A short history of visual novels
Visual novels grew out of Japanese computer adventure games of the early 1980s. The Portopia Serial Murder Case (1983) set the template, Chunsoft's sound novels (1992) put text over full-screen images, and Leaf's Shizuku (1996) is the first commercial game described as a visual novel. English audiences arrived later, mainly through Phoenix Wright in 2005 and Steam in the 2010s.
Timeline of key moments
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1980 | Mystery House adds graphics to the text adventure |
| 1983 | The Portopia Serial Murder Case by Yuji Horii |
| 1988 | Snatcher by Hideo Kojima; DOME sold as "Novelware" |
| 1992 | Chunsoft's Otogirisō, the first sound novel; ELF's Dōkyūsei |
| 1994 | Banshee's Last Cry sells about 750,000 copies in Japan |
| 1996 | Leaf's Shizuku and Kizuato; ELF's YU-NO |
| 1997 | Leaf's To Heart makes the school the default setting |
| 1999 to 2000 | Key's Kanon and Air; Type-Moon's Tsukihime |
| 2002 | Higurashi When They Cry; Ever17 |
| 2005 | Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney reaches English players on the Nintendo DS |
| 2016 | Steam has its own visual novel category; VA-11 Hall-A released |
| 2017 | Doki Doki Literature Club, Butterfly Soup, The Letter |
| 2023 | Slay the Princess; Paranormasight launches on iOS |
| 2024 to 2025 | Kanon and Air get official English versions after 25 years |
Before the name: adventure games, 1980 to 1991
Visual novels have their roots in text adventures such as Colossal Cave Adventure, and in Mystery House (1980), which added pictures. Japan took this form somewhere else.
The Portopia Serial Murder Case, written by Yuji Horii and published by Enix in 1983 for the NEC PC-6001, let players jump straight to a location, skipping the walk between places the way films and novels do. It is credited with defining Japanese adventure games and it shaped Horii's later work on Dragon Quest. It never had an official Western release.
Through the 1980s the idea matured: Famicom Detective Club and Hideo Kojima's Snatcher both arrived in 1988, the same year System Sacom sold DOME as "Novelware."
Why Japanese computers favored slow games
NEC's PC-9801 launched in October 1982 and by 1991 held over 60% of the Japanese PC market. It could show 640 × 400 pixels in 16 colors but had no hardware sprites, which made fast action hard and limited most games to a slow pace. Long, still, picture-led stories suited it well. Games such as ELF's Dōkyūsei and YU-NO grew up on this machine, and the look it produced is still being copied. We wrote a separate piece on the PC-98 look.
Sound novels, 1992 to 1994
The next step came on a console. Chunsoft's Otogirisō (1992) and Banshee's Last Cry (1994) on the Super Famicom used text laid over full-screen images, sound as atmosphere, and stories that looped through different outcomes. Chunsoft registered "Sound Novel" as a trademark. Banshee's Last Cry, a murder mystery in a snowbound ski lodge, sold about 750,000 copies in Japan.
The name appears, 1996 to 2000
Leaf's Shizuku (1996) is the first commercial game described as a visual novel, part of its "Visual Novel Series" alongside Kizuato. Both mixed Chunsoft's approach with the romance games of the time. To Heart followed in 1997, a hit that made the school the genre's most common setting.
Key, formed by the team behind Moon and One, then released Kanon (1999) and Air (2000). Their long, emotional scripts became the standard for romance titles.
Self-published hits and the peak in Japan
Some of the most lasting works came from small circles selling at conventions. Type-Moon's Tsukihime debuted at Winter Comiket in December 2000, and 07th Expansion's Higurashi When They Cry followed in 2002. By 2006, visual novels made up upward of 70% of the PC game market in Japan, with about 500 releases a year.
How the genre reached English speakers
In the 1990s and early 2000s, English ports barely existed, though JAST USA was an early publisher. The turning point was Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, first made for the Game Boy Advance in 2001 and released in English on the Nintendo DS in October 2005.
Three things then widened the door:
- Free tools. Ren'Py is free and open source. By 2023 over 7,800 visual novels had been made with it.
- Western indies. Digital: A Love Story (2010), then Butterfly Soup and Doki Doki Literature Club (both 2017), showed that Western writers could make the form their own.
- Steam. After Go! Go! Nippon! sold over 16,000 copies there, Valve became more open to the genre, and by 2016 it had its own category. Slay the Princess, a Ren'Py game, had sold over a million copies by February 2026.
Today: the retro revival and the phone
Two trends define the present. Old games are finally arriving in English: Kanon in 2024 and Air in 2025. And new games are choosing the old look on purpose, from VA-11 Hall-A to Stories from Sol: The Gun-Dog.
Phones are the other change. A format of text, stills and tapping to continue suits them well, and you can now read The House in Fata Morgana, Paranormasight or Doki Doki Literature Club on an iPhone.
Frequently asked questions
What was the first visual novel?
It depends on the definition. Leaf's Shizuku (1996) is the first commercial game described as a visual novel. Chunsoft's sound novel Otogirisō (1992) and the adventure game The Portopia Serial Murder Case (1983) came earlier and shaped the form.
What is a sound novel?
A sound novel is a form of visual novel that puts text over full-screen images and leans on sound for atmosphere. The term was a Chunsoft trademark, used for Otogirisō and Banshee's Last Cry.
Why are visual novels so popular in Japan?
Japanese computers of the 1980s and 1990s suited slow, picture-led games, and a strong market for them grew up there. By 2006, visual novels made up upward of 70% of the PC game market in Japan.
When did visual novels become popular in the West?
The 2005 English release of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is usually treated as the turning point. Free tools such as Ren'Py and the opening of Steam to the genre in the 2010s then widened the audience.