Machi (video game)

Machi (街, literally "City") is a visual novel and the third entry in the "Sound Novel Evolution" series published by Chunsoft. It was ported to PlayStation (retitled Machi: Unmei no Kousaten (街 〜運命の交差点〜, lit. "City: The Intersection of Fate")),^[1] and for PlayStation Portable as Machi: Unmei no Kousaten: Tokubetsuhen (街 〜運命の交差点〜 特別篇, lit. "City: The Intersection of Fate － Special Version").^[2]

Machi
Developer(s)	Chunsoft
Publisher(s)	Chunsoft
Director(s)	Kazuya Asano
Producer(s)	Koichi Nakamura Toshiki Kobuko
Programmer(s)	Hidefumi Itano
Writer(s)	Shukei Nagasaka
Composer(s)	Kota Kato Chiyoko Mitsumata Hideyuki Hayashi Shoji Morito Shinichi Itakura
Platform(s)	Sega Saturn PlayStation PlayStation Portable
Release	Sega Saturn JP: January 22, 1998 PlayStation JP: January 28, 1999 PlayStation Portable JP: July 30, 2006
Genre(s)	Adventure, visual novel
Mode(s)	Single-player

Gameplay

Machi features a branching narrative, consisting of players using eight characters at the start of the game.^[3]

Characters

• Keima Amemiya: a detective
• Jintarō Umabe: an actor
• Masami Ushio: a gangster
• Yoshiko Hosoi: a part-time worker
• Masashi Shinoda: a university student
• Ryūji Takamine: a legion deserter
• Fumiyasu Ichikawa: a screenwriter
• Yōhei Tobisawa: an idol
• Atsushi Takamine: Ryuji's father
• Norio Aoi: a pariah
• Isamu Sagiyama: an assistant director
• Patrick Dandy: a marriage swindler
• Shōjirō Kaizuka: a politician

Reception

Machi sold 164,866 copies in Japan.^[4] Famitsu scored the game 33 out of 40.^[5] It ranked fifth at the top 100 reader poll of their favorite games of all time.^[6]

In 2017, Famitsu readers voted it one of the top five adventure games of all time.^[7]

Proposed sequel

A proposed sequel to Machi was cancelled, but a chapter of it was adapted as a 1998 television miniseries Tōmei Shōjo Ea (Invisible Girl Ea).

Spiritual successor

428: Shibuya Scramble is set in the same location with many references.^[8]