“GB-era workers played mystery ADV on e-organizers: “Misa Yamamura Suspense: Kyoto Financial Murder Case” (kanji, stylus, resume)”

In the 1980s, electronic organizers emerged as tools for business professionals.

For tasks such as taking notes and managing schedules—which previously required writing with a pen in a paper planner—these devices leveraged the capabilities of electronic technology to make them much more convenient to use. Although they have no direct connection to today’s smartphones, it’s fair to say they shared a similar product concept.

Eventually, models of these electronic organizers were released that allowed users to play games. Since businesspeople often spend long periods traveling—such as during commutes or business trips—these games were included so they could enjoy them during those downtime periods.

While games for electronic organizers tended to be relatively simple titles—such as puzzles and board games—that could be played in short bursts, surprisingly, there were also games where players could immerse themselves in a story… namely, text adventure games.

One such title was *Misa Yamamura Suspense Series: Kyoto—The Financial Murder Case*, released by Hect in 1991.

It was a port of a title the company had released for the Family Computer in 1990; while the Famicom version is known to fetch quite high prices on online marketplace sites, this PDA version is considered even rarer. It was compatible with Sharp’s high-end model known as the “Hyper Electronic System Organizer.”

At that time, Nintendo’s Game Boy handheld console was enjoying great popularity, but the only title that could truly be called a text adventure was *The Chivalry of Calico Cat Holmes*, released by Ask Kodansha on February 15, 1991.

The electronic organizer version of *The Kyoto Financial Murder Case*, released in the same year, is thus considered one of the very earliest portable text adventure games. But why was it included in the lineup of games for electronic organizers in the first place?

First and foremost, the fact that the original author was Misa Yamamura—often hailed as the “Queen of Japanese Mystery”—was the most significant factor. She was not only a best-selling author but also had her works adapted into two-hour TV dramas on numerous occasions, making her exceptionally well-known even among people who didn’t normally play video games. Furthermore, this title revolves around a murder case involving stocks.For businesspeople familiar with the stock market, this was likely the perfect theme for a game.

Let’s take a look at its specific features. As soon as you launch the game, you’ll notice elements that make full use of the handheld’s capabilities.

The text is displayed in kanji—and not just in parts, but throughout the entire game. This was a feature that would have been unthinkable in Game Boy titles of that era, and since the display itself is a size larger than the Game Boy’s, the text is much easier to read.

All controls are handled via the touch panel.You use the stylus included with the electronic organizer to scroll through the text, select commands, and directly touch the sections you want to look up. When it comes to handheld game consoles that use a stylus, Nintendo’s Nintendo DS is famous, but that wasn’t released until 2004. Even I was surprised to learn that there was a game with touchscreen controls more than 10 years before that.

This touchscreen control likely had the added benefit of making the user look cool to those around them. While using buttons with both hands, as on the Game Boy, makes it obvious you’re playing a game, opening the handheld and operating it calmly… from the outside, wouldn’t you have been seen as a hardworking professional?

The screen is monochrome, but the Game Boy was the same, and *The Kyoto Financial Murder Case* is, after all, an electronic mystery novel designed to entertain through its story rather than its graphics. So the lack of color isn’t an issue. The level of detail in the character graphics is also sufficient.

It also lacks sound capabilities. The only sounds are the “beep” from the PDA itself when scrolling text or selecting commands. However, considering that the game is intended to be played while commuting on trains or buses, background music and sound effects might actually disturb those around you. Therefore, the lack of sound features was actually the right choice.

Since the electronic organizer isn’t a dedicated game console, there are some functional limitations, but I didn’t feel these were major drawbacks.

The Famicom version had a battery backup feature that made saving easy, but this electronic organizer version uses a password system. The password is displayed as a sequence of numbers. While this requires a bit more effort to write down due to the length, the game provides a fixed four-digit password at the end of each chapter. This makes it very easy to reach a natural stopping point and continue the next day.

Additionally, there’s a separate menu option on the title screen called “Continue from Last Time.” Even if you turn off the electronic organizer without entering the password, you can resume from a specific point. While it doesn’t resume exactly from the exact state at the time of interruption, it’s similar to modern auto-save features and was likely groundbreaking for its time.

The goal was to offer businesspeople something a little different from ordinary novels. The electronic organizer version of *The Kyoto Financial Murder Case* was likely born from that concept. However, no other text adventure games for electronic organizers were ever released after this one.

In the late 1990s, the market for electronic organizers began to decline, and they were gradually replaced by more powerful portable information terminals known as PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants). Furthermore, in the 2000s, cell phones became increasingly sophisticated, and around this time, visual novel and text adventure games began to appear little by little. This eventually led to the smartphones we use today.

Novel and text-adventure games on mobile devices that weren’t dedicated gaming consoles. The electronic organizer version of *The Kyoto Financial Murder Case* might be described as a pioneering work, even though it has been buried in history.