Kosodate Quiz: My Angel （「子育てクイズマイエンジェル」in Japanese, literally translated as “Parenting Quiz: My Angel”) is a game series made by Namco, the combination of Raising Sim and quiz game where you can take role as a father or/and mother who raise(s) a child from baby (0 years old) to 25 years old adult.
The game is simple: answer the child’s questions about various knowledges, if you answer correctly, you will get child raising funds and the affinity increases. However, if you choose the wrong answer, it will reduce one heart point. When the heart point reaches zero, it game will end with standard Game Over screen (in arcade versions, the game gives you a chance to continue by inserting coins before the time is running out, but in console version, it will return you back to start screen). Every quiz stages cleared followed by your choice in Event Flag scenes after you cleared the age stage, it increases certain parametersnote . The final highest personality parameter changes the appearance every yearnote .
The early ages tend to be easy general knowledge genre questions, but as the the child grows up, the questions tend to be more and get harder.
Games in the series:
- Kosodate Quiz: My Angel for Arcade Game (1996) and PlayStation (1997).
- Kosodate Quiz: My Angel 2 for Arcade Game (1997).
- Kosodate Quiz: My Angel 3: My Little Pet for Arcade Game (1998).
- Derby Quiz: My Dream Horse (spin-off title) for Arcade Game (1998).
- Kosodate Quiz More: My Angel for PlayStation (1999) (developed by Microvision, published by Namco).
- Kosodate Quiz Everywhere: My Angel for WonderSwan (port of first game).
- Unō no Tatsujin: Hirameki Kosodate My Angel (2006) for Nintendo DS
Tropes in the series:
- A Girl and Her X: In third main game, it’s required have different pets (which also affect certain personality parameters) and maintain the bond between the daughter and her pets.
- Bonus Stage: In PS1 version of first game, there are few minigames in main game that give you extra lives if you succeed. Such as aim and “shoot” hearts at the daughter’s drama performance, Space Invader-like defense Shoot 'Em Up against mosquitoes, etc.
- Bowdlerization: Exaggerated in the PlayStation port of the first game, such as replacing questions related to pornography and H-Game with family-friendlier questions, replacing seriously disturbing event scenarios (example: the kidnapping of the daughter) with lighthearted scenarios, etc.
- Boy Meets Girl:
- There's "Love Love Mode" in the PS1 version of the first game, where you take the role as a male high school student to make a love bond with his 4 different female classmates (Differ by 4 personalities) by answering her questions correctly.
- Including the played straight and inverted version. In fourth main game, there's a new mode, set in a different story where you take role as a daughter/girl (from the main story) when she was 10 years old or as the boy to maintain their first love by answering his/her questions correctly and pick the best choice in certain random events.
- Call-Back: Zigzagged. In the fourth game, there’s a connection in main story event if the daughter (when she reached 25 y.o.) asks you that she wanted to marry someone who had met when she was 10 years old: It’s the boy that she met in “First Love” mode.
- Captain Ersatz: There's a moment in certain outcome of scenario event when your daughter being a doctor: Cosplaying as a person called Red Jack with her cosplay cape.
- Career Versus Man: Played straight in the series, although you can allow the daughter to have jobs before reaching 25 y.o., the game endings are just only marriage. However only in second game onwards that also allows career-only ending.
- Cutting Off the Branches: Specially in fourth game, the only difference between the canon one with standard endings is: If The Stinger shows up
(the crowd of daughter clones with different ages and personalities gathered together) right before “Album Completion Status” screen, congratulations! You’ve just witnessed a canon ending! - Deliberate Values Dissonance: In the first arcade version, there’s a choice in daughter’s ambassador job scenario where she’s completely undressed but Nipple and Dimed in the outcome.
- Didn't See That Coming: Some choices (which seems less favored by players) in Random Event scenarios in every game (especially in Kosodate Quiz More) tend to have hilarious or awesome outcomes and vice versa, because they're unexpectedly happened.
- Earn Your Bad Ending: Averted, there’s no such thing as bad choices or implications of worst endings which leads to Abusive Parents.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: The hairstyle and accessories of your daughter (and/or son in second game) changes or not, depends on the highest personality parameter every year.
- Fanservice: Every games has this—especially the first two games. (Downplayed in the fourth one, in hot spring bathing scenes). One choice in a few Random Events allows you to see nudity of the daughter (although it’s censored), which boosts the “Sexy” parameter.
- Gameplay and Story Integration: In every Random Event scenarios in after clearing the annual quiz given by the daughter, any scenario CGs matches the appearance of the daughter depends on her highest personality parameter.
- Happily Ever After: Your daughter will marry a man if you accept her fiance. There's a possibility to avert this marriage ending (see
Nintendo Hard below) in fourth game. - Hospital Surprise: Played for Laughs after you choose the "Chase the stalker away" option at the "A stalker is approaching your daughter and she is worried” scenario. You can see it here.
- Later-Installment Weirdness: The third main game My Little Pet has a pet system, where players can choose certain pets in some stages, and try to maintain the bond between the daughter and the pet by answering correctly in special stages in order to increase "Good" parameter, if the bond parameter reaches to "Bad", the pet will ran away and the daughter will lose her pet permanently.
- Lighter and Softer: The third game afterwards completely lacks of sultry CGs, adult movie and eroge related questions unlike the previous installments.
- Married at Sea: Literally and parodied in fourth game. If the daughter doesn't survived in the last quiz stage (after you accept her fiance), she will have underwater marriage where she literally dressed up as a mermaid (while her bridegroom and the priest dressed up in sea creature costumes).
- Multiple Endings: Lots of them, depending on the daughter’s highest personality parameter and the pre-final quiz last second ending choices.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: There’s a choice for choosing jobs immediately after she graduated from highschool. The jobs vary based on the highest knowledge/skill parameter. From DJ, sport instructor, news reporter, game designer, pro-wrestler, defense lawyer and even it’s possible to choose a literal nun as a job!
- Nintendo Hard: Some questions examples below are extremely hard, requiring players to Save Scumming even for those who don’t understand English. So, good luck finishing the game. In the fourth game, there's a special ending acquired from a unique scenario where your daughter decided that she doesn't want to marry anyone, and chooses to go out in the world and live on her own. This ending can only be acquired when the daughter chooses the job of a ship commander, or keeps up her "Mischief" personality by choosing an option in every scenario which boosts her "Mischief" points.
- Notzilla: In the fourth game, one of choices in doll present scenario is giving her a Dozila action figure.
- Only the Knowledgable May Pass: At first the question seems generally easy, but as the age marches on, the questions are getting more difficult, especially in when the daughter steps into adulthood. (Not to mention you also have to know some famous people in Japan and worldwide, even understand Mayan pictogram languages, and other extremely geeky questions).
- Parental Marriage Veto: In the fourth game, you can choose to refuse the daughter's marriage ceremony, if she asks you about her marriage.
- Puni Plush: In the Nintendo DS game, the artstyle is adorably deformed unlike other games.
- Random Event: Everytime when you cleared a year stage, certain events give you 4 choice (each choice you choose boosts certain personality (“Sexy”, “Serious”, “Geek” or “Tomboy”). Sometimes you won’t know what’s the outcome after you choose a certain act, so expect some realism, Hilarity Ensues and even Random Events Plot.
- Team Pet: In the third game it’s possible to pet a dangerous animal that the daughter has rescued, even non-animals like a robot and a literal alien.
- Themed Wedding: Played for laughs in the fourth game. If you and the daughter loses the final quiz battle against the fiance for cancelling the fiance's weird and uncanny underwater wedding ceremony and choosing your own wedding ceremony.
- Unto Us a Son and Daughter Are Born: In second game, the main theme is to take role as a father, mother or both to raise heterosexual twins.
- Unusual Pets for Unusual People: Each pet you have chosen has an accessory that boosts one of your daughter’s personality parameters. note
- Video Game 3D Leap: In fourth main game (Kosodate Quiz More), there are few guess-the-pose quiz stages performed by the daughter in nice 3D polygon animations.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: There are few choices in some scenarios such as spanking the daughter as a punishment when the daughter was picky at eating vegetables, etc.
- Video Game Perversity Potential: Some “Sexy” parameter boosting choices in first 2 games, and others. Even there’s a choice in random events that allows you as the father to peep the daughter naked.
