Urusei Yatsura: Stay With You

Did You Know?

• The game was made in a similar style to Hudson Soft's earlier anime-based game from 1989.
• Very few Japanese adventure games were distributed outside mystery-themed or anime-character releases between 1989 and 1992.

Background and plot

Urusei Yatsura: Stay With You presents an original story within the Urusei Yatsura franchise. The franchise began as a manga series in 1978 in Weekly Shōnen Sunday, the first hit by artist Rumiko Takahashi, and was adapted into an animated television series from October 1981 to March 1986. The stories typically involve alien princess Lum falling in love with high school student Ataru Moroboshi after a game of tag deciding Earth's fate. In this game, Ataru and Lum discover their classmate Shinobu has gone missing, leading them to search beyond their school into town and eventually outer space.

Gameplay

Described by Famitsu as an adventure game, Urusei Yatsura: Stay With You features a screen split into three windows. Commands appear on the right side, where the player selects prompts such as "Take" and "Talk" followed by choosing a noun from the scene. Other commands allow traversal to different areas. A left-side screen shows the current situation through graphics, while a top dialogue displays text responses. Different menu options become available as the game progresses, with some choices leading to premature endings. The game also includes 15 puzzles, and some segments use a 3D first-person perspective allowing movement and rotation.

Release

Urusei Yatsura: Stay With You was released in Japan for the PC Engine CD-ROM² on June 29, 1990. PC Engine Fan reported it as the top-selling PC Engine game in Osaka and Saitama during the week of June 25 to July 1, describing sales as "phenomenal" with many stores selling out on the first day. It dropped to sixth place the following week and then left the top ten.

Reception

Reviewers in Famicom Tsūshin and other magazines described the game as more like watching an anime than playing a video game, with one noting the lack of difficult puzzles. Several reviewers praised the absence of tricky puzzles requiring repeated commands. A reviewer cautioned that the release focused on appealing to fans of the original work rather than adventure game audiences, while others in Famicom Tsūshin said it would suit newcomers to the genre. A Gekkan PC Engine reviewer noted that voice audio had to load each time, affecting the game's flow, while another said loading times were so fast that players would notice the delay. Reviewers in Famicom Tsūshin and other magazines complimented the graphics, with one stating that most adventure games had one or two pictures per scene but this game featured about ten, recommending it for its high production values. A reviewer praised Hudson Soft's "digital comic" approach as perfect for conveying the franchise's charm, and a Gekkan PC Engine reviewer said it excited them about future digital publications. Three of four Famicom Tsūshin reviewers listed it among their top recommendations, definitely recommending it to fans while noting non-fans could also enjoy it.