Video Game / Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1

Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 (Chō Ji Jigen Game Neptune Re;Birth1) is the enhanced remake of Hyperdimension Neptunia for the Play Station Vita and PC, developed by Felistella. In addition to completely reworked visuals, improved framerate performance, new music and voice acting, various gameplay aspects and plot details have been modified. A new feature dubbed the "remake system" unlocks special game modifications such as new dungeons and in-battle perks. Some characters from the original game were removed, such as Gust, Nisa, 5pb and Red^note Although the latter two do return in Re;Birth1 Plus., whilst new characters were added, including the CPU candidates (Nepgear, Uni, Rom, and Ram) and Plutia and Peashy from Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory, in addition to Histoire, are playable as DLC characters; the other three Hyperdimension oracles (Kei Jinguji, Mina Nishizawa, and Chika Hakozaki) were later added as DLC characters on September 5, 2018, as were the child versions of IF and Compa on February 4, 2019, and Uzume Tennouboshi from Megadimension Neptunia VII on May 17, 2019.

The original continent travel system involving dungeons has been scrapped in favour of a world map system akin to that of Hyperdimension Neptunia mk2, and the dungeon and battle systems also based on a style reminiscent to that of Victory. During the development phase, the enhanced Vita version was intended to fill in what were identified as flaws and shortcomings of the original game. Developers aimed to address the concerns of fans, and features of the earlier PS3 version that were often subject to criticism, such as the music and game performance, were given improvements in the new version. The game's theme song is Miracle Portable Mission by Nao and the ending song is Mirai Button by Afilia Saga East.

An Updated Re-release, Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 Plus, was released for the PlayStation 4 on October 31, 2013 in Japan and August^note 26 in North America and 27 in Europe 2015 everywhere else. A definitive version, Neptunia re★Verse ^note Go! Go! 5 Jigen Game Neptune: re★Verse in Japan, was released on the PlayStation 5 on December 17, 2020 as part of the series' 10th anniversary and was later released in English on June^note 8 in North America, 11 in Europe 2021. A port to the Nintendo Switch is slated for May 23, 2024 in Japan and for May 21, 2024 worldwide digitally.

The Japanese and English websites are up now!

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Tropes that apply to Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1

• Absurdly High Level Cap: Normally, the level cap is 99 (with the final boss easily beatable by 70s or 80s). The DLCs allow you to reach up to level 999, which is necessary for some of the DLC dungeons and Colosseum battles.
• Accidental Misnaming: All over the place as a Running Gag. For more details, see the character page.
  • During chapter 3, the girls are officially introduced to the name "Momus"... which is misheard as "Mammary" by Neptune, and "Mustard" by Compa.
• Alternate Universe: As is becoming the standard for Neptunia, this game is set in another universe that's similar, but not an exact match, to the original Neptunia game.
• Anti-Frustration Features: Mercifully, despite the Forced Level-Grinding that embodies Neptunia, there's a Plan the player can use to boost their EXP, in conjunction with equipping Iffy to any of their characters for a further boost. It's even stated in the description to be a way to prevent players from quitting the game, and the plan is really easy to make. Guess the developers learned from their mistakes after all.
  • There's also plans to weaken enemies (making those without health Regen more possible to defeat at lower levels), plans to increase item drop rate (so you don't have to beat your head against Tough Foes as much while still getting the same amount of EXP and credits), and even plans to amp up the EXE Gauge regen rate (so you can pump out EXE Drives more often).
  • The button that shifts camera to the front can be used to skip attack animations. It's very helpful when you get the EXE Gauge increase and can spam EXE Drives.
  • Additionally, every character gains the same amount of exp, even if you're not using them at the time, reducing grinding time. Though some of them have a skill that increases it, though only for those characters who are partied together.
• Artistic License – Biology: Mushroom enemies are classified as plants even though they're actually fungi, a completely separate living organism from plants. Though this is probably justified and perhaps deliberate because Neptunia is based on video games, so it is likely basing the enemies off of a common mistake that most developers fall victim to when comparing fungi to plants.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Some spells early on start out this way. Though they generally hit hard, your SP/mana level is really low, and takes quite a few levels before it reaches a point where you can cast a lot of spells.
• Beef Gate: Some of the higher level dungeons will act like this, which you'll quickly find out if you're under-leveled and on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle. Your only real clue, aside from searching for info on the internet, is to see how much memory it takes to unlock the dungeon. Typically the more you need, the harder the monsters will be.
• Bilingual Bonus: In both versions, actually, and they carry the same meaning. In the Japanese version of the game, Compa suggests calling I-chan^note "Ai-chan" (Iffy) "Love-chan". In the localized version, Compa suggests calling her "Ai" when Neptune stated "Iffy" must mean "I Feel For You", and declared it love. See Development Gag below.
• Blah, Blah, Blah: When the gang tracks the fake Blanc to Lowee and run into Broccoli, Neptune tries to explain the situation thusly:
  Neptune: Well...blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah...
  Broccoli: So, blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah, nyu? I see, nyu.
• Blank White Eyes: Show up frequently in cutscenes.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation: The Vita version had a minor example, where its Wind element is mislabeled "Ice" in descriptions, with some leading you to believe that you can count on Wind magic to do Ice damage. This has been corrected in the PC version.
• Boring, but Practical:
  • Regular attacks, while not as flashy as EXE drives, or as cool looking as spells and specials, will be just fine in taking down everything but dangerous foes and bosses. Though if you're sufficiently overleveled, even lower level bosses are a cakewalk as well.
  • Rush attacks which fill up your exe bar is usually the preferred way to attack, as attempting to whittle down the armor on tough monsters, especially in higher level dungeons, takes more time than just building up the exe gauge and spamming Limit Break attacks on them.
• Boss in Mook's Clothing: Thankfully averted for the most part. Most dangerous foes are rather large and imposing, so it should provide a visual clue that they're going to be tough. Unfortunately a few of them don't stand out terribly from their non-boss counterparts, such as the Shampuru. Made worse by the fact that they will also likely be the first ones you run into for new players.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: It is mentioned frequently in Re;Birth1 that this game is a remake...by characters in the game itself.
  • To the point where Neptune (as "Anonymous N") submits a quest to the player to commemorate the remake.
  • You get a rather unique one during the True Ending Epilogue as the cast starts thanking the player. As the representation of the PS Vita where Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 originally came out, you get this bit from Uni if you've unlocked her:
  Uni: "You did great finishing the game. I'm warning you this isn't over yet. This is portable, so play the game again inside or outside, you hear?"
  Uni: "I mean, you are holding...uh...me, you know... Auu! Why'd I say that...? I-It's all your fault! Hmph!"
• Call-Back: As a remake, this game can be expected to have a few:
  • The in-game map is similar to the original Neptunia; the landmasses being floating islands. However, navigating them is identical to mk2 and Victory.
  • You can collect CGs of the original landmasses from the first Neptunia game.
  • Just like Uni, when the gang meets Noire, she joins their team without them knowing she's a Goddess before its revealed to them who she is.
  • Broccoli, MAGES., Victory!Falcom, Tekken and CyberConnect2 remember the first time they met Neptune and company in another dimension.
  • During a search for a legendary weapon, Neptune posits that the weapon could be a legendary weapon because it's evil, and that it's powered by killing goddesses. Noire immediately executes a Dope Slap, complaining that they've just invoked trauma into those who've gone through it.
  • Upon opening the Road to Celestia and a shooting star crafts bridges of list, Iffy then states " 'sincerely' like a Shooting Star Bifröst." "Shooting Star Bifröst" (Ryuusei no Bifröst) is the original game's main theme, and "sincerely" is the B-side on said main theme's single.
• Cassandra Truth:
  • Planeptune's Basilicom representative fails to believe Neptune is Purple Heart. Though when this scene plays, Neptune was stripped of her goddess power at the time, so was unable to transform in front of him to prove it.
  • Played for Laughs in the Q&A session between Blanc and Fake Blanc. The real one can't answer any questions due to the embarrassing nature of them involving her secretly written novels, which the fake one answers with no issue. Blanc only "wins" because she lets off a Cluster F-Bomb, while the fake one can only utter a safe, PG reply, though Blanc isn't happy to have "won" this way.
• Censored for Comedy: When Compa was abducted by a monster, Neptune played this trope straight:
  Neptune: "Oh no, Compa! She's being -censored- and -censored-!"
  • Compa then immediately refutes Neptune's statement.
  Compa:" I'm not being -censored-! I'm just off-screen!"
• Character Blog: The blogs return from the previous games; Noire, Vert, and Blanc each have their own.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Gust, NISA, 5pb. and RED are nowhere to be seen. The latter two do return for Re;Birth1 Plus though.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: You'll typically be on the giving end of these:
  • Played straight as you level up. Monsters from lower leveled dungeons will die fairly quickly.
  • Inverted example if you enter a level that's way too high for you, such as Haneda Forest, which will give even level-capped players some trouble. You'll quickly know when you barely do any damage to them, and they can kill you in one or two hits.
  • Inverted during a Hopeless Boss Fight. You are expected to lose that fight, before a second one shows up normally afterwards, where you can then defeat the boss.
• Cut and Paste Environments: Similarly to the first game, the environments (and even some missions) are ripped from another game — in this case, from the third main series game, Victory, as opposed to giving the game a more original Neptunia feeling.
• Darker and Edgier: This game certainly qualifies. While it is certainly not mk2, this game seems to treat itself a tad more seriously than the other games, and even establishes Arfoire as a legitimate threat, moreso than in any other incarnation discounting mk2, where she was an Eldritch Abomination. Interestingly, this is probably the only game where Arfoire isn't evil by choice.
• Disc-One Nuke: There is a free Downloadable Content pack that is a collaboration/promotion for Fairy Fencer F. What the DLC entails is a replica of Eryn's Fury and Fang's Fairize form as a processor (both for Neptune) with the former being an Infinity -1 Sword, as well as a battle with some bears, which are pretty tough for those below level 80... Unless you have the Terra or Stone processors, which will No-Sell Lightning attacks when fully equipped, which is the bears' only attacks. Even better? After beating them the first time you get to challenge them in the Coliseum, setting up a Peninsula of Power Leveling that will allow you to reach the initial Level cap (and quite always thought the level cap increases). For the VITA version, this is averted for most cases as it was released long after the game itself. The Steam version? It's there along with the rest of the DLC on release date.
• Exposed to the Elements: Downplayed and lampshaded. IF makes sure to take heat packs when heading to perennially snowy Lowee, and breaks them out when the party starts to complain about not being dressed for the weather. Anytime the plot dictates the party has been outside for a long stretch at a time, the cold is mentioned as a real concern.
• Fanservice: As is tradition for Neptunia games.
• Flanderization: Inverted for the characters themselves. Pretty much all the returning cast has had their personalities dialed back a few notches, making them far more likable while keeping their iconic quirks.
• Forced Tutorial: As if any Neptunia game would let you off the hook.
• Forced Level-Grinding: Welcome to Neptunia, where getting past the first boss means getting stomped by the next. Like any Neptunia game, Re;Birth1 requires a decent amount of grinding before each boss unless you enjoy risking it all to see the Game Over screen. Fortunately, between quests, plans, and extra dungeons the game gives you plenty to do while you're grinding.|
• Fridge Logic: Used In-Universe with some of the weapon Flavor Text. For example, this description for Compa's weapon, Test Potion X.
  A medicine still in testing. So how did Compa get so much of it for her giant syringe?
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: As per Can't Drop the Hero, Neptune is expected to be in most fights in the story, complete with a free transformation to HDD... but there's nothing stopping you from putting her in the back and not moving her an inch.
• Have You Seen My God?: The Planeptune citizens are understandably worried when Purple Heart doesn't descend from Celestia with the rest of the Goddesses.
• Healing Factor: Most bosses and even regular enemies will have this. You can Invoke it for player characters using discs with certain red chips.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Lampshaded when retrieving Lowee's legendary weapon. In a mildly meta example, it's a Hammer for Blanc. A hammer which used to be a spear.
  Blanc: "Well, "Legendary = Hero = Sword". Don't you think? It must be a sword that the hero used to slay dragons and demons."
• Hopeless Boss Fight: Happens from time to time, like the first fight against Arfoire, Arfoire wielding Green Heart's form, the CPU Breaker, and CPU Killer and Arfoire. These are nearly always lampshaded by the party, saying that the damage digits are too high, or that the enemy must have been modded or something. Of course, most of them are not so hopeless on a New Game Plus, but then they give no EXP and Credits either and the story goes on as if you lost.
  Neptune: "Hey! This lady is too strong for being an early stage boss! I call cheat!"
  Compa: "The damage that popped up against us was too large."
  • Lampshaded during the "Avenir" Expo after the first battle. It's played completely straight with the next one immediately after though.
  Neptune: ...Uh, we won?
  Compa: That was easy.
  Neptune: I thought this was going to be a forced loss. I wonder if the battle was bugged?
• Ignore the Fanservice: One of the workers in Lastation's Basilicom fails to notice Vert and Blanc attempting to use their feminine charms on him.
• Infinity -1 Sword:
  • The Quartet's weapons are powerful, especialy considering the point in the story where they're obtained, but they are outmatched by other weapons. The Road To Celestia also has weapons for IF, MAGES., and CyberConnect2.
  • Getting the free Fairy Fencer F promotional DLC gets Neptune a replica of (or just really dormant) Eryn's Fury form. Which is second only to her other DLC weapon.
• Infinity +1 Sword: Multiple:
  • The Coliseum rewards offer the most powerful non-DLC weapons and armor in the game, One for each character, including the makers and the CPU Candidates
  • Getting the Additional Content DLC gives the CPUs plans for even stronger weapons, though you have to battle some powerful Superbosses to get them to Random Drop the plans or in the Candidate's cases, the gear itself. Two of the DLC character's Best weapons however are instead in the coliseum instead of the dungeons. Histoire also gets an ultimate weapon, herself, but that must be bought upfront. These weapons are the Kiryu Sword (Neptune), Durandal (Noire), CPU Crusher (Blanc), Gungnir (Vert), Hyper Beam Zapper (Nepgear), Virtua Blaster (Uni), the Staves of Truth and Ideals (Rom and Ram), a Noire Plushy (Plutia) and a pair of Star Gloves (Peashy).
• Interface Spoiler: At one point in Chapter 4, you're told that an arms deal between Avenir and the fake Blanc is about to go down at Avenir Storage No.2. The dungeon that's unlocked a couple of cutscenes later is called "Avenir Storage No.4". This heavily foreshadows that IF's intel was faulty and the deal is actually going down elsewhere while Ganache keeps the party occupied.
• Irony: One of the enemies in ''Re;Birth1'' is called "Super Otaku"... which is more than likely the game's primary audience. Take That, Audience!?
• Item Crafting: The Remake System. Unique in that, instead of just crafting items, you're crafting unlockable items, monsters, dungeons and even game mechanics.
• Jiggle Physics: Vert and Compa, mainly.
• Karma Houdini: Multiple:
  • Depending on how you read into it, Yvoire. Yes, whatever Vert did to him was... unpleasant, but consider what he did: If any spy or any leak gets back to Planeptune and Neptune is identified for who she is? Consider how the country would react to the fact that it wasn't the CPU dying in a Console War loss, but some shmuck at the Leanbox Basilicom catching her off in depowered form and doing something as underhanded as poisoning her. Could be a nice ugly war right there, while Vert isn't able to access Divinity to assist. And he's being allowed to keep his job at the Basilicom?
  • Ganache gets away with all he did as well, though at very least it gets discussed in game as Noire being a little bit on the forgiving side in that case. And he has to clean up his mess.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: One of the game's main gags.
  • Early in the game, you fall through the forest floor and into a cavern:
  Neptune: "Man, they really changed the story with this remake."
• Legendary Weapon: The weapons of the "Quartet" heroes who defeated the ancient corrupted goddess: Planeptune's Trinity Blade, Lastation's Dual Revolver, Leanbox's Wisdom Bow, and Lowee's Trust Spear. Of course, the passage of centuries and events sure did a number on them. They quickly get repaired though... somewhat. The Trinity Blade got reforged into the Holy Fang Blade, the Dual Revolvers blown up by the Fake Black Heart got reforged by Singe into the Hero's Sword, the Wisdom Bow got moldy so Ran-Ran recrafted it into the Hero's Spear, and the Trust Spear got reforged by a moustached plumber into the Hero's Hammer.
• Limit Break: In two varieties, both of which use the shared EXE Gauge. EX Finishers go on the end of a normal attack combo and require a certain level of the gauge, but don't deplete it. EXE Drives are extremely powerful special attacks that use up segments of the gauge completely.
• Medium Awareness: Many characters are aware that they are in a video game.
• Merchandise-Driven: Played for Laughs when the party is accosted by a Momus cultist, who tries to get them to join the faith by hawking Momus paraphernalia, which takes the form of your average anime merch like soundtracks, art books, trading cards and even body pillows.
• Metal Slime: A parody of the Trope Namer appears in a dungeon but the monster that plays this straight is the Clione, a breed of Superbosses that will give out a lot of credits and enough experience to jump several levels. Some also give out outfits, plans for certain characters Infinity Plus One Swords and Armor of Invincibility, and materials that can be used in crafting the above, if not dropping the gear outright.
• Mythology Gag: A running gag in the game is that most people have inexplicable difficulty pronouncing Neptune's name. On one occasion, it's accidentally rendered "Neptunia." This is a Mythology Gag rather than a form of Title Drop because it's also the case in the original Japanese voice track, where Neptunia isn't part of the title — the last word of the Japanese title for the series is simply "Neptune", after the protagonist, but it was changed to "Neptunia" for overseas release, which this references.
• My Name Is ???: For characters before they're revealed, like Compa before the text box that says her name.
• New Game Plus: You keep the levels, items, completed plans, etc. Since you only earn around 3,328MB for plans per playthrough, you'd need a couple of playthroughs to get everything, especially the CPU Candidates: Nepgear, Uni, Ram, and Rom; each^note you get the both of the twins at the cost of one of them require a huge amount of MB, it's nearly impossible to get all CPU Candidates during your first playthrough unless you know what you're doing, and if you do try that, then you will have only little amount of memory to play with other stuff.
• Noodle Incident: After the poisoning incident, Vert "kindly asked" Yvoire never to do something of the like again. The player and characters have no idea what Vert meant by "asked", we just know it terrified Yvoire.
• Odd Name Out: Planeptune is the only one of the four lands whose name doesn't begin with an L.
• Oh, Crap!: Many characters display this look from time to time.
• Optional Character Scene: If you recruit the CPU candidates, they get extra scenes in the ending. This doesn't apply to DLC characters though.
• Overly Long Fighting Animation: EXE Drives become this. They're fine by themselves, but later on you get to increase EXE gauge gain to spam EXE Drives and thus you get this trope. Thankfully, these (and other battle animations) can be skipped with a button.
• Our Gods Are Different: The CPUs/Goddesses. They do not age. (as long as they have their powers.) They however act and talk like their apparent ages, have bodily needs and metabolic functions like regular humans and can be killed (as shown in mk2 Conquest ending.)
• Overly Long Gag: The Momus Messenger introduces the girls to the fifth "God" to worship... by advertising about 10 text boxes' worth of merchandise, including body pillows.
• Panty Fighter: Most of the cast has no issue going into battle with short skirts, playing this trope completely straight.
• Peninsula of Power Leveling: The coliseum can serve as one once you're strong enough to take them on. Though initially it takes some grinding in the dungeons to build up to some of the harder matches, once you can grind those, then reaching the Absurdly High Level Cap of level 999 will probably take less time than when you first start from low levels.
• Running Gag:
  • To Family Guy levels, actually. Unlike in the first game, where just Compa couldn't pronounce Neptune's name, quite a few characters have pronunciation issues with the main character's name, and the game loves to drag that out. Ironically, everyone can pronounce "Planeptune" just fine. Even IF lampshades how weird that is.
  • A lot of characters get their names said wrongly, thanks to using accented pronunciation and the characters apparently reading the dialog boxes for themselves. Conversation (con-ver-sah-she-on) getting called Conversation (speech) or even Constipation is just one example. It gets to the point the player doesn't even need to be told about Vert's atypically good diction just because she gets everyone's names right.
• Scare Chord: One plays when you bump into or attack a dangerous foe on the map. Can lead new and unfamiliar players into an Oh, Crap! moment when they realize the Shampuru they're fighting is barely taking any damage compared to the usual ones that die after a few hits.
• Self-Deprecation: A late-game scene takes a jab at Hyperdimension Neptuniamk 2's Conquest Ending. While searching for Lastation's legendary weapon, Neptune theorizes that it's cursed and gains power by killing goddesses. Noire stops Neptune and tells her to knock it off because they've traumatized some people who went through that.
• Shout-Out: The series has its own page.
• Silly Reason for War: Vert, Noire, and Blanc nearly start a CPU war over whether deep-fry should have lemon or not, with Vert and Noire on one side, Blanc on the other, and Neptune declaring neutrality to the anger of both sides.
• Suicidal Overconfidence: Any poor soul who tries to bring out a Risky Foe before they're capable of handling it. Several players may try this only to meet the Game Over screen.
• Updated Re-release: Applied multiple ways:
  • The entire reason for creating Re;Birth1, in fact, was to serve this purpose. The game is essentially the first, but using Victory's battle system; additionally, it has new material to make the storyline fresh. Having an actual budget also get it a leg up on its predecessor's notoriously shoestring development.
  • And now there's an Updated Re-release for this game, which is already an Updated Re-release, Re;Birth1 Plus, for the PS4, which adds in new features and characters.
• Vocal Evolution: While retaining the same seiyu and voice actresses, the dialogue has been changed and upgraded; even the standard stock phrases the girls say in dungeons and battle has either been changed entirely or upgraded to flow better.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Black Heart. Facing her below level 20 will require some strategy.Also, though optional, Dangerous Shampuru qualifies. Made worse by the facts that a) players can enter this dungeon before seeing the tutorial on dangerous enemies and b) on the field it doesn't look any different from all the normal enemies in the area, and without seeing the tutorial they have no idea what the Orange dot on the minimap means. Many new players tried to fight it with no idea that they were walking into a boss fight.
• We Need a Distraction: After Neptune and company are defeated by Arfoire, and has her goddess power stolen from the latter, the goddesses are almost completely helpless. However, Compa sneaks towards Arfoire, and IF attempts to distract Arfoire by insulting her. Compa manages to steal the tome that Histoire was locked away in, and they manage to escape thanks to MarvelousAQL using a smoke screen.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Some characters who appeared in the original game, such as Gust, Nisa, 5pb. etc, don't make an appearance in the remake. Even poor RED doesn't make her return here. Those characters were Makers representing companies no longer affiliated with the IP. Two of them, 5pb. and RED, do return for Re;Birth1 Plus. No word about Gust or Nisa though.
• Theme Music Powerup: Using an EXE Drive will play Nepgear's theme from Victory.
• The X of Y: Carrying over from the original, the Landmasses that the Goddesses rule over have their titles as such: Land of Black Regalia - Lastation, Land of Green Pastures - Leanbox, Land of White Serenity - Lowee, and Land of Purple Progress - Planeptune.
• You Don't Look Like You: Given minor characters now have actual character portraits, seeing Ganache and Yvoire is a stark difference from the original games, where they were faceless silhouettes.
• Younger Than They Look: The CPU Candidates. They already look and act like they're a bit younger than their sisters, despite having just been born.
• Yuri Genre: Just like the previous games, Re;Birth1 is heavy on the yuri; especially in regards to NeptunexNoire, which has never been shipped harder before, and IFxVert.
  IF: "Well, let's find a way out. You girls can do whatever at the hotel."
  Noire: "H-H-H-HOTEL?!"
  Neptune: "I-Iffy?!"
  Compa: "?"
  IF: "Hm? What's the matter? ... ...Huh? ...Oh...no... No! Don't misunderstand me! I didn't say "do" whatever at the hotel in that sense! No, not at all! Y-You both have your mind in the gutter!"

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