Steins;Gate (visual novel)

Steins;Gate
Developer(s)	5pb. Nitroplus
Publisher(s)	JP: 5pb. WW: JAST USA (DRM-free) MAGES. (Steam, previously) PQube (PS3) Spike Chunsoft (Steam, current)
Producer	Chiyomaru Shikura Tatsuya Matsubara
Series	Science Adventure Series
Platform(s)	Xbox 360 Windows iOS PSP PS3 PSVITA Android PS4
Release	JP: X360: October 15, 2009 PC: August 26, 2010 iOS: August 25, 2011 PSP: June 23, 2011 PS3: May 24, 2012 PSVITA: March 14, 2013 Android: June 27, 2013 PS4: December 10, 2015 World: X360: N/A PC: March 31, 2014 iOS: September 8, 2016 PSP: N/A PS3: June 5, 2015 (EU-AU) - August 25, 2015 (US) PSVITA: April 15, 2014 (KO) - June 5, 2015 (EU-AU) - August 25, 2015 (US) Android: June 27, 2013 PS4: N/A
Genre	Visual novel

Steins;Gate (シュタインズ・ゲート, Shutainzu Gēto), 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” (想定科学ADV, Sōtei Kagaku ADV). 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. This is the two companies' second time collaborating together after Chaos;Head.

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

An updated version of it, Steins;Gate Elite, featuring footage from the anime adaptation, was released on September 20, 2018 on Japan, and February 19, 2019 in the west. Steins;Gate will also receive a remake scheduled for 2025 named Steins;Gate Re:Boot, with redone visuals and new story additions.

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.

Chapters

No.	Chapter Title
0	Prologue
The story starts off with Rintaro Okabe, a “chuunibyou” with delusional “mad scientist” ambitions, who goes to attend a presentation about time travel but discovers Kurisu Makise, a young genius, murdered. When he sends a message to his friend Daru (Itaru Hashida) about the matter, he suddenly finds himself in the streets of Akihabara with everyone gone. Mayuri Shiina wakes him up from his daze and he finds the presentation cancelled with a large satellite crashed in the very building he was in earlier.
1	Time Travel Paranoia
Okabe does not know what is going on. He goes with Daru to attend a different lecture and to his disbelief, finds Kurisu alive and well. She was the one carrying out the presentation on time travel instead. As before, he tries to prove time travel but Kurisu manages to run through all 11 existing time travel theories to prove him that it is impossible.
2	Interpreter Rendezvous
Kurisu returns to her hotel, refusing to believe the PhoneWave (name subject to change) was a time machine. Meanwhile, Rintaro follows up with the ”John Titor” posts appearing in the @channel message boards claiming of SERN controlling the future and how he was to track down an old IBN 5100 to decipher a key that will change the future for the better.
3	Butterfly Effect’s Divergence
Delving further into the database, they discovered many cover ups. Every failed subject appeared in odd places and turning into “Jellymen”. Kurisu explains the human body cannot withstand the effects of the Kerr Black Hole and thus matter is completely broken. Furthermore, as the world is constantly spinning and in orbit, time travelling means you must calculate where to move to.
4	Chaos Theory Homeostasis
Rintaro explains to Kurisu and Daru about his “Reading Steiner” ability that allows him to preserve his memory of what has changed and they decide to try again to see if it happens again. Daru wants to send himself some new tactics to beat Faris for a taste of her home cooking but nothing changes. They continue the experiments the next day with Mayuri trying to change what she brought back with her for lunch but again, nothing happens.
5	Dogma in Event Horizon
The next day, Faris phones to say she couldn’t find any information about the IBN 5100 but Daru manages to find something interesting… Their network connection was linked directly to SERN. Perhaps they really are being spied on.
6	Metaphysics Necrosis
The machine starts up so his memory time leaps into the past and Rintaro found himself dreaming of the time when Mayuri’s grandmother passed away. The time when he made her his “hostage” so that he could protect her and give a place of belonging. He wakes up from the dream and finds himself standing in the lab with a very bad headache. Kurisu is calling out to him wondering why he was spacing out in front of the PhoneWave. They still had some work to do before they could time leap. Everything seemed normal. Perhaps it was just a nightmare Rintaro had but everything had a uncomfortable “deja vu” feeling. He knew exactly what everyone was going to do or say next.
7	Made in Complex
Rintaro finds himself sitting in the lab. However, the IBN 5100 did not re-appear in the lab. He waits for the fated hour but for some reason SERN didn’t attack. Letting Suzuha go back in time must have something to do with it. The next day as expected, Suzuha was nowhere to be found at Tennouji's store. Rintaro was also glad to learn she had died a peaceful death this timeline and asks if he could visit the place where she lived.
8	Fractal Androgynous
After spending one last moment with her father, Rintaro sends the D-Mail and Akiba is back to normal. He grabs a surprised Faris, holding her tight. Later, he heads to the shrine to see if the IBN 5100 was back in place but as he expected, it has still gone missing. He confirms the timeline hadn’t shifted enough yet by going to Suzuha’s home to collect the Divergence Meter again.
9	Endless Apoptosis
Rintaro sends the D-Mail and he finds Lukako has no memory of their date. He asks Luka to go check for the IBN 5100 and finds it was stolen. The lock had been broken. It appears he had to undo all the D-Mails after all.
10	Paradox Meltdown
After everything they’ve been through, he couldn’t do it. He heads to the roof of the place where Suzuha landed, unsure of what to do. He decides to wait until the fated day to see if Mayuri’s fate changed and they spend the time at ComiMa. He mentioned nothing about her fate, lying that he was just spending time with her on a whim. That night, a white van runs into them. Mayuri pushes Rintaro out the way and gets run over.
11	Open The Steins Gate
On 21st of August, Daru receives a call from a “mysterious woman” in the lab. He passes it onto Rintaro and finds it was Suzuha from the future.

Cast

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
(mentionned)

Katsumi Nakase
(mentionned)

Dr. Nakabachi

Eisuke Urushibara

4℃

Kuroki
(voice only)

Yukitaka Akiha

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 the protagonist Rintaro Okabe (岡部 倫太郎, Okabe Rintarō^?).

The gameplay in Steins;Gate follows a linear plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction. It 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.

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.

Walkthrough

Main article: Steins;Gate (visual novel)/Walkthrough

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”.

Openings

【HD】(PC) Steins;Gate OP「A.R.」

Xbox 360版「シュタインズ・ゲート(STEINS;GATE)」OP

Steins;Gate PlayStation 3-PS Vita Opening

PSP「STEINS;GATE」オープニングムービー

Adaptations

Manga

Main article: Steins;Gate (manga)

A manga adaptation of the story illustrated by Sarachi Yomi began serialization in Media Factory's Monthly Comic Alive magazine on September 26, 2009. A second manga series illustrated by Kenji Mizuta began serialization in Mag Garden's Monthly Comic Blade on December 28, 2009.

Anime

Main article: Steins;Gate (anime)

This adaptation follows the plot of the visual novel's true ending, although the Steins;Gate anime features several noteworthy changes from the visual novel:

Visual Novel	Anime
Rintaro Okabe bolts up to the rooftop of the Akihabara 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 01. He does not enter the rooftop and instead sees Suzuha wave him away from afar.
Suzuha explains attractor fields and reveals John Titor is her alias 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 being arrested and having to get bailed out by his father. He then decides to wait for FB to pick it up.	Okabe is stopped by Makise Kurisu before trying 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.

Gallery

Main article: SG Screenshots

Trivia

• Steins;Gate has been praised for its intertwining storyline and the voice actors have been commended for their portrayal of the characters.