999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors - Nintendo DS (Spike) video game collectible - Main Image 1
Title:
999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors
Genre:
Adventure
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Release Date:
1969-12-31
Game Summary:
999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (極限脱出 9時間9人9の扉 Kyokugen Dasshutsu Ku Jikan Ku Nin Kyū no Tobira, lit. ”Extreme Escape: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors”) is an adventure game developed by Chunsoft and published in Japan by Spike on December 10, 2009, and in North America by Aksys Games on November 16, 2010. The game’s design team was led by Kotaro Uchikoshi, who is also the writer of the acclaimed visual novel Ever 17: The Out of Infinity. A novel based on the game has also been released, with a slightly-different plot.
Nine people have been abducted by a mysterious kidnapper who uses the alias ”Zero.” They find themselves on a ship— possibly a replica of the RMS Titanic and are told that they have nine hours to escape before the ship sinks beneath the waves. Zero is running the ”Nonary Game” - a game ”where you will put your life on the line.” The group is forced to split up into various subgroups and explore ”numbered doors,” behind which lie Zero’s puzzles. Zero promises that escape lies behind a door numbered. The characters must work together despite suspicions of each other to advance, as well as to discover Zero’s motive and identity.
The game is very text-heavy for an adventure game; more emphasis is placed on the characters, their motives, and the mystery of the situation than the puzzles.
A second game in the series, Kyokugen Dasshutsu Adv: Zennin Shibō Desu, was announced in August 2011, and will be released in English as Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward. Among the cast are Clover and Alice, both of whom were featured in 999. The antagonist also shares the same codename, but with a ”3” attached.

Development and marketing

In 999, Uchikoshi and producer, Jiro Ishii, initially intended to have boys and girls locked together via explosive handcuffs, but later decided against it. In the United States, a replica of the watches seen on the wrists of the game’s characters was offered as a pre-order bonus at GameStop; due to low pre-orders, Aksys later made these available on their website’s shop, both in a bundle with the game and individually.

Reception

999 received critical acclaim, with several near perfect scores emphasizing its well written story, remarkable presentation, and addictive gameplay. Some of the notable review scores are a perfect 10 out of 10 from Destructoid, 4.5 out of 5 stars from Cheat Code Central, and 9 out of 10 from IGN, Nintendo Power, and GamesRadar. The game received aggregate scores of 9.0 out of 10 from GameStats (based on 13 reviews), 83.42% from GameRankings (based on 17 reviews), and 82 out of 100 on Metacritic (based on 26 critics). Metro GameCentral compared ”the effect your decisions have on the unfurling plot” to that of Mass Effect 2 and concluded that 999 has ”one of gaming’s best told stories.” The game received the ”Best Story” award from IGN’s Best of 2010 awards, and received the award for ”Best Graphic Adventure” of 2010 from RPGFan.
Following the game’s release, it sold out from many US retailers both traditional and online, including Amazon.com and GameStop, resulting in high prices on the secondary market. Aksys has since announced a second printing.
Platform:
Nintendo DS
Publisher:
Spike
Developers:
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Country of Purchase:
United States
Input Devices:
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Automatic Estimated Value:
~£37.16
Automatic Estimated Date:
2024-10-16
Date Added:
2018-07-03 14:08:10
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