🌻 ぼくのなつやすみ / Boku no Natsuyasumi (Game Club) / 夏休み中 (Now playing!)

[Daisoujou]

Welcome to the ぼくのなつやすみ Club!

This club is part of the Game Club

Description

Time to beat: 11 hours
Availability: Playstation 1, Playstation Portable (Playstation Portable version contains extra content at the cost of higher rez models (subjectively) clashing with the backgrounds)
Walkthrough: English | Japanese

The game follows the summer vacation of Boku, a city-dwelling nine-year-old boy who in August 1975 is sent to stay with his extended family in the Japanese countryside for a month. Gameplay takes place in an open-ended environment where the player is free to determine how Boku spends the thirty-one in-game days of his summer vacation, with few set goals or specific obligations of gameplay progression.

Schedule

Week	Date	In-game days
Week 1	Feb 23rd	1-3
Week 2	Mar 2nd	4-7
Week 3	Mar 9th	8-11
Week 4	Mar 16th	12-15
Week 5	Mar 23rd	16-19
Week 6	Mar 30th	20-23
Week 7	Apr 6th	24-27
Week 8	Apr 13th	28-31

Structure

This game is (semi) non-linear. The only true goal is to enjoy your summer vacation, and the time will pass on its own, probably faster than you want it to, just like the real thing. While there are definitely events to participate in, discoveries to make, and goals to set for yourself, the game doesn’t firmly demand much of anything specifically from you. So we’ll all have slightly different experiences and you’re highly encouraged to share them! There are 5 possible endings, based on how many events you experience, so get out there and see what you can find but try not to feel too pressured to do it all.

How to Join

• Get yourself a copy of the game
• Answer the poll below
• Set this and each weekly thread to “watching” for updates
• Cover any spoilers in spoiler tags through blur or the drop-down box

Participation

Will you be joining us?

• Yes
• Maybe
• No
• I’m playing after the club has ended

How will you be playing along?

• In Japanese
• In English (or other)
• Watching a Playthrough

• Playstation version
• PSP version

Set this thread to “Watching” to get updates!

[Daisoujou]

Ok, I set up the first post in accordance with the template. Happy to be here!

Biggest priority for me is hearing from you all who intend to join what you’re looking for in weekly commitment. If you’re not a beginner to Japanese games the difficulty should be on the more relaxed side, and there’s plenty of Japanese but it’s not super dense with language either, probably a decent balance. I found a youtube playthrough, unfortunately not this guy’s first time, but it was difficult to find many who nicely split their videos by the day. There’s variation but he’s roughly spending 15-20 minutes per day (at JP native level comprehension).

As I said in my nomination, I’m going in pretty blind to this game so I will do my best to figure out what works for us and try to play sections a little ahead especially at the start so I can give better info, but we’re all figuring out the game together somewhat.

I should add more info to the opening post as I figure out more about how this all works, but the important things to know for now are that we’ll be doing a certain amount of in-game days per week. The game goes from August 1st to August 31st. There are events tied to specific times but also a lot of wiggle room to choose what you do so I’d encourage sharing your summer diary (Boku logs what you did nightly) and what happened in your individualized vacation! There are 5 different endings based on how many “events” within the game you see and complete, but try to go with the flow of what pulls your interest and not stress too much about completionism. Besides, if we stumble into a variety of endings, that’s more unique info to share with each other.

Because of that, the guides I linked are more of a loose collection of explanations of what you need to do than a step by step guide the way you’d expect from most games.

The PSP version adds a few new characters and lots of new bugs to collect. I think I’m going to be going with that one but I need to get moving quickly to get my hands on one or the other. The additions are definitely not going to be disruptive in a way that makes it hard to join in regardless of version, so pick what works for you freely.

[Sisthra]

I remember you mentioning that the psp version also allows to pause all dialogue that would normally auto advance, so that’s probably the one I’m going to go with!
Really excited to play this game, I had actually started watching different let’s plays of it during different summers with the intention of watching one a day, but always fizzled out because of real life commitments.
There’s also apparently a whole series of sequels and spin offs.

[Daisoujou]

@Sisthra

I remember you mentioning that the psp version also allows to pause all dialogue that would normally auto advance, so that’s probably the one I’m going to go with!

The claim I’ve seen is that both do! It would help to check but since I’ll probably only have one version on hand I might need someone’s help with verifying the other. I’m woefully unprepared but it’s fun to be blind so, uhh, we’ll figure it all out I believe I initially wrote that because someone said the PSP one allowed for it, but then another commenter said it worked the same way in the original one so I edited it to say both. At least I think I did. I promise I’ve done searches into these things! It’s just a very specific, slightly odd thing to be looking for, heh.

@Sisthra

There’s also apparently a whole series of sequels and spin offs.

Yes! I was hoping to probe for interest after this game, assuming I enjoy it the way I expect to. There are 4 Boku games, and the same devs have made a few similar games with the Crayon Shin-Chan property (which, from the couple episodes I’ve seen, I actually find rather charming so I want to try those…), and Natsu-mon which is much more recent. Has a similar concept but in a more 3D open world environment.

[Daisoujou]

Oh I also should ask, I didn’t yet put the starting date in the original post – @WeepingWeeb has us as a club set to go in one week on the 23rd which, I’m excited to get started but could also be pushing it if people need a little time to acquire the game. I’ll get working on which way I’m going to get the game tomorrow and ensure that even I can manage to be on time, heh.

So if that sounds too early for anyone please do let me know.

[WeepingWeeb]

Thanks for setting the thread up!

I’ve got the game ready to go whenever everyone is ready very excited

@Daisoujou

I’d encourage sharing your summer diary (Boku logs what you did nightly)

Also this sounds pretty fun, almost like we really are sharing daily diaries lol

Also also, just some notes, I started just the intro bit to test it out (PS1) and can confirm it’s very cute, but more importantly you can press circle (playstation button) to cut off the voice over and stop it from auto scrolling onto the next piece of text if you want to take your time to read and understand what they’re saying. Bit sad you can’t still have the voiceover but hey ho. Unless someone else finds a way to stop them from advancing too fast.

I’m playing on mobile emulator and walking is a little awkward, can’t use the joystick have to use the little arrows to rotate left and right then up arrow to go forward, not too bad though just got to get used to it

[Sisthra]

@WeepingWeeb

I’m playing on mobile emulator and walking is a little awkward, can’t use the joystick have to use the little arrows to rotate left and right then up arrow to go forward, not too bad though just got to get used to it

I got a cheap Bluetooth joystick for when I play on pc hooked to the tv, but it also works perfectly on mobile, so most of the screen is also completely clear from the button layout!

[Kelsyy]

I think I’ll be going with PSP, I like that there is more content. Since there’s no furigana, I’m making it my goal to practice my kanji reading skills and this is probably the perfect game for that.

[frequent4832]

23rd definitely seems too soon assuming some people will be importing from Japan. But my schedule will be weird the next couple of weeks so I think I’ll be catching up later no matter what you do.

[TobiasW]

@Daisoujou

@Sisthra

I remember you mentioning that the psp version also allows to pause all dialogue that would normally auto advance, so that’s probably the one I’m going to go with!

The claim I’ve seen is that both do!

I can only speak for the PS1 version, which per dialogue interaction (i.e. multiple dialogue boxes back and forth between the characters until the game returns control to you) allows you to immediately switch from “voice over auto-advance” to “non-voice over advance-on-button-press” for the rest of that interaction at the press of a button. The characters will immediately stop speaking. It’s like saying “Okay, stop reading aloud to me, I’m going to read the remainder of this interaction by myself please.”

So if you want to use its built-in “pause all dialogue” feature regularly you’ll lose the excellent voice acting. I really cannot recommend using it. (And for someone who’s weak on kanji like me it’s doubly awful, since you lose voice acting and don’t magically gain furigana.)

But! For those of us playing on an emulator, this is probably a completely non-existent problem. At least Duckstation (PS1 emulator) has a dedicated “pause/resume the whole game execution at any point” shortcut (which I put on Space for this game back when I tried it), so we can have our cake and eat it too

I’d assume other emulators have similar functionality. And stuff like quicksave and quickload per keyboard shortcut to repeat dialogue lines if you press it at the right time. We’re really spoiled.

[Adair]

I’ll be good to go on the 23rd, forgot to reply when I saw this. ^^;

Perhaps we have a shorter week 1 in case some people miss the start date of the club? I’m also fine to wait as well.

[Sisthra]

I’ll be on a work trip on the 23 and 24 but I should be fine with catching up during the rest of the week!

[Daisoujou]

Still working on seeing how quickly I’ll get my hands on the game, my morning was spent hunting around the apartment for the PSP charger haha, but I finally found it. Will have an update later tonight on how realistic the 23rd looks for me – we’ve really only had one person who said they’re likely catching up regardless who has expressed any issue with starting that soon so that might be what we do, if I myself can get my stuff together

Tentative Schedule Talk:

My first inclination, based on roughly the amounts other game clubs I’m in have done per week, is that we can get a pretty nice even schedule if we do 3 days week one as a softer onramp, then 4 days per week after, like so:

1-3
4-7
8-11
12-15
16-19
20-23
24-27
28-31

8 total weeks of vacation. Based on a native playthrough, a day took him on average 15 minutes. Most cluster close to that. Some slip as low as 11-12, occasionally they’re 18-20, and one single day broke all the way out to 32 minutes for some reason, but that’s the only time it went notably above 20. Given the freedom we have I don’t think I can assume the same exact day will do the same. So on the most average end a normal week could be seen as an hour of playtime, but haven’t played the game before (he has) and he’s in his native language, so leaning towards at least 20 is probably a safe bet. That’s an hour and 20 minutes per week, maybe nudge that expectation around for how long you personally expect to have to pause and whatnot.

If you multiply out my expected time per week you get a little over 10 hours, so I might be undercounting just a tiny bit, but if we call it an hour and a half per week (little less week 1) we come to more to less dead on our 11 hours expectation. Again, your reading mileage may vary, but unlike a game dense with complicated conversations like Xenogears I don’t think we need to anticipate enormous time losses for working through the text for most people.

We’ll have to just feel it out after the first week or two to see if this is working to expectations, but does this sort of schedule sound reasonable to you all?

---

@TobiasW

I’d assume other emulators have similar functionality. And stuff like quicksave and quickload per keyboard shortcut to repeat dialogue lines if you press it at the right time. We’re really spoiled.

Your whole post is great info to have, thanks!

@WeepingWeeb

I’m playing on mobile emulator and walking is a little awkward, can’t use the joystick have to use the little arrows to rotate left and right then up arrow to go forward, not too bad though just got to get used to it

You’re getting low stakes practice with tank controls! Soon you’ll be ready to play classic Resident Evil and stuff

[Daisoujou]

I am pleased to inform you all that little Boku has arrived safely after all. Barring people saying they need us to wait (please feel free to speak up if you need!), starting already on the 23rd is looking likely.

I luckily dug up my PSP from my mother’s house a few months back but haven’t used it in years so I have this paranoid feeling something will go wrong, but it all works perfectly so far. I tested real quickly up to the point where I could save to see how that works, and saving is a prompt that happens when you go to bed at the end of the day so it’s perfectly timed for our purposes.

Stopping dialog indeed works the same as it was described to on the PS1. Pause will definitely serve you better if you’re on an emulator but it beats missing the line entirely if you have no other choice.

I didn’t realize you turn and then use a button to walk forward, not up on the d-pad, which is even more awkward but we’ll get used to it haha. Assuming that doesn’t differ from PS1. Anyway I’m excited because I personally really like how these games with fixed camera angles can set up scenes, a lot of people have very different definitions of what “cinematic” means when it comes to videogames but for me it’s this. Intentional blocking and shot composition!

Anyway, that’s quite a few likes and no complaints yet on my proposed schedule idea so definitely tell me if you have concerns but otherwise in the coming days I’ll probably make it official (we will, of course, monitor how it plays out when we get started).

I will also be sure week 1 especially to play a few days before the official start so I can make a more informative post at that time.

[TheNerdyNova]

I just bought the PS1 version!! It should be arriving on the 23rd at the latest, so perfect timing!
I like the schedule, thank you so much for putting all the time and research into setting this up @Daisoujou !

[Daisoujou]

The schedule has been officially added to the top post! We’re looking at starting this Monday (Feb 23rd) and, if we stick to the schedule as planned, our last week begins on April 13th. I’m excited. Once we’re a few weeks in and see how the schedule is going, this’ll be helpful for people planning the future of the game club after Boku too.

To spice this post up a little, enjoy this image I stumbled onto of what Boku would look like if it received an English release back then

[frequent4832]

If anyone else plans to play on Steam Deck, I followed these instructions and was up and running with the PSP version in 20 minutes. Didn’t have to supply a bios or anything, just my own legally-dumped ROM file (which happens to look a lot like the first result on Google for “boku no natsuyasumi PSP ROM”).

[Daisoujou]

I just finished playing week 1 (loved it by the way)! I think I’ll have some pretty useful advice for getting started on a few of the game’s less intuitive systems, and I’ve been searching around to get us good resources for the opening FMV and stuff like that. I really want to give this game a good chance to go over well for the club

I’ve got things pretty much prepared to post on Monday, just have been meaning to say that there were a lot of no doubt good possible options nominated for this club, but with Boku winning I really appreciate this forum’s openness to playing more of a cult classic, and a PS1/PSP game over modern choices at that. I do care a lot about games as an art form and it makes me glad that there are a lot of people here open to these sorts of experiences.

Also thank you @frequent4832 , that sort of guide to setting up is very appreciated.

[WeepingWeeb]

Thanks for going through the trouble to make preparations to guide everyone it’s very much appreciated, and from the brief bit I played to test it out I think it’ll be a lovely first choice for the club - especially with the day format making it easy to have clear stopping points

[Daisoujou]

@WeepingWeeb

Thanks for going through the trouble to make preparations to guide everyone

Yeah you’re welcome! I’ve been enjoying doing it. And I think it should work out well too, happy to hear another vote of confidence.

@TheNerdyNova

I like the schedule, thank you so much for putting all the time and research into setting this up @Daisoujou !

Have been meaning to thank you for the feedback as well

---

We won’t be quite to the level of what Simias manages for Final Fantasy because I still want to keep myself playing as blind as I can reasonably keep it while managing the club, but I think I’ll have enough prepared.

Seeing how much this game has had an English community resurgence online in recent years, I’ve gotten curious how it’s viewed in Japan, but haven’t had a ton of luck doing JP language searches for things.

I did find this really lovely blog post someone made in Japanese talking about the bittersweetness of life as viewed through the game’s events and I want to remember to share that, but in what I skimmed they were talking about a lot of specific story beats so best to save that for when we’re wrapping up. Speaking of, I think it’s really cool how you can still find a lot of little blogs people write in Japanese on places like note.com

That sort of personal website feels like it’s thriving there way more than it is on the English-language internet after the takeover of social media.