Real Sound: Kaze no Regret
An audio game designed for both sighted and blind players.
Warp handled both development and publishing duties for Real Sound: Kaze no Regret, an adventure audio game that hit the Sega Saturn in July 1997. A Dreamcast port followed in March 1999. The title was built to be equally playable for blind and sighted audiences. Its subtitle, Kaze no Regret, can be interpreted as "The Wind's Regret" or "The Wind(s) of Regret."
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Warp
- Designer
- Kenji Eno
- Writer
- Yuji Sakamoto
- Composer
- Keiichi Suzuki
- Genre
- Audio game, adventure
- Modes
- Single-player
- Platforms
- Sega Saturn, Dreamcast
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
Real Sound is an audio game structured like a visual novel. The screen stays blank for the entire experience, with the player primarily listening as the story develops. When a set of chimes sounds at key moments, the player must make a choice that alters the narrative’s direction. The Dreamcast release has an optional visual mode, but it only shows non-essential still images.
Plot
The story follows elementary school student Hiroshi Nonomura, who sits next to transfer student Izumi Sakurai. After her grandfather dies, Izumi must move to Tokyo at the start of summer vacation. The two plan to elope, meeting at a clock tower, but Izumi never arrives and is transferred away. Ten years later, they are dating; Izumi arranges a job interview for Hiroshi, but she suddenly disappears from a train and cannot be contacted.
Development
The concept for Real Sound: Kaze no Regret was conceived by Kenji Eno after receiving letters from blind fans of his games in Japan. Eno sought to create a game that both sighted and blind players could experience equally. In a 2008 interview, he explained that visiting visually impaired people who played action games despite not having the full experience inspired him: turning off the monitor meant everyone would just hear the game, allowing equal conversation afterward. Sega wanted exclusive rights, and Eno stipulated he would sell them only if Sega donated a thousand Saturn consoles to the visually impaired, with Warp donating copies of Real Sound alongside. Eno later stated that although the contract likely no longer applies, he has not re-released the game because of that promise. The game was written by Yuji Sakamoto, with secondary characters voiced by actors including Miho Kanno and Ai Maeda. Music was primarily composed by Keiichi Suzuki, known in the West for his work on the Mother/EarthBound series, with Akiko Yano composing the ending theme.
Legacy
By early 1998, the Saturn release of Real Sound: Kaze no Regret had moved roughly 110,000 copies, earning a cult following typical of many Warp titles. Each package came with unusual extras: a braille instruction sheet and a packet of seeds. Eno explained that since Real Sound is a love story, a departure from his earlier horror games, the flower seeds were meant to hint at the game’s mood without needing to describe the plot. He also hoped players would nurture both the game and the franchise, as he had sequels in mind. In 1997, a single-path version of the game aired on Tokyo FM. Warp’s other sound-focused titles include Enemy Zero, where invisible enemies require audio cues, and D2, which features segments where the protagonist is either blind with only a voice to guide her or deaf with only visuals. Real Sound was planned as a series: a second game, Kiri no Orgel, was set for June 1998 but was delayed and canceled due to sound compression problems, while a third, Spy Lunch, was meant to be a comedy. The game has become especially popular among blind players in Japan, as it is one of the few commercial releases designed for the visually impaired. In 2024, From Yellow to Orange, Warp’s current form, released an audiobook version to mark the game’s 27th anniversary.
More in Visual Novels of the 1990s
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced