Line #16 VisualNovel/JakeHunter


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_wp_12.jpg]]
2
3	A Japanese noir mystery VisualNovel series originally known as ''Tantei Jingūji Saburō'', developed by Data East with character designs by Katsuya Terada.
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5	The story stars Jake Hunter (aka Saburo Jinguji in Japan), a heavy-smoking hard-boiled big city detective who runs his agency in the big city of Shinjuku, Tokyo ([[CulturalTranslation Aspicio, USA]] in the translated version.) Recurring supporting characters include his DeadpanSnarker secretary Yulia Marks (aka Yoko Misono in Japan), jovial mustachioed police inspector Scott Kingsley, LabRat Samantha Martin, NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters Vincent Drago and Don Vitore, and Ryo Hsu, a badass Chinese foreign police agent.
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7	Originally debuting in 1987 on the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem Famicom]], various iterations of the series have sold over 2,220,000 copies in total, making it one of the longest standing and best-selling Japanese AdventureGame series.
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9	The series had little to no American presence until 2008, when a UsefulNotes/NintendoDS remake of the first three installments featuring the character was translated in America as ''Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles''. To put it kindly, it was a BlindIdiotTranslation and it came off as a DarkerAndEdgier rip-off of the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series and a poor one at that, making the chances of it ever catching on in the US slim. One year later, the three cases were re-released as ''Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past'' with much better {{Woolseyism}}-type translations, three additional cases, six SuperDeformed mini-sodes, and a ton of unlockable extras. If you would be at all interested in the games, the 2009 release is the one to get. You'll thank us later.
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11	The franchise consist of the following games:
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13	[[index]]
14	* The Petty Murder of a Fragile Heart
15	* Seaside City Conspiracy
16	* Crash and Burn
17	* As Time Goes By
18	* The Unfinished Reportage
19	* At the End of the Dream
20	* While the Light Remains
21	* Innocent Black
22	* KIND OF BLUE
23	* The Girl with the White Shadow
24	* The Ancient Memory (Released overseas as ''Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles/Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past'')
25	* The Abiding Spirit
26	* The Withheld Truth
27	* Ashes and Diamonds
28	* Red Butterfly
29	* Round of Revenge
30	* Ghost of the Dusk (Released overseas as ''Jake Hunter Detective Story: Ghost of the Dusk'')
31	* Prism of Eyes
32	* Daedalus: The Awakening of Golden Jazz
33	[[/index]]
34
35	''Daedalus: The Awakening of Golden Jazz'' is a prequel to ''At the End of the Dream''. Saburo, prior to being a police officer and detective, arrives in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity to collect the belongings of his grandfather Kyosuke, who was murdered. He is helped by Yoko, who is a Japanese international student studying in the city and by his old female friend, Abby.
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37	Overall, the games are quite [[ButThouMust linear]] and definitely more read than played, but those who enjoy mystery games should find them intriguing.
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39	----
40	!!Jake Hunter shows examples of the following tropes:
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42	%%* AffectionateParody: The minisodes.
43	%%* AssholeVictim
44	%%* BeAsUnhelpfulAsPossible
45	* BlackSheep: Jake is the son to the owner of a huge corporation, but turned his back on his family to join the police force, then start his detective agency. His grandfather did the same, leaving Japan shortly after World War II ended to avoid the infighting between his family.
46	* ButThouMust: The correct/morally right decisions let you unlock Bonus Material. Poor ones still move the story along.
47	* CharacterTics:
48	** Jake is a big smoker. And a heavy drinker. Yulia comments on his ability to apparently survive on nothing but cigarettes and scotch.
49	** These are actually shown when utilizing the series' hint system: Jake smokes, Yulia fingers her hair, Ken adjusts his glasses, etc.
50	* CompilationRerelease: The DS release combines his first four cases and the first exclusive cell phone case.
51	* CulturalTranslation: The Japanese Saburo Jinguji became American Jake Hunter, to say nothing of the rest of the cast. Defied by ''The Awakening of Golden Jazz'', which titles itself "Alternate Jake Hunter" abroad due to retaining the original character names and backgrounds.
52	* ADayInTheLimelight: Some cases allow you to play as Yulia or other characters for brief periods of time.
53	%%* DeadpanSnarker: Yulia.
54	%%* ExtremeDoormat: Ken.
55	%%* FairplayWhodunnit
56	%%* FilmNoir
57	* ForegoneVictory: Would you believe the ''entire game''? The six main cases of the DS release literally cannot ever be given a game over. ''Jake Hunter Unleashed'' averts this, however.
58	%%* FriendOnTheForce: Kingsley.
59	* HintSystem: Jake can gain insight into what he's currently supposed to be doing by stopping for a smoke. In [[DevelopersForesight certain places]], he remembers he's not allowed to smoke (but you still get the hint), and other characters have their own hint-gathering tics.
60	* ICallHerVera: At least in the 2009 version, Jake has names for every one of his mobile phones. Girl names, naturally.
61	%%* InteractiveFiction
62	%%* LabRat: Samantha Martin.
63	* TheMafia: Vincent Drago, a member of the Salvatore crime family works as a source of information for Hunter, as many of his cases involve competing families in the city.
64	* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: In ''Seaside City Conspiracy'', Jake and Yulia take on what appears to be a simple missing persons case, but soon find themselves in the middle of an international entanglement centering on a smuggling operation.
65	* NestedStory: If you play the "Memories of the Past" case first, this trope results as Ken reads Jake's files, thereby letting the player go through the first five cases.
66	%%* NoTellMotel
67	%%* ThePerryMasonMethod
68	* PopQuiz: Periodically, the game forces you to stop and answer questions about the story so far. They're always questions about important plot elements, so the answers usually aren't very obscure.
69	* RetroUniverse: InvokedTrope. The game takes place fairly closely to the present day, with cell phones and [=PCs=] being fairly ubiquitous, but Jake and the other characters look and behave like they're straight out of an old crime novel, with Jake in the revamped translation even using dead phrases like "dollface" and "You're a (real) peach".
70	%%* SmokingIsCool
71	%%* SolveTheSoupCans
72	%%* TheSummation
73	* SuperDeformed: The minisodes.
74	* SuperTitle64Advance: The DS and [=3DS=] releases have the subtitle "'''D'''etective '''S'''tory" in the US.
75	* TakeYourTime: Modern installments give the player a lot of leeway to solving perilous situations regardless of urgency, like hostage negotiations, fighting with gangsters, and finding someone in a place ''that's set on fire''.
76	* UnwittingPawn: In ''Crash and Burn'', [[spoiler:Ewan Tidwell was ultimately a tool used by his bosses to kill Keagen Yates. The fact that Tidwell already had a grudge against Yates made him especially easy to manipulate]].
77	* UpdatedRerelease: ''Memories of the Past'' both subverts and plays this straight, being a fresh release of ''Detective Chronicles'', which itself was literally half the game it was supposed to be.
78	%%* VisualNovel
79	* VitriolicBestBuds: Jake and Yulia bicker a lot, but it's clear that the two of them have each other's back.
80	* WhatTheHellHero: Though it usually ends up being a ButThouMust situation, you'll still get chewed out for refusing to help people in need.
81	* WorkingTheSameCase: "As Time Goes By". Jake investigates the theft of a painting from a mob family, while Yulia is trying to find the missing mother of a little boy.

Context VisualNovel / JakeHunter