Banshee's Last Cry
Banshee's Last Cry, also known by its Japanese title, is a visual novel developed and published by Chunsoft for the Super Famicom in 1994. The game is the second sound novel by Chunsoft and brought a myriad of other companies to develop similar games. The term "sound novel" was a registered trademark, but is regarded as a genre.
A remake, Kamaitachi no Yoru: Rinne Saisei, was released for PlayStation Vita in 2017 and ported to Windows in 2018.
Gameplay
The player reads the text on a gamebook and acts only through options that are given by the game. Each options leads to a slightly different story, with multiple endings being available after going through certain routes. Events related to the text are shown in the background, with animation being used a couple of time.Plot
The game follows the characters Toru and his girlfriend Mari, who stay at a ski lodge when a snowstorm takes place. That evening, a paper note is found in another guest's room, stating "Tonight, at midnight, someone will die". When one of the lodge guests is killed shortly thereafter, the characters are drawn into a murder mystery, while being cut off from contact with the outside world.Development
The game was revealed alongside a contest for readers to write related storylines. Ten of such stories were published in a book titled Anata dake no Kamaitachi no Yoru. This book was a success. A similar competition started upon the release of Kamaitachi no Yoru 2. It went out of print after many years, but was re-published when the sequel came out. The game was written by Takemaru Abiko.Music
Kōjirō Nakashima and Kōta Katō composed the game. The soundtrack gained significant popularity and was reused in television shows about Aum Shinrikyo. Two songs, "Sequence" and "Two People Return Alive", were used for the fourth volume of Orchestral Game Music Concerts.Graphics
Background images included the lodge in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. Exceptions are the background for bathrooms and the wine cellar, which were done with miniatures. All characters have silhouettes. The game changed the setting to British Columbia.Releases
Banshee's Last Cry was released for the Super Famicom on November 25, 1994.The game was ported to PlayStation on December 3, 1998 and for Game Boy Advance on June 28, 2002. It was released in 2002 on SoftBank Mobile on April 1, and on PC on July 1. i-mode released it on January 30, 2004. It was later ported to other consoles, and was released on the Virtual Console service in Japan for Wii in 2007 and Wii U in 2013. The story had minor changes for the script of Kamaitachi no Yoru × 3 for PlayStation 2.
Aksys Games released the game in English for iOS entitled Banshee's Last Cry in January 2014. It was translated by Jeremy Blaustein.
Remake
A remake developed and published by 5pb., Kamaitachi no Yoru: Rinne Saisei, was released in Japan for PlayStation Vita in 2017 and ported to Windows in 2018. The remake has a new Japanese cast, new art by Sharin no Kuni: The Girl Among the Sunflowers artist Alpha and an additional scenario written by Ryukishi07.Related media
Radio drama
A radio drama was released on Compact Disc. The characters appeared in a different storyline with terrorists trying to acquire WMDs somewhere in Nagano. It stars Hikaru Midorikawa and Yumi Tōma.Television drama
The two-hour drama series was aired by Tokyo Broadcasting System on July 3, 2002. Kamaitachi no Yoru 2 was released on July 18 of the same year, and the first edition of the game contained a bonus DVD of the entire drama. Like the radio drama version, the television is not a rendition of the actual game. It was available at Hulu Japan.Reception
Banshee's Last Cry was received with great scores throughout its many releases.The game sold 1.25 million units with remakes and ports in April 2002. It sold 750,000 units for Super Famicom and over 400,000 units for PlayStation.
In August 2016, Spike Chunsoft conducted a poll on whether the players would purchase the game released on Steam. While this game did not receive any further port to this day, its main story was made available in Kamaitachi no Yoru × 3 on PlayStation 2. The latter received a port on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Steam exclusively in Japan in 2024, as part of the franchise's 30th anniversary.
Legacy
Due to its positive reception, sequels were developed later on, with Kamaitachi no Yoru 2 and Kamaitachi no Yoru × 3. Other Sound Novel games developed by Chunsoft were also made in-between following its success, with Machi and 428: Shibuya Scramble.Numerous crossovers and references to the game was done after its release. The Shiren the Wanderer series feature items with names based on this series, like a sword named "Kama Itachi". The Danganronpa franchise uses blue silhouettes for background characters, inspired by this series. No Sleep for Kaname Date – From AI: The Somnium Files features a couple of chapters based on the game. As part of their 30th anniversary event, the game had a crossover with Street Fighter 6 in October 2025, featuring avatar costumes and a sub-story based on the game.