Overview
A list of (far too oftenly asked) questions about Corpse Party and their answers.
Introduction and Abbreviations
Because so many of the same questions keep being asked about Corpse Party, I decided to write up a few things as a sort of FAQ. Not sure if the effort is really worth it, but hopefully it helps someone that would otherwise ask a question that others are tired of answering.
To start off, here are a few abbreviations that I use frequently to distinguish specific products. Some are taken from the Japanese abbreviations, some are modified slightly to be easier for me to remember/type.
On to some of the questions I’ve noticed in the Steam forums…
Q: Is this the original game from 1996?
This is not the original PC-98 Corpse Party by KENIX SOFT, no. That game was made for a contest for an early version of RPG Maker for the NEC PC-9801 (a computer that was primarily marketed in Japan and nowhere else). While it’s harder to find these days, that game is technically free to play and was once available on the original contest site until the site went down. However, playing it requires an emulator like DanteWin. (Playing it also requires knowledge of Japanese.)
I’ve seen a lot of people claim that this game on Steam (BloodCovered) is the original PC-98 game, using the art style as their evidence. However, this is not accurate.* For reference, this is what the original game looks like (running in DanteWin):
The original game is also very different from this game and its remakes. A few particularly notable differences:
- The original game had only 5 total playable characters (Satoshi, Naomi, Yuka, Yoshiki, Ayumi) and one antagonist (the vengeful spirit)
- If characters died to something other than the green ooze or a total group kill, the game would continue without the dead characters (endings were determined by who survived)
- The final confrontation was an RPG-style boss fight
After the release of this game (BloodCovered) in Japan, a group of fans obtained permission to remake the original game in RPG Maker XP. That game became “Corpse Party -Rebuilt-” (“Rebuilded” in the Japanese version), which is a faithful recreation of the original game for Windows PCs. The primary differences are the graphics (the art was made more detailed and new character art was made) and one of the ending epilogues (changed to be more unique from another ending). Corpse Party: -Rebuilt- has since been translated by several groups, most notably being translated into English by Memories of Fear.
* For BloodCovered’s art style choices, it is important to note that it began as a mobile phone game in 2006, which is likely why the tiles are 16×16 and the face graphics are so tiny. After making the jump to PC in 2008, the portraits were likely created in a way that matched the style of the existing assets.
Q: Is this the same game as the PSP/3DS version? It looks different!
The Steam version of Corpse Party is BC, which is the original version of this entry (though in a sense it is a remake of the original 1996 game) created by the indie group Team GrisGris, led by Makoto Kedouin (“Kedwin”). It was released episodically from 2008-2012. The PSP/iOS version, BR, was created with the help of 5pb., which also produced and published the later games up to Blood Drive.
Here’s a rundown of some of the major differences between the versions:
If you’re wondering why XSEED (the localization team and NA publisher) chose to drop the subtitles for the different versions, the basic reasoning given on the XSEED forums was that it would be too confusing to have different subtitles for each version.
Q: Why isn’t the art the same? Can I change it to the new art from the later versions?
The art isn’t the same as the later versions of the game because this is the indie release, not a 5pb. published game. The new character and tile art was created by illustrators funded by 5pb., and thus belong to that company and not to Team GrisGris alone.
There is currently no way to change the art to match later versions of the game, as the NA (Steam) version of BC has its files encrypted. Even in the original, unencrypted version, it is not advisable to try to replace the art files because the portraits in the later games are significantly smaller, requiring an upscale to fit BC’s window properly, and the facebox/tile art doesn’t support the resolution the later versions are drawn at.
(As a side note, the PC version of Book of Shadows has higher resolution art that could be used in modding BC. But that would still require cracking the game, which has not been attempted to my knowledge.)
Q: Why wasn’t the PSP version released instead?
It’s unlikely that BR or BR 3DS will ever get an official PC release solely because it would cut into Team GrisGris/GrindHouse’s profits from BC. Even if there weren’t enough differences to warrant checking out both, 5pb. is likely making enough money from the PSP/iOS/3DS audience to not want to endanger its relationship with Team GrisGris by trying to compete with BC. (And this assumes that the two companies haven’t made an official agreement to keep the versions separate, which is easily a thing that could have happened.)
Q: Is this game anything like the anime?
The anime adaptation, Tortured Souls, is a highly abridged version of the events of the game to make the plot fit into a theater-length OVA. Many characters are cut, combined, or have their roles removed despite still existing in the story. Most notably, most of the final two chapters of the game are condensed into 2-3 minutes in order to fit the format. While there are some elements that loosely tie into Blood Drive, the anime is really meant more as a treat for existing fans of the series than a standalone work.
Q: Is this game anything like the live action movies?
From what I understand, the live action movie’s plot changes a number of details about the characters (making them all a year older, for instance), but otherwise follows a similar plot to Tortured Souls. What little I’ve heard about the second movie makes it sound like it is only loosely adapted from Book of Shadows. Like the anime, it sounds like it’s more for existing fans of the series.
Q: What is the order of the games? Is this the first?
This is the first game of the current main continuity. (The original 1996 game is in its own continuity.) The release order of the games was:
- BC1-4 (this game)
- BR
- BC5 (this game)
- Book of Shadows
- 2U
- DEAD PATIENT Chapter 1
- Blood Drive
- BR 3DS
- DEAD PATIENT NEUES Chapter 1
The rough chronological order of main chapters is as follows:
- Book of Shadows (Chapters 3, 4, and 7)
- BC/BR
- Book of Shadows (Chapters 1, 2, 5, and 6)
- 2U
- end of timeloop (similar to BC/BR true end, with some differences/retcons)
- Book of Shadows (Chapter 8)
- Blood Drive
- DEAD PATIENT/NEUES
The timing of certain things (particularly extra chapters) after the cast goes to Heavenly Host gets a bit messy due to the occurrance of a time loop. Some extra chapters even take place in loops that behave differently than the ones we get to see (like one where a character that is usually dead by that point is fine with no explaination), and the anime OVA is implied to have been one of the loops. The loop closes sometime before the events of the final chapter of Book of Shadows, which leads directly into Blood Drive.
Q: I’m stuck at this part, but not because of a bug–?
Before you ask, you might want to check the guides people have written for the game first. Most guides written for BR are accurate for Chapters 1-4 and Extra Chapters 1-3, and a lot of Chapter 5 is similar to BR. Or you could read the guide I wrote for this version. (No pictures, so you might need to find a guide map if you don’t know room locations.)