Little Busters!

] The leader of the Little Busters was Kyousuke Natsume who had a younger sister named Rin. The other two members of the Little Busters were Masato Inohara and Kengo Miyazawa, who are rivals despite being friends. They took Riki out and played together with him during his time of need, effectively making him the fifth member of the Little Busters. In time, Riki really enjoyed playing with them, and his grief over his parents gradually faded away. When the story begins, Riki and his friends are seemingly in their second year of the high school they attend, except for Kyousuke who is in his third year. They still hang out together, and enjoy their school life.

The story opens on Sunday May 13, 2007, and the next day at school, Kyousuke decides that the Little Busters are going to play a baseball game, except there is only one problem: they do not have enough members to have a complete baseball team. Thus, Kyousuke gives Riki and Rin the task of going around school to try to find more members to join the team, preferably girls so as not to leave Rin alone as the only girl on the team. In this time, Riki finds five girls his age willing to help him out. They are: Komari Kamikita, a childish girl who is very ; Haruka Saigusa, a problem child who likes to start uproars for her own enjoyment; Kudryavka Noumi, a one-quarter Japanese girl in the home economics club who is very bad in English; Yuiko Kurugaya, a girl who is given respect from her peers, and has a self-sufficient personality; and Mio Nishizono, a calm girl with a weak body who is always seen holding a parasol when outside. Through the game, Riki is able to hang out with these girls and learn more about them. The main part of the story takes place in what seems to be a normal high school, but this in fact all took place in the school term previous to "Little Busters!", and Riki and Rin are reliving it in an artificial world created by Kyousuke. They, and the other main characters, were involved in a bus accident during a school excursion, and only the two of them will survive. Kyousuke created the artificial world to make them strong enough to be able to deal with what will happen when they awaken in the real world. The world loops, but though they forget what happens, Riki and Rin do grow stronger (this is also reflected by their statistic boosts and change in their personality when the player starts a new game after each heroine's ending), and Kyousuke hopes that they will eventually be strong enough to leave the world and live strongly. They do manage to survive and get away from the crash site before Riki collapses due to his narcolepsy. Then the player is confronted with a choice on whether they are satisfied with the result or not. If chosen to be not, both Riki and Rin will decide to go further. Riki vows to fight against his narcoleptic condition, which was the reason why he was only able to save Rin and merely get away from the explosion before collapsing.

Rin travels back into the artificial world again (which is created by Riki and Rin) where she meets Komari. Rin remembers that Komari has given her the star-shaped hair band; the star is actually a symbol for granting a wish. Using the star, Riki and Rin together travel back in time to the crash site again. It is then revealed that Kyousuke, who sneaked onto the bus to go to the school excursion with everyone else since he is a third year and technically not allowed to go, managed to block the leak hole on the gas tank to prevent the explosion, despite his injuries being far greater than anyone else. Due to this, Riki and Rin are able to work together to save everyone, and lastly Kyousuke, at the scene of the crash; it is up to player, however, who must choose appropriate choices or the player will receive a bad ending. Everyone in the bus recovers from their injuries, although Kyousuke's recovery takes longer due to extensive injuries. Right after Kyousuke returns, which takes even longer than usual since he was trying to earn a driver's license, the members of the Little Busters set out for another trip.

Development

For the first time in Key's history, two artists were given the position of art director for the visual novel: Itaru Hinoue and Na-Ga.citeweb|url=http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/product/little/products.htm|title="Little Busters!" products page|publisher=Key|accessdate=2007-06-07|language=Japanese] Hinoue has been Key's signature art director since Key's first game "Kanon", and Na-Ga has been with Key since the production of "Air" working as one of the computer graphics artists to render background art used in Key's games. Due to having two art directors, character design was split between the two, though Na-Ga is responsible for the character design of the majority of the cast. Of the six heroines in the story, three were designed by each artist; Komari, Haruka, and Yuiko were designed by Hinoue while Rin, Kudryavka, and Mio were done by Na-Ga. For work on the scenario, Jun Maeda contributed along with helping with composing some of the game's music. "Little Busters!" is to be the last game Maeda will contribute to through work on the scenario. Further writers include Leo Kashida who had worked on "", and two new scenario writers to Key—Yūto Tonokawa, and Chika Shirokiri. Maeda wrote the scenarios for Rin and the entire male cast; Kashida wrote the scenario for Mio; Tonokawa wrote the scenarios for Komari and Yuiko; finally, Shirokiri wrote the scenarios for Haruka and Kudryavka. The music in the game, not counting Maeda, was composed by four additional people including Key's signature composers Shinji Orito and Magome Togoshi, and two new composers—Manack and PMMK. Togoshi left Key in October 2006 before the visual novel went on sale. [citeweb|url= http://magome.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2007/07/key_8ca9.html|title=Magome Togoshi's official blog announcement of his resignation from Key|last=Togoshi|first=Magome|date=2007-07-10|accessdate=2007-12-01|language=Japanese]

Release history

On June 1, 2007, a free game demo of "Little Busters!" became available for download at Key's official website. In the demo, the player was introduced to the characters of the Little Busters group in the game through a short sequence that is typical of the gameplay found in a visual novel. The demo did not give the player the chance to interact with the scene presented, making the demo a short kinetic novel. The full game was first introduced to the public in Japan as a limited edition version on July 27, 2007 as a DVD playable only on a Microsoft Windows PC. The regular edition was released on September 28, 2007. The limited edition contained an arrange album of some of the music featured in the game, and a 128-page visual guide book entitled Nihongo|"Natsume Kyousuke Fūrai Ki"|棗恭介風来記. The book contained information and images on characters, background CG, the art exhibition, images of the heroines published in various Japanese anime and gaming magazines, a question and answer section, information on the creators of the game, and lyrics of a couple of songs featured in the game. In an interview of Jun Maeda and Yūto Tonokawa in the August 2007 issue of "Push!!", it was reported that the story of "Little Busters!" is twice as long as "Air's", but only half as long as "Clannad's". However, this does not take into account the minigames in "Little Busters!" which serve to lengthen the game. [citation|title=Push!!|edition=August 2007|publisher=Shinyusha|language=Japanese]

An adult version of the game under the title Nihongo|"Little Busters! Ecstasy"|リトルバスターズ！エクスタシー|Ritoru Basutāzu Ekusutashī, or "Little Busters-EX" for short, was released as a limited edition version on July 25, 2008 as two DVDs playable only on a Microsoft Windows PC; the regular edition will follow on September 26, 2008. The limited edition came bundled with a remix album of music featured in the game, and a twenty-two-minute length CD containing a special broadcast of the "Little Busters!" Internet radio show. [citeweb|url= http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/info/2008/04/post_5.html|title="Little Busters! Ecstasy" Sale Date Determination!|publisher=Key|date=2008-04-18|accessdate=2008-04-18| language=Japanese] "Ecstasy" contains new scenarios and new CGs, which includes two of the supporting female characters—Kanata Futaki and Sasami Sasasegawa—being promoted to heroines of the game, in much the same fashion as the existing female lead characters, [citeweb|url=http://visualstyle.jp/01/index.html|title="Visualstyle" web magazine January 2008 issue|date= 2007-12-28|publisher=Visual Art's|pages=23|accessdate=2008-01-11|language=Japanese] along with the introduction of an entirely new heroine named Saya Tokido designed by Na-Ga and whose story is written by Jun Maeda. Tonokawa wrote Sasami's scenario, and Shirokiri wrote Kanata's story. Lines from the original game were rewritten as well for "Ecstasy", and the total number of lines with spoken dialogue comes to 43,347 lines. [ citeweb|url=http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/diary/2008/04/ex.html|title="Little Busters EX" Development Journal|publisher=Key|date=2008-04-30|accessdate=2008-05-03|language=Japanese] [ citeweb|url= http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/diary/2008/06/post_17.html|title="Little Busters EX" Development Journal|publisher=Key|date=2008-06-16|accessdate=2008-06-16|language=Japanese] The total word count in "Ecstasy" exceeds that of "Clannad" by about 4000 words, making it Key's longest work, and carries so much data that "Ecstasy" was released on two DVD discs instead of one for the original release.citeweb|url=http://www.product.co.jp/?enter=1&page=1&id=547|title= "Little Busters! Ecstasy" listing|publisher=Visual Art's|accessdate=2008-06-26|language=Japanese] [citeweb|author= Yūto Tonokawa|url= http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/diary/2008/06/post_22.html|title="Little Busters EX" Development Journal|publisher=Key|date=2008-06-26|accessdate=2008-06-26|language=Japanese] It was not decided until three or four months before the initial sale of "Little Busters!" that "Ecstasy" would be created. [citeweb|url= http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/diary/2008/07/2.html|title=Answering Questions Journal 2|publisher=Key|date=2008-07-07| accessdate=2008-07-14|language=Japanese|quote=It was always decided from three to four months before [Little Busters!] was sold. (発売3～4ヶ月前には決まっていましたね。)] The regular edition for "Ecstasy" has several minor additions and changes to scenarios and minigames, including the addition of weapons available for use in the battle minigames. [citeweb|author=Yūto Tonokawa|url= http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/diary/2008/09/post_38.html|title="Little Busters-EX" Regular Edition Publicity Journal|publisher= Key|date=2008-09-05|accessdate=2008-09-05|language=Japanese] An updated version, 1.01, for the limited edition of "Ecstasy" was released by Key for free on their website on September 22, 2008; the regular edition of "Ecstasy" contains this update. [citeweb|url=http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/info/2008/09/exupdate080922.html|title="Little Busters! Ecstasy" Update File Ver. 1.01 Distributed|publisher=Key|date=2008-09-22|accessdate=2008-09-21|language= Japanese] [citeweb|url=http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/product/little_ex/update/|title="Little Busters! Ecstasy" limited edition update file (Ver.1.01)|publisher=Key|accessdate=2008-09-22|language= Japanese]

Adaptations

Books and publications

A series of twelve short stories were serialized in the Japanese bishōjo magazine "Dengeki G's Magazine", published by ASCII Media Works. The stories, under the collective title "Official Episode Collection", were published in two batches: the first six stories were published between January 30, 2006 and June 30, 2006, while the second batch of six were serialized between August 30, 2006 and January 30, 2007. In each of the two batches, one of the six stories centered on one of the six heroines, and were accompanied by a large image of the given heroine which took up most of the space for the first page in each story. This configuration left a small block of text on the first page, followed by usually a full page of text, with the given heroine's image used as a backdrop. Komari, Haruka, and Yuiko were drawn by Itaru Hinoue, and Rin, Kudryavka, and Mio were drawn by Na-Ga. The stories were written by the respective scenario writer for each girl: Jun Maeda wrote Rin's, Leo Kashida wrote Mio's, Yūto Tonokawa wrote Komari's and Yuiko's, and Chika Shirokiri wrote Haruka's and Kudryavka's stories. In addition, a single-volume light novel anthology was released by Ichijinsha on January 25, 2008 under their "DMC Novel" label entitled "Little Busters! Novel Anthology". The anthology was written by six authors, and illustrated by six artists. [citeweb|url= http://www.shop.ichijinsha.co.jp/book/booksearch/booksearch_detail.php?i=75800425&TITLE=%A5%EA%A5%C8%A5%EB%A5%D0%A5%B9%A5%BF%A1%BC%A5%BA&WRITER=&ISBN=&CATEGORY=4&SALEY=&SALEM=&WORD=&TYPE=like |title=Official listing for the "Little Busters!" novel anthology|publisher=Ichijinsha|accessdate=2008-02-26|language= Japanese] Three volumes of a short story compilation series entitled "Little Busters! SSS" were published by Harvest between March and July 2008 by Kenichi Itoi. Harvest published a novel entitled Nihongo|"Little Busters! Haruka Saigusa's Trouble Record Book"|リトルバスターズ!三枝葉留佳の事件簿|Ritoru Basutāzu! Saigusa Haruka no Jikenbo in August 2008 by Tasuku Saika.

An art book entitled Nihongo|"Little Busters! Perfect Visual Book"|リトルバスターズ！ パーフェクトビジュアルブック|Ritoru Basutāzu! Pāfekkto Bijuaru Bukku was released on December 20, 2007. [citeweb|url= http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/info/2007/12/_1220.html| title=Little Busters! Perfect Visual Book - December 20 Release|publisher=Key|date=2007-12-19|accessdate= 2008-02-02|language=Japanese] Published by ASCII Media Works, the 206-page, hard-cover bound book contains a compilation of the published and promotional art from the visual novel, detailed character profiles and memo sections, and an overview of the visual novel's plot. Also included are all the CG cut scenes from the game, concept illustrations, staff interviews, as well as a short story Nihongo|"My Morning"|「僕ら」の朝|Bokura no Asa written by Yūto Tonokawa. A short section at the end of the book finally concludes the compilation with the melodic sheet music and lyrics of the vocal songs featured in the game. Included with the actual book were two pencil boards. The statistics of the battle equipment used in the mini-games were listed on one of the boards.

Manga

A four-panel comic strip manga entitled "Little Busters! The 4-koma" began serialization in the Japanese bishōjo magazine "Dengeki G's Magazine" on January 30, 2006, and is published by ASCII Media Works. Despite the manga being released before the visual novel, the story is inspired from the game and is illustrated by Japanese artist Yūya Sasagiri. As of September 30, 2008, thirty-three chapters have been published, with most chapters containing eight pages, and fifteen separate comic strips. Some chapters such as seventeen and twenty-two begin as a normal manga layout and follow with eight pages containing sixteen comic strips. An additional chapter entitled the Nihongo|"Business trip edition"|出張版|Shutchōban, published in the ninth volume of "Dengeki G's Festival" on June 30, 2007, contained ten pages, and nineteen full-color comic strips. Special chapters of the manga have been published in the Japanese manga magazine "Dengeki G's Festival! Comic" which is also published by ASCII Media Works. The first bound volume containing the first seventeen chapters was released on August 27, 2007, and was published by ASCII Media Works under their "Dengeki Comics EX" label. The end of the first volume also contained an omake comic that is four pages long and in a normal manga layout as well as two pages of comments by four Key staff members: Itaru Hinoue, Jun Maeda, Na-Ga, and Yūto Tonokawa. It was followed by a second bound volume released on July 26, 2008, containing subsequent chapters.

A second manga started serialization in "Dengeki G's Festival! Comic" on November 26, 2007. [citeweb|url= http://gs.dengekinet.com/book/festivalcomic01/index.html|title="Dengeki G's Festival! Comic" volume 1 at Dengeki G's Magazine's official blogger|publisher=ASCII Media Works|accessdate=2007-10-21|language=Japanese] The second manga is illustrated by Nobuyuki Takagi, also known for authoring the "Kokoro Library" manga series. A third manga, referred to as the "official "Little Busters!" comic", began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's magazine "Comp Ace" on March 26, 2008 and is illustrated by Mogura Anagura.citeweb|url= http://www.comptiq.com/ace/index.php?topic/ltbs|title=Official announcement of the third "Little Busters!" manga|publisher=Kadokawa Shoten| accessdate=2008-02-15|language=Japanese] Unlike the first manga which was merely inspired from the "Little Busters!" visual novel and did not go into the main storyline, the story for the second and third manga adaptations are based on the original game, and contain attributes of the main storyline. The first volume of the third manga will be released on September 26, 2008.

There have also been four sets of manga anthologies produced by different companies and drawn by a multitude of different artists. The first volume of the earliest anthology series, a collection of four-panel comic strips released by Enterbrain under the title "Magi-Cu 4-koma Little Busters!", was released on September 25, 2007 under their "MC Comics" label; the sixth volume in the series was released on July 25, 2008. The second anthology series, released by |accessdate=2008-02-26|language=Japanese ] [citeweb|url= http://www.ohzora.co.jp/release/detail/?format=comics&isbn=978-4-7767-2354-7|title=Official listing for the first volume of the third manga anthology series|publisher=Ohzora|accessdate=2008-02-26|language=Japanese]

Internet radio show

An Internet radio show to promote "Little Busters!" called Nihongo|"Radio Little Busters! Natsume Brothers!"|ラジオ　リトルバスターズ！ナツメブラザーズ！|Rajio Ritoru Basutāzu! Natsume Burazāzu! had a pre-broadcast on June 9, 2008, and started regular broadcasting on June 23, 2008.citeweb|url= http://www.onsen.ag/blog/?p=816|title=Onsen to Start "Little Busters!" Radio!!|publisher=Onsen|date=2008-05-31|accessdate=2008-06-05|language=Japanese] The show is streamed online every Monday, and is produced by the Japanese Internet radio station Onsen. The show is hosted by Tomoe Tamiyasu and Hikaru Midorikawa who voice Rin and Kyousuke Natsume from the "Little Busters!" visual novel. [citeweb|url= http://www.onsen.ag/popup/natsume/index.html|title="Little Busters!" Internet radio show official website|publisher=Onsen|accessdate= 2008-06-10|language=Japanese] An exclusive twenty-two-minute broadcast of the show was included with the first press release of "Little Busters! Ecstasy" sold on July 25, 2008. A one-disc CD compilation containing some of the show's first broadcasts was sold on August 15, 2008 at Comiket 74, and was sold for general sale on September 24, 2008. Another CD containing the some of the show's broadcasts will be released on November 26, 2008.

Music

The visual novel "Little Busters!" has six main theme songs, starting with the opening theme "Little Busters!", sung by Rita. There are four different ending themes; three depend on what heroine's story is completed, and the last is the game's final ending theme. The ending theme for Rin and Yuiko's stories is "Song for friends"; the ending theme for Komari and Haruka is "Alicemagic"; the ending theme for Kudryavka and Mio is Nihongo|"Clear Weather After the Rain"|雨のち晴れ|Amenochi Hare; lastly, the final ending theme is "'Little Busters!' -Little Jumper Ver.-". One last theme song is an insert song played near the end of the game's story called Nihongo|"Faraway"|遥か彼方|Haruka Kanata. The insert song and each of the ending themes are also sung by Rita. When the visual novel is completed at least once, a set of forty-five music tracks are available to play on the menu screen. Seven of the main characters from "Little Busters!" have background music leitmotifs—the original six heroines, and Kyousuke Natsume. Rin's theme is "Ring Ring Ring!"; Komari's theme is Nihongo|"Magic Ensemble"|魔法のアンサンブル|Mahō no Ansanburu; Haruka's theme is Nihongo|"Grief of a Troubled Girl"|騒がし乙女の憂愁|Sawagashi Otome no Yūshū; Kudryavka's theme is Nihongo|"Exotic Toybox"|えきぞちっく・といぼっくす|Ekizochikku Toibokkusu; Yuiko's theme is Nihongo|"Heart-colored Capriccio"|心色綺想曲|Kokoroiro Kisōkyoku; Mio's theme is Nihongo|"Approaching Light"|光に寄せて|Hikari ni Yosete; lastly, Kyousuke's theme is "Boys Don't Cry".

"Little Busters! Ecstasy" features a remixed version of "Little Busters!" as the game's opening theme, instead using the version that was included in the album "Rockstar Busters!", making slight alterations and renaming it to "'Little Busters!' -Ecstacysic Ver.-".citeweb|url= http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/info/2008/07/74_1.html|title=At Comiket 74, "Little Busters! Ecstasy Tracks" Will Be Sold|publisher= Key|date=2008-07-18|accessdate=2008-07-18|language=Japanese ] "Ecstasy" also features remixed versions of the ending themes "Song for friends" and "Alicemagic". The former is a remix version featuring less lyrics and is renamed to "'Song for friends' -No Intro Ver.-", while the latter is the remix included on "Rockstar Busters!", but renamed to "'Alicemagic' -Rockstar Ver.-". The remix of "Alicemagic" is used as the ending theme for Kanata's and Sasami's stories, and the remix of "Song for friends" is used as a replacement for the original version as the ending theme for Rin and Yuiko. A new theme song featured in "Ecstasy" is Saya's personal ending theme "Saya's Song" and is sung by Lia. Saya's leitmotif is called Nihongo|"Run"|駆ける|Kakeru and is a remix version of the song Nihongo|"Run"|走る|Hashiru on Riya's 2005 album "Love Song" released by Key Sounds Label. Kanata's leitmotif is "Will&Wish", and Sasami's theme is Nihongo|"Cat, Glass, and the Round Moon"|猫と硝子と円い月|Neko to Garasu to Marui Tsuki.

The first music album released was a maxi single entitled "Little Busters!" released on May 25, 2007.citeweb|url=http://key.soundslabel.com/discography.htm|title=Key Sounds Label's discography|publisher=Key Sounds Label|accessdate=2007-07-31|language=Japanese] This first album contained "Little Busters!", "Faraway", and "Alicemagic" in original and instrumental versions. As with Key's previous works (excluding ""), a music album came bundled with the limited edition release of the game; the album, released on July 27, 2007, was called "Semicrystalline." and contained arranged versions of ten tracks of the game's music. [citeweb|url= http://www.himeyashop.com/product_info.php/products_id/6820|title=The "Little Busters!" original release|publisher=Himeyashop| accessdate=2007-04-20] Eight of the tracks were background music while the last two were remix versions of "Little Busters!" and "Faraway". The game's original soundtrack was first released on August 17, 2007 at Comiket 72 containing three discs with forty-three different tracks along with a piano version of one of the background music tracks, a short version of another BGM track, plus short and instrumental versions of the theme songs. Of the fifty-three total tracks, three were left out of the visual novel. The original soundtrack was re-released in Japanese stores on September 28, 2007. Two more albums were released at Comiket 73 on December 28, 2007: another arrange album entitled "Rockstar Busters!" and an image song single called "" sung by Tomoe Tamiya, the voice actress who voiced Rin in the game. On February 29, 2008, a trance remix album of "Little Busters!" themes entitled "OTSU Club Music Compilation Vol.2" was released by OTSU—a disc jockey unit comprised of a number of different remix artists. An LP album was released on May 4, 2008 containing original and remix versions of "Little Busters!", "Faraway", and "Alicemagic"; [citeweb|url= http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/ksllive_otsu02/goods.html|title=Goods section at OTSU #2 and KSL Live World 2008 concerts official website|publisher=Key|accessdate=2008-04-04|language=Japanese] the remix versions are from the second "OTSU Club Music Compilation" album. A remix album entitled "Ontology" containing arranged versions of nine tracks from "Little Busters! Ecstasy" was released bundled with the limited edition release of that game on July 25, 2008. A soundtrack containing the additional music tracks in "Ecstasy" entitled "Little Busters! Ecstasy Tracks" was released on August 15, 2008 at Comiket 74. Each of the albums released were on Key's record label Key Sounds Label.

Reception and media coverage

From mid-June to mid-July 2007, the limited edition of "Little Busters!" ranked second in national PC game pre-orders in Japan. [ citeweb|url=http://www.pc-press.net/reservationrog.html#PC070601|title="PCpress" June 2007 issue reservation ranking log|publisher=PCpress|accessdate= 2008-07-17|language=Japanese] The limited edition version of "Little Busters!" ranked first in terms of national sales of PC games in Japan in July 2007. [citeweb|url= http://www.pc-press.net/salesrog.html#PC070803|title="PCpress" August 2007 issue sales ranking|publisher=PCpress|accessdate= 2008-07-17|language=Japanese] The game (which includes the regular edition) ranked consecutively seven more times achieving sales rankings of fourteenth, twenty-fifth twice in a row, thirty-seventh, thirty-ninth twice in a row, and forty-first between the months of August 2007 and February 2008. [citeweb|url=http://www.pc-press.net/salesrog.html|title="PCpress" back issues sales rankings|publisher=PCpress|accessdate= 2008-07-17|language=Japanese] According to public sales information published at Gamasutra, taken from the Japanese Amazon website, "Little Busters!" was the number one top seller between July 26, 2007 and August 17, 2007 for Japanese PC game sales. [citeweb|url=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/column_index.php?story=8721|title=Saling The World: "Guitar Hero Encore" Tops Charts in U.S. and UK|publisher=Gamasutra|date=2007-07-26|accessdate=2007-08-31] [citeweb|url=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/column_index.php?story=8727|title=Saling The World: Japan Trains Faces, UK Sings '90s Hits|publisher=Gamasutra|date=2007-08-03|accessdate=2007-08-31] [citeweb|url=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/column_index.php?story=8732|title=Saling The World: "Madden NFL 08" Tops Multiplatform Sales in Debut Week|publisher=Gamasutra|date=2007-08-17|accessdate=2007-08-31] The game dropped to third highest the following week taken from August 24, 2007, which was also the game's last appearance in the ranking. [citeweb|url=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/column_index.php?story=8735|title=Saling The World: "BioShock" Rocks First Week On Shelves In U.S., UK|publisher=Gamasutra|date=2007-08-24|accessdate=2007-08-31] [citeweb|url=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/column_index.php?story=8740|title=Saling The World: "Metroid Prime 3" Corrupts Cross-Platform U.S. Sales|publisher=Gamasutra|date=2007-08-31|accessdate=2007-08-31] "Little Busters!" was the highest selling game for the month of July 2007 on Getchu.com, and dropped to twelfth in the ranking the following month. [citeweb|url=http://www.getchu.com/pc/salesranking200707.html|title=Highest selling games of July 2007 on Getchu.com ranking|publisher=Getchu.com|accessdate=2007-08-31|language=Japanese] [citeweb|url=http://www.getchu.com/pc/salesranking200708.html|title=Highest selling games of August 2007 on Getchu.com ranking|publisher=Getchu.com|accessdate=2007-09-21|language=Japanese] Regardless of the drop in ratings earlier in the year, "Little Busters!" ended up as the most widely sold game of 2007 on Getchu.com. [citeweb|url=http://www.getchu.com/pc/salesranking2007.html|title=Highest selling games of 2007 on Getchu.com ranking|publisher=Getchu.com|accessdate=2007-12-31|language=Japanese]

From mid-May to mid-July 2008, "Little Busters! Ecstasy" ranked first in national PC game pre-orders in Japan. [citeweb|url=http://www.pc-press.net/reservationrog.html|title= "PCpress" reservation ranking log|publisher=PCpress|accessdate=2008-07-17|language=Japanese] The limited edition version of "Little Busters! Ecstasy" ranked first in terms of national sales of PC games in Japan in July 2008. [citeweb|url=http://www.pc-press.net/sales.html| title="PCpress" August 2008 issue sales ranking|publisher=PCpress|accessdate=2008-09-04|language=Japanese] "Ecstasy" sold quickly in Akihabara on its first day of sales, and by the end of the first day about half the stores were already sold out of the game. By the next day, the majority of stores in Akihabara were sold out of "Ecstasy". [citeweb|url=http://www.akibaos.com/?p=3814|title="Little Busters! Ecstasy" Roughly Overnight Devastation in Akihabara|publisher=Akihabara Research Institute|date=2008-07-26|accessdate=2008-07-30|language= Japanese] Only four days after "Ecstasy"'s initial release, Key reported that many stores were already sold out of the game as well. [citeweb|url= http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/diary/2008/07/post_33.html|title=Ponyoru Children Journal and Notification Journal|date=2008-07-29| accessdate=2008-07-29|language=Japanese]

Getchu.com hosts a yearly voting poll called the "Getchu.com Bishōjo Game Ranking" where game users vote online for the best games of the previous year in seven different categories: overall, scenario, theme songs, background music, visuals, gameplay system, and heroines. In February 2008, users casted votes for more than 470 different titles released in 2007, and among the rankings, "Little Busters!" ranked first in all categories aside from visuals (placing third), and gameplay system (placing second).citeweb|url=http://ranking.getchu.com/pc/2007_g_ranking/2007_g_ranking_all.html|title= Getchu.com's yearly Bishōjo Game Ranking poll results for best overall game titles from 2007|publisher=Getchu.com|accessdate=2008-03-15|language= Japanese] [citeweb|url= http://ranking.getchu.com/pc/2007_g_ranking/2007_g_ranking_senario.html|title=Getchu.com's yearly Bishōjo Game Ranking poll results for best scenario from 2007|publisher=Getchu.com|accessdate=2008-03-15|language=Japanese ] [citeweb|url= http://ranking.getchu.com/pc/2007_g_ranking/2007_g_ranking_song.html|title=Getchu.com's yearly Bishōjo Game Ranking poll results for best best theme songs from games from 2007|publisher=Getchu.com|accessdate=2008-03-15|language=Japanese ] [citeweb|url= http://ranking.getchu.com/pc/2007_g_ranking/2007_g_ranking_music.html|title=Getchu.com's yearly Bishōjo Game Ranking poll results for best best background music from games from 2007|publisher=Getchu.com|accessdate=2008-03-15|language= Japanese] [citeweb|url= http://ranking.getchu.com/pc/2007_g_ranking/2007_g_ranking_visual.html|title=Getchu.com's yearly Bishōjo Game Ranking poll results for best visuals from games from 2007|publisher=Getchu.com|accessdate=2008-03-15|language=Japanese ] [citeweb|url= http://ranking.getchu.com/pc/2007_g_ranking/2007_g_ranking_system.html|title=Getchu.com's yearly Bishōjo Game Ranking poll results for best gameplay system from 2007|publisher=Getchu.com|accessdate=2008-03-15|language=Japanese] citeweb|url= http://ranking.getchu.com/pc/2007_g_ranking/2007_g_ranking_char.html|title=Getchu.com's yearly Bishōjo Game Ranking poll results for best heroines from games from 2007|publisher=Getchu.com|accessdate=2008-03-15|language=Japanese ] Rin ranked as the number one most popular heroine, while Kudryavka ranked fourth, and Komari ranked thirteenth.

"Little Busters!" was the only Key title to receive coverage in an entire issue of "Dengeki G's Festival!", a special edition version of "Dengeki G's Magazine" which is published in irregular intervals each year by ASCII Media Works; the issue in question was the ninth, published on June 30, 2007. Along with a full eighty pages of information on "Little Busters!", the magazine came bundled with a double-sided hug pillowcase, a small cell phone cleaner which could also attach to a cell phone, and a B5 size jigsaw puzzle.citeweb|url= http://www.mangaoh.co.jp/php/data_product.php?i_prd_code=146089|title="Dengeki G's Festival!" Volume 9|publisher=Mangaoh| accessdate=2008-07-20|language=Japanese] ASCII Media Works published the third volume of another special edition version of "Dengeki G's Magazine" named "Dengeki G's Festival! Deluxe" on June 30, 2008 which had a focus on "Little Busters! Ecstasy". Along with again containing about eighty pages of information pertaining to the visual novel, the magazine also comes bundled with an ergonomic mousepad, a jigsaw puzzle, and a deck of playing cards. [citeweb|url=http://www.mangaoh.co.jp/php/data_product.php?i_prd_code=171470|title="Dengeki G's Festival! Deluxe" Volume 3|publisher=Mangaoh|accessdate=2008-07-20|language=Japanese] The third volume of another magazine in the "Festival!" line, "Dengeki G's Festival! Comic", was sold on July 26, 2008 with Rin and Dorj on the cover, and the magazine came bundled with a hug pillowcase, a notepad, and a B2 size poster. [citeweb|url= http://www.mangaoh.co.jp/php/data_product.php?i_prd_code=173470|title="Dengeki G's Festival! Comic" Volume 3|publisher=Mangaoh| accessdate=2008-07-20|language=Japanese]

An art exhibition of "Little Busters!" was held in Osaka, Japan between May 3 and May 4, 2007, [citeweb|url=http://sgk.twincle.net/key_genga_repo.html|title="Little Busters!" art exhibition in Osaka|accessdate=2007-07-27|language=Japanese] and in Tokyo, Japan between May 24 and May 25, 2007.citeweb|url=http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/lb_gengaten.htm|title="Little Busters!" art exhibition information|publisher=Key|accessdate=2007-07-27|language=Japanese] A large amount of the character and background art featured in the game was showcased, along with original art used to promote the character artwork, and other production sketches drawn when the game was still in development. Flowcharts outlining the story for the game were on display, along with the flowcharts for "Clannad". [citeweb|url=http://respect-maeda.com/repo/gengaten.html|title="Little Busters!" art exhibition|publisher=Respect-maeda.com|accessdate=2007-07-27|language=Japanese] Also at the exhibition was a life-size mannequin of Rin Natsume with a baseball glove in one hand, though instead of a baseball, a cat was in the glove. This mannequin was later put onto the Japanese Yahoo! Auction website in late September 2007 and sold for 764,000 yen (about US$6,500),citeweb|url=http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/2531/11172007173250kb7.jpg|title=Image of the Yahoo! Auction result of the bidding for the life-size mannequin of Rin|accessdate=2008-02-19|language=Japanese] a far cry from the original wish of selling the figure for 5,000,000 yen (about US$42,600).

Notes and references

External links

* [http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/product/little/ "Little Busters!" official website] ja icon
* [http://key.visualarts.gr.jp/product/little_ex/ "Little Busters! Ecstasy" official website] ja icon