source: wikipedia_enYakōchū is a 1995 visual novel video game developed and published by Athena for the Super Famicom. The game involves players following a text-based narrative over illustrated backgrounds with sounds that play at key moments to enhance the story. Yakōchū is about a student who travels on a cruise ship that falls victim to an explosion, leading the passengers to flee to lifeboats. They are picked up by a new ship where mysterious events begin to occur. After completing the game once, the player can restart where new narrative branch options become available, allowing new stories to be available.
Yakōchū was one of the early sound novels released following the release of Chunsoft's Otogirisō (1992) and Banshee's Last Cry (1994). Some critics in Famicom Tsūshin found the game's narrative too short, while the Hamamura Tsūshin listed the game as the "Best Picks of This Week" for June 12 to June 18, 1995. The game was later ported to the Game Boy Color as Yakōchū GB in 1999 and received a sequel for the Nintendo 64 titled Yakōchū II: Satsujin Kouro .
