''J.B. Harold Murder Club'', known as ''J.B. Harold no Jikenbo #1: Murder Club'' in Japan, and as ''Murder Club'' in North America (MS-DOS), is a 1986 murder mystery

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

, developed by

Riverhillsoft was a Japanese video game manufacturer in operation from 1982 to 2004. The studio focused in the 1980s developing games for Japanese home computers, in the 1990s shifted to console game development, and in the 2000s to mobile games. They also pu ...

and released for the

NEC PC-98 The , commonly shortened to PC-98 or simply , is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 to 2003. While based on Intel processors, it uses an in-house architecture making it incompatible with IBM ...

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

TurboGrafx-CD The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation of video game con ...

(

TurboDuo The TurboDuo (later rebranded as simply the Duo) is a fourth-generation video game console developed by NEC Home Electronics and Hudson Soft for the North American market. It combines the capabilities of the TurboGrafx-16 and its CD-ROM drive ...

), and

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

. The TurboGrafx-CD version includes still photographs, text and audio voices as well as the option to select the language,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. The game sold 200,000 copies. It is the first entry in the ''J.B. Harold'' series, which have been released on various platforms.

Plot

A horrible murder has taken place in the sleepy little town of Liberty. Bill Robbins, a wealthy man known for his wild

womanizing Promiscuity is the practice of engaging in sexual activity frequently with different partners or being indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners. The term can carry a moral judgment. A common example of behavior viewed as promiscuous by man ...

ways is the victim and, list of possible suspects keeps growing. As J.B. Harold the player must figure out the who, what, where and why of the case. To solve the mystery it will be necessary to travel to various locations, interview people and search for clues.''Video Games and Computer Entertainment'', July 1991, p. 44 The game is laid out over a grid map that displays various locations, though other than that, the game is mainly presented in the form of still photos.

Reception

Dennis Owens (in the voice of a character named "Rocco") reviewed the MS-DOS version for ''

Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...

'', and stated that "Da goods on dis game iz dat, if youse can fuhgit dat dis iz nuttin' but a compudah game, which da game in no ways lets youse fugit, den youse might finds its to be sum kind o' complex moidah mystery."

TurboGrafx-CD

The game was reviewed in 1991 in ''

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

'' #176 by Hartley, Patricia and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 4 out of 5 stars. They wrote that it is "a great game for mystery fans" and "a thinking game that is well worth the money". ''Dragon'' criticized the game for not including "a warning on the box about the mature subject matter in this game" in reference to an unsolved rape case. ''Video Games and Computer Entertainment'' critic, Donn Nauert, praised the game's sound, graphics, and playability, giving it an overall score of 9 out of 10. Commenting on the game's unsolved rape, Nauert wrote: "I don't think this is a subject that the American public is comfortable with in a video game, even though it's not dealt with graphically..." Defunct Games stated: "This is the type of game that will no doubt appeal to the gamers who love a good murder mystery, and while it's not perfect there's no denying that it's the best game of its kind. This is the type of game you don't see much anymore, which is a real shame because for what it is J.B Harold is a lot of fun". They gave the game a score of 70%. The PC Engine version was rated 21.74 out of 30 by ''

PC Engine Fan PC Engine Fan was a Japanese magazine dedicated to the TurboGrafx-16, PC Engine, published by Tokuma Shoten. It ran from 1988 to 1996. History The first issue of ''PC Engine Fan'' was published in late 1988. The magazine originated as a section in ...

'' magazine.

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

included the game in its list of titles that deserve an

enhanced remake A video game remake is a video game closely adapted from an earlier title, usually for the purpose of modernizing a game with updated graphics for newer hardware and gameplay for contemporary audiences. Typically, a remake of such game software sh ...

, stating that it was "one of the most difficult games ever made", had "some of the most memorable voice acting of all time", and that "to this day there isn't much out there quite like it". They compared it to more recent titles such as the adventure games ''

Shenmue is an action-adventure game series created, produced and directed by Yu Suzuki. '' Shenmue'' (1999) and ''Shenmue II'' (2001) were developed by Sega AM2 and published by Sega for the Dreamcast. ''Shenmue II'' was released in 2002 in Western m ...

'' (1999) and '' Shadow of Memories'' (2001) as well as the

role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...

'' Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic'' (2003), saying that it similarly features "character interaction as the major gameplay element" and has "a similar type of multiple phrase response".

Legacy

''J.B. Harold Murder Club'' is the first in the Japanese ''J. B. Harold'' series of murder mystery

graphic adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based ...

s, which includes ''Manhattan Requiem'' (1987), ''Kiss of Murder'' (1988), ''D.C. Connection'' (1989), and ''Blue Chicago Blues'' (1995). ''J.B Harold Murder Club'' was the first title in the series to be released in the United States. After the series sold 200,000 copies, an

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

version of the second game ''Manhattan Requiem'' was released in the

Western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...

. In 2008, an

of the game was released for the Japanese

, under the title ''Keiji J.B. Harold no Jikenbo: Satsujin Club''.

Notes

References

*''Video Games and Computer Entertainment'', July 1991, p. 44

External links

* * {{Vndb, id=5607 1986 video games Adventure games Detective video games Nintendo Entertainment System games DOS games First-person adventure games FM Towns games FM-7 games IOS games MSX games NEC PC-8801 games NEC PC-9801 games Nintendo DS games Nintendo Switch games Rape in video games Riverhillsoft games Sharp X1 games X68000 games Single-player video games TurboGrafx-CD games Video game controversies Video games developed in Japan Windows games