View source for The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (lost build of unreleased PlayStation adventure game based on Japanese novel; 1998)

{{InfoboxLost
|title=<center>The Girl Who Leapt Through Time</center>
|image=GWLTTCard.png
|imagecaption=Opening card of the game; taken from 2007 NicoNico video.
|status=<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>
}}
Around 1998, an adventure game entitled "''Toki o Kakeru Shojo''" (''時をかける少女''), or in English and better known as '''''The Girl Who Leapt Through Time''''' was developed by Bandai Namco Games (now renamed to Bandai Namco Entertainment)<ref name="atlas">[https://mnsatlas.com/?p=52426 MNSAtlas.com article on the game.] Retrieved 07 Feb '23</ref> for the PlayStation 1. It was reportedly based around the well-renowned and acclaimed Yasutaka Tsuitsui novel of the same name, "''Toki o Kakeru Shojo''" back in 1967, and conceivably the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toki_o_Kakeru_Sh%C5%8Djo_(1997_film) 1997 movie of the same name directed by Haruki Kadokawa] that is also based on Yasutaka Tsuitsui's novel and is one of its many interpreted adaptations on films<ref name="unseen">[https://unseen64.net/2021/07/17/girl-leapt-through-time-playstation-game-cancelled/ Unseen64 article on ''The Girl Who Leapt Through Time''.] Retrieved 07 Feb '23</ref><ref name="atlas" />, on which both the movie and novel follows a young high-school girl who had acquired the oddity to time travel and in doing so, can coerce herself to reiterate and change previous events to have a different outcome due to this acquire "time-looping".

'''The game would be given a Fall 1998 release<ref name="atlas" />, but has remained unreleased, and was likely discontinued'''. Though likely, the game might have been planned to be released around the time of the 30th-anniversary of Yasutaka Tsuitsui's novel being released .<ref name="atlas" />

==Gameplay==
With its gameplay only being based around solely on the existing footage available online, it's hard to have a full grasp of what the game's story is and how it is played, though an MNSAtlas.com article stated that the cancelled game seemed to have taken influence on the 1994 game, "Tokimeki Memorial"<ref name="atlas" />, a dating-simulator game that was really popular in Japan in the 1990s. The Unseen64 article stated that the game looked similar on the 1996 Playstation 1 role-playing game, "Revelations: Persona", due to its top-down approach and its animated cutscenes insert<ref name="unseen" />.

The game's character designs and the insert of its animated scenarios were drawn and created by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minene_Sakurano Minene Sakurano], a manga artist who is famous for [https://animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=502 Mamotte Shugogetten]<ref name="atlas" /><ref name="unseen" />, and the writer for its animated scenarios insert were made by [https://animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=3448 Hiroshi Yamaguchi]<ref name="atlas" /><ref name="unseen" />, a writer who had worked on various anime series like Neon Genesis Evangelion and Gurren Lagann<ref>[https://animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=3448 Hiroshi Yamaguchi's works portfolio on ANN.] Retrieved 07 Feb '23</ref>. The MNSAtlas.com article on the game cites that the cancelled game featured the voice works from voice actors starring Tomoko Kawakami, Tsuyoshi Kusao, and Taiki Matsuno, though it was unclear which voice actors voiced which characters from the game. Additionally, information about and around the characters in the game is unknown, asides from them being high-school students. 

==Disappearance & Availability==
The game was scheduled to be released in Fall of 1998<ref name="atlas" />, though this statement was uncited, and the release was later discontinued and went unreleased. It is unknown on how far the game had been completed before it got discontinued, though recently on 2021, Twitter user [https://twitter.com/jironosuke99/ @jironosuke99] shared a box art for the game on Twitter<ref>[https://twitter.com/jironosuke99/status/1445551957196767232 @jironosuke99's tweet on the game's box art] Retrieved 07 Feb '23</ref>, which suggests that the game must've been far into production before overall discontinuing. Aside from this box art, the game is featured in the 76th volume of the ''Dengeki PlayStation'' magazine in June 1998, which was shared by Twitter user [https://twitter.com/datsuimon/ @datsuimon] on Twitter.<ref name="unseen" /><ref>[https://twitter.com/datsuimon/status/1068171952064360448?lang=en @datsuimon's tweet sharing the ''Dengeki Playstation'' magazine advertising the game.] Retrieved 07 Feb '23</ref>, though the magazine has yet to be translated as of 2022, and if so, will give more information about the game itself.

Footage from the game is scarce as there are only two available videos that feature content from the game online. One is from a Nicovideo from 2007, and another is from 2020 that was uploaded by YouTuber [https://youtube.com/@Professor_Mori_DIY DIY channel of Professor Moriarty]. The latter video explained in its description that said footage came from and was included at the 1997 VHS release of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toki_o_Kakeru_Sh%C5%8Djo_(1997_film) 1997 movie of the same name] which was shown in the very beginning of said VHS<ref>[https://youtu.be/S3KY9q53SSU  DIY channel of Professor Moriarty's video with the footage of the game with its description explaining its discovery in the 1997 movie VHS release.] Retrieved 07 Feb '23</ref>

As of January 2023, no available playable build of the game is available. Though it has been 20 years since the game had been discontinued, it is unlikely that any prototypes or builds of the game would ever see the light of day<ref name="atlas" />.

==Gallery==
===Screenshots (Gameplay)===
<gallery mode=packed heights=175px>
ThroughTime2.png|Screenshot of the gameplay (1/4)
ThroughTime3.png|Screenshot of the gameplay (2/4)
ThroughTime8.png|Screenshot of the gameplay (3/4)
ThroughTime9.png|Screenshot of the gameplay (4/4)
</gallery>
===Screenshots (Cutscenes)===
<gallery mode=packed heights=150px>
ThroughTime1.png|Screenshot of one of the cutscenes in the game (1/5)
ThroughTime4.png|Screenshot of one of the cutscenes in the game (2/5)
ThroughTime5.png|Screenshot of one of the cutscenes in the game (3/5)
ThroughTime6.png|Screenshot of one of the cutscenes in the game (4/5)
ThroughTime7.png|Screenshot of one of the cutscenes in the game (5/5)
</gallery>
===Outside Material===
<gallery mode=packed heights=215px>
ThroughTimeBOXART.jpg|The shared box art of the game, from [https://twitter.com/jironosuke99/ @jironosuke99]
ThroughTimeMAGS1.jpg|''Dengeki Playstation'' magazine advertising the game, from [https://twitter.com/datsuimon/ @datsuimon] (1/2) [YET TO BE TRANSLATED]
ThroughTimeMAGS2.jpg|''Dengeki Playstation'' magazine advertising the game, from [https://twitter.com/datsuimon/ @datsuimon] (2/2) [YET TO BE TRANSLATED]
</gallery>
===Videos===
{{Video|perrow  =2
  |service1     =youtube
  |id1          =S3KY9q53SSU
  |description1 =YouTube video that includes footage of the gameplay.
  |service2     =nico
  |id2          =sm560110
  |description2 =NicoNico video that includes footage of the gameplay.
}}
==Trivia==
*Note that the game is not based around the more known 2006 film animated adaptation of the novel, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_Who_Leapt_Through_Time_(2006_film) The Girl Who Leapt Through Time], directed by Mamoru Hosoda and animated by Studio Chizu. Take note that the film's release was in 2006, and this game was planned to be released in 1998. Though as the [https://unseen64.net/beta-and-cancelled-videogames/ Unseen64] article jokingly puts it, "unless Bandai leapt through time"<ref name="unseen" />.
==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Lost video games|Girl Who Leapt Through Time]]
[[Category:Completely lost media|Girl Who Leapt Through Time]]