Video Game / The Queen of Heart

Dream Match Never Ends!

The Queen of Heart is a series of doujin Fighting Games, developed and published by Watanabe Seisakujo (Nowadays known as French Bread, of Melty Blood Fame).

The first two games are based on the Asuka 120% engine, gameplay-wise, they have 4 buttons: Weak, Medium and Strong attacks, and a Special button whose function varies from character to character. The games features characters from various games and visual novels by Leaf (Now Aquaplus), such as Shizuku, Kizuato and To Heart, among others. The first game, The Queen Of Heart 98, originally featured one-on-one modes, however, the second game, The Queen Of Heart 99, also included two-on-two modes where up to 4 players can compete ^note Or depending of the number of players, the rest will be occupied by the CPU; it also added more characters and rebalanced the existing ones.

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Characters that debuted in QoH ’98:

• From To Heart: Akari Kamigishi (With two versions, Normal and Osage), Serika Kurusugawa, Tomoko Hoshina, Shiho Nagaoka, Aoi Matsubara, Multi, Kotone Himekawa, Lemmy Miyauchi, Rio Hinayama, Ayaka Kurusugawa and Serio.
• From White Album: Yuki Morikawa.

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Characters that debuted in QoH ’99, and its Second Edition Updated Rerelease:

• From Shizuku: Saori Shincho, Mizuho Aihara, Kanako Oota (Normally appears alongside Mizuho, but can also be chosen to fight solo) and Ruriko Tsukishima.
• From Kizuato: Hatsune Kashiwagi (With two versions, normal and badness), Kaede Kashiwagi, Asuza Kashiwagi and Chizuru Kashiwagi (Two versions, Normal and Demon).
• From To Heart: Shiho Nagaoka (Arranged), Aoi Matsubara (LF-97 version), Kotone Himekawa (True Heroine Version), Multi HM-12 and Yosie Sakashita.
  • From Go To Heart: Komode Serika and Rapid Ayaka.
• From Comic Party: Mizuki Takase.
• From White Album: Rina Ogata.
• From Inagawa de Ikou!!: Corin.
• From Filsnown: Tiria Frey (Final Boss).

A third game, called Party’s Breaker: The Queen of Heart 2001, was released in Japan that same year. It keeps the gameplay intact for th most part, although with the add of an Initiative Gauge, which allows the player to cancel any normal move, and most special moves into a dash, allowing the chance to perform longer and more devastating combos. However, it lowered the amount of playable characters and removed the two-on-two modes, returning to the one-on-one format. It mostly includes characters from subsequent works, more notoriously from Comic Party, with Mizuki Takase as the only returning character.

• Playable characters:
  • From Comic Party: Mizuki Takase (With two versions, normal and Peach Mizuki), Minami Makimura, Yu Inagawa, Subaru Mikage, Eimi Ohba, Aya Hasebe, Asahi Sakurai, Reiko Haga (Two versions, normal and '94), Chisa Tsukamoto, Suzuka Kazami and Ikumi Tachikawa (Final Boss).
  • From Pia Carrot 2: Azusa Hinomori (Optional Boss).

See also Aquapazza, a crossover Fighting Game made jointly by Aquaplus and Examu.

No relation at all to the Queen of Hearts.

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TROPES:

Related to QoH '98, ' 99 and ' 99 second edition

• Adaptive Armor: Rapid Ayaka’s outfit incorporates metal plates for her shoulders, arms and shins.
• Affectionate Parody: To Street Fighter, The King of Fighters, Darkstalkers and other fighting games back then; QoH ’99 even has the subtitle “Dream Match Never Ends”, referencing the subtitle of KOF ’98.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Chizuru has long, black hair, in an interesting contrast with the other, more cutesy girls.
• Assist Character: Mizuho can command Kanako to attack her opponent, or you can change characters with the Special Button, it's also possible to pick Kanako as a stand-out character. Kaede can also summon a spirit via special moves, or control it as a normal character via the Special button.
• Background Music Override: A few match-ups have their own music, such as Aoi vs. Ayaka (Which is the same as Yosie vs. Aoi, or Yosie Vs. Ayaka), and Yuki Vs. Rina. Komode Serika Vs. Rapid Ayaka is a non-musical example, as they have their own stage for this match.
• Batter Up!: Aside of her hair, Rio Hinayama can also use a baseball bat as a weapon.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Chizuru at first seems a sweet, soft-spoken innkeeper, at least until her eyes turn red.
• The Cameo: There are several of them across several stages from their respective visual novels. more notoriously, the characters from Comic Party appear as background NPC in Mizuki's stage, among them is Reiko Haga, whom you can spot at the left side of the stage, dressed as Kyo Kusanagi.
• Chef of Iron: Hatsune and Akari, who use cooking tools in battle, such as ladles as projectiles (Hastune charges them with electricity, and Akari with fire), teapots, kettles and even spatulas.
• Combat Hand Fan: Tomoko is able to weaponize her folded paper fan, and she can even charge it with fire, without it turning into ashes.
• Combos: It’s possible to chain basic sets of normal moves, such as Weak-Medium-Strong-Special, or be creative with the order, in a similar fashion to the Reverse Beat System in Melty Blood.
• Cute Bruiser: Although the entire cast count to varying degrees, Aoi Matsubara, Asuza and Yosie stand high above the other characters. Aoi’s fighting style focuses mostly on straight blows, interestingly contrasting with her rival Ayaka, who focuses on kicks. Asuza and Yosie are more straight examples, as they mostly throw punches, and have a few kicks in their repertoires.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: Rio Hinayama: She sometimes trips and falls randomly to the ground, however, she gains Super Armor for the animation frames of the fall, as well as hight priority over certain moves, potentially saving her life in risky situations.
• Cute Witch: Serika Kurusugawa, who uses her multiple magic tricks to fight; she also rides a Flying Broomstick to air dash, and even comes complete with a cape and witch hat, which she actually uses as weapons.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Komode Serika uses a grim-looking Sinister Scythe in battle, and wears mostly in dark tones, but she’s not evil.
• Desperation Attack: Each girl can perform a Super Move that consumes up to three levels.
• Double Jump: All characters can jump, and then jump again in the air.
• Epunymous Title: The Queen of Heart is a portmanteau of The King of Fighters with To Heart, which curiously enough, is the game with most representation.
• EX Special Attack: All characters have more powerful variants of their regular special moves, they consume 1 level of their Super Bar.
• Flash Step:
  • Chizuru is able to move faster than her opponent can react.
  • Ayaka's Level 3 super has her moving at lightning fast speed, and aiming to her opponent with her elbow, Rapid Ayaka also has this as a special move.
• Foreshadowing: As mentioned above, Reiko from Comic Party appears in Mizuki's stage dressed as Kyo Kusanagi, foretelling the fact that she and the other Comic Party characters will not only return as a playable character in Party's Breaker, but Reiko will also have Kyo's moves and fire powers.
• Gratuitous English: Lemmy Miyauchi, justified by being half American half Japanese. She sometimes says some English phrases: for example, she opens the duels with a cheerful ‘Hello!’, her normal throw has her exclaiming ‘Thank you!’, and her victory pose has her saying ‘I won!’.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Tiria Frey, the Final Boss, uses a Cool Sword as her main weapon, giving her great power and range.
• I Know Madden Kombat: Saori Shincho and Mizuki Takase, who incorporate, respectively, Volleyball and Tennis in their fighting styles: In Saori's case, she can spike volleyballs that are thrown to her by her teammeates offscreen; Mizuki uses a tennis racket in battle, and her repertoire includes moves such as volleys, backhands and forehands, and can also shoot tennis balls as projectiles. Both girls' fighting styles are respectively based on Ryuuko Yamazaki and Tamaki Shindou, from Asuka 120%.
• Idol Singer: Yuki Morikawa and Rina Ogata from White Album; both can throw CD as projectiles, and their stage is on a concert stage.
• Improbable Weapon User: All over the place. Weapons used in the game include ladles, teapots, a frying pan, volleyballs, a tennis racket, a fire extinguisher, a paper fan, and even throwing CD.
• Joshikousei: Most of the characters are high school students, and they even wear their school uniforms to fight, specially the girls from To Heart. There are a few exceptions, though, such as Asuza (Wears casual clothes), Aoi (Her ’97 version wears casual clothes, while her ’99 version wears her school uniform), Yosie (Wears a karate gi), among a few others.
• Kick Chick: Ayaka Kurusugawa, who focuses mostly on kicks, although she does have a few punches.
• Lag Cancel: Similar to Marvel vs. Capcom, Guilty Gear, or more modern games like Melty Blood or Under Night In-Birth, it’s possible to chain a basic set of attacks (Weak-Medium-Strong, or create your own combos) and cancel any of these into a special move, and this into an EX Special move, or a Level 3 Super.
• Magic Skirt: The girls remain well covered at all times, even with all the amount of kicking and jumping. A notorious example is Shiho Nagaoka, when she jumps, she covers herself when falling down, and, when knocked off, the poor girl is buried headfirst into the ground, and somehow, her skirt defies gravity and remains in place. The only exception is Rio, who wears gym shorts under her skirt instead.
• No Plot? No Problem!: Several girls from various Leaf works are having one-to-one fights. Any reason for that other than Rule of Fun?
• Paper Master: Tomoko uses a paper fan as her main weapon, and Mizuho carries a notebook, which she uses to attack, and protect herself.
• Prehensile Hair: Rio Hinayama can use her ponytail as a whip, and even as a sword.
• Promoted to Playable: Of the new characters that were added in the Second Edition Updated Re-release of QoH '99, only Yosie Sakashita appeared as a background NPC, in Aoi's stage, but now she can be selected and played with.
• Psychic Powers: Kotone Himekawa. Her powers allow her to float instead of walk, she can teleport to escape when cornered and can also use telekinesis to drop random objects on her opponent’s head, and can even reflect incoming projectiles.
• Psychotic Smirk: Badness Hatsune sports an evil-looking grin, unlike her normal counterpart who smiles sincerely.
• Punch Parry: Clashing (When two hits collide and cancel each other) is possible in this game, you can block any kind of attack with one of your own, and sometimes the duels are about who lands the first hit in a clashing contest. This mechanic also comes from Asuka 120%.
• Puppet Fighter:
  • Mizuho Aihara, who fights alongside Kanako Oota: you move Mizuho as Kanako stays lying on the ground, and can only move her via special moves, or you can also switch characters with the Special button. It’s also possible to pick Kanako to fight solo.
  • Kaede can fight by herself, although she can summon a spirit behind her (With the Special button) to fight for her.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Akari is able to perform a quick succession of punches in front of her, as well as Kaede's spirit, and Rio can also do this with her ponytail.
• Razor-Sharp Hand: Kaede’s and Chizuru’s hands are normal-looking, but both girls are able to use them to cut down opponents.
• Ray Gun: Corin’s main weapon; it shoots fireballs that travel very slowly, but Corin has good time recovery after that, easily catching opponents trying to dodge them.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Demon Chizuru who, unlike her normal, brown-eyed counterpart, sports red eyes and darker skin, meaning she now means business.
• Robot Girl: Serio and Multi (As well as her alternate version, HM-12), both are easily distinguishable by their ears, which look like antennae; both fight with a vast array of gadgets and weaponry.
• Robot Maid: Multi HM-12 is calmer and more focused than her normal counterpart, and even has the apron and the look of a human maid. Serio counts as well, she’s not very expressive either when fighting.
• She-Fu: Lemmy is a pretty fast and agile character, and incorporates backflips and gymnastic cartwheels in her moveset.
• Shock and Awe: Ruriko Tsukishima. She can create electric currents with her fingers to catch opponents, and zap them, she can also place energy balls as traps. There are also instances of other characters: Hatsune is able to use electrically charged ladles as projectiles, and Serika can cast a lightning bolt to zap her opponent.
• Shotoclone:
  • Shiho Nagaoka. Most of her moveset is a reference to Ryu from Street Fighter, as she has a fireball, a Dragon Punch, and even a horizontal Hurricane Kick.
  • Akari is close to this trope, as she has a few projectiles, and even a Shoryuken-like move (Which is similar to Asuka Honda's Chemical Impact move) however, she lacks a rushing move.
• Shout-Out:
  • There are multiple references to the visual novels and other fighting games; Tomoko, for example, has a few references to Guilty Gear; Shiho takes most of her fighting style from Ryu, from Street Fighter, and Kotone's level 3 Super is a Shun Goku Satsu/Raging Demon variant.
  • There are also a few references to Asuka 120%, which these games are based on: Akari's fighting style is, in general based on Asuka, as she mimics Asuka's moves almost flawlessly. Same goes for Saori and Mizuki, who fight incorporating Volleyball and Tennis respectively, not unlike Ryuuko and Tamaki. Yosie also shares some similarities with Torami from the same game (Both being Karate practitioners helps), and her stage is almost a carbon copy of Torami's stage.
• Spotlight-Stealing Crossover: With 12 playable characters, To Heart has the most representation in the first two games.
• Super Move Portrait Attack: All EX Specials and Level 3 Super Moves come with this included, for extra visual appeal.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Demon Chizuru is this to normal Chizuru.
• Teleport Spam: Ruriko Tsukishima and Kotone Himekawa have this as their normal dashes, as they can both teleport across the stage.
• Throw Down the Bomblet: Akari can throw explosive plant pots in an arcing trajectory (Or in younger Akari's case, she first leaps and throws it downwards). The move is based on Asuka's Phenomenon Crash.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Kanako Oota. She throws clumsy and easily telegraphed punches and kicks, but she receives Super Armor for some of her attacks, allowing to compensate for her lack of finesse, and surprising reckless opponents. She mostly relies on sheer strength to win duels.
• Updated Re-release: The Second Edition of QoH ’99 came a few months after the first revision, which added new characters to the roster.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Saori and Lemmy both have a gravity-assisted backbreaker in their arsenal; Asuza and Yosie both have a chokeslam, the former as a strong command grab, and the latter as a normal grab.

Related to Party's Breaker

• Adaptational Badass: As playable characters in a fighting game, the characters from Comic Party were given power and fighting skills, referencing other fighting games back then.
• Affectionate Parody: of The King of Fighters, Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, and other fighting games back then.
• Attack Drone: Ikumi Tachikawa, the Final Boss, can summon bits that shoot lasers to her opponents.
• Background Music Override: When you fight Suzuka in arcade mode, her theme song plays instead of the normal music of the stage, possibly justified as she's the only character to not have her own stage.
• The Cameo: Kazuki Sendo, the protagonist of Comic Party, appears in Eimi's Level 3 super to separate her from her opponent as she's mercilessly punching her in a corner; after that Eimi realizes what's going on, and calms down.
• Car Fu: One of Chisa's special moves has her pushing a platform handtruck with boxes on it, and ram her opponent with it.
• Cat Girl: Chisa Tsukamoto. Not a straight example, but most of her moves are references to Felicia from Darkstalkers, as she runs on all fours for her dash, her normal C has her scratching her opponent, and temporarily grows a tail to whip her opponent.
• Combat Hand Fan: Like Tomoko above, Yu Inagawa can also use her paper fan as a weapon.
• Cosplay Otaku Girl: Reiko not only dresses as Kyo Kusanagi from The King of Fighters but also has his moves and fire powers, she even has a special '94 version, which is a reference to Kyo from KOF '94 and '95, and has slightly different moves. and even her stage is a cosplay convention. Peach Mizuki also counts, as she’s basically Mizuki dressed as a Magical Girl a la Cardcaptor Sakura. Speaking of which, Aya follows her around, dressed as Tomoyo Daidouji, Sakura's best friend.
• Cute Bruiser: Most of the characters count to varying degrees, but Reiko Haga and Suzuka Kazami stand above the rest. Their fighting styles are references to Kyo Kusanagi and Terry Bogard, respectively, so they both focus mostly on straight blows.
• Cute Clumsy Girl: Similar to Rio Hinayama in the previous games, Chisa sometimes trips and falls randomly, however, this move has a lot of priority and can knock down her opponent, potentially saving her life at tight situations.
• Final Boss: Ikumi is not only the last opponent to defeat, she wears in dark tones and a Badass Cape which she actually uses as a weapon, her moves are references to other final bosses such as M.Bison (Has a Psycho Crusher-esque ramming attack) or Magneto, and her Level 3 super has her summoning a Grim Reaper, and command it to attack her opponent. YMMV here, but her intro is the coolest of all characters.
• Girly Bruiser: Asahi Sakurai, the local Idol Singer, wears a pink dress, pink gloves and a light purple hat, loves singing, and yet is an agile and powerful fighter. Peach Mizuki also counts, a joyful magical girl who dresses in pink, and an extremely strong character.
• Hot Springs Episode: Yu's stage takes place in an onsen (A Japanese hot spring), with the characters standing on the hot water, and toweled people as background NPC.
• I Know Madden Kombat: Mizuki keeps the use of her tennis racket as her primary weapon, although with some upgraded moves.
• Idol Singer: Asahi Sakurai. Fighting style-wise, she’s similar to Yuki and Rina from the previous games, as she can use CD as projectiles, holds a microphone regularly, and the names of most of her moves have the word “Idol” in them.
• Improbable Weapon User: Like its predecessors, these are all over the place, with weapons including but not limited to: a tennis racket, pens, throwing CD, delivery boxes with comics inside, coordinating tools, an electrically charged shawl, among others.
• Kick Chick: Eimi Ohba. Most of her normal and special moves are kicks, although she does have a few punches.
• Lady of War: Aya Hasebe. Her fighting style is a reference to Rose from the Street Fighter series, as she’s a calm character who sports graceful and elegant moves, and can actually charge her shawl with energy, and use it as a weapon.
• Lag Cancel: Aside of the Chain Combo system, the game also includes an Initiative Gauge, which lets players cancel normal and special movs into a dash, allowing to extend the combos.
• Magical Girl: Mizuki cosplays as one: Peach Mizuki fights by using a shape-shifting wand, and also uses cards to cast spells.
• Meido: Azusa cosplays as one.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Eimi's Level 3 Super: She slams her opponent against one corner, and proceeds to mercilessly beat her up, a few seconds later, Kazuki Sendo appears on screen to separate them, and Eimi calms down.
• No Plot? No Problem!: So, the characters from Comic Party decided to have one-on-one fights, for no particular reason.
• Optional Boss: If you can complete the Arcade Mode in Nightmare difficulty, and get a certain number of perfects, you'll get to fight Azusa in the last stage.
• Orbiting Particle Shield: In one of Aya’s specials, she surrounds herself with rotating pens that go flying towards her opponent after a while.
• Promoted to Playable: The characters originally appeared in the previous games as background NPC, in Party's Breaker they're all playable characters.
• Rooftop Confrontation: The final battle with Ikumi takes place on top of a skyscraper.
• Scarf of Asskicking: Aya fights using her shawl, which she charges with energy to cause more damage, in a similar fashion to Rose.
• This Is a Drill: Aya can shape her shawl as a huge drill, for her aerial B, and Forward+C.
• Wave-Motion Gun: One of Ikumi’s ex specials has her firing a powerful beam from her fists that racks a lot of hits. Peach Mizuki’s Level 3 Super has her firing a powerful beam skywards from her magic wand, which later descends as a dozen of pillars of light.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Subaru fights mostly via throws, holds and reverses. There are instances of other characters as well: Minami, fo example, has a piledriver as her aerial throw, and Eimi has an Izuna drop, also as her aerial throw.
• Zerg Rush: Minami's Level 3 Super: She summons a bunch of people who goes running and ramming her opponent.