''Steins;Gate'' is a 2009

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

visual novel A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...

game developed by

5pb. , formerly , is a Japanese video game developer and record label for video game and anime music. It was formed on April 6, 2005 after Chiyomaru Shikura left Scitron to begin the company as its executive director, a position he still holds. Th ...

and

Nitroplus Nitroplus Co., Ltd., currently styled as NITRO PLUS, formerly stylized as nitro+, and formerly known as "OKStyle", is a Japanese visual novel video game developer that has developed a number of visual novels, including eroge. They also have been ...

. It is the second game in the ''

Science Adventure ''Science Adventure'' is a multimedia series consisting of interconnected science fiction stories, created mainly by Mages, Nitroplus, and Chiyomaru Studio. The main entries mostly take the form of visual novel video games, but side entries span ...

'' series, following '' Chaos;Head''. The story follows a group of students as they discover and develop technology that gives them the means to change the past. The gameplay in ''Steins;Gate'' includes branching scenarios with courses of interaction. ''Steins;Gate'' was released for the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

on October 15, 2009. The game was ported to

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...

on August 26, 2010, PlayStation Portable on June 23, 2011,

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

on August 25, 2011,

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...

on May 24, 2012, PlayStation Vita on March 14, 2013, and Android on June 27, 2013. The game is described by the development team as a .

JAST USA Jast may refer to: *Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) project was merged with the Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter (CALF) project to make the Joint Strike Fighter program. * JAST USA *Jast, a member of the Cult of Skaro in ''Doctor Who ...

released the PC version in North America on March 31, 2014, both digitally and as a physical collector's edition, while PQube released the PS3 and Vita versions in North America and Europe in 2015. Additionally, the iOS version was released in English on September 9, 2016. A manga adaptation of the game, created by Yomi Sarachi, was serialized from 2009 to 2013, and later published in North America from 2015 to 2016. A second manga series, illustrated by Kenji Mizuta, began serialization in

Mag Garden is a Japanese publishing company that focuses on manga-related publications and is also involved in the development of anime and live-action adaptations. It was founded on June 5, 2001 by Yoshihiro Hosaka along with former manga artists of Enix ...

's ''

Monthly Comic Blade was a Japanese shōnen manga magazine published by Mag Garden. It was first published in February 2002 and was sold on the 30 of each month until July 2014. It restarted in September 2014 as a free online magazine titled ''Online Magazine Comic ...

'' on December 28, 2009. An anime adaptation by

White Fox , is a Japanese animation studio founded in April 2007 by Gaku Iwasa. The studio's most successful productions include adaptations of ''Steins;Gate'', and '' Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World'', and '' Akame ga Kill!''. History The stu ...

aired in Japan between April 6, 2011, and September 14, 2011, and has been licensed in North America by

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

. An animated film premiered in Japanese theaters on April 20, 2013. A

fan disc A fan disc (sometimes called fandisk or simply abbreviated as FD) is a package of additional content, usually released by a game company after the successful launch of one of its titles. The contents of fan discs varies, but often includes new i ...

of the game, titled '' Steins;Gate: My Darling's Embrace'', was released on June 16, 2011. A non-canon 8-bit sequel to the game, titled ''Steins;Gate: Hen'i Kuukan no Octet'' or ''Steins;Gate 8bit'', was released on October 28, 2011. Another game, '' Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram'', was released on April 25, 2013. A follow-up game, '' Steins;Gate 0'', was released on December 10, 2015, for PS3, PlayStation 4 and Vita, and received an anime adaptation in 2018. A remake of the original visual novel titled '' Steins;Gate Elite'' which presents fully animated cutscenes from the ''Steins;Gate'' anime was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo Switch and Steam in 2019. Included as a bonus for the Nintendo Switch version, an entirely new game called ''8-bit ADV Steins;Gate'' in the style of

Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit Third generation of video game consoles, third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redes ...

adventure games from the 1980s, was released. A thematic sequel, tentatively titled ''

Steins;??? ''Steins;???'' ( tentative title) is an upcoming video game developed by Chiyomaru Studio and Mages. It is a thematic sequel to ''Steins;Gate'' (2009), and is part of the '' Science Adventure'' series. The game is written by Mages' representativ ...

'', is in development.

Gameplay

''Steins;Gate''s gameplay requires little interaction from the player as most of the duration of the game is spent reading the text that appears on the screen, which represents either the dialogue between the various characters or the thoughts of the protagonist. Like many other visual novels, there are specific points in ''Steins;Gate'' where the user is given a choice to affect the direction of the game. For these decision points, ''Steins;Gate'' presents the user with the system. When the player receives a phone call, the player can choose to answer or ignore the call. Incoming text messages have specific words underlined and highlighted in blue, much like a hyperlink on a browser, which the player can select to reply to the text message. Most phone calls or text messages do not require a response, though there are certain points in the game where the player is required to take action. Depending on the player's choices of how to respond to these phone calls and text messages, the plot will progress in a specific direction.

Synopsis

Setting and themes

''Steins;Gate'' is set in the summer of 2010, approximately one year after the events that took place in ''Chaos;Head'', in Akihabara. Physical locales of Akihabara like the Radio Kaikan building can be spotted in the game. According to Chiyomaru Shikura, who headed the planning of ''Steins;Gate'', Akihabara was chosen because it is an easy place for acquiring hardware parts, which makes it the ideal place for people interested in inventing and tinkering with things. The notion of

time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

and

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a ...

ing are the main themes of the game. The concept of cause and effect is featured prominently in the game as the protagonist travels back in time numerous times to perform different actions in an attempt to alter what has happened in the future. ''Steins;Gate'' also features

hard science fiction Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's ''Islands of Space'' in the Novemb ...

elements.

Characters

; :The player assumes the role of Okabe Rintaro, the protagonist of ''Steins;Gate''. Okabe is an eccentric individual, a self-proclaimed mad scientist who often goes by the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

. Mayuri and Daru call him , a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsmaniacal laughter. He is frequently mocked for this behavior, mostly by Kurisu and Daru, and referred to as a chunibyou. Most of the time he takes on a fairly arrogant personality. He is usually seen wearing a lab coat. As he experiments with time travel, he learns that he is the only one who possesses the ability to determine changes between different timelines, which he dubs "Reading Steiner". He is 18 years old and a first-year student at

Tokyo Denki University is a private university in Adachi, Tokyo, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1907 as . It was chartered as a university in 1949 with Yasujiro Niwa as first president. Denki (電機) means an electric device in Japanese, and the ...

. :He is actually a kind-hearted person who always helps others that are in trouble. He acted strangely by talking to himself on his phone and saying all those strange things like the "Organization" just to make his childhood friend, Shiina Mayuri happy. Shiina Mayuri was in great sadness when her grandmother passed away. Moreover, he protected Urushibara Ruka from bullies at the first time he met Ruka and as a result, Ruka was grateful to Okabe and treated Okabe as his role model. ; : Makise Kurisu is the main heroine of the game and Lab Member No. 004. She is an 18-year-old neuroscience researcher at an American university who can speak and read English well. Having had her research published in the academic journal ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

'' at this age, Makise is extremely talented. She had skipped a grade in the American school system. Okabe simply tends to call her or one of the several nicknames he comes up with, such as , "the Zombie", and "Celeb Sev", which bugs her to varying degrees. She is something of a mild

tsundere is a Japanese term for a character development process that depicts a character with a personality who is initially very harsh before gradually showing a warmer, friendlier side over time. The word is derived from the terms ('to turn away in ...

, although she will object to it whenever someone (usually Daru) calls her that. She does not get along with her father and has not spoken to him in many years. She posts on @chan (the game's in-universe version of

2channel , also known as 2ch, Channel 2, and sometimes retrospectively as 2ch.net, was an anonymous Japanese textboard founded in 1999 by Hiroyuki Nishimura. Described in 2007 as "Japan's most popular online community", the site had a level of influ ...

) under the name "KuriGohan and Kamehameha"; the alias also makes a cameo on Kaito Yashio's PokeCom tablet in episode 9 of '' Robotics;Notes''. ; :Shiina Mayuri is a long-time childhood best friend of Rintaro and is a bit of an airhead, as well as Lab Member No. 002. Shiina enjoys creating cosplay costumes and has a part-time job at a

maid café are a subcategory of cosplay restaurants found predominantly in Japan. In these cafés, waitresses, dressed in maid costumes, act as servants, and treat customers as masters (and mistresses) in a private home, rather than as café patrons. The f ...

called "Mayqueen Nyannyan". She often calls herself , a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words ; :Hashida Itaru is an experienced

hacker A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...

who has known Okabe since high school and is Lab Member No. 003. He is very skilled in computer programming and with old and new computer hardware. He is also well-versed in things on

otaku is a Japanese word that describes people with consuming interests, particularly in anime, manga, video games, or computers. Its contemporary use originated with a 1983 essay by Akio Nakamori in '' Manga Burikko''. may be used as a pejorat ...

culture. Okabe and Shiina refer to him by the nickname , a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsTokyo Denki University is a private university in Adachi, Tokyo, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1907 as . It was chartered as a university in 1949 with Yasujiro Niwa as first president. Denki (電機) means an electric device in Japanese, and the ...

. He appears in '' Robotics;Notes'' as DaSH, and as a main character in its sequel, '' Robotics;Notes DaSH''. ; :Kiryu Moeka is a tall girl who Okabe bumps into in Akihabara and is on a search for the IBN 5100 personal computer, and is Lab Member No. 005. Kiryu is extremely protective of her mobile phone and becomes agitated if someone tries to take it from her hands. She is very shy and prefers to talk to someone by sending them a text message instead of speaking, even if they are right in front of her. Okabe calls her . She is 20 years old. ; :Urushibara Luka is a friend of Okabe and Lab Member No. 006. His appearance is that of a female and he acts in a feminine way due to his upbringing, wearing girl's clothing within and outside his father's temple. He is also a close friend and classmate of Shiina, who often asks him to try on her cosplay costumes, but as he is quite shy, he generally refuses. Okabe calls her by a feminine nickname , and thinks of Luka as his pupil. He is 16 years old. ; / :Faris NyanNyan works at the

maid cafe A maid, or housemaid or maidservant, is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids ...

"MayQueen NyanNyan", the same maid cafe that Shiina works at, and is the most popular waitress there, as well as Lab Member No. 007. Her real name is Akiha Rumiho. Her family owns Akihabara, and she was the driving force behind it becoming the city of moe and anime. She tends to add to her sentences. She is 17 years old. ; : Amane Suzuha works part-time for the landlord of Okabe's apartment and is on a search for her father in Akihabara, and is Lab Member No. 008. She enjoys riding her bicycle and appears to be at odds with Makise for some reason. Later it is discovered that she is actually the time traveler from the future that was under the guise of John Titor, and is the future daughter of Daru, her real name being . She is 18 years old. She is the main protagonist of the side-story manga, ''Steins;Gate: Bōkan no Rebellion''. ; : He is Okabe's landlord, who owns a TV repair store beneath his apartment, living with his daughter, Nae. Okabe gives him the nickname "Mr. Braun" due to his passion for CRT TVs (known in Japan as "Braun-tube TVs"). He is usually rough and impatient, especially when interacting with Okabe, but acts dotingly over his daughter and his TVs. He is the protagonist of the side-story manga, ''Steins;Gate: Onshū no Braunian Motion''. ; :Yūgo's daughter who lives with him in the TV repair store and gets along well with Shiina and Suzuha, but is afraid of Okabe. She later appears in '' Robotics;Notes'' as a member of JAXA. ; :Kurisu's father and the supreme antagonist of the series. His obsession to outshine his daughter in the field of science ends up leading into World War III. His real name is Makise Shoichi (牧瀬章一).

Plot

''True End'' route

The following summary is based upon the True End route. ''Steins;Gate'' takes place in the Akihabara district of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. On July 28, 2010, Okabe Rintaro and his friend Shiina Mayuri head towards the Radio Kaikan building for a conference, where Rintaro finds a girl named Makise Kurisu lying in a pool of blood. As Rintaro sends a text message about the incident to his friend, Hashida "Daru" Itaru, he experiences a strange phenomenon and the people around him disappear, with no one else noticing anything had changed. After later running into Kurisu, who is strangely alive and well, and discovering the message he had sent to Itaru had arrived a week before he sent it, Rintaro soon deduces that the 'PhoneWave' he and his friends had been developing is, in fact, a time machine capable of sending text messages to the past. He and his friends soon learn that SERN, an organization that has been researching time travel for some time, has actually succeeded in sending humans into the past although they seem to have all resulted in the test subjects' deaths. Rintaro begins experimenting with , which begin to cause major differences in the timeline. Kurisu also manages to create a device to send a person's memories through the microwave, allowing that person to effectively leap into the past. However, SERN learns of the time machine and sends a group led by Moeka to retrieve it, killing Mayuri in the process. Using Kurisu's time leap machine, Rintaro travels back in time numerous times to try to save Mayuri, but to no avail. As Rintaro reaches wit's end, he is approached by Amane Suzuha, a girl from a future ruled by SERN due to their possession of a time machine, who tells him that he needs to return to a Beta worldline in which Mayuri won't die. By undoing the effects of the D-Mails that caused shifts in the timeline, Rintaro regains possession of an IBN 5100 PC that they lost earlier, allowing them to crack into SERN's systems and delete the evidence of Rintaro's original D-Mail. However, Rintaro realizes that by doing so, he would have to return to a world line in which Kurisu is dead. After realizing their feelings for each other, Kurisu tells Rintaro to save Mayuri. Reluctantly, Rintaro agrees and deletes the evidence of his D-Mail from SERN's database, returning him to the Beta world line. Sometime later, Suzuha appears before Rintaro, having arrived in a time machine from the future. She tells Rintaro that the only way to prevent

World War III World War III or the Third World War, often abbreviated as WWIII or WW3, are names given to a hypothetical worldwide large-scale military conflict subsequent to World War I and World War II. The term has been in use since at ...

in the future is to prevent Kurisu's death at the hands of her father, Dr. Nakabachi, who stole her time travel theory to publish it under his own name. However, this operation ends in a disaster as Rintaro ends up killing Kurisu himself by mistake. After this failure, Rintaro receives a message from his future self, telling him that the way to save Kurisu without altering the events that led to him developing a time machine is to fool his past self into believing Kurisu had been killed and thus achieving the final divergence value of 1.048596%, which he dubs 'Steins Gate'. Returning to the past again, Rintaro puts his own life in danger in order to save Kurisu's life, prevent Nakabachi from successfully escaping with the time travel theory, and fool his past self, setting him on his journey through time. Returning to the Steins Gate world line, safe from the threat of a third world war, Rintaro and Kurisu manage to reunite by chance (or by fate) in the streets of Akihabara.

Alternate endings

The player's choices throughout the game may result in

alternate ending An alternate ending (or alternative ending) is an ending of a story that was considered, or even written or produced, but ultimately discarded in favour of another resolution. Generally, alternative endings are considered to have no bearing on t ...

s. * In the Amane Suzuha Ending, Okabe decides to not send the D-Mail that would prevent him from pursuing Suzuha. To prevent Mayuri's death, he re-lives the final two days before her murder through constant time-leaping. After countless leaps, Okabe loses all emotion and personality due to re-living the same two days for all eternity. Eventually, Suzuha notices Okabe's behavior. She tells him that he will slowly "die" on the inside, and the world's set divergence will continue as planned. Both of them decide to travel to the past together and vow to stop SERN's dystopian future, despite the possibility of both losing their memories on arrival. * In the Faris NyanNyan Ending, Okabe decides to not send the D-Mail that results in the death of Faris's father to try to stop the loss of the IBN 5100 computer. He instead sends a different D-Mail in an attempt to convince Faris's father to not part with the IBN computer. Beyond 1% divergence is achieved, but the divergence meter gives a strange output and none of Okabe's friends have any memories of him. In this worldline, Okabe and Faris are a couple and live together, participating in ''RaiNet Access Battlers'' card game tournaments. Although disappointed that none of his friends remember him, Okabe is still satisfied that he was able to prevent Mayuri's death. He decides to build a new life with Faris at his side. * In the Urushibara Ruka Ending, Okabe decides to not send the D-Mail that reverts Ruka to a guy. He fully accepts Mayuri's expected death and makes no more attempts to save her and they spend the last two days together before she dies of a heart attack. Okabe and Ruka decide to spend the rest of their lives together, both of them sharing a pang of guilt and sadness that only they would understand. In a post-credit scene they are revealed to now have a child together. * In the Shiina Mayuri Ending, Okabe must choose between saving Mayuri or Kurisu. Realizing that he harbors romantic feelings for Mayuri, Okabe and Kurisu decide to return to the Beta worldline in which Kurisu's murder continues as planned. After hacking into SERN's database with the IBN computer, a 1% divergence is achieved. Okabe vows to remember his memories of Kurisu and spends his time with Mayuri as lovers. * The Makise Kurisu Ending follows a similar route to the True End. To achieve this ending, one must have had several conversations with Kurisu throughout the game. Doing so allows Okabe and Kurisu to realize their inner feelings for each other. Unlike the True End, Kurisu's death is not prevented after the credits.

Development

''Steins;Gate'' is the second collaborative work between 5pb. and Nitroplus after ''Chaos;Head''. The game was created with the concept of "99% science (reality) and 1% fantasy" in mind. The planning for ''Steins;Gate'' was headed by Chiyomaru Shikura of 5pb. The characters were designed by Ryohei Fuke, also known as 'Huke' (known as one of the illustrators of ''

Metal Gear is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operativ ...

'' series, and the creator of ''

Black Rock Shooter is a Japanese media franchise based on characters created by illustrator Ryohei Fuke, also known as Huke. It revolves around its eponymous character, a mysterious black haired girl with a blazing blue eye. The original illustration insp ...

'' franchise) whereas the gadgets were designed by Sh@rp. Naotaka Hayashi of 5pb. wrote the scenario with assistance from Vio Shimokura of Nitroplus. Tatsuya Matsuhara from 5pb. was the producer and Tosō Pehara from Nitroplus was the art director. The music was composed by Takeshi Abo of 5pb. and Toshimichi Isoe of Zizz Studio. Shikura, Hayashi, Matsuhara, Abo, and Isoe had all previously worked on ''Chaos;Head''. The title "''Steins;Gate''" had no specific meaning, being coined from the German word "Stein" meaning stone, and tying in with famous physicist

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

. ''Steins;Gate'' was inspired by earlier

s written by Hiroyuki Kanno. These include '' Eve Burst Error'' (1995), and most notably the time-travel adventure '' YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World'' (1996). Matsuhara, who came up with the concept of the phone trigger system, stated that he initially wanted to incorporate the player's own mobile phone into the system. However, the idea was abandoned due to concerns that it might clash with Japan's privacy laws. When asked if the phone trigger system would be used in a possible sequel to the game, Hayashi stated that he hoped this would not be the case and recalled saying "who thought of this system!" while writing the contents of the text messages. While Shikura did not directly contribute to the script itself, Hayashi stated that Shikura helped with the overall plot and provided assistance with the second half of the story. In particular, Shikura helped a lot with the time-traveling aspects of the story. Hayashi stated that while he did not want the script to repeat the same text over and over again, it was ultimately unavoidable due to the player having to travel back in time so he tried to emphasize the overall tempo of the plot's development and how the plot unfolded. With regards to the theme of time traveling, Hayashi had felt that it seemed like an overdone topic and expressed concern over it when he first heard the idea from Shikura. Prior to the game's announcement, a teaser site was featured on 5pb.'s website that simply referred to the game as ''Project S;G'' and stating that it was going to be a collaboration between 5pb. and Nitroplus. Nitroplus's website had also hinted at this on its 10th anniversary website. Matsuhara, who was also the producer for ''Chaos;Head'', had previously stated that the game would be centred on Akihabara and that the project with Nitroplus would be the second part in a series around the theme "". On June 12, 2009, the countdown expired and the name ''Steins;Gate'' was revealed.

Kana Hanazawa is a Japanese actress, voice actress and singer. A prolific voice performer in anime, she has amassed several film and television credits since her debut in 1990. She won the Seiyu Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2015, and won the Newtyp ...

stated that she was happy to have been selected to be in ''Steins;Gate'' as she felt that it was not common to be able to play a part in a serious game. She also thought that the game gives the player more of a thrilling sensation rather than a frightening one and it entices the player to continue reading.

Release history

''Steins;Gate'' was first declared

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

on September 18, 2009 with a demo of the game being made available a few weeks later on the

Xbox Live Marketplace Xbox Games Store (formerly Xbox Live Marketplace) is a digital distribution platform used by Microsoft's Xbox Series X, S, Xbox One and Xbox 360 video game consoles. The service allows users to download or purchase video games (including both ...

on October 7, 2009 for Xbox Live Gold members and then publicly on October 14, 2009. The demo allows the player to play through the prologue and the game's first chapter. ''Steins;Gate'' was released in both limited and regular editions on October 15, 2009. The limited edition contained the game itself, a toy named "Future Gadget #3 Lie Detector" from the game and a small hardcover artbook that includes various illustrations and background information about the game's universe as well as comments from the staff members. A

port of the game was released on August 26, 2010, and included additional CGs. A PlayStation Portable port of the game was released on June 23, 2011. The game includes elements from the downloadable contents of the Xbox 360 version as well as a new opening movie, a new opening theme and a new ending theme. The game was also released for Apple iOS devices on August 25, 2011. The ports of the game for

and PlayStation Vita, that shared a new opening movie, were released alongside the spin-off '' Steins;Gate: Darling of Loving Vows'' on May 24, 2012, and March 14, 2013, respectively. The Limited Edition of the Vita port came with a costume for the character Urushibara Ruka. All copies came with a free movie ticket for the upcoming film. The PlayStation 4 version featuring higher quality assets then the previous releases, titled ''Steins;Gate HD'' was included with the first-print copies of ''Steins;Gate 0'' in Japan. The Xbox 360 version became playable on

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

through

backward compatibility Backward compatibility (sometimes known as backwards compatibility) is a property of an operating system, product, or technology that allows for interoperability with an older legacy system, or with input designed for such a system, especiall ...

on May 19, 2017, along with the spin-offs ''Steins;Gate: Darling of Loving Vows'' and '' Steins;Gate: Linear Bounded Phenogram''. At

Anime Expo Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first w ...

2013,

announced that they would be licensing the PC version of the game in North America. The game was released on March 31, 2014, in a Limited Edition, as well as digitally. The Limited Edition contained a deluxe collector's box, a fan book with artwork, a set of replica Future Gadget Laboratory pins, the manual, and game disc. A physical Standard Edition later followed. On December 16, 2014, PQube announced they would release the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions of the game in North America and Europe in 2015. Physical versions were exclusive to Amazon.com in the United States, while in Canada, they were only available at VideoGamesPlus.ca. The PC version was made available on Steam on September 9, 2016. On May 1, 2018,

Spike Chunsoft is a Japanese video game development and localization company specializing in role-playing video games, visual novels and adventure games. The company was founded in 1984 as Chunsoft Co., Ltd. and merged with Spike in 2012. It is owned by Dwang ...

took over publishing of the Steam version of the game from Mages/5pb.

Reception

Reviews

Senji Ishii of '' Famitsu Xbox 360'' praised the scenario for its detail and noted that events that were overlooked as insignificant later returned to affect events of the future. Due to the way the plot ties the many different events of the game together, Ishii believes it must have been a lot of work to write the scenarios. In 2009, the ''Famitsu'' Awards gave Steins;Gate an annual Game of Excellence award. 4Gamer.net commented that ''Steins;Gate'' is comparable to '' 428: Shibuya Scramble'' and felt that it is a gem that has not been seen in recent years. ITmedia Gamez noted that players should be attentive to all the details in the story as the twists will surprise the player in many different ways. It was also suggested to the player that the characters' voices be left turned on as the

voice acting Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

is very good. The review did caution that players who have played through the demo and who did not enjoy the atmosphere of the game were not likely to find the rest of the game interesting. ''Steins;Gate'' has also been praised by Square Enix producer Tomoya Asano, who described it as having "appealing and likable characters and a scenario that surprised players"; this led to ''Steins;Gate'' writer Naotaka Hayashi writing the plot and characters for the role-playing video game '' Bravely Default: Flying Fairy''. In 2011, ''Steins;Gate'' was voted #6 in ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...

s poll of "most tear-inducing games" of all time. In 2017, ''Famitsu'' readers voted it the best adventure game of all time. The later English release of the ''Steins;Gate'' visual novel has also been well received. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, it is the seventh highest-rated PC game of 2014, and the highest-rated PS Vita game of 2015.

USgamer Gamer Network Limited (formerly Eurogamer Network Limited) is a British mass media company based in Brighton. Founded in 1999 by Rupert and Nick Loman, it owns brands—primarily editorial websites—relating to video game journalism and oth ...

also gave it a perfect 5 out of 5 stars, concluding that it makes "excellent use of the visual novel medium to tell its story" and "is a beautifully crafted piece of interactive fiction that blends character drama, sci-fi and critique of popular culture into a compelling and memorable whole." ''

GameFan ''GameFan'' (originally known as ''Diehard GameFan'') was a publication started by Tim Lindquist, Greg Off, George Weising. and Dave Halverson in September 1992 that provided coverage of domestic and import video games. It was notable for its ex ...

'' praised the plot as "outstanding", "well written" and "the best storyline in a game released this year, period." They stated the "twists and turns, branching plot points, multiple endings and plot development is amazing" and "an interesting phone-based choice system makes the game feel far more engaging than similar games in the genre". Dealspwn praised the plot, characters, artwork, "excellent" writing and localisation, and the phone trigger system for giving "real choices with huge consequences", but criticized it for having a slow start and "lots of" technical jargon. '' GamesMaster'' said it was smart, "with an unforgettable protagonist", and is one "of the great visual novels." Syfy called it one "of the best Visual Novels of all time," stating that, while "bad guys exist," "by trying to save the future, you become one yourself", making "choices whose devastating consequences you couldn't predict." '' Official PlayStation Magazine'' said "it's a story you'll want to see through." Meghan Sullivan of IGN gave it a generally favorable review, praising the story, characters, choices, and endings, but criticized it for "intrusive dating elements". ''Steins;Gate'' was nominated for the 2015 Golden Joystick Award in the "Best Handheld / Mobile Game" category.

Sales

''Steins;Gate'' placed 13th in sales during its first week of release with 16,434 copies sold, 28th on its second week with 4,253 copies, and 26th on its third week with 6,095 copies, totaling 26,782 copies by October 29, 2009. ''Steins;Gate'' placed fourth in overall Xbox 360 game sales on Amazon Japan on the year starting on December 1, 2008 and ending November 30, 2009. The PSP version of ''Steins;Gate'' debuted at 2nd place on the Japanese game charts, selling 63,558 units in its first week. As of June 2011, 300,000 copies have been shipped across the PC, Xbox 360 and PSP platforms. As of 2014, ''Steins;Gate'' sold over 500,000 copies. On the UK charts, as of June 8, 2015, ''Steins;Gate'' topped the PlayStation Vita chart, came third place on the PlayStation 3 chart, and entered at #18 on the All-Format chart. The Android version has sold between 50,000 and 100,000 downloads, as of 2015. As of December 2015, the ''Steins Gate'' visual novel series has sold more than one million copies, including 100,000 copies of '' Steins;Gate 0''. The Steam release had an estimated total of 160,000 players by July 2018.

Related media

Time machine representation on the Radio Kaikan

Video games

The success of ''Steins;Gate'' spawned additional sequels. ''Steins;Gate: Hiyoku Renri no Darling'' was released on June 6, 2011, and is similar to '' Chaos;Head Love Chu Chu!'' in terms of style. The story for this sequel is unrelated and non-canon to the original game, and is more comedic in tone. It was originally an Xbox 360 exclusive, though ports later followed for PS3, PSP, and PlayStation Vita. A version for iOS was later released on October 3, 2013 as well. ''Steins;Gate: Hen'i Kuukan no Octet'' is a non-canon extension of the True End of the original game. Unlike the modern visual novel format of the original game, this retro game mimics the style of graphical

text adventure '' Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...

games from the 8-bit PC era (e.g.

PC-88 The , commonly shortened to PC-88, are a brand of Zilog Z80-based 8-bit home computers released by Nippon Electric Company (NEC) in 1981 and primarily sold in Japan. The PC-8800 series sold extremely well and became one of the three major Japane ...

), with the player typing short commands to interact with and explore the game world. It features all backgrounds and characters drawn in a low-color

pixelated Pixelization (British English, pixelisation) or mosaic processing is any technique used in editing images or video, whereby an image is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower resolution. It is primarily used for censorshi ...

style with emulated

scanline A scan line (also scanline) is one line, or row, in a raster scanning pattern, such as a line of video on a cathode ray tube (CRT) display of a television set or computer monitor. On CRT screens the horizontal scan lines are visually discernible, ...

s, and chiptune music played through an emulated FM chip with no voice acting. The premise of the game features Okabe Rintaro receiving a D-Mail from himself in 2025 that states that he must save the future by reclaiming an IBN 5100 from a person under the alias "Neidhardt". This person is Takumi Nishijō, the protagonist of '' Chaos;Head'', as he runs under the same player name in his favorite MMORPG, and the D-Mail stating that "Neidhardt" lives in Shibuya and has "inherent, supernatural abilities", a reference to his power as a megalomaniac. Although non-canon, the game contains many easter eggs and references that connect ''Chaos;Head'' and ''Steins;Gate'' together. The game was released on October 28, 2011, as a PC exclusive. A game demo is currently available. An official manga adaptation of the game's story has also been released. A third spin-off game titled ''Steins;Gate Senkei Kōsoku no Phenogram'', was released on April 25, 2013, in Japan for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The game offers alternative stories that vary in terms of canon, some from the viewpoint of other lab members besides Okabe. A PlayStation Vita port of the game was released on November 28, 2013. A sequel, '' Steins;Gate 0'', was announced in March 2015. The game was released on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita. It was originally scheduled to be released in Japan on November 19, 2015, but the release date was moved to December 10, 2015. Another sequel, tentatively referred to as ''

'', was announced in October 2020. An updated version of ''Steins;Gate'', titled '' Steins;Gate Elite'', was released in 2018 in Japan for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita and Nintendo Switch. Unlike previous ''Science Adventure'' games, it is fully animated, using all the footage from the ''Steins;Gate'' anime series along with newly produced animation for most story routes not included in the anime series; the animation is played together with the script and voiced dialogue from the original game. The new animation is produced by

, the studio that produced the anime series.

Appearances in other games

Kurisu and Mayuri appear in the

Nendoroid The series is a brand of plastic figures created by the Japanese Good Smile Company in 2006. They typically depict characters from anime, manga or video games and are designed with a large head and smaller body to give them a cute appearance. T ...

crossover game, ''Nendoroid Generation'', which was developed by

Banpresto (formerly Coreland Technology Inc.) was a Japanese video game video game development, developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It had a branch in Hong Kong named Banpresto H.K., which was headquartered in t ...

for the PlayStation Portable and released on February 23, 2012. The 2D fighting game '' Phantom Breaker'' featured Kurisu as a guest character and was released in Japan on June 2, 2011. Kurisu was additionally included as part of DLC for its spin-off ''Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds.'' Rintaro made an appearance in the mobile game '' Revue Starlight -Re LIVE-'' as part of a collaboration with the series.

Internet radio show

Internet radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...

show to promote ''Steins;Gate'' named "" began broadcasting on September 11, 2009. The show was streamed online on every Friday, and was produced by HiBiKi Radio Station. The show was hosted by

Asami Imai is a Japanese voice actress and singer affiliated with Early Wing. She debuted as a voice actress in 1999 and as singer in 2009 by releasing her first single "Day by Day / Shining Blue Rain" under the 5pb. Records label. She is also well known f ...

, the voice actress of Makise Kurisu, and

, the voice actress of Shiina Mayuri. Guests that appeared on the show included

Yū Kobayashi is a Japanese voice actress and singer affiliated with Holy Peak. Some of her most prominent roles include that of Tadamichi Aoba in ''Dan Doh!!'', Setsuna Sakurazaki in ''Negima! Magister Negi Magi'', Dan Kuso in '' Bakugan Battle Brawlers'', ...

, the voice actress of Urushibara Ruka, and Ayano Yamamoto, the voice actress of . The last show was aired on October 30, 2009. A CD containing a special Comiket show with Haruko Momoi, the voice actress of Faris NyanNyan, as the guest was released on December 29, 2009. A collection of all eight broadcast Internet radio shows, the Comiket show, and one new show was released on February 3, 2010, in a bundle together with the soundtrack of the game. The Internet radio shows are recorded in

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

format.

Manga

A manga adaptation of the game, titled '' Steins;Gate'', was created by Yomi Sarachi and serialized by

Media Factory , formerly is a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing. History It was founded on December 1, 1986, and its headquarters are situated in Shibuya, Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Recruit Co., Ltd. Media Factory was possi ...

in their ''

Monthly Comic Alive is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Media Factory. The first issue was released on June 27, 2006. Serialized titles *'' Absolute Duo'' *'' Alice or Alice'' (until 2015, part of the supplement magazine '' Comic Cune'') *'' Ano Ko ni ...

'' from 2009 to 2013, and later published in North America by

Udon Entertainment Udon Entertainment Corp. is a Canadian art studio and publisher. The company publishes original and translated comic books, graphic novels, manga and art books related to anime and video games. It was founded in 2000 and is named after udo ...

from 2015 to 2016. Four side-story manga series are currently being serialized. , illustrated by Kenji Mizuta, began serialization in

's ''

'''s February 2010 issue. The manga focuses on Amane Suzuha as it tells the events of the story from her point of view. , illustrated by Takeshi Mizoguchi, began serialization in

's ''Comic Clear'' web magazine and it takes the point of view of Tennouji Yugo. , illustrated by Yuzuhana Morita, began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's ''

Comptiq is a Japanese computer game magazine, first published in 1983, by Kadokawa Shoten. The name "Comptiq" came from combining the words "computer" and "boutique". Originally a PC magazine, its focus shifted from computers to computer games. As of S ...

'''s February 2011 issue and was transferred to '' Monthly Shōnen Ace'' in its October 2011 issue. The manga focuses on the main heroine Makise Kurisu as the events are told from her point of view. Another manga, titled started serializing on Comic Blade in its August 2011 issue. It follows the events told in the fan disc. A manga adaptation of the drama CD, , also told from Kurisu's perspective, is being illustrated by Shinichirou Nariie and was serialized in

Shueisha (lit. "Gathering of Intellect Publishing Co., Ltd.") is a Japanese company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1925 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The foll ...

's ''

Ultra Jump is a Japanese monthly seinen manga magazine published by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines. Originally, the magazine was a special issue of '' Weekly Young Jump'' which was first issued in 1995. On October 19, 1999, the special issue bec ...

'' magazine from May 15, 2012, to January 19, 2014. A spinoff comedy manga, titled , was illustrated by Nini and serialized in

's ''

'''s March 2011 issue. A book containing information and designs of ''Steins;Gate'' was published by Enterbrain on February 26, 2010.

Light novel

A light novel sequel, set 6 years after the events of the original game and titled ''Steins;Gate: The Committee of Antimatter'', was to ship on January 16, 2015. However, due to "various circumstances", it was announced on December 22, 2014, that its release was cancelled.

Drama CDs

Three

drama CD Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

s were released on March 31, 2010, April 28, 2010, and June 2, 2010, respectively. The first drama CD takes place in the tenth chapter of Kurisu's route.

Anime series

On July 25, 2010, Chiyomaru Shikura announced on his

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account that ''Steins;Gate'' would be adapted into an

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

. Further details about the adaptation were revealed in the September 2010 issues of '' Newtype'' and ''

''. The adaptation was produced by

and aired in Japan between April 6, 2011, and September 14, 2011. The entire series was released in Japan on nine DVD/Blu-ray combo packs. Each set features 2–3 episodes, an art book, and a bonus disc containing music and radio dramas by the Japanese voice cast. An

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

episode was released with the final DVD/BD volume on February 22, 2012. The adaptation was directed by Hiroshi Hamasaki and Takuya Satō, with series composition by

Jukki Hanada is a Japanese anime screenwriter and light novelist. His grandfather is essayist and literary critic Kiyoteru Hanada, who also gave him his first name. Screenwriting * series head writer denoted in bold Television series *''Jankenman'' (1992) * ...

and music by Takeshi Abo and Murakami Jun.

has licensed the series in North America and released the series in two Blu-ray/DVD combo sets, on September 25, 2012 and December 18, 2012, respectively. Both box sets were compiled into a complete series Blu-ray/DVD box set as part of Funimation's "Anime Classics" line of releases. It was released on September 30, 2014.

Manga Entertainment Manga Entertainment was a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United States and the United Kingdom. Originally founded in the UK in 1987, the UK branch became Funimation UK and Ireland in 2021, also currently known as Crunchyr ...

have licensed the series in the United Kingdom and released it in two parts on July 15, 2013, and September 30, 2013, respectively. A series of

original net animation An original net animation (ONA), known in Japan as , is an anime that is directly released onto the Internet. ONAs may also have been aired on television if they were first directly released on the Internet. The name mirrors original video animati ...

shorts, titled , were released between October 14, 2014, and November 11, 2014, as part of a collaboration with IBM to promote cognitive computing. An anime adaptation of ''Steins;Gate 0'' has been released. To celebrate its release, an alternate version of episode 23 of the first season aired on December 2, 2015, as part of a rebroadcast of the series, depicting an alternate ending which leads into the events of ''Steins;Gate 0''.

Theatrical film

A film, titled '' Steins;Gate: The Movie − Load Region of Déjà Vu'', was announced at the end of the series. The movie, featuring an original storyline taking place after the events of the series, was released in Japanese theaters on April 20, 2013, and later on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on December 13, 2013.

Music

''Steins;Gate'' has five main theme songs, the opening theme , the first ending theme "Another Heaven", used for the true ending, the second ending theme , used for the alternative endings, and the insert songs "Technovision" and "Masquerade". The third and fifth songs are sung by Yui Sakakibara while the other ones are sung by Kanako Itō. Itō's "Technovision" was included in her "Stargate" album which was released on August 26, 2009. "Sky Clad Observer" was composed by Chiyomaru Shikura and "Another Heaven" was composed by Yoshihiro Suda. The "Sky Clad Observer" single was released on October 28, 2009. Sakakibara's "Unmei no Farufarra" was composed by Tatsuhi Hayashi and the single was released on November 25, 2009. The PC version received a brand new opening song, "AR" sung by Kanako Itō. Similarly, the PSP and PS3 versions featured new songs as well, all sung by Itō. The opening songs were and , respectively. The PSP version received a new ending theme titled sung by Yui Sakakibara. All these songs were released as separate singles, then eventually as a vocal collection on June 26, 2013. The composers for the background music consisted of Chiyomaru Shikura, AKIRASTAR, Takeshi Abo, Tatsushi Hayashi, and Yoshihiro Suda; all of whom had previously worked with 5pb on other titles. A soundtrack of the game was released on February 3, 2010, across two discs in a bundle of three that includes recorded episodes of the Internet radio show. All the background music of the game was included as well as shortened versions of the original Xbox 360 vocal tracks. The piano score for one of the tracks, "Gate of Steiner", was also included in the soundtrack. In episode 4, the song "Watashi☆LOVE na☆Otome!" by Afilia Saga East, who also sings the opening to the sequel game of ''Steins;Gate'', can be heard. The PS3 Double Pack Collector's Edition, which contained the original Steins;Gate and Hiyoku Renri no Darling, shipped with a special bonus soundtrack entitled "Steins;Gate Symphonic Material." It collects ten arranged tracks from the game performed by a studio orchestra and was released on May 24, 2012. This release was later expanded upon and released commercially on a 2-disc set, as "Steins;Gate Symphonic Reunion" on September 25, 2013. The anime features four pieces of theme music; the opening theme is "Hacking to the Gate" by Kanako Ito, the main ending theme is by Yui Sakakibara (in ending credits she is mentioned as ''FES'' from Chaos;Head band), the ending themes of episode 23 and 24 are and "Another Heaven" both by Kanako Ito. The first two are original (created for anime series), and the ending themes for episodes 23 and 24 are adopted from the visual novel. The background music of the anime was composed by Takeshi Abo, Jun Murakami, and Yoshihiro Suda. It utilizes some themes that were taken directly from the game but also features original music performed by a studio orchestra. A soundtrack of the anime is not available commercially but was instead released across two discs that were included with the Japanese Blu-rays. The first album "Butterfly Effect" was released alongside Volume 2 on June 27, 2011 while the second album "Event Horizon" was released with Volume 8 on January 25, 2012.

Board game

A real-life version of the in-universe board game, , was made by GigasDrop and was released in Japan on December 28, 2011.

Live-action play

live-action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ...

''Steins;Gate'' play ''Living ADV: Steins;Gate'' finished its eight-day run in Tokyo's Zepp Diver City Theater on October 20, 2013.

Live-action TV series

A live-action television series based on ''Steins;Gate'', produced by

Skydance Television Skydance Media, LLC (formerly known as Skydance Productions) is an American production company based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by David Ellison in 2006, the company entered a five-year partnership to co-produce and co-finance films wit ...

, was announced in January 2020 at the annual ''Science Adventure Live'' event, and is planned to be available worldwide.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Steins Gate 2009 video games 2010 manga 2011 manga 2012 manga Alternate history video games Android (operating system) games Enterbrain manga Fiction about suicide Hard science fiction IOS games Kadokawa Shoten manga Mag Garden manga Media Factory manga Nitroplus PlayStation 3 games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation Portable games PlayStation Vita games PQube games Science Adventure Science fiction anime and manga Science fiction video games Seinen manga Shōnen manga Shueisha manga Single-player video games Spike Chunsoft video games Video games about multiple time paths Video games about parallel universes Video games about time loops Video games about time travel Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Takeshi Abo Video games set in 2010 Video games set in Tokyo Video games with alternate endings Visual novels Windows games Xbox 360 games

Gameplay

Synopsis

Setting and themes

Characters

Plot

''True End'' route

Alternate endings

Development

Release history

Reception

Reviews

Sales

Related media

Video games

Appearances in other games

Internet radio show

Manga

Light novel

Drama CDs

Anime series

Theatrical film

Music

Board game

Live-action play

Live-action TV series

See also

Notes

References

External links