Lucky Star fits into the visual novel gaming genre in that it's heavy on the text and light on the actual interaction. The storyline follows a preset route as novels tend to do but the player does have some input albeit a negligible amount. Your job is to sit back and enjoy the characters, the conversations, and the story as it slowly unfolds. To enhance the Lucky Star experience, the scenarios in the game feature animated sequences, self-referential tidbits, and spoken dialogue provided by the voice actresses from the animated series. A special cameo appearance by a well known character also takes place towards the end of the game - we reveal her in our Game Notes below. Please don't scroll down if you don't want to view the spoiler and ruin your gaming experience.

Jan Code: 4997766200743

View the back cover and screenshots on the main NCSX website.

NEW GAME / Begin a new adventure with Konota and the gang
LOAD GAME / Resume a game from memory card save-data
OPTION / Adjust volumes, set message speed, toggle vibration, etc
EXTRA / Three data collections which feature characters, artwork, and music

» The EXTRA section in the main menu features the following:

Profile / View 23 character profiles [all locked at the outset]
Gallery / Peruse 180 illustrations [all locked at the outset]
Sound / Listen to 30 music tracks [all locked except for selection #27]

» The images in the Gallery section are snapshots of scenes that are taken directly from the game. After playing through one game this morning, we unlocked 17 photos and 17 of the profiles. One of the songs unlocked in the Sound section was "Konatan Quest" with logo letters which clone the Dragon Quest font and style.

» Start a NEW GAME and you'll be prompted to enter your name. Afterwards, Star Wars style scrolling text crawl appears followed by a title screen which reads, "Lucky Star Universe" in big letters. True to Star Wars cinematics, the camera slowly pans down until it reaches the passage of a star-shaped cruiser which courses through space. Afterwards, the game begins with a brunette with red eyes who greets the player. In case anyone's interested, the full text of the crawl is as follows (verbatim):

It's far in the distance from the earth, the Great War that continued for a long time divided the Milky Way into two. But it's finally greeted end. Then, newly united government that ruled the galaxy gave a mission to some agents which placed reliance most. It is to proceed to the earth where themselves have ever learned again, bring mental attitude of the peaceful and coexistence namely loose and easy mind to never repeat the same mistake.

» This is an open invitation to any Japanese game publisher who needs a short English language write-up or an editor to proof-read material. We'll do it for you. At no charge. Just give us a mention in the production credits.

» After the short introduction, the camera takes in the image of a school when a mighty crash breaks the serene scene. It's Konota who appears with shabby blue hair and tears streaming from her eyes followed by Tsukasa who's also crying. Their dialogue is accompanied by speech. Tsukasa cheers up which leads to an appearance by the chipper Kagami. Finally, the quartet is complete when the pink-haired Miyuki barges onto the screen. The next scene shows Konota getting knocked on her ass on the sidewalk with her dress is all aflutter as she lays on the ground. She gets up and heads to school where she joins the cast of characters and the proper story begins.

» To set "AUTO" mode so that the text scrolls forward without any input from you, press the "SQUARE" button and a little "AUTO" icon will appear on the lower right corner of the screen. To review the previous dialogue at any point of the game, press the "TRIANGLE" button to scroll through the game script. To speed through the dialogue, press and hold the R2 trigger.

» Lucky Star features a lot of reading since you'll be spoken to by the characters. Every once in a while, you'll be prompted to select a choice of action from two to four available selections on the screen. Based on your choices, the characters will react accordingly to your actions.

» Saber of Fate/Stay Night makes a cameo towards the end of the game.

» There's an intermission dubbed "Unlucky Sisters" that plays from time to time.

» To save your progress, press the "START" button and then select the first option on the menu that appears. Next, select the save slot you wish to use and press the "O" button. Each memory card can potentially hold up to 100 save positions depending on how much space is available

This document is ©NCSX 2008. All rights reserved. No reproduction in whole or in part of this document may be made without express written consent of National Console Support, Inc.