Continue Stop Rise

Plot
"'The Batter Trio goes to Heaven and f***s stuff up."

"~M-256, clearly demonstrating the brilliant plot.'"

Set after the events of OFF, the Batter awakens in a meadow without his add-ons. After searching for them to no avail (only to find a lone specter), he rests by a tree. As he sleeps mysterious hooded being then appears before wandering off again. The next morning, the Batter is met with his two counterparts, Ghost Batter and Bad Batter. He decides to drag them along in his search for his missing add-ons.

He soon reaches a rainbow stairway to heaven where he encounters eight magical beings that guard the Heaven's Gate, notified that Heaven is sinking and that another purifier visited Heaven 200 years beforehand. They defeat the eight and are granted access to Heaven. What follows is a surreal adventure.

The Batter
See The Batter for more information.

Ghost Batter
Foul-mouthed and short tempered, yet honest.

Bad Batter
Despite his appearance he seems generally friendly, but he hides his voraciousness very well.

KNO3
A mysterious being. A woman whose motives are unknown, whose themes go onto hunting sports.

Celeste
"A nice old lady. She sells merchandise at her store and was someone's mother."

The merchant. Found walking around, she has a rope around her neck. Said rope might have been connected to her past...

Photographelsen
"A photography aficionado often found carrying his camera. Believes that memories are important."

A character that vaguely resembles the Photo Guy in Earthbound. Has two monocles, despite popular intepretation being a pair of glasses..

Velholdende
"Watcher of Heaven's Gate. He sees everything from his high silver sphere."

Eight of these are found guarding Heaven's Gate. Weird creatures, they judge their own way.

Squiure
"Celaphalopod. As such, it is smart, but also a pacifist."

As said, intelligent, bearing psychic powers. It has no physical sex, what with being an alien with an octopus-like appearance. Its face is completely blank. Seems to acknowledge the watcher.

Alpha
The Batter's first add-on who's taken a similar appearance to Dedan.

Omega
The Batter's second add-on who's taken a similar appearance to Japhet.

Epsilon
The Batter's third add-on who's taken a similar appearance to Enoch.

The Judge
Appears at the beginning of the game in a dream sequence and at one of the endings.

Zacharie
Appears in the Special Ending of the Game.

Shidonoko/ Miru
The protagonist of the Yume Nikki fangame, Kataribesou. Later released versions of the game has the character go through a name change.

Maunica/Alien Maunica
A character that is supposed to be a thinly veiled parody of Monica's Gang (otherwise known as Turma da Mônica), a Brazilian cartoon. They all speak on a funny accent that is supposed to resemble a brazilian pronounciation of the english language.

Gameplay
The game uses RPG Maker 2K3's ATB system, akin to the original game. However, the battle overall is faster.

While all three can heal, they all use different methods: Batter can heal only one of his teammates and himself, but his healing is strong. Ghost can heal all in his team, but his healing is weak. Bad can heal himself via Stealing Bases.

Their attacks are also set up differently: Batter can use Elemental Attacks, Ghost has herd hitting attacks, and Bad has draining attacks.

To add, Ghost is also a positive buffer, while Bad's stronger attacks can give statuses.

Criticism/Audience Reactions
One of the points of much praise is the game's graphics, though the fact that not all graphics were converted: I.E: Batter and company are still black and white compared to the detailed backgrounds can be off putting, even compared to other objects.

The game is also harder than most, to the point that one of the bosses gives many people trouble, even though it was made more easy.

An issue related to the writing goes onto the setting because the concept assumes there's something else after, which can be obtuse to some people, who had played OFF and C/S/R itself doesn't explain about it much or in a particularly satisfying manner.

In more writing related notes, the content, specially a particular character, would probably be screech worthy for some people, not to mention that the interpretations of Ghost and Bad (despite both not having bare to none canon personality) are different.

One final issue with the writing is that it has a pacing problem as a whole: The final boss, save for the intro is fairly underwhelming and some parts go too fast story-wise.

And lastly, but not least, due to how the writng goes it might be not of one's taste, due to the differing tone and style.

On the other hand, the game was praised from some due to "trying something new" with the whole fangame story, to the point it sticks itself off most.

Text
In Japanese, by Sumakuta

Videos
W/Commentary:

NonBinaryRobot (LeoDaAngeles)

Trivia

 * The game was apparently inspired by the movie Perfect Blue.
 * Fitting with the previous game's titlescreen, the logo is a congruency symbol and the object behind it is a human skull.
 * The Accident Spectre was the first enemy designed.
 * Magenta's jokes about Boxxer and Ballman being in denial is based upon some fanon of the Panic in Ballville part.
 * Some of the equipment names are references: Toripote (Maker of Kataribesou), Casey (poem), Williams (Ted Williams), Sousa (Mauricio de Sousa, cartoonist), Collins (Eddie Collins), Miyamoto (Shigeru Miyamoto), Baker (Frank Baker).
 * The color names are actually references to the waves that come after the color spectrum.
 * The zodiac items (orbs and cards) are now based upon the chinese zodiac. Interestingly enough, in the story about how the zodiac came to be, the cat was left behind...
 * The Hungry Tiger is a Wizard of Oz reference.
 * Squiure's clothes (or rather, shirt) are a reference to the character Quico from El Chavo Del Ocho.
 * C/S/R was made because the creator didn't find a fangame that actually moved on from the setting of the original game. Furthermore, because most copy the simplistic zone art style, but not the detailed "I have three friends" artstyle.
 * Ghost Batter was inspired upon a certain version of Boxxer. This is also why Ghost Batter has punching competences and has a short temper.
 * C/S/R's enemy sprites were made by drawing on paper, then taking them to the computer and editing them. The same thing can be said about the photos one receives from the Photographelsen. The only enemy that does not use this process is Puppet Worm Batter.
 * The password input in an area is a Nintendo 3DS.
 * Heaven's art style is a reference to Yume 2kki, most exactly, Wataru's maps.
 * Choir For The Planner has some melody cues from Front Gate.
 * Do You Want to Get Troubles in Ballville is actually one of the creator's earlier songs, reused for the game.
 * The Extra part of Good Ending are references to a Silent Hill Downpour ending: In one, a particular birthday party happens, and a cake is cut.
 * There are a few references to M-256's earlier games: White from White's Adventure is inside one of the cave maps in the end and Me is drawn at a wall of the Science Factory, as well as referenced with the Eye Spectre design.
 * The phrase "Fly away like a bird" is a reference to a particular song, more exactly.(link for non-registered users)
 * There are Jerkcity references in the game. Mainly one of Ghost Batter's speeches is almost directly lifted from one of the strips, and another strip is transcribed by the ending.
 * KNO3 is directly taken from the chemical formula for potassium nitrate, a compound used in making gunpowder.