EVE Burst Error

EVE Burst Error is a visual novel adventure game from 1995, developed by C's Ware and first released as an erotic title. Hiroyuki Kanno handled writing and production, while Ryu Umemoto composed the chiptune soundtrack. It launched the EVE series of visual novels, centering on a government agent and a private detective who each look into strange cases that eventually turn out to be linked.

**Gameplay** The story branches based on choices made by two protagonists—one male, one female—offering different viewpoints. A novel feature lets players swap between them at any time, rather than finishing one character’s path before starting the other. The game often requires both leads to cooperate at certain points.

**Plot** Marina, a highly skilled intelligence agent, is assigned to protect Mayako Mido, the daughter of a Japanese diplomat stationed in the fictional Middle Eastern country of Eldia. As attacks on Mayako grow more serious, a dangerous government conflict appears to lie behind the threats. Meanwhile, Kojiroh, a private investigator struggling to find work, gets a lucky break with a case involving a school principal’s missing painting. His investigation into a string of murders pulls him into a larger conspiracy involving both the Japanese and Eldian governments, and the two cases turn out to be connected by coincidence.

**Releases** The PC-98 version came out on November 22, 1995. Console ports followed, with mature content removed. An English Windows release arrived in April 1999, also censored. Various fan translations have since aimed to restore the original uncensored script, though no single widely-known patch has been officially documented as adjusting a specific percentage of the script or removing a notable number of Bill Clinton jokes.

**Reception** In Japan, EVE Burst Error became hugely popular, earning a console port and an overseas release—unusual for an eroge. It entered the top ten best-selling Saturn titles that week, with 106,694 copies sold. It moved 190,404 units in Japan during the first half of 1997 and ended the year at 194,750 copies, making it one of the Saturn’s best-sellers. In 2000, a reader survey by Japanese Sega Saturn Magazine ranked it the number one Saturn title, with an average score of 9.5014 out of 10. Famitsu readers voted it the 17th best adventure game of all time in 2017. Kotaro Uchikoshi ha