Maple Colors

Maple Colors
Cover art of the DVD-ROM release.
メイプルカラーズ (Meipuru Karāzu)
Genre	Erotica, Harem
Game
Developer	Apricot
Publisher	CrossNet
Genre	Adventure, Visual novel
Platform	Microsoft Windows
Released	July 25, 2003
Game
Maple Colors: Kessen ha Gakuen Matsuri!
Developer	HuneX
Publisher	Kadokawa Shoten
Genre	Adventure, Visual novel
Platform	PlayStation 2
Released	March 31, 2005
Original video animation
Directed by	Ryou Kanda
Produced by	Taketo Watari
Written by	Yasuyuki Muntou
Music by	Fujimoto
Studio	Image House Studio Soul
Licensed by	Critical Mass
Released	December 24, 2004 – March 25, 2005
Runtime	30 minutes each
Episodes	2

Maple Colors (メイプルカラーズ, Meipuru Karāzu^?) is a Japanese erotic visual novel and adventure game developed by Apricot and published by CrossNet, released on July 25, 2003 for Windows. The game was later ported to the PlayStation 2 by HuneX and published by Kadokawa Shoten on March 31, 2005; adapted into a two-episode animated series by Image House and localized in North America by Critical Mass. The game was made a sequel released in 2008.

Unlike the formula of most visual novels, which are noted for their minimal interaction, Maple Colors is slightly different in that it combines elements of an adventure game with that of interactive fiction. Though reasonably limited, players control chibi versions of characters, able to travel around isometric maps, perform tasks, collect items and even participate in mini-games. In a more recognizable fashion, players watch and listen to sequences of story and then select choosable actions or responses when they are presented. As choices are intricately linked to alternating routes of plot, the direction of the story is changed, leading to erotic scenes between characters and ultimately one of various endings. In order for the player to watch all the possible endings in this regard, he or she will have to effectively replay through the game several times, all the while making different selections.

Yoshijirou Saku is a young Japanese transfer student of the fictional Kouka Academy, an institution renowned for its theatre. A rebel by virtue of his delinquency, Saku and schoolmate Mirai Aoi are wrongfully held responsible for a fight when they come to the aggressive aid of a defenseless student being bullied; faculty members ruling to expel them and their disorderly class. Yukihito Aizen, the respected though contemptible head of the drama club, with eyes set on Mirai, proposes a commutation requiring the offenders to enlist their entire class in a play or else face expulsion.