999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

Developer(s)	Chunsoft
Publisher(s)	Aksys Games (NA) Spike (JP)
Release Date(s)
Nintendo DS	NA: November 16, 2010 (First print) NA: September 27, 2012 (Second print) JP: December 10, 2009 JP: December 15, 2011 (Chun Selection)
Nintendo DS	NA: November 16, 2010 (First print) NA: September 27, 2012 (Second print) JP: December 10, 2009 JP: December 15, 2011 (Chun Selection)
Platform(s)
Genre(s)	Visual novel
Rating(s)
ESRB	06
CERO	03

999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors<sup>(JPJapanese: 極限脱出 9時間9人9の扉

Romaji: Kyokugen Dasshutsu 9 Jikan 9 Nin 9 no Tobira)</sup> is a Nintendo DS room escape/ visual novel game from Chunsoft. The game has 9 people trapped on a boat for the Nonary game and they have to find a door marked with a 9 to which escape through within nine hours before the ship sinks. It is the first game in the Zero Escape series In 2012, its sequel Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward was released for the Nintendo 3DS.

Official Game Description

"Junpei along with eight other men and women, including his childhood friend Akane, find themselves trapped on a cruise ship by the enigmatic Zero. Each fitted with a numbered bracelet, they have nine hours to escape before the ship sinks. As the situation unfolds the true purpose of the Nonary game will be revealed." - sourced from Spike-Chunsoft.com

Gameplay

The player takes the role of Junpei in the first-person, as he and the rest of the 9 escape. The game has essentially two game modes that switch as the plot progresses. The first and most prominent is the Escape portions where the player looks around to find parts to which to progress through locked doors. Usually, there is some sort of puzzle as a part of the lock. Characters or records usually help bring the backstory of the game to light. There are 16 Escape sequences in the game though the player will not experience them all in a single playthrough.

The visual novel portions is where most of the main plot is given. The player reads the various characters' interactions as they progress through the ship. At various points, the player will be given choices which determine how the plot will develop. These choices determine which escape sequences the player will have and what ending the player gets. There are 6 endings in the game with 6th true ending locked unless the player completes a certain bad ending.

Cast

1. Ace
2. Snake
3. Santa
4. Clover
5. Junpei
6. June
7. Seven
8. Lotus
9. The 9th Man

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	83.21%
Metacritic	82
Review scores
Publication	Score
Destructoid	10/10
Edge	6/10
The Escapist	4/5
Eurogamer	7/10
GameSpot	8.5/10
GamesRadar	9/10
GamesTM	8/10
IGN	9/10
NGamer	86/100
Nintendo Life	8/10
Nintendo Power	9/10
Nintendo World Report	9/10
Wired	8/10

Despite very positive reviews and success in the USA; this game was a commercial flop in Japan. This caused the creators to question whether to release more sequels but general outcries of support from the USA including a Facebook campaign meant that sequels were produced after all.

Music and Soundtrack

Click here to see a website where you can listen to all the tracks or click here to find Youtube videos of the tracks.

"Shinji Hosoe, the president of the game music production company SuperSweep, was chosen to compose the game's soundtrack for being skilled in a wide range of music genres, ensuring that he could compose music that would fit a lot of different types of moods and scenes. He described his work on the game as the most straightforward music project he had had, due to receiving concise reference material that answered all his questions about the game; he made a few test tracks, after which everything went smoothly. The music was written using the Nintendo DS's internal synth, and Hosoe worked together with fellow SuperSweep composer Yousuke Yasui to make this less obvious." - Quoted and sourced from 999 on Wikipedia

Some of these songs are also used in the sequel on the 3DS called Virtue's Last Reward, as well as remixed in the game after that called Zero Time Dilemma. The four remixed songs are Extreme Extrication, Trepidation, Riddle and Puzzle and Morphogenetic Sorrow. The iOS version of the game features improved higher-quality music compared to the compressed DS version. "The Nonary Games" (a remake of 999 and Virtue's Last Reward) version of the game has the highest-quality version of the soundtrack.

Track list

Click names to see Youtube video of that track. For more OST related videos see the 999 videos page here.

Disc One

1. 9 hours, 9 persons, 9 doors - Plays in intro.
2. Unary Game - Plays in 3rd class cabin. Also plays during scenes, especially when the players are in a hurry.
3. Extreme Extrication - Plays during scenes.
4. Binary Game - Plays in 2nd class cabin and 1st class cabin.
5. Riddle and Puzzle - Plays during scenes, especially during scientific discussions.
6. Ternary Game - Plays in Kitchen and Casino.
7. Foreboding - Plays during scenes.
8. Quaternary Game - Plays in Laboratory.
9. Recollection - Plays during certain endings
10. Quinary Game - Plays in chart room, confinement room, and steam engine room.
11. Trepidation - Plays during scenes, especially horrifying ones such as when a body is found.
12. Senary Game - Plays in Captain's Quarters, Torture room and Cargo room.
13. Quietus - Plays during some bad endings

Disc Two

1. Imaginary - Plays during scenes.
2. Septenary Game - Plays in Operating room and Shower room.
3. Tranquility - Plays moments before a certain bad ending
4. Tinderbox - Plays during scenes.
5. Eternitybox - Plays during scenes.
6. Who is Zero? - Plays during scenes.
7. Octal Game - Plays in Library.
8. Nonary Game - Plays in Study.
9. Chill and Rigor - Plays during scenes, especially after a death.
10. Digital Root - Plays during scenes, especially after a revelation.
11. Morphogenetic Sorrow - Plays in certain endings
12. 9 years - Plays during the epilogue.

Credits

U.S. Localization

Aksys Games

QA Testers

Karen Lynn McOscar

Sam Baek

Mary Sue To

Joyce Agagas

Special Thanks

InterOne Inc.

Asuka Yamataki

Michael McNamara

Michael Manzanares

Michael Engler

Michael D. Christoffers

Japanese Staff

Story Assistants

Naoki Yamane

Yukinori Kitajima

Tomoyoshi Nagai

Shigeru Ohta

Script

Hideyuki Shibamoto

Shigeyuki Hirata

Escape Development

Mitsuhiro Nakazawa

Kohei Nishimura

Atsushi Onami

Akihiro Nagashima

Tomohiro Maruyama

Graphics

Kumiko Ishii

Mei Seto

Motoi Nakamura

Hisashi Nagai

Kōichi Tawara

Eri Kukino

Harunobu Matsumori

Motoshi Hiroo

Megumi Nakano

Yu Yamaguchi

Yōsuke Kawasaki

Pham Thi Anh Tuyet

Lu Quoc Dung

Le Quy Minh Thu

Dang Viet Hung

Masashi Ogura

Marie Miyoshi

Eri Oshida

Asuka Shibasaki

Character Key Animators

Katsuhiro Kumagai

Yū Kobayashi

Character Animators

Mutsumi Nakada

Chie Tanaka

Yuka Hayashi

Sonomi Sugimura

Kohta Ito

Logo Creation

Taku Nishida

Yasuyuki Uchima

Sound Effects

Yousuke Yasui

Ayako Sasō

Takahiro Eguchi

Project Management

Chika Nishino

Kenji Ono

Quality Assurance

Kensuke Oguri

Tomoya Shinozaki

Sales & Marketing

Kazuhiko Nakanishi

Masanori Hirata

Kenta Hiroha

Special Thanks (Production)

INTENSE Co.ltd

SuperSweep co.ltd.

Digital Works Entertainment Inc

BARNHOUSE EFFECT Co. Ltd.

Procyon Studio Co. Ltd.

Lansdale Inc.

ORG Inc.

Q[SQ]tron co.ltd.

Special Thanks (Development)

Hironori Ishigami

Emiko Tanaka

Shinya Ochiai

Masayuki Yamamoto

Kojiro Nakashima

Migaku Matsui

Yoriki Daigo

Shūgo Kageyama

Yuzo Takamoto

Satoshi Tsuihiji

Production Supervisors

Toshinori Asai

Seiichiro Nagahata

Mitsuhiko Auto

Director - Kotaro Uchikoshi

Sourced from MobyGames

External links

• 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors at GameFAQs
• 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors at MobyGames
• 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors at Zero Escape Wiki
• 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors Long Review at Game Watch
• 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (Picture and text scene descriptions and gameplay guide) at Let's Play Archive
• The Nonary Games News (includes section about 999) at Spike Chunsoft Official Website
• 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors at TV Tropes
• 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors at Famitsu (Official big promo page)