History VideoGame / NanashiNoGame

* AgentScully: In ''Me'', Ren is quite skeptical about how a [[UrbanLegends rumored]] "cursed" game out there has killed people before. And she is even more skeptical to it, mostly because [[spoiler: she is playing ''it'' as well]].

** In ''Me'', [[spoiler:after the normal ending, you are safe, and you saved Akane while helping her reconcile with Kenta and Naoki, but your girlfriend Ren is still in a coma after her experiences in Day 4]].

** [[spoiler:The hints that Yuuto gives you about a puzzle to advance into the cursed game to find Odaka, are actually referring to where Akane is hiding]].

* DecoyProtagonist: Riko in the original game [[spoiler:...until she gets killed by her boyfriend's ghost]]; and Ren, who will do the other [[StoryBranching route]] that the ''Me'''s main character does not chooses while offscreen, [[spoiler: gets into a coma before going to get some info and clues from Ikuta]].

* DownerEnding: The "golden" ending of ''Me'', which also slips somewhat into GainaxEnding territory. [[spoiler: After you free Akane from the "Ultimate Evil" that was her hatred (and getting all of the items), you are rewarded with creating a new "proxy" for the EldritchAbomination that was using her (and to some extent, Asahi) to keep killing. It chooses Ren, and the only way to "wake" her up is ''murdering'' you. [[FromBadToWorse To makes things worse]], the game is transmitted to ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou everyone]]'']] .

** [[spoiler:Ren enters into a coma on the ''fourth'' day of ''Me''. And during the "golden" ending, she eventually is chosen to be the new "proxy" of the "thing" that cursed the game]].

** ''Me'' follows a similar pattern as well. In Day One, the protagonist finds out that his best friend died because of the cursed game, it gets transferred to his TS... only to go to a previous victim's apartment to research about the cursed game, and getting one of their eyes cursed by a ghost... and then, everything gets ''weirder'' and worse from there. [[spoiler: You then find out that there is not only one ghost, but ''two''... and then your girlfriend falls into a coma...)]].

** Perhaps it was [[{{Foreshadowing}} fault of the cursed game]], or perhaps not... but it is also implied in ''Me'', that Yuuto had feelings for Ren, the main character's girlfriend.

*** BittersweetEnding: The regular ending, with the protagonist once again managing to survive. They also helped [[spoiler:Akane see the truth about Naoki and Kenta's deaths]], allowing them to move on. Unfortunately,[[spoiler: the protagonist's girlfriend, Ren, is still in a coma and]] the protagonist's TS sends the game... ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou to the player]]''.
*** GoldenEnding: Which turns out to be a [[DownerEnding downer]]. Similar to the regular ending, except it expands on the [[spoiler:Ren]] situation. [[spoiler:It turns out that Ren has become the next host for whatever is causing the curse of the game and the only way to awaken her is by killing the protagonist.]] And the TS sends the game to ''everyone''.

* SinisterSubway: The subway locations in the games are not too friendly. Abandoned and dark, as well as filled with Regrets. It's also inside subway trains that [[spoiler:Riko and Ren]], in the first and second game, meet their ends.

* SpookyPainting: Odaka and Yuuto sure have weird art tastes... even Odaka has a CreepyChangingPainting in his room that almost occupies the whole wall!

%%* ItsUpToYou

** BittersweetEnding: The regular ending, with the protagonist once again managing to survive. They also helped [[spoiler:Akane see the truth about Naoki and Kenta's deaths]], allowing them to move on. Unfortunately,[[spoiler: the protagonist's girlfriend, Ren, is still in a coma and]] the protagonist's TS sends the game... ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou to the player]]''.
** GoldenEnding: Which turns out to be a [[DownerEnding downer]]. Similar to the regular ending, except it expands on the [[spoiler:Ren]] situation. [[spoiler:It turns out that Ren has become the next host for whatever is causing the curse of the game and the only way to awaken her is by killing the protagonist.]] And the TS sends the game to ''everyone''.

%%* SinisterSubway

%%* WelcomeToCorneria

* MultipleEndings:
** In the original game, there are two endings, a good end and a bad end. [[spoiler:Getting the good ending requires you to find all six hidden items in the RPG.]]
** In ''Me'', there are two endings as well, though they are more of a [[spoiler: BittersweetEnding and a DownerEnding, both possible to reach once you complete the whole game while getting all the secret items]].

* LetsPlay:
** One of the first ones was done by [=GhostCar=], located in the LP Archive [[http://lparchive.org/Nanashi-no-Game/ here]], when the original game didn't have a translation available.
** There is this [[http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmYMSo92EWx_ovh3hE6PAwM_JzpQ6OUag one as well]], made by [=AesthethicGamer=].
** ''Nanashi no Game Me'' has one by [=MikaruMenoko=] [[http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6346E703B71BFC3E here]]. It's not fully translated, but it has some notes here and there to understand it and it is also useful to find what do what on it.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/user/iconoclast187 iconoclast187, AKA Niggurath]], has also taken it upon himself to play through [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuoM6YEhavdyyDGQoFRgtcfNqmIBPCyH_ both]] [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuoM6YEhavdwQi254teAEGQO1GA7FJ9DH games]]. For ''Me'', the game's text is translated and edited in over the original Japanese writing, since it doesn't have any in-game translations to English.

''Nanashi no Game'' ("The Game with No Name" or "The Nameless Game") is a SurvivalHorror game by Creator/SquareEnix for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS that takes place in two worlds: the real world and the eightbit game world of the cursed RPG. The actions done in the game world give clues to what's happening in the story while the real world has you exploring places while avoiding the ghosts of previous victims. A sequel known as ''Nanashi no Game Me'' (the subtitle translating to "Eye"), features a new protagonist, the cursed RPG, and a cursed {{platformer}}, was also released for the DS, and counts with independent versions of both cursed games, subtitled as ''Chi'' ("Blood") and ''Goku'' ("Prison") on {{DSiWare}}.

** The third day takes place at the Mercy General Hospital, a place that was abandoned four years before the events of the game due to rumors of illegal medical practices. [[spoiler: It's the place that is distributing the game. How? ''Well''...]] This is also the point when the ghosts or "Regrets" start appearing.
** A year after, during the events of ''Me'', the hospital plays an important part on it as well, [[spoiler:until the sixth day]]. However, the building seems to have an upgrade (for better or worse) on its appearance [[spoiler: since this is where you find a comatose Akane]].

* AgentMulder: Both professors, Ohyama and Kawagoe, believe in the paranormal. Kawagoe inclines too much on the occult, while Ohyama balances his scientific and paranormal beliefs. [[spoiler: Imagine Kawagoe's surprise knowing that his friend and colleague died because of the cursed RPG game.]]
* AgentScully: In ''Me'', Ren is quite skeptical about a [[UrbanLegends rumored]] "cursed" game out there has killed people before. And she is even more skeptical to it, mostly because [[spoiler: she is playing ''it'' as well]].

* AndIMustScream: Anyone who fails in complete the game is stuck inside it forever, either as a statue or a NPC.

* ApocalypticLog: The notes in the RPG from the Kuento Hotel's manager in ''Me'' narrate his eventual [[spoiler: [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie "demon" transformation]] while escaping from the demons themselves]].

** In ''Me'', [[spoiler:after the normal ending, you are safe, and you saved Akane while also helping her reconcile with Kenta and Naoki, but your girlfriend Ren is still in a coma, after her experiences in Day 4]].

** They are all over the place in the Mercy General Hospital. And as long as you investigate deeper, you realize that the rumors about its illegal medical practices are completely true.

** The handprints also get a new role during ''Me'', since your left eye finds two variations. The ones that are white [[spoiler:help you, mostly to resolve puzzles in the RPG world]], while the red ones [[spoiler:get in your way until you complete the platformer levels]].
* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: Once your character gets the game on their TS, they find it impossible to escape from it. [[spoiler:And Ohyama did his best to ignore it, as part of an experiment, attempting to resolve the mystery directly; it goes as perfect as you would expect from it]].
* TheCameo: The voice of [[{{Vocaloid}} Miku Hatsune]] is used in the Mandarake store in the Nakano Broadway mall to sing its theme song.

** [[spoiler:The hints that Yuuto gives you about a puzzle to advance into the cursed game when finding Odaka, are actually referring to where Akane is]].

* CreepyCemetery: The Southern Temple of Rest has not only a shrine but a graveyard as well, where [[spoiler: both Naoki and Kenta]] rest. It's not only creepy because of the Regrets that lurk around, but also because [[spoiler: its underground has a dungeon-like prison that was probably used a century ago]].

* CueTheRain: It's mostly present in ''Me''.
** Once you are close to arrive at [[spoiler:the apartment complex where Ohyama lived, you are not only received by the rain... but also by an angry ghost [[LadyInRed wearing a red dress]]]].

* DecoyProtagonist: Riko in the original game [[spoiler: until she gets killed by her boyfriend's ghost]]; and Ren, who will do the other StoryBranching route that the ''Me'''s main character does not chooses (offscreen) [[spoiler: but gets into a coma before going to get some info on Ikuta]].

* DownerEnding: The "golden" ending of ''Me'', which also slips somewhat into GainaxEnding territory. [[spoiler: After you free Akane from the "Ultimate Evil" that was her hatred, (and getting all of the items) you are rewarded with creating a new "proxy" for the EldritchAbomination that was using Akane (and to some extent, Asahi) to keep killing. It chooses Ren, and the only way to "wake" her up is ''murdering'' you. [[FromBadToWorse To makes things worse]], the game is transmitted to ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou everyone]]'']] .

* EldritchAbomination: It's not clear what is [[spoiler: the real identity of the thing that lures ''Me'''s hero into its trap]]. It could be either what has been left of [[spoiler: Asahi's resentment or could also be an entity that just wants a body to keep ''playing'' its endless killing ''game''.]] The game, however, suggests that [[spoiler: it has been using humans even before Asahi, if the graveyard's underground prison (and its out-of-time prisoner Regret) is proof enough.]]

** Instead of using the TS, ''Me'''s protagonist had his eye cursed. With it, similar to the static, it will react depending on how closer the ghosts are from him.

** Before the events of any of the games, the RPG scene is going to be ''important'' as the player progresses. The RPG scene of a bench overlooking the sea? [[spoiler: In the "real world", that's your ultimate destination]]. The scene of the cabin and the wheat fields? [[spoiler:This is where Akane is supposed to be on her mind.]]
** During the prologue of ''Me'', you recruit your friends into a party. Well, [[spoiler: actually, they aren't neither ''you'' nor ''them'' but Akane and her friends' who were involved in a similar situation]].

* GhostlyGape: The hostile "Regrets" aren't normal ghosts, but their faces lack any expression (nor mouth, nor eyes), meaning that they completely lost their humanity while at the same time implying that ''something'' from that humanity remains trapped inside the game.

* HauntedHouse: Or, well, it looks like it is supposed to. Ikuta's house does not only look that it was seized, but it also has some charms that repel bad spirits on each entrance. Which do not seem to work, [[spoiler:considering the {{flashback}} the player has from Tomoka's murder and Asahi's escape... and by how you find Ikuta inside of it)]].

* ISeeDeadPeople: Every victim who has played the cursed game will see the Regrets. Or, in case of ''Me'''s hero, he is the only person of his acquaintances that can only see them at first with his left eye [[spoiler:(and it gets worse, since there are also ''invisible'' Regrets)]].
* ImColdSoCold: [[spoiler:Ohyama's]] last e-mail to the main character is about they complaining about how numb their fingers feel... and then, they transform into a Regret.

* ItsUpToYou

** Some very noticeable ones are when [[spoiler:Riko and Ohyama]] come for you. [[spoiler:Riko's]] ghost attacks you in the hospital, cue one of the scarier chase scenes of the game; [[spoiler:you not only see when Ohyama transforms into a Regret]], but he will also run up to you... and he is ''pretty'' fast, so you have to react quick, because your running is useless.

* LadyInRed:
** One of the Regrets uses a vibrant red dress [[spoiler: she is the composer of the ''Project Sun'' game]], to distinguish her from the others.
** [[spoiler: Red Akane. Akane's hatred and resentment personified uses a red sundress, similar to her white counterpart]].

* LighthousePoint: The Seven Capes Lighthouse, somewhere close to the Capeside Hotel, as one of the remaining visiting attractions from the area.

** In ''Me'', the important triangle in the game is [[spoiler:the one between Akane and her friends, Naoki and Kenta. Akane and Naoki grown up together LikeBrotherAndSister, and Kenta was Naoki's best friend. While Naoki falls for Akane, she reveals that she is in love with Kenta, and start dating, which makes Naoki sad and depressed, because that meant that Akane would still see him as a "sibling". As a form of revenge, he wanted Akane and Kenta to play the same "cursed" game as him... ending with bad and worse results.]]

** "Regret" is the name Ohyama thinks for the ghosts. [[spoiler: Even further, since their manifestation is hatred and resentment of the victim, it also makes them "regret" of whatever mistake they did when they were alive]].
* MindScrew: [[spoiler:When you get available to reach the PlayableEpilogue of ''Me'', there is a line that will unleash a change in the player's perception of the entire series: ''WH ERE IS MY BO DY?'']]
* MisterExposition: Professor Ohyama serves as such since he is teaching a seminar related to "transmedia", and so he is developing an theory around the true nature of the urban legend of this "cursed game". A colleague of his, Professor Kawagoe serves this role as well on "Me" [[spoiler:and he knew about the cursed game because Ohyama told him about it.]]

** The situation in which [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Utasoft]] seemed to be involved: being close to bankruptcy, with the hopes of doing just one game that could save the company, it being a {{JRPG}} game which title has a MeaningfulName for both the director and the company. Sounds familiar? This is how ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI Final Fantasy]]'' saved [[Creator/SquareEnix Squaresoft]] back in the 80s. However, this took a very dark turn for Utasoft.

* NightmareFetishist: Professor Ohyama, and his colleague, Professor Kawagoe, are quite eccentric when trying to prove a point... and they could become very obsessed to it. They even end up sending their students to investigate places at unnerving hours of the night without even making enough research about those.

** Kawagoe later mentions that [[spoiler:he would have loved to be in his position, but Ohyama [[ItMakesSenseInContext replies]] that the reason he couldn't is because Kawagoe believes ''too'' much on Occult rather than he, as he balanced [[MagicVersusScience Science and Paranormal]] on his theories.]]
* NotSoWeak: Both main characters. Explain how the protagonist of the first game could make it through a HellHotel at night or why a crybaby as ''Me'''s protagonist made it through the entire game and being sent by Kawagoe to lots of abandoned places at night.

* OffScreenTeleportation: When you are trying to escape from the Bloody Man, he keeps appearing in every corner to get you. [[spoiler:It's probably justified that Yutani, as an adult, is much faster than Asahi, or it's also logical that this flashback event is also based on a child's memory]].

* OverdrawnAtTheBloodBank: Judging by the room, [[spoiler:Yutani]] might as well have stuffed Tomoka into a blender and pressed ''purée''.
* PeekABooCorpse

* PurelyAestheticGender: Averted during the first game, while its effects are minor according to some dialogue, it will point out whether [[spoiler: Odaka is jealous of you or secretly in love with you]] or if the bride or the groom attacks you during the chapel scene in Freya.
* TheResenter: [[spoiler: Yutani]] resented [[spoiler: Ushio Ikuta]] for having a family and a life beyond work. So, they [[spoiler: murdered his wife. That way for him to devote himself even more to pulling Uta-soft back from the brink]]. And that didn't work out so well...

** The Ikuta residence has a staircase that bends around a corner. If you're even mildly familiar with ''Film/JuOn'', you will expect a scare involving it. [[spoiler:It does happen, but not in the way you expect. Instead, you yourself flee frantically down the stairs, playing as a little girl escaping from the man who butchered her mother]].

* SinisterSubway
* SanitySlippage: ''Everyone'' that is or gets too involved into the game, to varying degrees (whether you are trying to avoid the ghosts, or if you were involved with its development before your company went bankrupt, or if you are jealous of your best friend...).
* SmokingIsCool

* UrbanLegends: The "cursed game" was originally contributed to exist as an urban legend. However, the amount of strange deaths out there in Nanto is seemed to be connected to it. Who knows how many others it had killed, actually...
* WelcomeToCorneria

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Where is Nanto supposed to be? Nara? Tokyo? Fukuoka District? Or is it actually a combination of those places (Nanto is, in fact, another name for Nara, but...)? It doesn't help with the cameo of real locations such as Famille Tenjin (in name only) or Nakano Broadway (the ''Nanashi no Game'''s developers changed minor details to the real location, though).

** The Regrets, however, are some of the few victims of the game [[spoiler:(more explicitly, it's implied that the recurrent Regrets of the first game are the game developers, the others from the sequel though are the victims of the places the main character has to go through)]] .

** The fan translation did an interesting one in the Famille Tenjin apartment complex. Odaka's neighbors are named [[Creator/ShinjiMikami Mikami]], [[HideyukiKikuchi Kikuchi]], and [[Franchise/SilentHill Toyama]].

* AgentScully: In ''Me'', Ren is quite skeptical about a [[UrbanLegends rumored]] "cursed" game out there has killed people before. [[spoiler: And she is even more skeptical to it, mostly because she is playing ''it'' as well]].

* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler: Whatever the thing that lures ''Me'''s hero into its trap is either Asahi's left resentment or just an entity wanting a body to keep playing its endless killing game, its real identity is up in the air. Though, the game suggests that it has been using humans before Asahi, if the graveyard's underground prison (and its out-of-time prisoner Regret) is proof enough.]]

** During the prologue of ''Me'', you recruit your friends into a party. Well, [[spoiler: actually, they aren't neither ''you'' nor ''them'' but Akane and her friends' who were involved in a similar situation, while also making a parallel with you and your friends]].

* HauntedHouse: Or, well, it looks like it is supposed to. Ikuta's house does not only look that it was seized, but it also has some charms that repel bad spirits on each entrance. Which do not seem to work, [[spoiler:considering the {{flashback}} the player has from Tomoka's murder and Asahi's escape... and by how you find Ikuta inside it)]].

* HellIsThatNoise: The "music" Cursed RPG becomes more and more degraded until it's nothing more than digital noise.

* MultipleEndings: In the original game, there are two endings, a good end and a bad end. [[spoiler:Getting the good ending requires you to find all six hidden items in the RPG.]] In ''Me'' though... [[spoiler:it's both a BittersweetEnding and a DownerEnding, the last one is possible to reach once you complete the whole game when getting all the secret items]].

* SanitySlippage: ''Everyone'' that is or gets too involved into the game, to varying degrees (whether you are trying to avoid the ghosts, or you were involved with its development before your company went bankrupt, or you are jealous of your best friend...).

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Where is Nanto supposed to be? Nara? Tokyo? Fukuoka District? Or is it actually a combination of those places (as a fact, Nanto is another name to Nara, but...)? It doesn't help with the cameo of real locations such as Famille Tenjin (in name only) or Nakano Broadway (the developers changed minor details to the real location, though).

* DownerEnding: The "golden" ending of ''Me'', which also slips somewhat into GainaxEnding territory. [[spoiler: After you free Akane from the "Ultimate Evil", (and getting all of the items) you are rewarded with creating a new "proxy" for the EldritchAbomination that was using Akane (and to some extent, Asahi) to keep killing. It chooses Ren, and the only way to "wake" her up is ''murdering'' you. [[FromBadToWorse To makes things worse]], the game is transmitted to ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou everyone]]'']] .

** [[spoiler:Ren enters into a coma on the ''fourth'' day of ''Me''. And during the "golden" ending, she eventually is choosen to be the new "proxy" of the thing that cursed the game]].

* MultipleEndings: In the original game, there are two endings, a good end and a bad end. [[spoiler:Getting the good ending requires you to find all six hidden items in the RPG.]] In ''Me'' though... [[spoiler:it's both a BittersweetEnding and a DownerEnding, the last one is possible to reach once you complete the whole game again]].

* NightmareFetishist: Professor Ohyama, and his colleague, Professor Kawagoe, are quite eccentric when trying to prove a point... and they could become very obsessed to it. They even end sending their students to investigate places at unnerving hours of the night without even making enough research about those.

** [[spoiler: The ultimate bad ending of the sequel has an a cappella of the original ''Nanashi no Game'' music track that evokes a certain [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion series]] with a GainaxEnding too.]]

* TheStinger: Depending on the ending, things for the main characters could either be more or less good, could be bad, or, well, just ''worse''.

** These serve as part of a jump scare [[spoiler:thanks to Red!Akane]], as soon as you are trying to find out something useful.

** Capeside Hotel has seen better days in the past, since the main character from the original game finds it in ruins. [[spoiler:This is implied to be the last place where Asahi escaped to, since it was linked to her happy memories with her family]].

* HyperactiveSprite: True to 8-bit video game tradition, all of the sprites are this. [[spoiler: Red Akane]] is so hyperactive [[spoiler: she]] practically ''vibrates'' in place.

* JumpScare: For this reason, the game suggests to use head/audiphones to experience the games' 3D sound. You know the scare will come for you, and when it happens, it will keep scaring you, no matter if it's only a cat scare or... a ghost's breath behind you.

** [[spoiler: Red!Akane. Akane's hatred and resentment personified uses a red sundress, similar to her white counterpart]].

** [[spoiler:White!Akane]], who is seen wearing a white sundress, is not a child nor an adult, but a teenager who is seeking for help and peace beyond death.

* DownerEnding: The "golden" ending of ''Me'', which also slips somewhat into GainaxEnding territory. [[spoiler: After you free Akane from the "Ultimate Evil", (and getting all of the items) you are rewarded with creating a new "proxy" for the EldritchAbomination that was using Akane (and to some extent, Asahi) to keep killing. It chooses Ren, and the only way to "wake" her up is ''murdering'' you. [[FromBadToWorse To makes things worse]], the game is transmitted to ''[[TheFourthWallWillProtectYou everyone]]'']] .

** The DownerEnding from ''Me'' puts the bad ending from the other game in a new light: [[spoiler: having the hero out of the way, the cursed RPG is transmitted from his TS to ''everyone''.]]

* GhostlyGape: The hostile "Regrets" aren't normal ghosts, but their faces lack any expression (nor mouth, nor eyes), meaning that they completely lost their humanity, implying that ''something'' from that humanity remains trapped inside the game.

** The third day takes place at the Mercy General Hospital, a place that was abandoned four years before the events of the game due to rumors of illegal medical practices. [[spoiler: It's the place that is distributing the game by internet. How? ''Well''...]] This is also the point when the ghosts or "Regrets" start appearing.
** A year after, during the events of ''Me'', the same hospital plays an important part on it as well, [[spoiler:until the sixth day]]. However, the building seems to have an upgrade (for better or worse) on its appearance [[spoiler: since this is where you find a comatose Akane]].

** In ''Me'', [[spoiler:after the normal ending, you are safe, and you saved Akane while also helping her reconcile with Kenta and Naoki, but your girlfriend Ren is in a coma after her experiences in Day 4]].

* BloodIsTheNewBlack: Your encounter with the Bloody Man [[spoiler:aka Yutani, when playing as Asahi on a {{flashback}}]].

** The handprints get a new role during ''Me'', though, since you find two variations. The ones that ones are white [[spoiler:help you, mostly to resolve puzzles in the RPG world]], while the red ones [[spoiler:get in your way until you complete the platformer levels]].

* DecoyProtagonist: Riko in the original game [[spoiler: until she gets killed by her boyfriend's ghost]].

** The first game is overloaded with these: On the second day, the creepy and bloody abandoned train cars that Riko walks through are all labeled as "Car ''4''". Mercy General Hospital, on day 3, has been closed for ''four'' years. UTA-SOFT is on the ''fourth'' floor of Nakano Broadway, and it has also [[spoiler: been bankrupt for ''four'' years]], which you find out from the ''fourth'' e-mail you receive on the ''fourth'' day.

* HauntedHouse: Or, well, it looks like it is supposed to. Ikuta's house does not only look that it was seized, but it also has some charms that repel bad spirits on each entrance. Which do not seem to work, [[spoiler:considering the {{flashback}} the player has from Tomoka's murder and Asahi's escape... and by how you find Ikuta inside it).

* JumpScare: For this reason, the game suggests to use head/audiphones to experience the games' 3D sound. You know the scares will come for you, and when it happens, it will keep scaring you, no matter if it's only a cat scare or... a ghost's breath behind you.

* KillEmAll: It’s implied that the hatred and resentment that a spirit has towards someone, it will continue killing people in infinite cycles. Whatever is behind [[spoiler: Asahi and Akane]], it is implied that they serve as tools for them to keep killing ForTheEvulz. The really intriguing part is that [[spoiler: there seems to be no end for the curse]].

** In ''Me'', it is implied that Yuuto was jealous of the main protagonist because Ren was his girlfriend. And there's also [[spoiler:Akane and her friends Naoki and Kenta, but Akane has feelings for one of them. While influenced by the jealousy and/or the game itself, the one left kills their friend but accidentally ''murders'' Akane.]]

* MindScrew: [[spoiler:When you get available to reach the PlayableEpilogue of ''Me'' there is a line that will unleash a change in the player's perception of the entire series: ''WH ERE IS MY BO DY?'']]
* MisterExposition: Professor Ohyama serves as such since he is teaching a seminar related to "transmedia", and so he is developing an theory around the true nature of the urban legend of this "cursed game". A collegue of his, Professor Kawagoe serves this role as well on "Me" [[spoiler:and he knew about the cursed game because Ohyama told him about it.]]

** Kawagoe later mentions that [[spoiler:he would have loved to be in his position, but Ohyama [[ItMakesSenseInContext replies]] that Kawagoe believes too much on Occult rather than he, as he balanced [[MagicVersusScience Science and Paranormal]] on his theories.]]

* TheStinger: Depending on the ending, things for the main characters could be either more or less good, could be bad or, well, just ''worse''.

* SurvivalHorror: One of the few series (if not, the only one) that were released for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, which holds an interesting premise.

** Kawagoe later mentions that [[spoiler:he would have loved to be in his position, but Ohyama [[ItMakesSenseInContext replies]] that Kawagoe believes too much on Occult rather than he, as he balanced [[MagicVsScience Science and Paranormal]] on his theories.]]

* WomanInRed:
** One of the Regrets uses a vibrant red dress [[spoiler: she is the composer of the ''Project Sun'' game]], to distinguish her from the others.
** [[spoiler: Red!Akane. Akane's hatred and resentment personified uses a red sundress, similar to her white counterpart]].

* AllInARow: ''Me'' uses this with "your" party members during the RPG scenes.
* AndIMustScream: Anyone who fails in completing the game gets turned into a statue inside of it or lives inside it with no escape whatsoever.

* BloodIsTheNewBlack: Your [[spoiler:(playing as Asahi)]] encounter with "the Bloody Man" [[spoiler:aka Yutani]].

** Expect them to be all over the place during the ghost chases.

* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: Once your character plays the game, they find it impossible to escape from it - see ClingyMacGuffin below.
** [[spoiler:Prof. Ohyama, however, decides to do an experiment - while the main character plays the game and attempts to solve the mystery directly, he ignores the game completely, and it goes perfect as you would expect from it]].

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The lighthouse picture you see drawn in Odaka's apartment? That's the final destination of the game]].
* ClingyJealousGirl: [[spoiler:Riko is clearly jealous of you (if you play as a female) because of your friendship with Odaka.]]

* DeadpanSnarker: The protagonist in the first game.
* DecoyProtagonist: Riko, [[spoiler: who gets killed by her boyfriend's ghost]], and Ren, [[spoiler:who falls comatose by the end of her "adventure"]].

* DownerEnding: In ''Me'' this is what happens, while it also reaches into the GainaxEnding territory. [[spoiler: Once you play the whole game ''again'', your reward is in "creating" a new proxy for the cursed game's entity/spirit (which happens to be more of a [[EldritchAbomination a digital "soul" without a body]] rather than a demon or a "ghost"), so you get ''killed'', and [[GrandTheftMe your girlfriend becomes the new body of this entity]], and the game is distributed not only to [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou you]], but '''everyone'''. Also, the ending song of this evokes a [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion familiar sentiment]], too]]. What.

** There's a similar scene that plays a lot of importance until later in the game. [[spoiler:The prologue happens as such since it is an reenactment of what happened to Akane and her friends]].

** During the prologue of ''Me'', you recruit your friends into a party. Well, [[spoiler: actually, they aren't neither ''you'' nor ''them'' but Akane and her friends' who died in a similar situation]].

** The first game is overloaded of these: On the second day, the creepy and bloody abandoned train cars that Riko walks through are all labeled as "Car ''4''". Mercy General Hospital, on day 3, has been closed for ''four'' years. UTA-SOFT is on the ''fourth'' floor of Nakano Broadway, and it has also [[spoiler: been bankrupt for ''four'' years]], which you find out from the ''fourth'' e-mail you receive on the ''fourth'' day.

** In the bad ending of the original game, [[spoiler: the cursed RPG is transferred from your hero/ine's TS to ''yours'']].
** [[spoiler:The ultimate DownerEnding of ''Me'' gets so much worse. After getting the hero out of the way, the cursed RPG is transferred from his TS to not only to yours, but ''everyone'''s.]]
* FromBadToWorse: Chapter one of the original game ends with your character finding your friend Odaka dead in his apartment. Chapter two shows the last moments of Riko's life and her death by the ghost of Odaka. [[spoiler:Near the end of Chapter 6, your ally Professor Ohyama finally falls victim to the game as well.]]
** ''Me'' follows the same pattern. In Day One you find out that your best friend died because of the cursed game, the game gets transferred to your TS, you then go to Odaka's appartment to research about the cursed game, just only to get one of your eyes cursed... but then, everything gets weirder and worse from there. [[spoiler: You then find out that there is not only one ghost, but ''two''... and then your girlfriend falls into a coma...)
* GenreDeconstruction: Oh boy. It's deconstructed to the point that the cursed game isn't actually an RPG - there's no battles, no leveling up, no buying items, no resting at inns. Just walking around and talking to people [[spoiler:and finding hidden items to unlock the best ending]].
** [[spoiler:The sequel falls into it but also averts it since Akane's story is represented as an RPG story: you have your party, you fight monsters and you have conflicts with one of your team members, all in its 8-bit glory... until you see them die in an unconventional way that never happens in old ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' or ''Franchise/DragonQuest'' games ]].

* HellHotel: Capeside Hotel, in the sixth day, has seen better days in the past. [[spoiler:This is where you find out the corpse of Asahi]].

* ItsAllUpstairsFromHere: The lighthouse.

* JumpScare: Typically expected from a horror game, both games present this.
** One very noticeable one is when [[spoiler:the ghost of Riko attacks you in the hospital]]. Cue one of the scarier chase scenes in the game.
** The scene [[spoiler: where Ohyama gets transformed into a Regret. Ohyama is running to ''you'', and it makes it even worse compared to the previous Regrets and your useless running, since ''he'' is pretty fast.]]
** ''Me'' has more jump scares, some coming from a cheap side of it, when objects fall at your side, as long as you are walking in some dark and silent alley. And then there's when Yuuto dies in front of you.
* KillEmAll: This is what [[spoiler:Asahi]] is attempting to do to everyone who is involved with the game, during the first. [[spoiler:And she succeeds in the bad ending, with the possible exception of the protagonist.]] While it is clear that this is also the intention of [[spoiler:red!Akane]] in the second game, this is really the [[spoiler:[[MindScrew the ''game'''s true purpose]]: to live endless cycles of killing, and it eventually succeds in the ultimate bad ending, where no one is saved]].

* LighthousePoint

* TheMostDangerousVideoGame: The "Nameless Game" is a game that is nowhere to be seen as "complete", but it is also rumored to kill you in seven days if it gets transferred to your portable console. That is, of course, if you don't finish it.

* MythologyGag: [[spoiler:The bad end of the first game has a song that reminisces the earlier [=RPGs=] for the NES, meanwhile the good end has one that it's pretty much like a orchestral song from Creator/SquareEnix 2000s games. The end of ''Me'' uses the first one on ''either'' ending, indicating that something bad is going to happen at the end...]]
* NightmareFetishist: Ohyama and Kawagoe are quite excentric to prove a point about the game to the extent of sending the protagonists to places at some unnerving hours of the night without doing some research about them. [[spoiler:Ohyama even puts himself as a ''guinea pig'' to see what could happen to him if he ignored the game during the whole week]].
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Uta-soft, which went out of business trying to make one more game that could have saved the company... say, doesn't that [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI sound familiar]]?

* OffScreenTeleportation: For some unexplained reason, the Bloody Man [[spoiler: Yutani]], who isn't a ghost or a Regret. JUST QUIT FOLLOWING ME, HELP!
* OldSchoolBuilding: One of the scenarios in the sequel. It was either abandoned or it's just the old building of the school that got left behind because of a ''certain'' incident that happened there some years before.

** The fan translation did an interesting one in the Famille Tenjin appartment complex. Odaka's neighbors are named [[Creator/ShinjiMikami Mikami]], [[HideyukiKikuchi Kikuchi]], and [[Franchise/SilentHill Toyama]].

* SanitySlippage: ''Everyone'' that is or become too involved with the game. Especially when they are already into the few last days of the gameplay.

* SpookyPainting: Odaka and Yuuto sure have weird art tastes... even Odaka has a CreepyChangingPainting on his room that almost occupies the whole wall.
* TheStinger: There are some changes depending on the ending. These would be either good or bad... or just ''worse''.

* StringyHairedGhostGirl: [[spoiler: Asahi and Akane, which is expected from a Japanese horror game.
* SurvivalHorror

* TimedMission: The climax of the original game.
* UrbanLegends: The ''cursed game'' was originally contributed as an urban legend. Besides the casts of the series, who knows how many others it had killed, actually...

* WhenYouComingHomeDad: [[spoiler:Asahi's motivation for haunting the game her dad made]].
* [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield Where The Hell Is Nanto?]]: Nara? Fukuoka? Tokyo? Some completely made up place with elements of all of the above?

** [[spoiler: Asahi]] wears a white sundress.
** [[spoiler: Good!Akane]] uses a short white sundress as well.

** In the RPG of the original game, the psycho Bride/Groom who mistakes you for their fiancé(e).
** There's [[spoiler: your friend Riko]], who isn't too thrilled that [[spoiler: her boyfriend secretly preferred you/she died before she could tell you how much she really loved you]]...
** In ''Me'', [[spoiler:Naoki gets jealous of Kenta and kills him. If you go to Kenta's tomb grave, he confirms that Naoki was under the influence of the cursed game, and that he died inside the game...]]
* YouALLLookFamiliar: In the RPG as well as with the Regrets. In the latter case, it's implied [[spoiler: the recurring Regrets were the developers themselves]].

** In ''Me'', it is implied that yuuto was jealous of the main protagonist because Ren was his girlfriend. And there's also [[spoiler:Akane and her friends Naoki and Kenta, but Akane has feelings for one of them. While influenced by the jealousy and/or the game itself, the one left kills their friend but accidentally ''murders'' Akane.]]

** The music of the original game's ending. [[spoiler: The bad ending is much more reminiscent to the music of old Square or Enix games' for the NES. The good ending, however, sounds like it can come from any of the '''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' 3D games, making it much more heartwarming]].

** The third level of the first game takes place in one. This is also the point when the ghosts start appearing.
** Given that ''Me'' [[spoiler:has some connections with the original game, the same hospital plays a part on it as well, until the 6th day. However, it gets ''worse'' thanks to Akane's double personality]].

** In ''Me'', [[spoiler:after the normal ending, you are safe, and you saved Akane while also helping her reconcile with Kenta and Naoki, but your friend Ren is in a coma after her experiences in Day 4]].

* BloodIsTheNewBlack: Your encounter with "the Bloody Man" [[spoiler:aka Yutani]].

** The hansprints get a new role during ''Me'', though, since you find two variations. The ones that ones are white [[spoiler:help you resolve and investigate around in the RPG world]] while the red ones [[spoiler:get in your way until you complete the platformer levels]].

* TheCameo: The voice of [[{{Vocaloid}} Miku Hatsune]] is used in the Mandarake store in the mall to sing its theme song.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The lighthouse picture you see drawn in Odaka's apartment]].
* ClingyJealousGirl: [[spoiler:Riko]].
* ClingyMacGuffin: Of a sort; your character becomes so freaked out when the ghosts appear that s/he smashes the TS...only for another TS to appear, [[MindScrew with the cursed RPG loaded up]].
* CreepyChild: [[spoiler:While [[UndeadChild Asahi]] doesn't really count, since she doesn't appear before TheReveal]], there's a group of them that appear during one of the RPG sequences. They say that all the adults are gone and they [[Really700YearsOld never have to grow up now]]. While definitely a creepy moment, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse they're never mentioned again.]]
* CutscenePowerToTheMax: ''Sort'' of. The only time in the original game where you get to actually ''run'' [[spoiler:is when Riko chases you.]] The rest of the time, the protagonist is never concerned enough to do more than a brisk walk.

* DecoyProtagonist: Riko.

* DownerEnding: In ''Me'' this is what happens, while it also reaches into the GainaxEnding territory. [[spoiler: Once you play the whole game ''again'', your reward is in "creating" a new proxy for the cursed game's entity/spirit (which happens to be something else, [[MindScrew a digital "soul" without a body]] rather than being a "ghost" as Asahi or Akane), so you get ''killed'', and [[GrandTheftMe Ren becomes the new body of this entity]], and the game is distributed not only to [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou you]], but '''everyone'''. Also, the ending song of this evokes a [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion familiar sentiment]], too]]. What.
* DramaticIrony: Drives the whole plot of the first game since [[spoiler: Asahi hated the game and everything associated with it because her father was working so hard on it, and because it indirectly caused the death of her mother. Unbeknownst to her, Ikuta was turning Project Sun into a loving tribute to their happier past as a family]].
* ExactTimeToFailure: It doesn't matter if you exceed the time limit of the climax of the first game. You will get another try until you finish it.
* FakeDifficulty: It's all over the place. but it's ''especially'' prevalent during the climax of the first game.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Victims of the game reappear later as ghosts. The dev team fits this trope, though one programmer takes solace in that she can "listen to the [[HellIsThatNoise song I wrote]]".

** In ''Me'', there's a similar scene. [[spoiler:The prologue of the game happens as such since it is the story of what happened to Akane and her friends]]. It's not only reenacted in a typical RPG style (with also unpredictable results), but it also resembles the "real world".
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The RPG scene of a bench overlooking the sea. [[spoiler: In the "real world", that's your ultimate destination]]. The prologue of ''Me'' plays similarly the same tone, [[spoiler:since it is neither you nor Ren, and Yuuta. The members of the party are Akane and her friends' and the scene of their deaths is something that you are going to revisit some other times]].
* FourIsDeath: You can expect this from a Japanese game series that features horror and death.
** On the second day of the first game, the creepy and bloody abandoned train cars that Riko walks through are all labeled as "Car ''4''". The hospital on day 3 has been closed for ''four'' years. UTA-SOFT is on the ''fourth'' floor of Nakano Broadway, and it has also [[spoiler:been closed for ''four'' years]], which you find out from the ''fourth'' e-mail you receive on the ''fourth'' day.
** The title of the game plays on the association between ''four'' and ''death'' - it can be read as "na-nashi no game", ''The Game with no Name'', but it can also be read as "nana-shi no game", ''the game that kills you in seven days''.
** ''774 Deaths'' is quite [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment redundant]] as a title.

** ''Me'' follows the same pattern. In Day One you go to investigate a previous victim of the game (Odaka)'s department to investigate about this cursed game, just only to get your eye cursed and things start getting weird, then your best friend dies because of the game and the game gets downloaded to your TS. And everything gets worse from there, when [[spoiler:Ren falls into a comma and you realize that there is not only one ghost but two from the same person, who is trying to help you and stop you]].
* [[ShowWithinAShow Game Within A Game]]: The centerpiece of the plot.

* GhostlyGape: These show up with the hostile ghosts as enemies.
* GhostlyGoals: The main ghosts of each game have similar agendas. [[spoiler:Asahi]] waffles between Type A and B while [[spoiler:Akane's 'white' personality is a bit of Type A and 'red' is the one that fits in Type B]].
* GigglingVillain: The Bloody Man.

* HauntedTechnology: The RPG, complete with glitchy graphics that let you know something is ''seriously'' wrong with the game.
** The sequel implies [[MindScrew that there's more than]] [[{{Pun}} meets the eye]].
* HellHotel: Misaki Hotel in the sixth level, [[spoiler:where you find out the corpse of Asahi]].

** [[spoiler:The scene where Ohyama gets transformed into a Regret. Ohyama is running to ''you'', and it makes it even worse compared to the previous Regrets and your useless running, since ''he'' is pretty fast.]]
** ''Me'' is even more jump scare productive, when even objects fall at your side... when you are in some dark and silent alley.

** There is the one by [=GhostCar=], located in the LP Archive [[http://lparchive.org/Nanashi-no-Game/ here]], when the original game didn't have a translation available.

** ''Nanashi no Game Me'' also has one by [=MikaruMenoko=] [[http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6346E703B71BFC3E here]]. It's not fully translated, but it has some notes here and there to understand it and it is also useful to find what do what on it.
** [[https://m.youtube.com/#/user/iconoclast187 iconoclast187, AKA Niggurath]], has also taken it upon himself to play through [[https://m.youtube.com/#/playlist?list=PLuoM6YEhavdwQi254teAEGQO1GA7FJ9DH both]] [[https://m.youtube.com/#/playlist?list=PLuoM6YEhavdwQi254teAEGQO1GA7FJ9DH games]]. For ''Me'', the game's text is translated and edited in over the original Japanese writing, since it doesn't have any in-game translations to English.

** In ''Me'', [[spoiler:Akane and her friends Naoki and Kenta were involved in one. The three were friends, but Akane has feelings for one of them. While influenced by the jealousy and/or the game itself, the one left kills their friend but accidentally ''murders'' Akane]].
* MeaningfulName: [[spoiler: Asahi, "sunrise"]].

* MisterExposition: Professor Ohyama serves this role. [[spoiler:In "Me", it goes further when the player finds out that he was developing a theory around the true nature of the cursed game when he was doing his "experiment"]].
* MoreThanMindControl: [[spoiler:Odaka]]. Let's just say that if you're planning to get possessed by an evil video game, work out your relationship issues first. [[spoiler:It is also implied with Naoki in the sequel]].

* NightmareFetishist: Ooyama.

* OffScreenTeleportation. [[spoiler: Yutani]], QUIT FOLLOWING ME, HELP!

** The name of the game is [[spoiler: "Road to Sunrise", 'sunrise' which is the meaning of the name 'Asahi']].
* PurelyAestheticGender: Your gender has a minor effect on some early dialogue, mainly determining [[spoiler: whether Odaka is jealous of you or secretly in love with you]].
* TheResenter: [[spoiler: Yutani]] resented [[spoiler: Ikuta Ushio]]'s for having a family and a life beyond work. So, they [[spoiler: murdered his wife. That way for him to devote himself even more to pulling Utasoft back from the brink]]. And that didn't work out so well... [[spoiler: Naoki and Akane fits this as well in the sequel]].
* ShoutOut:

** The Ikuta residence has a staircase that bends around a corner. If you're even mildly familiar with Film/JuOn, you will expect a scare involving it. [[spoiler:It does happen, but not in the way you expect. Instead, you yourself flee frantically down the stairs, playing as a little girl escaping from the man who butchered her mother]].
** [[spoiler: The ultimate bad ending of the sequel has an a cappella of the original Nanashi no Game music track that evokes a certain [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion series]] with a GainaxEnding too.]]

* TheStinger: Changes depending on the ending.

* StoryBranching: You can choose two different routes in the sequel depending on the day or chapter you are playing.
* StringyHairedGhostGirl: It's a Japanese horror game, so this was to be expected.

* FakeDifficulty: It's all over the place. but it's ''especially'' prevalent during the lcimax of the first game.

* [[https://m.youtube.com/#/user/iconoclast187 iconoclast187, AKA Niggurath]], has also taken it upon himself to play through [[https://m.youtube.com/#/playlist?list=PLuoM6YEhavdwQi254teAEGQO1GA7FJ9DH both]] [[https://m.youtube.com/#/playlist?list=PLuoM6YEhavdwQi254teAEGQO1GA7FJ9DH games]]. For ''Me'', the game's text is translated and edited in over the original Japanese writing, since it doesn't have any in-game translations to English.

** ??Nanashi no Game Me'' also has one by [=MikaruMenoko=] [[http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6346E703B71BFC3E here]]. It's not fully translated, but it has some notes here and there to understand it and it is also useful to find what do what on it.

Rumors have been circulating about a RolePlayingGame for the TS (a game system that looks [[NintendoDS suspiciously familiar]]) that's recently grown in popularity; people say that the game has [[HauntedTechnology been cursed]]. The rumor goes that whoever doesn't complete the RPG in a certain number of days, will die.

''Nanashi no Game'' (The Game with No Name or The Nameless Game) is a SurvivalHorror game by Creator/SquareEnix for the NintendoDS that takes place in two worlds: the real world and the eightbit game world of the cursed RPG. The actions done in the game world give clues to what's happening in the story while the real world has you exploring places while avoiding the ghosts of previous victims. A sequel known as ''Nanashi no Game Me'' (the subtitle translating to "Eye"), featuring a new protagonist, the cursed RPG, and a cursed {{platformer}}, has also been released for the DS, as have independent versions of both cursed games--subtitles ''Chi'' ("Blood") and ''Goku'' ("Prison")--on {{DSiWare}}.

In January 2012, Creator/SquareEnix also released new spinoffs of the series called ''Nanashi no App'' and ''774 Deaths'' for iOS and Android, which follows the same pattern of story of the previous games but now with an ''unavoidable'' downloadable app for your smartphone which messes around your camera and mail apps where you need to try to resolve the mystery and trying to save your life.

It is also suggested for those who truly enjoy horror games to [[SchmuckBait listen to the game with earphones]].

!!This game provides examples of:

* AbandonedHospital: The third level takes place in one. It's also where the ghosts start appearing.
** [[spoiler: Since ''Me'' has some relations with the original game regarding to the plot, the hospital plays a role in the 6th day again... but it gets so much ''worse'' thanks to Akane's double personality, it also gets present in the game as well]].
* AdultsAreUseless: Sort of. Prof. Ohyama is far from useless, but he does sort of leave you to do everything for yourself [[spoiler: -- at least, up until he pulls a YouShallNotPass to save your life near the end. Possibly justified by the fact that he was trying to find out what happened if he didn't play the game and/or investigate the curse himself.]]
* AllInARow: ''Me'' uses this with "your" party members.
* AndIMustScream: Anyone who fails to complete the game gets turned into a statue inside of it. Or well, lives into the game forever and ever.
* BittersweetEnding: Regardless of [[MultipleEndings which ending you get]], in the end [[spoiler: you survive, but all of your friends are dead]].
** [[spoiler:In ''Me'', in the normal ending, you are safe, you save Akane and help her reconcile with Kenta and Naoki, but your friend Ren is in a coma after her experiences in Day 4]].
* BlandNameProduct: The TS, which is a dead ringer for a NintendoDS (right down to the menu).

* BloodyHandprint: All over the place during the ghost chases.
** During the playthrough in ''Me'', you find two kinds of these: ones are white and the others are red. These are helpful to release the RPG or the platformer modes, respectively, to resolve some puzzles and to keep going on your way. [[spoiler: The white help you resolve and investigate around in the RPG world; the red are in there to don't leave you advance in the platformer levels]].

** [[spoiler:Also, Prof. Ohyama decides to do an experiment - while the main character plays the game and attempts to solve the mystery directly, he ignores the game completely. It doesn't go well for him.]]
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The lighthouse picture you see drawn in Odaka's apartment.]]

* CreepyChild: [[spoiler:[[UndeadChild Asahi]] doesn't really count, as she doesn't appear before TheReveal.]] However a group of them appear during one of the RPG sequences. They say that all the adults are gone and they [[Really700YearsOld never have to grow up now]]. While definitely a creepy moment, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse they're never mentioned again.]]

* DownerEnding: In ''Me'' this is what happens mixed a bit with a GainaxEnding, [[spoiler: once you play the whole game AGAIN, your reward is "making" a new proxy for the cursed game's entity/spirit (which happens to be something else, [[MindScrew a digital 'soul' without a body]]) and makes you wonder that the game was alive and cursed from the beginning, not exactly from Asahi or Akane in the second game), the hero gets ''killed'', [[GrandTheftMe Ren is the new body of the game]], and the game is distributed not only to YOU, but ALL. ALSO, the ending song of this evokes a [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion familiar sentiment]], too]]. What.
* DramaticIrony: Drives the whole plot of the first game: [[spoiler: Asahi hated the game and everything associated with it because her father was working so hard on it, and because it indirectly caused the death of her mother. Unbeknownst to her, Ikuta was turning Project Sun into a loving tribute to their happier past as a family]].
* ExactTimeToFailure
* FakeDifficulty: All over the place. It's ''especially'' prevalent in [[spoiler:the last three minutes before dawn of the first game]].
* FanTranslation: [[http://gbatemp.net/topic/299140-nanashi-no-game/page__view__findpost__p__3932156 the complete translation/v1.0]], released on 10/15/2011, [[MomentOfAwesome took the team 13 weeks]].

** [[spoiler:Say, you have a dark and sad past? You feel resentment towards someone? Is it involved in some way with the game? And now you are in a coma/dead? Sure, no problem! You can be the [[MindScrew next host of the game itself!]]]]
* FlashbackEffects: [[spoiler:Tomoka's murder]] is reenacted in the RPG. The layout of the house is the same, down to the placement of doors and the stairwell.
** [[spoiler:In Me, the story of what happened to Akane and her friends is not only reenacted in a typical RPG style (with also unpredictable results), but also in a way resembling the real world, as what happened with Asahi]].
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The RPG scene of a bench overlooking the sea. [[spoiler: In the 'real world', that's your ultimate destination]]. The first scene of ''Me'' as well [[spoiler:neither you nor Ren, nor Yuuta are the ones of the party, it's the story of Akane and his friends' deaths, you are going to revisit this scene some times]].
* FourIsDeath: On the second day, the creepy, bloody abandoned train cars that Riko walks through are all labeled "Car 4". The hospital on day 3 has been closed for four years. UTA-SOFT is on the fourth floor of Nakano Broadway, and it has also [[spoiler:been closed for four years]], which you find out from the fourth e-mail you receive on the fourth day.
** Even the title plays on the association between ''four'' and ''death'' - it can be read as ''na-nashi no game'', ''The Game with no Name'', but it can also be read as ''nana-shi no game'', ''the game that kills you in seven days''.

* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: In the bad ending of the original game, [[spoiler: the cursed RPG is transferred from your hero/ine's TS to ''yours'']].
** [[spoiler:The ultimate DownerEnding of ''Me'' gets so much worse. Where after getting killed the hero, the cursed RPG is transferred from his TS to not only to yours, but ''ALL''.]]
* FromBadToWorse: Chapter one of the original game ends with your character finding your friend Odaka dead in his apartment. Chapter two shows the last moments of Riko's life and her death by the ghost of Odaka's hands. [[spoiler:Near the end of Chapter 6, your ally Professor Ohyama finally falls victim to the game as well.]]
** ''Me'' follows the same pattern. In Day One you go to investigate a previous victim of the game (Odaka)'s department to investigate about this cursed game, your eye gets cursed and werid stuff start to happen, then your best friend dies because of the game and the game got downloaded to your TS. Thanks to StoryBranching, things may or may not get easier, but eventually you find out about this other 'bad' spirit, and the game is getting more bugged in some sort of way [[spoiler:then Ren falls victim of the game, you realize that the spirit in question, Akane, has two different personalities and is trying to destroy you AND HELP you]].

** [[spoiler:Technically in the sequel it's also a deconstruction but it also averts it since Akane's story is in sort of way represented as if it is an RPG: you have your party, you fight monsters and you have conflicts with one of your team members, all in 8-bits glory]].

* GhostlyGoals: [[spoiler:Asahi]] waffles between Type A and B. [[spoiler:Akane fits as well with both of her personalities, 'white' is a bit of Type A, the 'red' one is the one that mostly fits in Type B]].

** And the sequel implies [[MindScrew that there's more than]] [[{{Pun}} meets the eye]].
* HellHotel: Misaki Hotel in the sixth level; [[spoiler:it's where the corpse of Asahi is.]]

* JumpScare:

** [[spoiler:The scene where Ohyama gets transformed into a Regret as well. It's even worse since Ohyama is running to YOU, compared to the previous Regrets and your useless running, he is pretty fast.]]
** Typically expected from a horror game, both games present this. ''Me'' is even more jump scare productive, though.
* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:Asahi]] attempts this. [[spoiler:She succeeds in the bad ending, with the possible exception of the protagonist.]] The intentions of [[spoiler:red!Akane]] in the second. BTW,[[spoiler:[[MindScrew the game's TRUE intention]] is to live within a cycle over and over of killing, it eventually succeds in the ultimate bad ending, no one is saved]].

* LetsPlay: When the game didn't have a translation, there's one by [=GhostCar=], located in the LP Archive [[http://lparchive.org/Nanashi-no-Game/ here]].
** After the fan translation patch has been released, there is this [[http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmYMSo92EWx_ovh3hE6PAwM_JzpQ6OUag one as well]], made by [=AesthethicGamer=].
** Nanashi no Game Me also has one by [=MikaruMenoko=] [[http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6346E703B71BFC3E here]]. It's not fully translated (it has some notes here and there to understand it, but pretty useful in what to do in it).

* LoveTriangle: Depending on the gender you select in the first game, your hero/heroine learns that either [[spoiler:Odaka was jealous of your friendship with Riko]] or [[spoiler:Odaka found Riko irritating and was secretly pining after ''you'' instead]].
** [[spoiler: In NNG Me, this is pretty much what envolves Akane and her friends Naoki and Kenta. The three start as friends, Akane has feelings for one of them, and in jealousy (and it seems below the influence of the last day of the cursed game, the other kill the one in the relationship and "accidentally" murders Akane]].

* MindScrew: [[spoiler:''WH ERE IS MY BO DY?'']]
* MisterExposition: Professor Ohyama serves this role. [[spoiler:In both of the games, even. He was truly investigating about his whole theory of the game during the week he was experimenting away, if the notes he left around in some places he went to are something to believe]].
* MoreThanMindControl: [[spoiler:Odaka]]. Let's just say that if you're planning to get possessed by an evil video game, work out your relationship issues first. [[spoiler:Implied with Naoki in the sequel]].
* TheMostDangerousVideoGame

* MurderIsTheBestSolution: [[spoiler: "My company's going under and only this game can save it! Hm...I know! I'll brutally murder the lead developer's family so he can focus all his attention on finishing it! That'll work!"]]
* MythologyGag: [[spoiler:The bad end of the first game has a song that reminisces the earlier [=RPGs=] for the NES, meanwhile the good end has one that it's pretty much like a orchestral song from Square-Enix 2000s games. The end of ''Me'' uses the first one on ''either'' ending, indicating that something bad is going to happen at the end...]]

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Utasoft, which went out of business trying to make one more game that could have saved the company... say doesn't that [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyI sound familiar]]?
* NoExportForYou: It was considered for release in English, but the [[http://www.siliconera.com/2011/03/28/nanashi-no-game-was-considered-for-north-america-focus-groups-killed-it/ opinion of focus groups]] was that [[ViewersAreMorons "you couldn't shoot anything"]].

* OffScreenTeleportation. [[spoiler: Yutani]]. OH GOD, QUIT FOLLOWING ME, HELP.

* OneHitKill: If a ghost/Regret so much as touches you, it's game over.

* PunnyName: Na-nashi means "nameless", but nana-''shi'' means "seven-death", as in [[YourDaysAreNumbered seven day death]].
** The name of the game in reality is [[spoiler: Road to Sunrise, 'sunrise' which is an alternate meaning of the name 'Asahi']].

* TheResenter: [[spoiler: Yutani]] resented [[spoiler: Ikuta Ushio]]'s for having a family and a life beyond work. So they [[spoiler: murdered his wife so that he'd have to devote himself even more to pulling Utasoft back from the brink]]. That didn't work out so well... [[spoiler: Naoki and Akane fits this as well in the sequel]].
* ShoutOut: Ooyama states that there have been plenty of odd deaths related to media, such as newspapers, pirate radio broadcasts, and [[Manga/DeathNote notebooks]].
** When Ooyama has you correlate network origins for the cursed game uploads, your options include [[Literature/TheRing s-yamamura.ts.ip]], [[Film/{{Audition}} a-yamazaki.ts.ip]], and [[Film/JuOn r-nishina.ts.ip]].

** [[spoiler: The ultimate bad ending of the sequel has an almost a cappella of the original Nanashi no Game music track that evokes a certain [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion series]] with a GainaxEnding too.]]
** Speaking of the music, [[spoiler: the bad ending is much more reminiscent to the music of old Square or Enix games' for the NES. The good ending, however, sounds like it could come from any of the '''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' 3D games, making it much more heartwarming]].

* SanitySlippage: ''Everyone'' trapped in the game gets this. Especially when they are way to involved in the game almost around the last few days of it.

* StoicSpectacles: Yutani. [[spoiler:What makes it scarier is that his eyeglasses are drenched in blood due to him just killing Tomoka.]]
* StoryBranching: The sequel gives some days the option to go towards one route or another.

* {{Vocaloid}}: The voice of Hatsune Miku is used in the Mandarake store in the mall to sing its theme song.

* WhenYouComingHomeDad: [[spoiler:Asahi's motivation for haunting the game her dad made.]]

* WomanInWhite: [[spoiler: Asahi]] wears a white sundress.

* {{Yandere}}: In the RPG, the psycho Bride/Groom who mistakes you for their fiancé(e).
** Then there's [[spoiler: your friend Riko]], who isn't too thrilled that [[spoiler: her boyfriend secretly preferred you/she died before she could tell you how much she really loved you]]...
** Implied in ''Me'' where [[spoiler:Naoki gets overjealous of Kenta and kills him. If you go to Kenta's tomb grave, he affirms that Naoki was under the influence of the cursed game, and that he died inside the game...]]

** [[spoiler:Say, you have a dark and sad past? You feel resentment towards someone? Is it involed in some way with the game? And now you are in a coma/dead? Sure, no problem! You can be the [[MindScrew next host of the game itself!]]]]

** FridgeBrilliance: You witness that scene through the eyes of [[spoiler:a little girl]] who was already under a severe emotional strain, and who is looking at the man who butchered [[spoiler:her mother]]. Of course that scene would look BloodierAndGorier than it actually was. (This also explains why the murderer in question seems to have OffscreenTeleportation powers - he doesn't, but it sure as hell seems that way to the PlayerCharacter).

* MythologyGag: [[spoiler:The bad end of the first game has a song that reminisces the earlier [=RPGs=] for the NES, meanwhile the good end has one that it's pretty much like a orchestral song from Square-Enix 2000s games. The end of ''Me'' uses the first one WHENEVER the way you finish it, indicating that something bad is going to happen at the end...it's pretty expected it to happen.]]

* MythologyGag: [[spoiler:The bad end of the first game has a song that reminisces the earlier RPGs for the NES, meanwhile the good end has one that it's pretty much like a orchestral song from Square-Enix 2000s games. The end of ''Me'' uses the first one WHENEVER the way you finish it, indicating that something bad is going to happen at the end...it's pretty expected it to happen.]]

** Speaking of the music, [[spoiler: the bad ending is much more reminiscent to the music of old Square or Enix games' for the NES. The good ending, however, sounds like it could come from any of the '''Videogame/FinalFantasy'' 3D games, making it much more heartwarming]].

* BloodIsTheNewBlack: Your encounter with "the Bloody Man" [[spoiler: aka Yutani]].

** During the playthrough in ''Me'', you find two kinds of these: ones are white and the others are red. These are helpful to release the RPG or the platformer modes, respectively, to resolve some puzzles and to keep going on your way. [[spoiler: The white help you to resolve and investigate around in the RPG world; the red are in there to don't leave you advance in the platformer levels]].

** [[spoiler: Also, Prof. Ohyama decides to do an experiment - while the main character plays the game and attempts to solve the mystery directly, he ignores the game completely. It doesn't go well for him.]]

* DramaticIrony: Drives the whole plot of the first game: [[spoiler: Asahi hated the game and all associated with it because her father was working so hard on it, and because it indirectly caused the death of her mother. Unbeknownst to her, Ikuta was turning Project Sun into a loving tribute to their happier past as a family]].

* FakeDifficulty: All over the place. It's ''especially'' prevalent in [[spoiler: the last three minutes before dawn of the first game]].

** [[spoiler:Say, you have a dark and sad past? You feel resented towards someone? Is it involved in some way with the game? And now you are in comma/dead? Sure, no problem! You can be the [[MindScrew next host of the game itself!]]]]
* FlashbackEffects: [[spoiler: Tomoka's murder]] is reenacted in the RPG. The layout of the house is the same, down to the placement of doors and the stairwell.
** [[spoiler:In Me, you get into the story of Akane and her friends not only reenacted in a typical RPG style (with also unpredictable results) but also in a way ressembling the real world, as what happened with Asahi]].

** [[spoiler:The ultimate DownerEnding of Me, gets is so much worse. Where after getting killed the hero, the cursed RPG is transferred from his TS to not only to yours, but ''ALL''.]]

** In Me it has the same pattern, in Day One you go to investigate a previous victim of the game (Odaka)'s department to investigate about this cursed game, your eye gets cursed and werid stuff start to happen, then your best friend dies because of the game and the game got downloaded to your TS. Thanks to StoryBranching the thing would get easier or not, but eventually you find out about this other 'bad' spirit, and the game is getting more bugged in some sort of way [[spoiler: then Ren falls as a victim of the game, you realize that the spirit in question, Akane, has double personality and she is trying to destroy you AND HELP you]].

* GhostlyGoals: [[spoiler: Asahi]] waffles between Type A and B. [[spoiler:Akane fits as well with both of her personalities, 'white' is a bit of Type A, the 'red' one is the one that mostly fits in Type B]].

* HeroicSacrifice: Right when your hero/ine is cornered by a Regret in the original game, [[spoiler: Ohyama]] appears in the game and pulls a YouShallNotPass.

* JumpScare: One very noticeable one is when [[spoiler:the ghost of Riko attacks you in the hospital]]. Cue one of the scarier chase scenes in the game.

* LoveTriangle: Depending on the gender you select in the first game, your hero/heroine learns that either [[spoiler: Odaka was jealous of your friendship with Riko]] or [[spoiler: Odaka found Riko irritating and was secretly pining after ''you'' instead]].

* MisterExposition: Professor Ohyama serves this role. [[spoiler: In both of the games, even. He was truly investigating about his whole theory of the game during the week he was experimenting away, if the notes he left around in some places he went to are something to believe]].
* MoreThanMindControl: [[spoiler: Odaka]]. Let's just say that if you're planning to get possessed by an evil video game, work out your relationship issues first. [[spoiler:Implied with Naoki in the sequel]].

** [[spoiler:In ''Me'', in the normal ending, you are safe, you save Akane and help her reconciles with Kenta and Naoki, but your friend Ren is in a whole comma after her experiences in Day 4]].