Rance o Rance – Quest for Hikari – celebrated its 35th anniversary yesterday to the delight of all fans of this series of visual novels. This installment was one of the pioneers in the genre of RPG’s of the “rikolino” type and it did not take long to become a cult work by presenting a legendary warrior whose mission was to conquer the “Continent” while falling in love with various waifus in scenes with this type of content. Undoubtedly, a series that paved the way for what is today one of the most played genres today.
The longest-running visual novel series, Rance, celebrates its 35th anniversary
Originally released for the Japanese PC-8800 and PC-9800 computer series, Rance: The Quest for Hikari (1989) told the story of Rance, a lucky mercenary whose main mission was to rescue the daughter of a wealthy family from a vile kidnapping. Accompanied by his loyal slave Sill Plain (who would be his usual companion throughout the saga), “this brave protagonist” would have the task of investigating the origin of Hikari’s kidnapping while romancing the women he encountered during his journey.
Obviously, the story was not the most original for the time, but the type of gameplay that could be found in this work was. An RPG loaded with “spicy” scenes that told the story which manga H, allowed Rance to reach a great popularity among the regular readers of this type of very popular content in Japan. In addition to this, its concept allowed the nascent compatible gamers to encounter a genre that was taking its first steps in the world of entertainment, creating an incredible symbiosis that would be reflected to this day.
Given its long history and evident popularity in the world of video games, Rance would get a remake for Windows (2013) which was called Rance 01: Quest for Hikari. This new version of the eighties classic introduced necessary improvements to the work, updating its old gameplay to one much easier to understand in the current times. In addition to those main changes, AliceSoft renewed the graphics so that both the main character and his inseparable companion had new designs that were easily recognized by the players.
This set achieved that the first remake is considered by many as the best of the original trilogy, since it added additional content and changes to the main lore. Thus, Rance 01: Quest for Hikari would become the highest rated re-imagining of the first three, unlike the following remasterings, which failed to add new content, relying on the result achieved by this first update.
So, due to the resounding success of this new vision of the classic visual novel, AliceSoft decided to create together with Pink Pineapple (anime content producer) a series of H OVAS based on the remake released in 2013. Ransu 01: Hikari o Motemete The Animation had four episodes that aired from 2014 to 2016 which summarized the story of the game focusing mainly on the key events of the main story leaving aside those that were not in line with the “rikolino” content shown in this adaptation.
There is no doubt that referring to the Rance saga is a way of remembering the development process that this type of genre has undergone over the years. And the fact is that RPG novels of this “spicy” type are today one of the exponents that most demonstrate how diverse and entertaining this industry that we love so much can be. Congratulations, Rance!
© ALICESOFT