion Soteria (Kurisu)
Takes place in 0.328403α.

Short:

Depicts Kurisu trying to help Okabe, who broke after numerous time leaps and can't go on anymore.

Long:

After numerous failed time-leap attempts, Okabe was desperate and tried to destroy the time-leap machine, but was stopped by Kurisu. Without explaining anything, he then ran away to the front of UPX complex and sat there, giving up on saving Mayuri. Every lab member was looking for him, but only at night Faris found him and brought him back to the lab, where Daru and Mayuri were nowhere to be seen. There were blood stains on the floor with no one in the lab. After seeing that Okabe says that no matter how much he time leapes, Mayuri always dies, and goes mad, so the butler had to knock him down, before he had done something stupid. Kuroki suggested them to go to Faris's place for safety. Faris and Kurisu seek help from Akiha Yukitaka. In the process of explaining the situation to Yukitaka, Kurisu learnt that he and her father, Professor Nakabachi were friends. Makise tries to call Shoichi, but her father won't pick up.

At morning, the news confirm the worst case scenario - A car with a body of Mayuri was found in a river. Okabe, who accidentally saw the TV, loses all traces of sanity, so Kuroki has to calm him down again. After that Kurisu suddenly receives a call from her father, and after trying to explain everything goes to cries, saying that she can't save the person she loves. Despite everything, Nakabachi doesn't believe the story and is about to hang up, when Yukitaka takes the phone. After arguing. Shoichi finally agrees to help, but he needs to hear the whole story.

With Yukitaka' and Nakabachi's help Kurisu finally works out the plan - she has to time leap back in time and find Okabe in front of UPX. Then she has to offer her help and help Okabe to come up with the plan. But she needs the codeword so she in the past would believe Okabe's story. After thinking, Kurisu comes up with "my fork", and we finally find out the story behind this words - Just before Kurisu and her father split up and stopped talking, she was asking for a personal fork on her birthday. Sadly, she never received it, leaving her absolutely without any relationships with Nakabachi. After hearing that, Yukitaka suddenly remembers something, and despite Nakabachi's screams brings Kurisu the small fork, that Shoichi left to him years ago, just the day of Kurisu's 8th birthday. Seeing this Kurisu feels happy that her father still loves her, even if just a bit.

Kurisu finally came up with decision. She will forget how she talked to her father, how she confessed that she loves Okabe, but will still help Okabe, no matter what. She time leaps and finds him in front of UPX. Then we see the beginning of dialogue form original VN. (so yes, i agree with someone in the comments that this story is probably canon)

Scenario 4: Ghostly Rendezvous (Suzuha)
(This one i will leave as it is)

Takes place in 0.337337α. Depicts how Suzuha in the alpha world line gets support from two other Suzuhas from a different attractor field world line. The background of the story is very similar to the α0.337187% world line of the original story which takes place after Okabe stops Suzuha from leaving. After discovering the time machine had broken, Suzuha hesitates over her priorities between her mission and friendship resulting in seeing two ghosting figments of herself from the Beta attractor field world line and an unknown peaceful world line. Later they refer to each other as Alpha, Beta and Omega. Despite their presence, only Alpha Suzuha can prove Beta's and Omega's existence. To other people, they are unable to be seen nor heard, but can see their interaction with the environment. They are treated as ghosts by people around Alpha.

The Beta Suzuha from the Beta attractor field wears a military outfit and feels crisp and serious from Alpha Suzuha's perspective. The Omega version of Suzuha, who wears a maid outfit, is a spoiled kid living a peaceful life with no knowledge of time travel. The world line where Omega Suzuha comes from isn't mentioned in the story.

Suzuha learns early on from Omega that Daru is her father. Since Beta has more experience in fixing the time machine, she was in charge of fixing it. When she finds out that Alpha Suzuha's Time Machine can only travel back to the past, Beta tells Alpha that she should go spend more time with dad instead of fixing the time machine. She sends Alpha to shop for replacement parts with Daru. Later, Daru helps Beta with the repairing, although they are unable to speak to communicate directly, so Beta and Daru exchange Mails.

While Daru is helping Beta fix the time machine Alpha Suzuha goes back to her part-time job. When Alpha Suzuha talks to Yuugo, she is accidentally told about the fate of her future and that Suzu Hashida (Alpha Suzuha) had already passed away. She decides not to ask about how she dies. After she finishes her part-time job she meets Kurisu. During their conversation, she finds out that Kurisu isn't the evil person she imagined before travelling to 2010. They also discover their similarity in the sense that both of their fathers had devoted most of their life to time machines/travel.The next morning, Alpha Suzuha comes to check the time machine repairing progress. Beta apologizes to Alpha Suzuha for Daru accidentally finding out that that time machine can only travel back to the past. Alpha Suzuha then asks Daru to show her around the city. While Daru is resting in the laboratory, Omega tells Alpha that it is like a date in some way, and suggests she should change her outfit to something cuter for this special occasion. Alpha Suzuha and Daru have a great time while they spend their afternoon together. At the end of their "date" Daru reminds himself of the time machine, and the fact that Suzuha will never be able to come back if she travels back to 1975. This leads to an emotional conversation. Alpha Suzuha finally understands her father isn't the emotionless and rational person she had always imagined him to be, but someone with human emotions just like herself. The reason why her dad locked himself up and didn't meet with Suzuha in the future, is not only because it's the only way he can finish the time machine without being discovered by SERN and fail to give humanity its last hope, but also because he already knows that his daughter will meet with him again in the year 2010. Alpha Suzuha then lies to Daru, and tells him that the grown-up version of her might be still alive, and this is merely a small departure, but Daru doesn't look convinced.

On their way back, Kurisu shows up. Alpha Suzuha thanks Kurisu for her effort to make sure nothing inappropriate happens between her and Daru. Kurisu then figures out that Suzuha leaves that night and that she won't be able to come back afterwards. Suzuha is surprised that Kurisu truly cares about her. She regrets both, not having noticed that earlier and her original impression of Kurisu. She then repeated the same lie to Kurisu that this is just a small departure.

When the night falls, Alpha Suzuha comes to the time machine with the other two versions of herself. After finishing the final checkup of the time machine, Beta Suzuha suddenly suggests maybe she can go to the past instead, so Alpha Suzuha can stay here with dad. Alpha Suzuha feels happy for Beta Suzuha to make such a gesture, but she declines, saying that she is going to the past for herself. When the two ghosting figments become increasingly unstable she finds out that both Beta and Omega are worrying about her. She realized even though these three versions of herself look and act different from the outside, deep inside their hearts they are all still Amane Suzuha. When the two ghosting figures begin fading, Alpha Suzuha thanks Omega for her suggestion for the outfit, so she could hear dad say she was cute. She also says to Omega that both she and Beta are trying hard so we can reach you. (which strongly implied that Omega is from "The Steins Gate" world line where the True End of the main plot occurs.) She realized the existence of Omega mean there is a peaceful world line out there thus their goal actually exists, and she is their hope. For her final request, Alpha Suzuha asks Omega, "Don't trouble Mom and Dad too much OK?", and tells her she is counting on her. After both of the figures fade and Suzuha thanks the Beta for fixing the time machine, She goes inside the time machine and activates it.Suzuha finds herself in bed, and hears her mother telling her to wake up. Usually, she would try to stay in bed for as long as possible, but this time she doesn't feel like it. The words "Don't trouble Mom and Dad too much OK?" were still in her mind. Thus she decides to get out of bed. Her mother is surprised and happy that Suzuha woke up by herself. Suzuha decides for the first time to offer washing the dishes after she finished breakfast to the delight of her mother.

Scenario 5: Built With Love (Tennouji Yuugo)
Short:

Takes place in 3.386019δ. Tennouji Yuugo wins a lottery and decides to use the prize money to repair or rebuild the Building where the CRT workshop and the Future Gadget Lab are, to make Nae happier. Lab members are trying to help him with a decision, also learning a backstory of how Okabe got the lab.

Long:

Mr. Braun suddenly wins 300.000 yen in lottery (By the way, it was the one Okabe participated during the PhoneWave tests). He decides to spend this money on something that will make Nae happier. After discussing ideas with the Lab members, arguing, and revealing the backstory of Rintaro and Tennouji first meeting, the voices split up 50\50. Mr. Braun talks to everyone, including Akiha Yukitaka, who helps Tennouji to make decision by sharing a coin to him.

After 1 year of work, we see a brand new office building, awnd all the lab members are still there... but friendly atmosphere is gone. Okabe became the actual boss, everyone got his own task, and Future Gadget Lab became too serious - Rintaro now thinks only about money. An arguing between him and Kurisu starts, and they don't even notice Mr. Braun entering the room, and keep insulting each other and the bulding. Tennouji turns mad and throws everyone out. But after that Nae seems even more sad, telling that now Mayuri is gone, and she still misses something, something like a mother. Okabe hears their chat and (of course) proposes to send a D-mail to make everything right this time...

Then, 1 year before, a D-mail interrupts the Renovation discussion. It suggests Mr. Braun to find a mother to Nae. He decides that it will be better for someone to play a role of a mother, someone Nae already knows. He is going to choose someone from lab mems, making a competition between them. An ideal option was Lukako, but for some unknown reason (daga otokoda) Luka can't be a mother, so are Okabe and Daru, who were willing to get 300000 yen as a reward. So he asks the girls if they can play Nae's mother role. But Mayuri falls asleep in the park with Nae and she is more like a sister to her, Kurisu doesn't know anything about how to be a mother, Faris starts talking gibberish the first minute, and Moeka never even gets a chance. So Tennouji decides just to make building more suitable.

One year later, we see... a strange cat bulding. Everyone lost their words, but now the Lab turned into playground, and Mr. Braun for serious wants everyone to wear cat suits. Nae seems happier, but she still misses something, and now she can't even figure out, was it a person or a thing. Kurisu references to the Light duality theory, telling that maybe it's a thing and a person at the same time. They decide to send another mail to correct the previous message.

Year before, right after a previous messages, a new one arrives, telling that Nae needs a mother and a thing. Kurisu starts telling about her theory, but Yuugo gets too obsessed with the idea of both mother and a thing. Some time later, a perfect macine is revealed to Lab mems - An Android mother, which looks like a Howl's Moving Castle, scares Nae immediately. She rejects to call her a mother, causing a poor machine to blow up after critical failure. Mr. Braun decides to spend the rest of the money to rebuild... And we are in front of the cat bulding again. But this time Nae finally figures out what's missing - a bicycle near the entrance, so is the person who used to ride it. Okabe is the only one who knows exactly who is Nae talking about, but tells that this person cannot be contacted, and most likely she will never come to them without a good reason. But he figures the way to make everyone happy. D-mail...

This time. Tennouji recieves clear messages - to keep 1st and 2nd floors the same, and renovate 3rd floor as a playground. A year later, the lab still looks the same, but only visually - it's renovated, but then specially was made to look worn out, and the 3rd floor is a playground now. That's it for the first two messages, but there was the third one. "Time will fill the gap" Another time skip, a decade and a few years later. Nae grown up and befriended a little girl, that usually plays with her in the 3rd floor.

This little girl apparently keeps coming there by bike. Nae braids the little girl's hair and Yuugo takes a photo of them...

Scenario 6: Superhero Chat-Noir (Faris Nyannyan)
Takes place in 3.030493δ.

Faris and Suzuha form a pair of superheroes. They investigate lizardmen. Obake and Makise have been transformed into lizard people.

Scenario 7: Hermaphroditus in the Labyrinth (Luka)
Takes place in 0.456923α and 1.049326β.

Luka goes through several time leaps after Okabe failed to save Mayuri.

Scenario 8: Eternal Polaris (Mayuri)
Takes place in 0.571046α and -.195284ω.

Mayuri makes Okabe her hostage in order to save both of them from their fate.

Eventually, they arrived at the omega timeline where nobody knows each other and the lab isn't founded, similar to what happened in the original game's Faris ending. However, when Mayuri met Okabe again, she felt a strange sense of familiarity...

Scenario 9: The Quantum Awakening (Moeka)
Takes place in 0.509736α.

Moeka is ordered by her superior, FB as M4 the Rounder to meet Okabe and get close to him and his Labmemes to see if they have the IBN 5100 and learns about the time machine they are inventing but as she spends time with them day by day, she's touched by their kindness and develops a genuine friendship with them in spite of FB apathetically warning her not to get attached to them but in the end when the rounders invaded the lab to take the time machine and silence everyone. Moeka, with her doubts of loyalty in disarray decides to confront the rounders to save the labmemes.

Scenario 10: Abduction Across Three Worlds (Okabe)
Takes place in 4.456441ε, 4.456442ε, 4.493623ε, 4.493624ε, 4.530805ε, 4.530806ε.

Okabe runs against the clock trying to keep Mayuri from being kidnapped while suffering from amnesia right after doing a time leap.

Scenario 11: Lunar Bifröst (Tennouji Nae)
Takes place in 0.337161α.

Two years later Nae hasn't forgotten the Labmems and while wondering if she'll meet them again she runs into Daru and then they try to build another time machine and change the past.

Media