Liberation Maiden

Liberation Maiden
Liberation Maiden
Developer(s)	Grasshopper Manufacture
Publisher(s)	Level-5
Director(s)	Makoto Chida; Goichi Suda;
Artist(s)	Yūsuke Kozaki; Mahiro Maeda; Shigetu Koyama;
Writer(s)	Masahiro Yuki
Composer(s)	Akira Yamaoka
Series	Guild
Platform(s)	Nintendo 3DS, iOS
Release	Nintendo 3DS; Guild01 JP: May 31, 2012; Nintendo eShop EU: October 4, 2012; NA: October 25, 2012; JP: November 14, 2012; iOS JP: March 7, 2013; ;
Genre(s)	Shoot 'em up
Mode(s)	Single-player

Liberation Maiden^[a] is a shooter game developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and published by Level-5. It was originally included in the Guild01 compilation for the Nintendo 3DS in 2012, and later made available separately on Nintendo eShop. A stand-alone high definition version was also released for the iOS in 2013.

Gameplay

The player flies Kamui into the map and the Touch Screen is used to fire missiles or lasers at enemies. At the end of each stage exists a Spike which can be revealed by firing missiles or lasers around its location. They are considered bosses and its thick armor can be pierced using a special technique that requires rapidly drawing circles on the Touch Screen.

Plot

An invading country is stealing all of Japan's energy. The player controls Shoko (voiced by Kana Hanazawa),^[1] a high school girl who became President of New Japan after her father's assassination, as she enters the mecha Kamui to fight back.

Development and release

Liberation Maiden was result of its creative director Goichi Suda's interest in developing for the Nintendo 3DS, which dates back to before the release of the console.^[2] It features animated cutscenes created by Studio BONES and the main theme song, "Day of Liberation" (解放の日, Kaihno Hi), performed by Marina.^[3] Liberation Maiden shares stylistic traits with other material from Grasshopper Manufacture's repertoire, particularly Pure White Lover Bizarre Jelly, an in-game anime within the No More Heroes universe.

The game was released in Europe on October 4, 2012, in North America on October 25, 2012, and individually in Japan on November 14, 2012. A later high-definition version was released internationally for the iOS systems on March 7, 2013.^[4]

Reception

In Japan, Liberation Maiden was released as part of Guild01. It has received mostly positive or average reviews on 3DS,^[9] but it has sold poorly. In the west, Liberation Maiden also received mostly positive or average reviews on both platforms.

Sequel

A visual novel sequel to the game, titled Liberation Maiden SIN, was developed by 5pb. for the PlayStation 3 on December 5, 2013.^[10]^[11] A PlayStation Vita version was later released on July 31, 2014.^[12] Both versions have not been released outside of Japan. It was written by Goichi Suda and composed by Yasutaka Nakamura and Takeshi Abo.