The Portopia Serial Murder Case

The Portopia Serial Murder Case (ポートピア連続殺人事件) is the first commercially published work of Dragon Quest series creator Yuji Horii. The first successful adventure game released in Japan, Portopia showcased the brilliant writing of the fledgling game designer and demonstrated the untapped potential of the video game medium to tell captivating stories.

The Portopia Serial Murder Case

Box art of the Famicom version, the most popular release of the game Developer(s) Yuji Horii Publisher(s) Enix Designer(s) Yuji Horii Platform(s) PC-6001
FM-7
MSX
PC-8001
PC-8801
X1
Famicom Release date(s) PC models
^JP June 1983
Famicom
^JP November 29, 1985
Genre(s) Adventure game Mode(s) Single player

Gameplay

The game takes place in the real-life seaside city of Kobe, Japan, where the player takes on the role of an unnamed detective referred to only as "Boss" to investigate an alleged suicide. The victim was the president of a successful banking and loan corporation, opening up the possibility that his death was an act of foul play, and complicating matters even further is that the killing took place within a locked office within the victim's mansion.

Plot

Warning: Spoilers!
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The game begins when the president of a successful banking company, Kouzou Yamakawa, is found dead in the office of his mansion. Kouzou's body is reported to the police by his secretary Fumie Sawaki, who discovered the corpse when she had Kouzou's elderly gardener break down the office door after finding it locked. The autopsy report concludes that Kouzou died at 9:00PM on the 17th of June. The police investigation discovers that the office was locked from the inside, which suggests that Yamakawa committed suicide, but the player is dispatched from the Hyogo prefecture police department to investigate further.

Aiding the player is Yasuhiko Mano, an assistant investigator who speaks on behalf of the silent protagonist and does the legwork for the case. Insisting on being called Yasu, he informs Boss that the residents of Kobe have not seen a man named Hirata since the night of the murder. Investigating the Yamakawa mansion leads to the player discovering a ring on the doorstep and a matchbox hidden under an ashtray in the room where Kouzou perished, along with a photograph. Examining the mansion's living room yields a discarded lighter under the table, which all combine to set up several red-herring endings for the investigation. The player also has the option to question Fumie, but Yasu becomes considerably defensive around her and prevents harsh interrogation.

Questioning the locals at Kobe harbor tells the player that the troublesome nephew of Kouzou, Toshiyuki, was witnessed at the harbor on the night of the murder after 9:00PM. Being the heir of Kouzou's fortune, Toshiyuki would have motivation to expidite his uncle's passing and becomes the chief suspect in the investigation. Investigating Toshiyuki's apartment when he is not home exposes his connections to drug trafficking, and when called into the questioning room he will confess to his crimes after Yasu engages in police brutality. Arresting Toshiyuki but being no closer to solving the case, the duo bring in Kamiya for questioning, Kouzou's gardener who discovered his corpse along with Fumie. Kamiya admits that on the night of the murder he snuck out for alcohol and foolishly left the front door to the mansion unlocked. Calling in Toshiyuki for further questioning and showing him the collected evidence, the drug dealer points out that the ring was a bauble he gave to a highschool girl he was sweet on named Yukiko.

The investigation continues, and word of a missing man reaches the duo. The man, Hirata, was last seen at Amitabha Peak in Kyoto. There, Boss and Yasu discover that Hirata has committed suicide by hanging himself in the forest. Yasu then concludes that Hirata was the murderer and killed himself out of shame, but the autopsy report lists his death as 1:00PM June 17th, thus proving this is in fact the first red-herring ending. The player also learns that Hirata is survived by his daughter, a highschool girl named Yukiko. When Yukiko is called in for questioning, her alibi is that she stayed home on the night of the murder but a neighbor witnessed her leave the house. She visited the mansion at 7:00PM June 17th to ask Kouzou to lend her father more money to pay off his older debts, stating that he borrowed money from other lenders that were vicious in their collection practices and that she hoped Kouzou would be more lenient. When asked about the ring found at Kouzou's mansion, Yukiko admits it belongs to her but swears she is not the murderer. The player has the option to arrest Yukiko, but this is the second red herring ending as there is no concrete evidence pinning the crime to her.

With the case growing well beyond the initial assumptions, Boss and Yasu perform gumshoe work by questioning the citizens of Kobe once more. Questioning a bartender reveals that Kouzou had a serious fight with a man named Kawamura sometime prior to the events of the game, flying in the face of the kindly old lender persona the man had cultivated in the city. Boss and Yasu are later led to a strip club where one of the women reveals much about Kouzou's past. The stripper, Okoi, explains that Kouzou had a very shady past with Kawamura: the two were con-men who would stoop to any low to extort their mark. Okoi would also explain that Kawamura kept Kouzou on a tight leash by threatening to expose his past crimes should he disobey him, leading to their brawl in the bar.

Okoi will later call the police to notify them that Kawamura has been seen at the Sumire apartments. There, Boss and Yasu discover the corpse of Kawamura laying on the apartment floor. Yasu attempts to close the case by concluding that Kawamura murdered Kouzou and took his own life after realizing there was no where to run to, but this is the game's third red-herring ending.

Left without further leads, Okoi is called into questioning once more and reveals that Kawamura offhandedly told her of the biggest score he and Kouzou pulled off in their criminal careers. Their largest victim was a company called Sawaki Industries, located in Sumoto on Awajishima island, which was driven into bankruptcy by their actions. Okoi then remembers that the last name of Kouzou's secretary was also Sawaki, but she is running late for her show and cannot stay to ponder. Travelling to Sumoto and questioning the residents about Fumie reveals her tragic past: her parents committed suicide when her father's company was victimised by con artists and driven to bankruptcy, and she was sent away to live with her relatives. Fumie was also separated from her older brother, a man with a birthmark shaped like a butterfly.

Returning to the police station, Boss and Yasu are informed that officers discovered a map of the Yamakawa mansion in Kawamura's apartment, revealing the underground maze beneath the mansion. Returning to the scene of the crime and examining the painting in the living room activates the trap door leading to the maze from Kouzou's office. Descending into the labyrinth, Boss and Yasu navigate through the corridors and discover Kouzou's secret journal behind a false wall. Reading it reveals that Kouzou regretted his life of crime and felt strong remorse for driving Fumie's parents to suicide, deliberately hiring her as his personal secretary as a way to try and make amends. The journal further states that Kouzou planned to watch over Fumie as if she were his own daughter and leave considerable money to her as part of his will; this information leaves Yasu notably shaken up.

Back at the police station, the player has the option to order Yasu to remove his shirt: on his shoulder is a birthmark shaped like a butterfly. Yasuhiko confesses his crimes, stating he killed Kouzou and Kawamura to avenge his parents. On the night he killed Kouzou he used a key he found in the mansion to lock the door to the office behind him, but when notified that the police discovered the key to the office on the inside, Fumie enters the questioning room to confess her part in the cover up. Yasuhiko had given her the key after committing the murder and leaving the scene of the crime, and when she asked Komiya to break down the door the next morning she slipped the key into the lock while the older man was still in shock from seeing Kouzou's corpse.

Yasuhiko takes a moment to reflect on the irony the he only learned of Kouzo's remorse for ruining the siblings' lives after murdering the old man. Overwrought with complicated emotions, brother and sister cry out one another's names as the game ends.

Characters

• Boss (ボス): the silent protagonist, referred to by Yasuhiko as Boss. The player assumes the role of a seasoned detective from the Hyogo prefecture police department, called in to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding Kouzou's suicide. As the game is a series of first-person screens, the entire investigation is see through Boss' eyes.
• Yasuhiko Mano (間野康彦): a fellow detective from the Hyogo prefecture who has been assigned to aid the player's investigation. Yasuhiko serves as the player's means of interacting with the game by analyzing crime scenes, questioning witnesses, and anything else asked by the player. A dutiful and friendly assistant, he insists that the player call him Yasu (ヤス) instead of his full name.
• Kouzou Yamakawa (山川耕造): the president of a prominent banking and loan company, whose body was found in his the office of his mansion with the door locked. His death was deemed a suicide, but lingering doubts cause the investigation to continue.
• Fumie Sawaki (さわき ふみえ): the 23 year old secretary of the late Kouzou, who reported his body to the police after she and the mansion grounds keeper broke into the office after he failed to respond.
• Omiya Rokusuke (小宮 六助): the 60 year old grounds keeper of Kouzou's mansion, who broke down the door to the office and discovered the corpse along with Fumie. A dedicated worker, he never the less has a drinking problem he tries to keep under wraps.
• Yamakawa Toshiyuki (山川 俊之): the 29 year old nephew Kouzou and his heir. He is a scrupless, perpetually smoking delinquent who is up to no good in Kobe. At one point he attempted to woo a highschool student, giving her a ring to woo her.
• Hirata (ひらた): a 50 year old, divorced man who was drowning in debt brought on by a series of predatory loans. Unable to bear the strain of his financial burden, he commits suicide out of shame and leaves behind his only daughter.
• Yukiko (ゆきこ): a highschool student and daughter of Hirata. Painfully aware of her father's debts, she visited Kouzou in private on the night of the murder.
• Kawamura Masaji (川村 まさじ): a 42 year old con-man who dealt with Kouzou in the past.
• Yōhi Okoi (夕日 おこい): a popular stripper who works in the shadier side of Kobe. Her profession keeps her connected to the seedier side of society, and she aids in the investigation as an informant.

Development

Yuji Horii began development of Portopia when he was 27 years old after took an interest in the adventure game genre while reading about such games becoming popular in America in a computer magazine. Realizing that the genre had no Japanese entries, or even a meaningful presence in Japan, Horii took it upon himself to create the first entry. The result was a a non-linear game with approximately 20 screens programmed for the PC 6001, created entirely by Horii alone. While researching the genre, Horii made note that several games had fixed scenarios in which player merely shifted from one screen to another without much influence on the sequence of events, and decided to craft a narrative that moves as the player makes decisions instead. Horii would later single out Mystery House, published by Sierra Online in 1980, as a prime example of these fixed scenarios.

Famicom version

The decision to create a version of Portopia for the Famicom came about in early 1985 after Enix staff noted that Nintendo's hardware was steadily gaining a larger audience. The porting of the game was handled by Chunsoft, marking the first time that Yuji Horii and Kōichi Nakamura collaborated on commercially released software. Due to the strict limitations of available cartridge space, the dialogue was truncated compared to the PC versions and the number of katakana used in the game was trimmed down to just 21. Despite these limitations the Famicom port still featured new content, with the character Yukiko being created for the console version and there are more indications of Kouzou turning over a new leaf in his later years. The largest addition is the first-person maze underneath the Yamakawa mansion, which was inspired by the PC RPGs Horii played during the period.

Due to the Famicom featuring a controller with only four buttons instead of a traditional keyboard interface, it was decided to borrow the command menu system from The Hokkaidō Serial Murder Case: The Okhotsk Disappearance (オホーツクに消ゆ) , the sequel to Portopia released earlier in 1984. The game's structure was reworked to revolve around this interface system instead of the older verb-noun parser design, which lowered the difficulty of the title as players could no longer be halted from progressing due to not guessing the precise word necessary to advance the plot.

Legacy

Portopia was a breakthrough moment for the Japanese video game industry and the influence of the title has spanned more than forty years. The Famicom port in particular was an incredible success for Enix, selling approximately 600,000 units in 1985 and 800,000 units by 1989. It was among the first games that Eiji Aonuma, the producer of Nintendo's Legend of Zelda series, ever played, and he credits the title for cementing his fascination for the video game art form. Hideo Kojima would share the sentiment, stating that Portopia is one of the four most important games he has ever played along with Super Mario Bros., Outer World, and Xevious.Specifically, Kojima would cite the humor, drama, and fully realized world of the murder mystery as evidence of the limitless potential of the video game medium. Kojima's love for the game would lead him to including sections of it in the coding of his 2015 stealth game Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Specifically, it is the original PC-6001 version.

The Famicom port of the game would prove instrumental to the creation of the Dragon Quest series, as the runaway success proved that a "slow game" can thrive on hardware primarily known for action titles. This was the evidence that Horii and Nakamura needed to convince Enix supervisor Yukinobu Chida that the time was right for the Famicom to receive it's first genuine RPG, and development on the then-unnamed Dragon Quest began that same November. Furthermore the Famicom port proved to be the perfect testing ground for the command menu user interface system that would become the de facto standard for the RPG genre going forward.

Gallery

Packaging

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  The box art and cassette for the PC-8801 port...

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  ...and the back, featuring a 27 year old Yuji Horii

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  Box art for the FM 7 port...

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  ...the MSX port...

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  ...and the Sharp X1 port

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  Cover of the user manual for the Famicom port

Advertising

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  An early collage of Enix ads featuring the PC-6001 original

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