History VideoGame / HotaruNoNikkiTheFireflyDiary

''[=htoL#NiQ=]: The Firefly Diary'' is a 2-D puzzle platforming game by Creator/NipponIchi released for the UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita in 2015, and ported to [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] in 2016.

* TheCutie: We can all agree that it's Mion, but Lumen and Umbra count as adorable too.
* DarkerAndEdgier: The game is about guiding a little girl through essentially a ''death trap'' while several shadow creatures are out to kill her, and it only gets darker as you uncover more of Mion's past. On top of that, it lacks the humor that even some of Nippon Ichi's darker games have. The color palette is also much darker than usual, using mostly greens, greys, browns, and blacks.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The true ending. Clone Mion kills Lumen and Umbra, Mion's parents, after feeling that she had gone through everything just to be abandoned for the original Mion. The original Mion, with her parents dead and no longer capable of using her body, breaks down and cries. Clone Mion, realizing what she had done, consoles the original Mion and the two enjoy a moment in the sun before their spirits disappear. Basically, [[KillEmAll everyone died]].]]

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: The game's title, [=htoL#NiQ=], is a stylized version of the Japanese title Hotaru no Nikki[[note]]'''H'''o'''t'''a('''o''')ru('''[[JapaneseRanguage l]]''') no('''#''') '''Ni'''kki('''Q''')[[/note]]. This translates to "Firefly's Diary", which makes the English title ''Firefly's Diary: The Firefly Diary''.

* AdultFear: Mion is all alone underground when you first find her. That alone would be scary enough, but then you find out there are a whole bunch of shadow creatures looking to kill her as are all the traps and hazards along the way. [[spoiler:And it only gets worse from there with her memory fragments revealing that someone broke into her room and killed her while she was asleep and other nasty things you later find out about her past.]]

* {{Minimalism}}: Compared to other Nippon Ichi games, ''[=htoL#NiQ=]'' has no spoken dialogue at all (if Mion does speak to anyone, it's rendered as a speech bubble with a picture), similar to indie games like {{Limbo}}.

* BloodlessCarnage: Played with. Many of Mion's deaths can be pretty gruesome, which includes getting crushed by gears and being chopped up by buzzsaws. Luckily, she simply faints when she gets killed, her body never appearing physical harmed in any way. However, her "fainting" is accompanied by the screen being splattered with blood. [[spoiler:Very much averted in later memory fragments.]]

** The only things in the game that can be considered humorous are shadow creature reactions to Umbra "poking" them and Mion's silly expression when under the effects of a mushroom.

* ExpendableClone: [[spoiler: The fireflies sure think so. In the true ending as soon as Mion reaches a hidden lab, they tried to get her killed so that the ''real'' Mion can posses her. The clone you've been playing as is not amused to say the least.]]
* FakeDifficulty: In Japan, the game launched with only touchscreen control scheme. The imprecise controls of the touchscreen (Not to mention the player's hand blocking part of the screen) combined with the game's hazards, which require a ridiculous amount precision, made the game nearly impossible. The developer responded by patching in a regular analog control scheme which, while still difficult to play, was better received than the touchscreen control scheme. All releases of the game outside of Japan have the analog control scheme already patched in.

** Wrath for Mion, [[spoiler:both the original and the clone]]. Mion gets really angry and vengeful at the thought of being [[spoiler:[[HatesBeingAlone abandoned]]. The original killed her parents and the clones when she felt like she had been replaced and, likewise, the clone attacks the original and her parents (This time as the fireflies Lumen and Umbra) after having been killed so that the original can take over her body. This anger ultimately ends up killing Lumen and Umbra for good and neither of the Mions can return to life.]]
** Her parents are very short-sighted [[spoiler:being concerned with bringing back their daughter in any form, no matter the cost. Creating a clone to cope with losing Mion is not necessarily a bad thing as they were unaware that the original Mion's soul was watching over them the entire time, but later leading the clone safely through the underground ruins just to get her killed and bring back the original definitely is. Their inability to understand that their cloned Mion was just as real as the original ultimately got them killed for good.]]
* GainaxEnding: The normal ending. [[spoiler:Just when Mion is about to go outside, she becomes very weak to the point of having to crawl out the door. Then, just barely a few feet from the door, she plummets into a giant pit. When she finally wakes up, she finds herself in the very same ruins in which she started her journey and must go through it all over again (thankfully, the player can just got to stage select).]]

* HatesBeingAlone: Mion, [[spoiler:both of them. They cannot stand being abandoned and will react violently if they feel that they have been.]]

* {{Irony}}: Lumen can manipulate plants, while Umbra primarily interacts with machinery. [[spoiler:In life, their roles were exactly the opposite]].
* KillTheCutie: This game does this A ''lot'' to Mion, be it by monsters, machines, or other deadly things.

''[=htoL#NiQ=]: The Firefly Diary'' is a 2-D puzzle platforming game by Creator/NipponIchi released for the UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita in 2015.

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* UnexpectedGameplayChange: The boss battle of Chapter X is a tower defense game.

** Her parents are very short-sighted [[spoiler:being concerned with bringing back their daughter in any form, no matter the cost. Creating a clone to cope with losing Mion is not necessarily a bad thing as they were unaware that the original Mion's soul was watching over them the entire time, but later leading the clone safely through the underground ruins just to get her killed and bring back the original certainly isn't. Their inability to understand that their cloned Mion was just as real as the original ultimately got them killed for good.]]

* KillTheCutie: This game does this A LOT to Mion, be it by monsters, machines, or other deadly things.

The game utilizes both the front and back touchscreen to control the fireflies (though there is an option to use the analogue stick instead). The front touchscreen controls Lumen, who Mion will try to follow wherever she goes. The back touchscreen pauses the game and turns the world black and blue. During this time, the player controls Umbra who can travel through any black colored structures or items. If said structure have a glowing pink dot, Umbra can interact with this to affect the physical world like causing parts of a structure to collapse to create a small bridge for Mion to cross.

** BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:At the very least, both original and clone Mion reconcile with each other and, after spending well over a millennia in the dark, spend their last moments basking in the sunlight.]]

* UnexpectedGameplayChange: The boss battle of Chapter X is a tower defense game.

** Her parents are very short-sighted [[spoiler:being concerned with bringing back their daughter in any form, no matter the cost. Creating a clone to cope with losing Mion is not necessarily a bad thing, but later leading the clone safely through the underground ruins just to get her killed and bring back the original certainly isn't. Their inability to understand that their cloned Mion was just as real as the original ultimately got them killed for good.]]

** Her parents are very short-sighted [[spoiler:being concerned with bringing back their daughter in any form, no matter the cost. Creating a clone to cope with losing Mion is not necessarily a bad thing, but later leading the clone safely through the underground ruins just to get her killed and bring back the original certainly is. Their inability to understand that their cloned Mion was just as real as the original ultimately got them killed for good.]]

** Wrath for Mion, [[spoiler:both the original and the clone]]. Mion gets really angry and vengeful at the thought of being [[spoiler:[[HatesBeingAlone abandoned]]. The original killed her parents and the clones when she felt like she had been replaced and, likewise, the clone attacks the original and her parents (This time as the fireflies Lumen and Umbra) after having been killed so that the original can take over her body. This anger ultimately ends up killing Lumen and Umbra for good and neither Mion can return to life.]]

** Wrath for Mion, [[spoiler:both the original and the clone]]. Mion gets really angry and vengeful at the thought of being [[spoiler:[[HatesBeingAlone abandoned]]. The original killed her parents and the clones when she feels like she had been replaced and, likewise, the clone attacks the original and her parents (This time as the fireflies Lumen and Umbra) after having been killed so that the original can take over her body. This anger ultimately ends up killing Lumen and Umbra for good and neither Mion can return to life.]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: The game is about guiding a little girl through essentially death trap while several shadow creatures are out to kill her, and it only gets darker as you uncover more of Mion's past. On top of that, it lacks the humor that even some of Nippon Ichi's darker games have. The color palette is also much darker than usual, using mostly greens, greys, browns, and blacks.
** The only things in the game that can be considered humorous as shadow creature reactions to Umbra "poking" them and Mion's silly expression when under the effects of a mushroom.

* TheManyDeathsOfYou: Courtesy of Mion being a OneHitWonder. There are even trophies for dying 10 and 100 times, respectively.

* OneHitPointWonder: Mion dies in one hit against basically anything in the game. When controlling Lumen alone, touching anything solid can kill her.
* ReplacementGoldfish: [[spoiler:Mion. ''Both of them''. The spirit of the original Mion, feeling that she had been replaced by her clone, kills her parents and her dog in retaliation (at least in one interpretation). Then in the true ending, the clone Mion, feeling that she had been abandoned by her parents for the original Mion, attacks them in retaliation. It doesn't end well for either of them.]]

* CrapsackWorld: [[spoiler:There are hints that the world was ravished by war.]]