Orange Pocket is an adult Japanese visual novel developed by Hooksoft which was released on June 13, 2003 for Windows as a CD. Subsequent enhanced ports to the Dreamcast as Orange Pocket: Cornet and to the PlayStation 2 as Orange Pocket: Root were released. Both ports feature their own exclusive characters and new scenarios not in the original Windows release. Limited editions of these versions were also released which contained a drama CD and a booklet with sketches and artwork of the girls in the game. The gameplay in Orange Pocket follows a plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the female main characters. The story revolves around Hideaki Eda, who is enjoying a life in the country somewhere in Japan. His childhood friend moves from the city he used to live in to where he lives now and starts attending his school. She adapts to a rural life quickly and soon things start to become noisier as Hideaki begins to hang out with more girls from his school. Other versions of the game followed, which were playable as a DVD TV game, and on FOMA mobile phones. The Windows version has been updated several times, ending with version 1.10 on September 29, 2006. Three light novels based on Orange Pocket were released between October 2003 and April 2004 written by Jōji Kamio.
Gameplay
The gameplay requires little interaction from the player as most of the duration of the game is spent on simply reading the text that will appear on the screen; this text represents either dialogue between the various characters, or the inner thoughts of the protagonist. Every so often, the player will come to a "decision point" where he or she is given the chance to choose from options that are displayed on the screen, typically two to three at a time. During these times, gameplay pauses until a choice is made that furthers the plot in a specific direction, depending on which choice the player makes. There are ten main plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story. Eight heroines are from the original game, and the last two come from the console versions, though both versions only get one of those two heroines; therefore, there are nine heroines in the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 versions. In order to view the plot lines to their entirety, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and choose different choices during the decision points in order to further the plot in an alternate direction.
Plot
Orange Pocket's story takes place in a rural area in Japan near a large mountain and river. The protagonist, Hideaki Eda, is attending East Tsukuda Academy and is experiencing an enjoyable life. One day, Hideaki's childhood friend Nazuna Ayase returns from the city and starts attending his school. She adapts to a rural life quickly and soon things start to become noisier as Hideaki begins to hang out with more girls from his school.
Orange Pocket was first introduced in Japan on June 13, 2003 as a CD-ROM playable on a Microsoft Windows PC. Two consumer console versions for the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2 with adult content removed were developed by Pionesoft and released on April 28, 2004 in limited and regular edition versions. The DC version was called Orange Pocket: Cornet, and the PS2 version was called Orange Pocket: Root. The limited edition versions for Cornet and Root came bundled with an original drama CD and an artbook corresponding to either version. A version playable as a DVD TV game titled Orange Pocket DVDPG was released on July 14, 2005. A portable version, playable on FOMA cellular phones, was produced by NTT DoCoMo on August 4, 2006. Various patches were released as free downloads to update the original game ranging between version 1.02 to version 1.07. The final version, 1.10, was released on September 29, 2006.
Related media
Light novels
There have been three adult character light novels based on the game written by Jōji Kamio and illustrated by Hirokō Buda, published by Softgarage under their Sofgare novels imprint. The first novel covers Eru, the second covers Nazuna, and the third is a general novel entitled . The first novel was released on October 20, 2003, followed by the second on January 15, 2004, and finally the third on April 15, 2004.
Music and audio CDs
Orange Pocket's opening theme is "OrangePocket", and the ending theme is "Haruoto", both by Maki Yuzuki. The game's original soundtrack, titled Sound Pocket, was released by Lantis on October 22, 2003 and contained 29 tracks. Another album called Orange Pocket Arrange & Drama was released on January 21, 2004 as a two-disc set: disc one contained 18 arrange versions of background music from the game's original soundtrack, and disk two contained seven drama tracks.
