Steins;Gate (visual novel)

Steins;Gate (シュタインズ・ゲート), not to be confused with the similarly named Steins Gate World Line, is a Japanese visual novel developed by 5pb. and Nitroplus, and the second main installment in the Science Adventure Series, described as a "hypothetical science adventure".

Steins;Gate was originally released on October 15, 2009 for the Xbox 360, and was later ported to Windows, on August 26, 2010, and the PSP, on August 26, 2012.

JAST USA released an official English translation of the visual novel on March 31, 2014, with both standard and limited editions.

A remake, Steins;Gate Elite, featuring footage from the anime adaptation, was released on September 20, 2018 on Japan, and February 19, 2019 in the west.

Overview
Steins;Gate takes place in Akihabara in 2010. It follows the story of the self-proclaimed mad scientist Rintaro Okabe, who, alongside his friends Mayuri Shiina and Itaru Hashida, discovers that they have accidentally created a machine capable of sending messages to the past.

As they research this phenomenon, they are joined by the renowned genius girl Kurisu Makise, and together they discover the dark truth behind a worldwide conspiracy lead by a secret organization.

Gameplay
Due to its nature as a visual novel, Steins;Gate does not require much input from the player, as most of the action and story is told through text. The player assumes the role of Rintaro Okabe (岡部倫太郎, Okabe Rintaro?, voiced by: Mamoru Miyano), the protagonist. Rintaro claims to be a mad scientist and often refers to himself under the alias of Hououin Kyouma (鳳凰院凶真, Hōōin Kyōma?). This is also the name he uses to introduce himself to other people.

Gameplay in Steins;Gate revolves around the "Phone Trigger" system, which allows the player to interact with the phone of the protagonist to interact with other characters, affecting certain sections of the plot and even leading the player towards various endings. Some of the interactions include accepting or rejecting incoming calls or sending text messages.

Main Characters

 * Rintaro Okabe
 * Itaru Hashida
 * Mayuri Shiina
 * Kurisu Makise

Supporting Characters

 * Moeka Kiryu
 * Luka Urushibara
 * Faris NyanNyan
 * Suzuha Amane
 * Yuugo Tennouji
 * Nae Tennouji
 * Kaede Kurushima (mentioned)
 * Fubuki (mentioned)
 * Shouichi Makise
 * Eisuke Urushibara
 * 4℃
 * Kuroki (voice only)
 * Yukitaka Akiha

Development
Steins;Gate is the second collaborative work between 5pb. and Nitroplus after Chaos;Head/Chaos;Head Noah. The game was created with the concept of "99% science (reality) and 1% fantasy" in mind. The planning for Steins;Gate was headed by Chiyomaru Shikura of 5pb. The characters were designed by Huke whereas the gadgets were designed by Sh@rp. Naotaka Hayashi of 5pb. wrote the scenario with assistance from Vio Shimokura of Nitroplus. Tatsuya Matsuhara from 5pb. was the producer and Tosō Pehara from Nitroplus was the art director. The music was composed by Takeshi Abo of 5pb. and Toshimichi Isoe of Zizz Studio. Shikura, Hayashi, Matsuhara, Abo, and Isoe had all previously worked on Chaos;Head.

Prior to the game's announcement, a teaser site was featured on 5pb.'s website that simply referred to the game as Project S;G and stating that it was going to be a collaboration between 5pb. and Nitroplus. This was not the first time that a second collaborative project between 5pb. and Nitroplus was mentioned as Nitroplus's website had hinted at this on its 10th anniversary website. Matsuhara, who was also the producer for Chaos;Head, had previously stated that the game would be centred around Akihabara and that the project with Nitroplus would be the second part in a series around the theme "Science Novels (科学ノベル, Kagaku Noberu?)". On June 12, 2009, the countdown expired and the name Steins;Gate was revealed.

Matsuhara, who was the one originally thought of the concept of the phone trigger system, stated that they initially wanted to incorporate the player's own mobile phone into the system. However, the idea was abandoned due to concerns of clashing with Japan's privacy laws. When asked if the phone trigger system would be used in a possible sequel to the game, Hayashi stated that he hoped this would not be the case and recalled saying "who thought of this system!" while writing the contents of the text messages. While Shitakura did not directly contribute to the script itself, Hayashi stated that Shitakura helped with the overall plot and provided assistance with the second half of the story. In particular, Shitakura helped a lot on the time traveling aspects of the story. Hayashi stated that while he did not want the script to repeat the same text over and over again, it was ultimately unavoidable due to the player having to travel back in time so he tried to place emphasis on the overall tempo of the plot's development and how the plot unfolded. With regards to the theme of time traveling, Hayashi had felt that it seemed like a topic that was overdone and expressed concern over it when he first heard the idea from Shikura.

Kana Hanazawa stated that she was happy to have been selected to be in Steins;Gate as she felt that it was not common to be able to play a part in a serious game. She also thought that the game gives the player more of a thrilling sensation rather than a frightening one and it entices the player to continue reading.

Release
Steins;Gate was first declared RTM gold on September 18, 2009 with a demo of the game being made available a few weeks later on the Xbox Live Marketplace on October 7, 2009 for Xbox Live Gold members and then publicly on October 14, 2009. The demo allows the player to play through the prologue and the game's first chapter. Steins;Gate was released in both limited and regular editions on October 15, 2009. The limited edition contained the game itself, a toy named “Future Gadget #3 Lie Detector” from the game and a small hardcover artbook that includes various illustrations and background information about the game's universe as well as comments from the staff members. A Windows port of the game was released on August 26, 2010, the port will include additional CGs. A PlayStation Portable port of the game was released in June, 2011. The game include elements from the downloadable contents of the Xbox 360 version as well as a new opening movie, a new opening theme and a new ending theme. The game was also released for Apple iOS devices on August 25, 2011.

Music
The Steins;Gate visual novel has 9 vocal songs:
 * The opening theme on Xbox 360 “Skyclad Observer” (スカイクラッドの観測者, Skyclad no Kansokusha?).
 * The image song for the Windows release “A.R.”.
 * The opening theme on PlayStation Portable “Space Engineer” (宇宙エンジニア, Uchuu Engineer?).
 * The opening theme on PlayStation Vita “Nonlinear Geniac” (非線形ジェニアック, Hisenkei Geniac?).
 * The normal ending theme “Farfalla of Fate” (運命のファルファッラ, Unmei no Farfalla?).
 * The normal ending theme exclusive to the PlayStation Portable “In the Moonlit Night of Preghiera” (プレギエーラの月夜に, Preghiera no Tsukiyo ni?).
 * The insert song “technovision”.
 * The insert song “Masquerade ~NOAH A New Era from the Third Chapter of Kings~ ” (マスカレード ~ノア第三章列王新世紀編より~, Masquerade ~NOAH Daisanshou Retsuou Shinseikihen yori~ ?).
 * The true ending theme “Another Heaven”.

Anime
This adaptation follows the plot of True Ending of the Visual Novel. Although the Steins;Gate anime features several noteworthy changes from the original visual novel: {| class="article-table" !

Visual Novel
!

Anime

 * Rintaro Okabe bolts up to the rooftop of the Radio Kaikan to check the explosion in Chapter 1 with reporters and building staff following shortly, but they are told by Suzuha Amane to return to the conference.
 * Okabe is the only one who checks the explosion in Episode 1. He does not enter the rooftop and instead sees Suzuha wave him away from afar.
 * Suzuha explains attractor fields and reveals her identity to John Titor in the Future Gadget Lab.
 * Suzuha's explanation of attractor fields takes place at Radio Kaikan.
 * When Okabe meets Faris NyanNyan to fix the world line, she is depressed about her loss to 4℃'s, who cheated. Okabe then uses the Time Leap Machine to prepare Faris for his cheating so that she wins.
 * The events of first iteration and 4℃'s cheating are skipped entirely.
 * After Luka Urushibara confesses to Okabe, Okabe panics and uses the Time Leap Machine to go to 2 days earlier and confront Luka again, leading to Luka confessing to him earlier and them having 3 dates.
 * Okabe accepts Luka's initial confession and they only go on one date.
 * Okabe attempts to steal the IBN5100 from the public lockers after Moeka Kiryu reveals its location to him. This leads to him getting arrested and having to get bailed out by his father. He then decides to wait for FB to pick it up.
 * Okabe does not attempt to steal the IBN5100 from the public locker and instead tries to wait from the start.
 * Yuugo Tennouji explains his past to Okabe and Moeka at his home before committing suicide. This traumatizes Nae Tennouji who goes on to blame Okabe for his death. She then kills Moeka and reveals that in the future, after joining the Rounders, she used the Time Leap Machine to go back in time to get revenge on Okabe.
 * Yuugo moves the conversation to an abandoned construction lot in order to keep Nae uninvolved. Yuugo then shoots Moeka before killing himself.
 * Okabe gives Mayuri Shiina and Itaru Hashida their Lab Mem badges in the lab.
 * Mayuri isn't present at the lab because she is looking for Okabe.
 * }
 * Yuugo Tennouji explains his past to Okabe and Moeka at his home before committing suicide. This traumatizes Nae Tennouji who goes on to blame Okabe for his death. She then kills Moeka and reveals that in the future, after joining the Rounders, she used the Time Leap Machine to go back in time to get revenge on Okabe.
 * Yuugo moves the conversation to an abandoned construction lot in order to keep Nae uninvolved. Yuugo then shoots Moeka before killing himself.
 * Okabe gives Mayuri Shiina and Itaru Hashida their Lab Mem badges in the lab.
 * Mayuri isn't present at the lab because she is looking for Okabe.
 * }
 * Mayuri isn't present at the lab because she is looking for Okabe.
 * }