Little Busters!

Little Busters!
Little Busters! original visual novel cover.
リトルバスターズ! (Ritoru Basutāzu!)
Genre	Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Game
Developer	Key
Publisher	VisualArt's (Windows) Prototype (PS2, PSP, PS Vita, PS3)
Genre	Eroge, Visual novel
Platform	Windows, PS2, PSP, PS Vita, PS3
Released	JP: July 27, 2007 (Little Busters!) JP: July 25, 2008 (Ecstasy)
Manga
Little Busters! The 4-koma Little Busters! (Nobuyuki Takagi) Little Busters! (Mogura Anagura) Little Busters! Ecstasy: Saya Tokido School Revolution Little Busters! Ecstasy: Wonderbit Wandering Little Busters! EX The 4-koma Little Busters! Ecstasy: Sasami Sasasegawa Black Cat Fantasia Little Busters! Kudryavka Noumi Little Busters! Ecstasy: Kanata Futaki My Minroud Little Busters! Band Mission Little Busters! Ecstasy Heartful Little Busters! End of Refrain Little Busters! (Kurohachi) Little Busters! Last of Refrain
Anime television series
Directed by	Yoshiki Yamakawa
Written by	Michiru Shimada
Studio	J.C.Staff
Licensed by	AUS Hanabee NA Sentai Filmworks UK MVM Films
Original network	Tokyo MX, TV Kanagawa, MBS, TV Aichi, BS11, AT-X
English network	NA Anime Network SEA Animax Asia
Original run	October 6, 2012 – April 6, 2013
Episodes	26 (List of episodes)
Original video animation
Directed by	Yoshiki Yamakawa
Studio	J.C.Staff
Released	August 28, 2013
Runtime	24 minutes
Anime television series
Little Busters! Refrain
Directed by	Yoshiki Yamakawa
Studio	J.C.Staff
Licensed by	NA Sentai Filmworks
Original network	Tokyo MX, MBS, TV Aichi, BS11, AT-X
English network	SEA Animax Asia
Original run	October 5, 2013 – December 28, 2013
Episodes	13 (List of episodes)
Original video animation
Little Busters! EX
Directed by	Yoshiki Yamakawa
Studio	J.C.Staff
Licensed by	NA Sentai Filmworks
Released	January 29, 2014 – July 30, 2014
Runtime	24 minutes each
Episodes	8 (List of episodes)

Little Busters! (リトルバスターズ!, Ritoru Basutāzu!^?) is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key. It was released on July 27, 2007 for Windows PCs and is rated for all ages. Little Busters! is Key's sixth game, along with other titles such as Kanon, Air, and Clannad. An adult version of the game titled Little Busters! Ecstasy was released on July 25, 2008 for Windows, unlike Kanon and Air, which were first released with adult content and then had later versions with such content removed. Ecstasy was later ported to the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation 3. The story follows the life of Riki Naoe, a high school student who has been a member of a group of friends named the Little Busters since childhood. Riki brings multiple girls at his school into the Little Busters to have enough people to play a baseball game.

The gameplay in Little Busters! follows a branching plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the six female main characters by the player character, which increases to nine in Ecstasy. There are additional minigames added into the gameplay, such as battle sequences that resemble fighting games or baseball batting practice, which serve to give the characters experience, obtain accessories to use during battle, and improve their statistics. Both Little Busters! and Ecstasy ranked as the best-selling PC game sold in Japan for the time of their release, and Ecstasy would go on to sell over 100,000 units. Key went on to produce an adult spin-off called Kud Wafter in June 2010, which expanded on the scenario of Kudryavka Noumi, one of the heroines from Little Busters! and Ecstasy.