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1[[quoteright:325:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sin_nombre_4869.png]]
2
3Rumors have been circulating about a RolePlayingGame for the TS (a portable game system that looks [[Platform/NintendoDS suspiciously familiar]]) that has recently grown in popularity; people say that the game is [[HauntedTechnology cursed]]. The rumor goes that if someone doesn't complete the RPG in a certain number of days, they will die.
4
5You are one of those who have played the game.
6
7You didn't put much stock in the rumors at first until you visit your friend Odaka's apartment and find him dead. Suddenly, you realize that [[YourMindMakesItReal the things that happen in the game are happening to you in real life]], and [[OhCrap death is approaching you]]. As the clock ticks down, can you find a way to escape the curse?
8
9''Nanashi no Game'' ("The Game with No Name" or "The Nameless Game") is a SurvivalHorror game by Creator/SquareEnix for the Platform/NintendoDS that takes place in two worlds: the real world, and the 8-bit game world of the cursed RPG. The actions taken in the game world give clues to what's happening in the story, while the real world has you exploring places while avoiding the ghosts of previous victims. A sequel, known as ''Nanashi no Game: Me'' (the subtitle translating to "Eye"), features a new protagonist, the cursed RPG, and a cursed {{platformer}}, was also released for the DS, and counts with independent versions of both cursed games, subtitled as ''Chi'' ("Blood") and ''Goku'' ("Prison") on Platform/DSiWare.
10
11In January 2012, Creator/SquareEnix also released two spinoffs of the series called ''Nanashi no App'' and ''774 Deaths'' for iOS and Android, which follow the same pattern of story of the previous games but now with an ''unavoidable'' downloadable app for your smartphone which messes around your camera and mail apps, in which you need to try to resolve not only the mystery but also try to save your life.
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13It is also suggested for those who truly enjoy horror games to [[SchmuckBait listen to the game with earphones]].
14----
15!!This series of games provides examples of:
16
17* AbandonedHospital:
18** Day 3 takes place at the Mercy General Hospital, a place that was abandoned four years prior the events of the original game due to rumors of illegal medical practices. [[spoiler: It's the only place that is distributing the game. How? ''Well''...]] This is also the point when the ghosts or "Regrets" start appearing.
19** A year after, during the events of ''Me'', the same hospital plays an important part on it as well, [[spoiler:until Day 6]]. However, the building seems to have an upgrade (for better or worse) on its appearance [[spoiler:since this is where you find a comatose Akane]].
20* AdultsAreUseless: Sort of. Prof. Ohyama is far from useless, but he does sort of leave you to do everything for yourself, [[spoiler: at least, up until he pulls a YouShallNotPass to save your life in the climax. It is possibly justified by the fact that he was trying to find out what happened if he didn't play the game and/or investigate the curse himself.]]
21* AgentMulder: Both professors, Ohyama and Kawagoe, believe in the paranormal. Kawagoe prefers to incline on the occult, while Ohyama balances his scientific and paranormal beliefs. [[spoiler: Imagine Kawagoe's surprise knowing that his friend and colleague died because of the cursed RPG.]]
22* AgentScully: In ''Me'', the protagonist's girlfriend is quite skeptical about how a [[UrbanLegends rumored]] "cursed" game out there has killed people before. And she is even more skeptical to it, mostly because [[spoiler: she is playing ''it'' as well]].
23* AllInARow: Your party as presented on the very first RPG scene of ''Me''.
24* AndIMustScream: Anyone who fails in finishing the game is stuck inside it forever, either as a statue or a NPC.
25* AnyoneCanDie: It's evident that the cursed game's victims are not only [[spoiler: the game's developer team nor the first game's protagonist's friends]]... ''no one'' is really saved, actually.
26* ApocalypticLog: The notes in the RPG from the Kuento Hotel's manager in ''Me'' narrate his eventual [[spoiler: [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie "demon" transformation]] while escaping from the "demons" themselves]].
27* BittersweetEnding:
28** Regardless of [[MultipleEndings which ending you get]] during the original game, in the end [[spoiler: you survive, but all of your friends are dead]].
29** In ''Me'', [[spoiler:after the normal ending, you are safe, and you saved Akane while helping her reconcile with Kenta and Naoki, but your girlfriend is still in a coma after her experiences in Day 4]].
30* BlandNameProduct: The TS, which is a dead ringer for a Platform/NintendoDS (right down to the menu of the original version of the system).
31* BloodIsTheNewBlack:
32** Your encounter with the Bloody Man [[spoiler:aka Yutani, when playing as Asahi on a {{flashback}}]].
33** [[spoiler: Akane's encounter with a bloody Kenta and Naoki, making her think it was Naoki who killed Kenta]].
34* BloodyHandprint:
35** They are all over the place inside Mercy General Hospital. And as long as you investigate deeper, you realize that the rumors about its illegal medical practices are definitely true.
36** These serve as part of a jump scare [[spoiler:thanks to Red Akane]], as soon as you are trying to find out something useful for your investigation.
37** The handprints also get a new role during ''Me'', since your left eye finds two variations. The ones that are white [[spoiler:help you, mostly to resolve puzzles in the RPG world]], while the red ones [[spoiler:block your way until you complete the platformer levels]].
38* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: Once your character gets the game on their TS, they find it impossible to escape from it. [[spoiler:And Ohyama did his best to ignore it, as part of an experiment, attempting to resolve the mystery directly; it goes [[TemptingFate as perfect]] as you would expect from it]].
39* TheCameo: The voice of [[Music/{{Vocaloid}} Miku Hatsune]] is used in the Mandarake store in the Nakano Broadway mall to sing its theme song.
40* ChekhovsGun:
41** [[spoiler:The lighthouse picture you see drawn in Odaka's apartment? That's the final destination of the game]].
42** [[spoiler:In the sequel, the hints that your friend gives you about a puzzle to advance into the cursed game to find Odaka, are actually referring to where Akane is hiding]].
43* ClingyJealousGirl: If you play as a female, Riko is evidently jealous of your friendship with Odaka... [[spoiler: especially when Odaka reveals to her that he was actually pinning for ''you'']].
44* ClingyMacGuffin: Of a sort; your character becomes so freaked out when the ghosts appear that s/he smashes the TS... only for another TS to appear, [[MindScrew with the cursed RPG loaded up]].
45* CreepyCemetery: The Southern Temple of Rest has a shrine and a graveyard where [[spoiler: both Naoki and Kenta]] rest. It's not only creepy because of the Regrets that lurk around, but also because [[spoiler: its underground has a dungeon-like prison that was probably last used a century ago]].
46* CreepyChild: [[spoiler:While [[UndeadChild Asahi]] doesn't really count, since she doesn't appear before TheReveal]], there's a group of them that appear during one of the RPG sequences. They say that all the adults are gone and they [[Really700YearsOld never have to grow up now]]. While definitely a creepy moment, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse they're never mentioned again]].
47* CueTheRain: It's mostly present to give a certain [[EmpathicEnvironment atmosphere]] in ''Me''.
48** Once you are close to arrive at [[spoiler:the apartment complex where Ohyama lived, you are not only received by the rain... but also by an angry ghost wearing a red dress]].
49** There was a heavy rain during the evening [[spoiler: when Akane witnessed Kenta's death.]]
50* CutscenePowerToTheMax: ''Sort'' of. The only time in the original game where you get to actually ''run'' [[spoiler:is when Riko chases you]]. The rest of the time, the protagonist is never concerned enough to do more than a brisk walk.
51%%* DeadpanSnarker: The protagonist in the first game.
52* DecoyProtagonist: Riko in the original game [[spoiler:...until she gets killed by her boyfriend's ghost]]; and the protagonist's girlfriend in ''Me'', who will do the other [[StoryBranching route]] he did not choose while offscreen, [[spoiler: gets into a coma before going to get some info and clues from Ikuta]].
53* DeliberatelyMonochrome: The Regrets are monochromatic save for [[SplashOfColor their clothes]]. For instance, a common female Regret has [[LadyInRed a vibrant red dress]].
54* DownerEnding: The "golden" ending of ''Me'', which also slips somewhat into GainaxEnding territory. [[spoiler: After you free Akane from the "Ultimate Evil" that was her hatred (and getting all of the items), you are rewarded with creating a new "proxy" for the EldritchAbomination that was using her (and to some extent, Asahi) to keep killing. It chooses your girlfriend, and the only way to "wake" her up is ''murdering'' you. [[FromBadToWorse To makes things worse]], the game is transmitted to ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou everyone]]'']] .
55* DramaticIrony: Drives the whole plot of the first game since [[spoiler: Asahi hated the game and everything associated with it because her father was working so hard on it, and because it indirectly caused the death of her mother. Unbeknownst to her, Ikuta was turning "Project Sun" into a loving tribute to their happier past as a family]].
56* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Naoki eventually died by jumping off the Nanto Sunshine Academy's roof (out of guilt), after witnessing Kenta and Akane's deaths. He was actually trying to kill himself after finding out the two were dating, but with the cursed RPG on mind, he wanted them to suffer, as well.]]
57* EldritchAbomination: It's not clear what is [[spoiler: the real identity of the thing that lures ''Me'''s hero into its trap]]. It could be either what has been left of [[spoiler: Asahi's resentment or it could also be an entity that just wants a body to keep ''playing'' its endless killing "game".]] The game, however, suggests that [[spoiler: it has been using humans even before Asahi, if the graveyard's underground prison (and its out-of-time prisoner Regret) is enough proof to support it.]]
58* EnemyDetectingRadar:
59** During the original game's playthrough, the TS would detect the Regrets with static. The closer they are, the sound gets much noisier.
60** Instead of using the TS, ''Me'''s protagonist had his eye cursed. As such, similar to the static, it will react depending on how closer the ghosts are from him.
61* EtherealWhiteDress: [[spoiler:White Akane]], who is seen wearing a white sundress, is a teenager who is seeking for help and peace beyond death.
62* ExactTimeToFailure: It doesn't matter if you exceed the time limit of the climax of the first game. You will get another chance until you finish it.
63* EyeScream: ''Me'''s protagonist gets his eye cursed... by the ghost girl who stabbed it.
64* FakeDifficulty: It's all over the place, but it's ''especially'' prevalent during the climax of the first game.
65* FateWorseThanDeath:
66** Victims of the game reappear later as ghosts called "Regrets". The dev team fits this trope, though one programmer takes solace in that she can "listen to the [[HellIsThatNoise song I wrote]]".
67** [[spoiler:Say, you have a dark and sad past? You feel resentment towards someone? Is it involved in some way with the game? And now you are in a coma or you are dead? Sure, no problem! You can be the [[MindScrew next host of the game itself!]]]]
68* FlashbackEffects:
69** [[spoiler:Tomoka's murder]] is reenacted in the RPG. The layout of the house is the same, down to the placement of doors and the stairwell.
70* {{Foreshadowing}}:
71** Before the events of any of the games, the RPG scene you see on your TS is going to be ''important'' as the player progresses. The RPG scene of a bench overlooking the sea? [[spoiler: In the "real world", that's your ultimate destination]]. The scene of the cabin and the wheat fields? [[spoiler:This is where Akane is supposed to be hiding.]]
72** During the prologue of ''Me'', you recruit your friends into a party. Well, [[spoiler: actually, they aren't neither ''you'' nor ''them'' but Akane and her friends' who were involved in a similar situation as you]].
73* FourIsDeath: These are horror survival games that take place in Japan, after all.
74** The first game is overloaded with these: On the second day, the creepy and bloody abandoned train cars that Riko walks through are all labeled as "Car ''4''". Mercy General Hospital, on day 3, has been closed for ''four'' years. Utasoft is on the ''fourth'' floor of Nakano Broadway, and it has also [[spoiler: been bankrupt for ''four'' years]], which you find out from the ''fourth'' e-mail you receive on the ''fourth'' day.
75** [[spoiler:The protagonist's girlfriend enters into a coma on the ''fourth'' day of ''Me''. And during the "golden" ending, she eventually is chosen to be the new "proxy" of the "thing" that cursed the game]].
76** The title "Nanashi no Game" plays on the association between ''four'' and ''death'' - it can be read as "na-nashi no game", "''The Game with no Name''", but it can also be read as "nana-shi no game", "The game that kills you in seven days".
77** The title "774 Deaths" is quite [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment redundant]] with its [[GratuitousEnglish name's translation]].
78* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou:
79** The bad ending of the first game suggests that, [[spoiler:unless you didn't save Asahi from her hatred feelings towards her dad, the cursed RPG is transferred from the protagonist TS to ''yours''.]]
80** The DownerEnding from ''Me'' puts the bad ending from the other game in a new light: [[spoiler: having the hero out of the way, the cursed RPG is transmitted from his TS to ''everyone else's''.]]
81* FriendsRentControl: Averted with Odaka's apartment, which is quite ''big'' for someone who is in College, as his parents are established to be rich and they are the ones that paid for it.
82* FromBadToWorse:
83** Day one of the first game starts with the main character finding their best friend, dead. And they are also ''cursed''. Then their other best friend dies [[spoiler: being killed by her boyfriend's ghost]], little by little, mysteries get solved... while others don't, and [[spoiler: by the end of the sixth day, their professor is found out to be another victim of the game as well.]]
84** ''Me'' follows a similar pattern as well. In Day One, the protagonist finds out that his best friend died because of the cursed game, it gets transferred to his TS... only to go to a previous victim's apartment to research about the cursed game, and getting one of his eyes cursed by a ghost... and then, everything gets ''weirder'' and worse from there. [[spoiler: You then find out that there is not only one ghost, but ''two''... and then your girlfriend falls into a coma...)]].
85* GhostlyGape: The hostile "Regrets" aren't normal ghosts, but their faces lack any expression (nor mouth, nor eyes), meaning that they completely lost their humanity while at the same time it's implying that ''something'' from that humanity remains trapped inside the game.
86* GhostlyGoals: The main ghosts of each game have similar agendas. [[spoiler:Asahi]] waffles between Type A and B while [[spoiler:Akane's "white" personality is a bit of Type A and "red" is the one that fits in Type B]].
87* GigglingVillain: The Bloody Man. [[spoiler:When the player encounters Yutani (in Asahi's flashback), it will be clearly noticeable that his unnerving laugh means that he has completely gone nuts]].
88* AGlitchInTheMatrix: The RPG starts to seep into the real world as time goes on.
89* GoldenEnding: A trope within a trope. In the original game, collecting all of the hidden items unlocks a meta ending, which appears as a hidden message in the cursed game: [[spoiler:Ikuta dedicating the game to his daughter]].
90* GoroawaseNumber: "774" reads as "na-na-shi".
91* HauntedHouse: Or, well, it looks like it is supposed to be. Ikuta's house does not only look that it was seized, but it also has some charms that repel bad spirits on each entrance. They do not seem to work, [[spoiler:considering the {{flashback}} the player has from Tomoka's murder and Asahi becoming a runaway... and by how you find Ikuta inside of it in the present)]].
92* HauntedTechnology: The RPG, complete with glitchy graphics that let you know something is ''seriously'' wrong with the game. And the sequel implies [[MindScrew that there's more than]] [[{{Pun}} meets the eye]].
93* HellHotel:
94** Capeside Hotel has seen better days in the past, since the main character from the original game finds it in ruins. [[spoiler:This is suggested to be the last place where Asahi escaped to, since it was linked to her happy memories with her family]].
95** Kuento Hotel looks in a better shape than Capeside, if only because it was abandoned a year prior the story of ''Me''. [[spoiler: And its visitors' deaths are related to the cursed game as well]].
96* HellIsThatNoise: The cursed RPG's "music" becomes more and more degraded until it's nothing more than digital noise.
97* HelloInsertNameHere: You get to name the protagonists for both games and ''Me'' allows you to name the protagonist's girlfriend and (male) friend too.
98* HeroicSacrifice: Right when your hero/ine is cornered by a Regret in the original game, [[spoiler:Ohyama]] appears in the game and pulls a YouShallNotPass.
99* HowWeGotHere: The first day of ''Me'''s playthrough, while reminiscent of the first day of the original game, also narrates the reason of why the main character is going to investigate Odaka's apartment.
100* HyperactiveSprite: True to 8-bit video game tradition, all of the sprites are this. [[spoiler: Asahi and Red Akane]] are so hyperactive they practically ''vibrate'' in place.
101* ISeeDeadPeople: Every victim who has played the cursed game will see the Regrets. Or, in the case of ''Me'''s hero, he is the only person of his acquaintances that can only see them at first with his left eye [[spoiler:(and it gets worse, since there are also ''invisible'' Regrets)]].
102* ImColdSoCold: [[spoiler:Ohyama's]] last e-mail to the main character is about them complaining about how numb their fingers feel... and then, they transform into a Regret.
103* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere:
104** The Seven Capes lighthouse, in the first game, becomes a meta example similar to an RPG tower level/dungeon, where you only have to reach out [[spoiler: Asahi]].
105** Karaoke Club Utaya is a similar "tower dungeon" where your main mission in there is finding out why Ohyama was investigating it. [[spoiler: And little by little, it is revealed that a series of incidents related to the cursed game happened in there as well, forcing to close down the club.]]
106* ItsUpToYou: Ohyama is intent on always making the protagonist investigate any of the locations for potential clues on how to break their curse. [[spoiler:Ohyama does this to see if him keeping out of investigating it himself would break the curse on him.]] In ''Me'', it's at least somewhat justified: the protagonist's eye has the ability to see Regrets and is said that, because of this, it'll be much easier to [[spoiler:link his soul with Akane's and help her]] than for someone else.
107* JumpScare: For this reason, the game suggests to use earphones to experience the games' 3D sound. You know the scare will come for you, and when it happens, it will keep scaring you, no matter if it's only a cat scare or... a ghost's breath behind you.
108** Some are pretty unexpected, like objects falling from the sky with the size of a tricycle, or some windows getting crashed.
109** The noticeable ones are when [[spoiler:Riko and Ohyama]] come for you. [[spoiler:Riko's]] ghost attacks you in the hospital, cue one of the scarier chase scenes of the game; [[spoiler:you not only see when Ohyama transforms into a Regret]], but he will also run up to you... and he is ''pretty'' fast, so you have to react quick, because your running controls are useless.
110* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:Yutani, who murdered Ikuta's beloved wife, gets his comeuppance when he's cursed by the very game he was so obsessed with finishing.]]
111* LighthousePoint: The Seven Capes Lighthouse, somewhere close to the Capeside Hotel, is one of the remaining visiting attractions from the area.
112* LoveTriangle:
113** Depending on the gender you select in the first game, your hero/heroine learns that either [[spoiler:Odaka was jealous of your friendship with Riko]] or [[spoiler:Odaka found Riko irritating and was secretly pining after ''you'' instead]].
114** In ''Me'', the important triangle in the game is [[spoiler:the one between Akane and her friends, Naoki and Kenta. Akane and Naoki grew up together LikeBrotherAndSister, and Kenta was Naoki's best friend. While Naoki falls for Akane, she reveals that she is in love with Kenta, and they start dating, which makes Naoki sad and depressed, because that meant that Akane would still see him as a "sibling". As a form of revenge, he wanted Akane and Kenta to play the same "cursed" game as he did... ending with bad and worse results.]]
115** Perhaps it was [[{{Foreshadowing}} fault of the cursed game]], or perhaps not... but it is also implied in ''Me'', that the protagonist's friend had feelings for his girlfriend.
116* MeaningfulName:
117** [[spoiler: Asahi, "sunrise"]].
118** Ushio (Ikuta's first name) means "ocean".
119** "Regret" is the name Ohyama thinks for the ghosts. [[spoiler: They manifest and channel the hatred and resentment of the victim, making them "regret" of whatever mistake they did when they were alive]].
120* MindScrew: [[spoiler:When you reach the "perfect" PlayableEpilogue of ''Me'', there is a line that will unleash a change in the player's perception of the entire series: ''WH ERE IS MY BO DY?'']]
121* MisterExposition: Professor Ohyama serves as such since he is teaching a seminar related to "transmedia", and so he is developing an theory around the true nature of the urban legend of this "cursed game". A colleague of his, Professor Kawagoe serves the same type of role as well on "Me" [[spoiler: yet he already knew about the cursed game because Ohyama told him about it.]]
122* MoreThanMindControl: [[spoiler:Odaka]]. Let's just say that if you're planning to get possessed by an evil video game, work out your relationship issues first.
123* TheMostDangerousVideoGame: The "Nameless Game" is a game that is nowhere to be seen as "complete", but it is also rumored to kill you in seven days if it gets transferred to your portable console. That is, of course, if you don't finish it... (or, well, the game would distribute to another person, even if you do).
124* MultipleEndings
125** ''Nanashi no Game''
126*** BittersweetEnding: The protagonist manages to break the curse on them and survives past the seven day deadline and has helped [[spoiler:Asahi Ikuta]] come to terms with things. [[spoiler:However, the protagonist's friends are still dead.]]
127*** GoldenEnding: Accomplished by getting all six hidden items in the game, the ending is similar to the regular. Except that the protagonist has managed [[spoiler:to properly allow Asahi to reconcile with her father]].
128** ''Nanashi no Game: Me''
129*** BittersweetEnding: The regular ending, with the protagonist once again managing to survive. They also helped [[spoiler:Akane see the truth about Naoki and Kenta's deaths]], allowing them to move on. Unfortunately,[[spoiler: the protagonist's girlfriend is still in a coma and]] the protagonist's TS sends the game... ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou to the player]]''.
130*** GoldenEnding: Which turns out to be a [[DownerEnding downer]]. Similar to the regular ending, except it expands on the [[spoiler:girlfriend]] situation. [[spoiler:It turns out that the protagonist's girlfriend has become the next host for whatever is causing the curse of the game and the only way to awaken her is by killing him.]] And the TS sends the game to ''everyone''.
131* MurderIsTheBestSolution: [[spoiler: "My company's going under and only this game can save it! Hm... I know! I'll brutally murder the lead developer's family so he can focus all his attention on finishing it! That'll work!"]]
132* MythologyGag:
133** The situation in which [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Utasoft]] seemed to be involved: being close to bankruptcy, with the hopes of doing just one game that could save the company, it being a {{JRPG}} game which title has a MeaningfulName for both the director and the company. Sound familiar? This is how ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI Final Fantasy]]'' saved [[Creator/SquareEnix Squaresoft]] back in the 80s. However, this took a very dark turn for Utasoft.
134** The bad end of the first game has a song that [[spoiler: reminisces the earlier [=RPGs=] for the NES, meanwhile the good end has one that it's pretty much like a orchestral song from Creator/SquareEnix 2000s games.]]
135* NightmareFetishist: Professor Ohyama, and his colleague, Professor Kawagoe, are quite eccentric when trying to prove a point... and they can become very obsessed to it. They even end up sending their students to investigate places at unnerving hours of the night without even making enough research about those.
136** Ohyama even puts himself [[spoiler: as a ''guinea pig'' to see what could happen if he ignored the game for a whole week. And, well, he died.]]
137** Kawagoe later mentions that [[spoiler:he would've loved to be in his position, but Ohyama [[ItMakesSenseInContext replies]] that the reason he couldn't is because Kawagoe believes ''too'' much on the Occult... compared to him, as he balanced his [[MagicVersusScience Science and Paranormal]] beliefs on his theories.]]
138* NotSoWeak: Both main characters. Explain how the protagonist of the first game could make it through a HellHotel at night or how a crybaby as ''Me'''s protagonist made it through the entire game while also being sent by Kawagoe to lots of abandoned places at night.
139* NumerologicalMotif: [[FourIsDeath Four]] and [[SevenIsNana seven]] appear frequently.
140* OffScreenTeleportation: When you are trying to escape from the Bloody Man, he keeps appearing in every corner to get you. [[spoiler:It's probably justified that Yutani, as an adult, is much faster than Asahi, or that this flashback event is also based on a child's memory]].
141* OldSchoolBuilding: One of the locations of the second game, is Nanto Sunshine Academy, a place that closed down because of some rumored ''incidents'' involving a majority of its student body.
142* OneHitKill: If a Regret gets either way to close to you or touches you, it's game over.
143* OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank: Judging by the room, [[spoiler:Yutani]] might as well have stuffed [[spoiler:Tomoka]] into a blender and pressed ''purée''.
144%%* PeekABooCorpse
145* PunctuatedForEmphasis:
146-->[[spoiler: '''Ohyama''']] The digital curse! Now! I! Will! Experience! It! For! Myself!
147* PunnyName:
148** "Na-nashi" means "nameless", but nana-''shi'' means "seven-death", as in [[YourDaysAreNumbered seven day death]].
149** The name of the game is [[spoiler: "Road to Sunrise", "Sunrise" which is the meaning of the name "Asahi"]].
150* PurelyAestheticGender: Averted during the first game, while its effects are minor according to some dialogue, it will point out whether [[spoiler: Odaka is jealous of you or secretly in love with you]] or if the bride or the groom goes full {{Yandere}} mode on you during the chapel scene in Freya.
151* TheResenter: [[spoiler: Yutani]] resented [[spoiler: Ushio Ikuta]] for having a family and a life beyond work. So, they [[spoiler: murdered his wife. That way for him to devote himself even more to pulling Utasoft back from the brink]]. And that didn't work out so well...
152* ShoutOut:
153** The RPG 8-bit song is clearly influenced by ''VideoGame/DragonQuestI'''s Unknown World Map's song. Here [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVa-JUshNb0 is the Dragon Quest I & II's version]] to compare. The RPG's graphics themselves use ''Dragon Quest'' map tile designs coupled with NES ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' characters.
154** The fan translation did an interesting one in the Famille Tenjin apartment complex. Odaka's neighbors are named [[Creator/ShinjiMikami Mikami]], [[Creator/HideyukiKikuchi Kikuchi]], and [[Franchise/SilentHill Toyama]].
155** Ooyama states that there have been plenty of odd deaths related to media, such as newspapers, pirate radio broadcasts, and [[Manga/DeathNote notebooks]].
156** When Ooyama makes you to link network origins for the cursed game uploads, your options include [[Literature/TheRing s-yamamura.ts.ip]], [[Film/{{Audition}} a-yamazaki.ts.ip]], and [[Film/JuOn r-nishina.ts.ip]].
157** The Ikuta residence has a staircase that bends around a corner. If you're even mildly familiar with ''Film/JuOn'', you will expect a scare involving it. [[spoiler:It does happen, but not in the way you would expect. Instead, you yourself flee frantically down the stairs, playing as a little girl escaping from the man who butchered her mother]].
158** [[spoiler: The ultimate bad ending of the sequel has a jazz cover of the original ''Nanashi no Game'' music track that evokes a certain [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion series]] with a GainaxEnding too.]]
159** The music of the original game's ending. [[spoiler: The bad ending is much more reminiscent to the music of old Square or Enix games' for the NES. The good ending, however, sounds like it can come from any of the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' 3D games, making it much more heartwarming]].
160* SinisterSubway: The subway locations in the games are not too friendly. Abandoned and dark, as well as filled with Regrets. It's also inside subway trains that [[spoiler:Riko and the protagonist's girlfriend]], in the first and second game respectively, meet their ends.
161* SanitySlippage: ''Everyone'' who is or gets too involved into the game, to varying degrees (whether you are trying to avoid the ghosts, or if you were involved with its development before your company went bankrupt, or if you are jealous of your best friend...).
162* SequelEscalation: Oh brother, ''Me''. Besides empowering the protagonist's left eye and introducing another game-within-a-game, there's [[spoiler:the sheer number of new Regrets (that may or may not be visible!) introduced, showing just how widespread the cursed game's effects have become that makes last game's dev team's ordeal miniscule in comparison and that's not even getting to what the GoldenEnding does...]]
163%%* SmokingIsCool
164* SpookyPainting: Odaka and the protagonist's friend in ''Me'' sure have weird art tastes... even Odaka has a CreepyChangingPainting in his room that almost occupies the whole wall!
165* TheStinger: Depending on the ending, things for the main characters could either be more or less good, bad, or, well, just ''worse''.
166* StoicSpectacles: Yutani's, and what makes it scarier is that his eyeglasses [[spoiler:are drenched in blood due to him just killing Tomoka]].
167* StoryBranching: You can choose two different routes in the sequel depending on the day or chapter you are playing, also dealing with what difficulty the player wants to have regarding in how to obtain information or how to ger other important items as well.
168* StringyHairedGhostGirl: [[spoiler: Asahi and Akane]], our ''{{Big Bad}}s''.
169* SurvivalHorror: One of the few series (if not, the only one) of the genre that were released for the Platform/NintendoDS, that holds an interesting premise.
170* TakenForGranite: Welcome to the developer's room! Come chat with [[AndIMustScream the dev team]]!
171* TimedMission: The clock is ticking, [[spoiler:it's less than 5 minutes away from dawn on your last day]] during the climax of the first game!
172* UrbanLegends: The "cursed game" existence was originally contributed as an urban legend. However, the amount of strange deaths out there in Nanto is seemed to be connected to it. Who knows how many others it had killed, actually...
173* WelcomeToCorneria: Most of the [=NPCs=] in the RPG will not tell you anything overly important, unless you find that one NPC who actually gives you a hint on how to proceed in the shrines.
174* WhenYouComingHomeDad: [[spoiler: Asahi's resentment and hatred are necessary motivations to haunt the game her dad made.]]
175* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Where is Nanto supposed to be? Nara? Tokyo? Fukuoka District? Or is it actually a combination of those places (Nanto is, in fact, another name for Nara, but...)? It doesn't help with the cameo of real locations such as Famille Tenjin (in name only) or Nakano Broadway (the ''Nanashi no Game'''s developers changed minor details to the location, though).
176* {{Yandere}}:
177** The psycho bride and groom who mistake you for their fiancé(e) during the chapel scene in Freya in the original game.
178** There's [[spoiler: your friend Riko]], who isn't too thrilled that [[spoiler: her boyfriend secretly preferred you (when playing as a girl) or that she died before she could tell you how much she really loved you (when playing as a guy)]]...
179* YouALLLookFamiliar:
180** Justified in the RPG segments, with the [=NPCs=]' designs in all their 8-bit glory.
181** The Regrets, however, are some of the few victims of the game [[spoiler:(more explicitly, it's implied that the recurrent Regrets of the first game are the game developers, the others from the sequel, though, are the victims of the places the main character has to go through)]] .

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