Hyperdimension Neptunia - The Video Game Reference Paradise

Why, of course there isn't anyone posting anything about this game. I mean, who wants to admit that they are playing a game that turns consoles and video game companies into a bunch of anime chicks with huge boobs anyway?

WELL I DO!

I am pretty sure most of you will probably just dismiss it as another game weaboo anime game, and I admit, I do like the character designs as well as Tsunako's artstyle (but that's another topic for another thread). But other than the obvious reasons, another thing I like about it is how the artist takes freedom and creativity on representing the characters' original source that they are based on in her own way, which is what this post is mainly about. The amount research I have to do to uncover most of the references in the characters are not a lot, but nonetheless are actually a lot more than I initially thought. Not to mention some are actually lost in translation and cultural differences, which I can't blame the translator, because you really can't translate those parts.

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Noted that this post is mainly about the references surrounding the characters, so silly parodies like Zack Unfair, Puella Magi NISA Maigca or the one above will not be talked about here. (Otherwise it will probably take me ages)

First, let's start with the four goddesses.

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This is probably not the best place to start, but since she is the main character, let's talk about Neptune/Purple Heart first. Now, many of you have probably already knew, but for those of you who don't, each character in the game is supposed to represent something related to video game. The four goddesses are the personification of the consoles, which bring us to the question that it's still unanswered to many people: who the hell is Neptune? Well I will give you a hint, which company named their consoles after names of planets?

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According to the official description, she is based on a console that "doesn't exist", so it's very safe to assume that Neptune is supposed to be the Sega Neptune, a Genesis+32X two-in-one console that never went to the market after the cancellation of 32X's production. Design wise, the suit Purple Heart is wearing actually resemble quite a bit to the Sega Neptune's design as well, especially the X. In other words, she is supposed to be representing Sega back when they are still a first party company. Remember the beginning of the first game, where the three other goddesses were teaming up Neptune and ultimately she lost the battle, had an amnesia and made Planetune lost their goddess? Sounds like Playstation 2, XBOX and Gamecube teaming up and beating the crap out of Dreamcast, which ultimately made Sega quit the console market, no?

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For the rest of the three goddesses, well it's pretty damn obvious, so there isn't much we can talk about. Noire/Black Heart, obviously, it's the Sony console, the Playstation 3. Other than the obvious ones such as her design and color, I found what's more interesting though is Lastation, the continent/nation Noire rules.

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via fc04.deviantart.net

While Lastation looks different in all three games, they are all portrayed in the same manner, an industrial and technologically advanced city with companies heavily competing with each other. Maybe this is supposed to be a representation of how the Japanese video game industry view the Playstation? Only the developer will know.

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In the third game, the story takes place in 1989 instead of modern time. All four goddesses received a redesign. Black Heart as we see here, turns from black to grey, Lastation was still not established, nor is Noire a goddesses yet. This, as we all know, is the real life event we all know as Playstation's debut and preparation to take over the whole world.

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Vert/Green Heart, as we all known as the XBOX 360 in the real world, doesn't quite actually represent the 360 we all know in the west here, but rather, the Japanese view on the console itself. In the game, she is being represented as that despite being a kindhearted lady outside, she is actually a heavily addicted gamer once she locks herself in her room, and the games she played are usually the overly exaggerated violent games or hardcore BL visual novels. The violent games part, which we can also relate to, will be the games we known as the "dude bro games" or zombie games like Gears of War or Dead Rising.

The BL part though, will probably be the part that confused gamers in the west. This is actually the reference to the massive amounts of all-aged clean 360 ports for the 18+ visual novels from the PC in Japan. The reason why there are so many ports appear on the 360 is that the programming for PC and 360 is rather similar, which can help developers cut the budget at porting the games, which's sales are not guaranteed.

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But why BL games, not regular dating sims? Well, I guess it's probably simply because they think that it will be more natural for a girl to play BL games than dating sims.

Don't ask me, look it up yourself if you don't know what BL means. I guarantee that it will open the door to a whole new world for you. Result may vary depends on individuals.

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Green Heart's redesign in the third game was changed into black from white, and she is portrayed as the new goddess from somewhere far away. This, of course, is the part in our history know as the XBOX's debut and the Japanese dominated video game industry have a new challenger.

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And here comes our not so friendly neighborhood Blanc/White Heart! Obviously, she is the personification of the Nintendo Wii. I'm pretty sure many people will immediately file her design under the lolicon category, well there is that too, but I think that the main reason why the artist goes for a little girl to represent the Wii is mostly because it is the smallest and lightest console, as well as the most "kids-friendly" out of the three.

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via fc00.deviantart.net

All of that is well represented in her region Lowee as well. In the first two games, Lowee is portrayed as a fun region where everywhere seems to be decorated with party decorations, as well as the fact both kids and elderly participate in many events host in the region.

I know what you thinking, Lowee in the third game looks totally different. Well, I think this has to do with how Nintendo was viewed by the Japanese, especially the Famicom. To many older gamers in Japan, no matter how technologically advanced the PS3 is, or how awesome the online gameplay the 360 has, Nintendo, the one who brought the Famicom to their childhood, will always be the one true traditional Japanese video game companies. Nintendo, specifically, the Famicom, is what makes their childhood and nostalgia, which is why Lowee is being portrayed in a very traditionally Japanese manner.

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Of course, the nostalgia don't stop there. Her new design in the third game, in my opinion, is probably the most successful design in terms of representing her own console. I mean, just look at her goddess form, she is literally wearing Famicom on her, and the clothes she wear outside of her goddess form also resemble the traditional shrine maiden outfit greatly in order to compliment the traditional sense Lowee is bringing out. Man, the good old days...

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SURPRISED FIFTH GODDESS! We already have Sega, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, so what is Plutia/Iris Heart? Well, for a surprise, the answer is quite pale, she is also Sega. If you did a bit wiki-ing, you will know that she is supposed to be representing the Sega Mega Drive (though her name seems to be suggesting Sega Pluto for some reason). What the hell is a Sega Mega Drive you asked? Well it's basically the original Japanese version of Sega Genesis. The reason I specifically said Mega Drive is mostly due to the fact that that's where her design is based on.

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Other than that, yeah, there isn't much to talk about, as her character is more about her personality than personification.

So here is random pic of her just to stretch the space.

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SURPRISED SIXTH GODDESS! Man, surprise after surprise, isn't reading my post fun?

Anyway, the name in the English version is Peashy and Yellow Heart, a character that's first introduced in the third game. If you know about retro Japanese gaming consoles, then I'm sure you know about that one console that was buried by the glory of Sega and Nintendo. The name Peashy is indeed a direct reference to the PC-Engine, also known as the TurboGrafx-16 in the west.

Well, I have to say, her design is, um, quite interesting, I believe the words I can use are "faithful to the original source". As you can see, her boobs are gigantic, I believe this is a reference to the PC-Engine Duo, which is literally two machine side by side combined into on giant console.

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Sounds silly, I know, but I think those giant boobs came from the design of the CD-ROM driver, which has a spherical surface. Not to mention that the black thing on her bra (okay, not her actual bra, I don't know how to call it, but you know which part I mean) looks very similar to the design of the CD-ROM driver. Why yellow though? Well, I think it's probably because white is taken, and they are out of color.

As of the design of her normal form, well, I have to apologize, I don't know. If you do, feel free to tell me, I will make sure to credit you.

Alright, we are done with the goddesses, so let's move on to the developers, which I consider as the real juice of the character designs.

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Well, Compa is Compile Heart, the developer of the game. I will be honest, I don't think there are any significant elements that represent company because I can't find anything other than her purse, hair band and color pallette resemble the logo. In the game, she is a nurse student, so I assume Compile Heart wants to portrayed themselves as that sweet girls that can heal your heart with their moe games? Let's just say that we will leave room for discussion here.

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IF is Idea Factory, the co-developer of the game. design wise, I can find much reference either. However, the first game has mentioned that she is a member of the Guild, people who believed in a goddess outside of where they live. In the game it was reveal that she is actually a follower of Vert, aka the 360. It seems odd at first, judging that most of their games seem to be appearing on mainly Sony consoles, but after I dig a little bit of research, I find that most of the games for home consoles they had developed are actually 360 games, and sometimes games that they are involved such as Cross Edge and Agarest will receive a 360 enhanced port too. Well now that I have looked it up, it does seems to fit the real Idea Factory.

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Gust, as we all known, is the developer of the Atelier series (IF I SEE ONE MORE PERSON DARE TO CONFUSE OR GROUP GUST TOGETHER WITH IF OR COMPILE HEART I SWEAR I WILL BITCH SLAP YOU TO NEXT FRIDAY). Other than Atelier, they have also made other games like Ar Tonelico, which also have alchemy as part of the gameplay. So it makes perfect sense that she is being portrayed as a merchant who synthesize her own items.

NISA, man you gotta love her design. Just look at her, she is not only just a personification of the company, she is a freaking Prinny herself! Her heroism that she keeps bragging about is also one of the recurring theme in many NIS games, not to mention her voice actress, Mizuhashi Kaori, is also the one who voiced Laharl. She herself is like the embodiment of everything NIS.

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That's not Photoshop by the way, it's an actual move from the game.

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5pb, definitely not a well known company outside of Japan, but some of you might have aware of the fact that they are the developers of many visual novels like Steins;Gate and Robotic;Notes, as well as doing and publishing 360 ports of PC visual novels, which makes her design seems very strange, because nothing about her design seems to representing anything about 5pb. Why is she a radio DJ in the first game? And why is she a rock star in the second game? And why did she just disappear in the third game?

Well, here is an interesting fact, before becoming a video game company, 5pb. is actually a music company that mainly make musics for video games and anime. Even till this day, their CEO, Shikura Chiyomaru is still writing lyrics for the music they are producing. In other words, music is what make 5pb, so portraying her as a musician will probably be a better choice than making her a visual novel company.

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And of course she can summon Christina in battle.

But why did she disappear in the third game? I will talk about that later.

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Oh man, it breaks my heart to talk about this character. For those of you who don't know, this is Red, based on Red Entertainment Corporation. Other than video games, the company also helped producing anime. Their first work is a co-production with Sunrise, Mashin Hero Wataru (the memories...), and their name came from one of the character from the anime Royal Emperor Dragon. For video games, one of their most famous game series will be the Far East of Eden series, as well as Sakura War, which they co-developed with Sega. the Far East of Eden series, as the name suggest, depicts a fictional universe that heavily resembles Fedual Japan, which explain the way she dressed. The cherry blossom on her clothing can possibly be a reference of Sakura War.

Why is it sad to talk about the character? Well the truth is that the company was bought in by a Chinese company called UltiZen Games, and ever since, we haven't heard anything about the company, and the game couldn't secure the right of the character to keep her in the sequel. So at the end, Red became a forgotten character that only appear in the first game as a DLC.

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Oh Falcom, the ultimate fan service character design to all the Falcom fanboy out there. In the game, she is portrayed as a traveler who like to help people, if that rings a bell, that's the exact same personality as Estelle Bright from Trails in the Sky. Design wise, the red hair is the trademark of the main character from the Ys series, Adol, and the clothing also resemble Lloyd from Trails in the Zero.

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Her design in the third game is even a bigger reference to the games I just talked about. Let the pic do the talking.

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To add more? She share the same voice actress as Estelle.

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Well, I am actually not the familiar with Cave because I don't have a 360, however, I did manage to find that her design is from Mushihimesama, as well as sharing the same voice actress as Sumire from Akai Katana. Not to mention that one her skill is literally using bullet hell to attack people.

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Feel free to add more if you know about Cave more than I do.

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ASURAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Sorry, can't resist...

Anyway, it's CyberConnect2, the creator of the .hack series. Well, the clothing is already pretty obvious.

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She can even go berserk like Haseo!

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But what's with the dog ears and tail you ask?

What? You never played Solatorobo?

Yeah, me neither, sorry guys...

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Same deal as other characters before, she share the same voice actress as Black Rose.

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What the hell is Broccoli? Well, they are a publisher who also own one of the biggest chain retailer in Japan called Gamers. The character design directly comes from one of their mascot character, Puchiko. Remember that anime Di Gi Charat? Yea, that's the same Puchiko.

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Of course, they share the same voice actress, Sawashiro Miyuki.

My post just become 2000% more worth reading by simply mentioning her name.

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Marvelous AQL. I think they are getting less creative with character's names...

But anyway, for the references, boobie ninja girl in school uniform and duel wield, where have I seen that before?

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Of course, the voice actress is Harada Hitomi, voice actress of Asuka.

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And the last, probably the most special one in the playable roster, Tekken-chan, the only character that's a personification of a video game instead of a company. Pretty self-explanatory.

While her voice actress doesn't relate to Tekken at all, it is the voice actor of Kuma that is worth noting.

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And, well... I can tell it's Inafune Keiji, father of Megaman, but what is he doing in the game? Well, let's just say that it's just there for the lulz.

FEAR THE WRATH OF GATE OF INAFUNE, MONGREL!

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There are actually still much more I want to write about the villains and the three Oracles, but let's stop at here for now, I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who got tired with all these words. (you can tell it has more pictures than words near the end of the post and the contents are more brainless, can you?)

I guess I will have leave them for part 2?

Here is a parody of Puella Magi Madoka Magica.