Video Game Vintage Title: Tomoyo After: It's A Wonderful Life

Tomoyo After: It's A Wonderful Life

Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life is a Japanese adult visual novel developed by Key released on November 25, 2005 for Windows PCs. Key later released versions of Tomoyo After without the erotic content, and the game was ported to the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 under the title Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life CS Edition; CS stands for "consumer software". The story follows the lives of Tomoya Okazaki, a young man who recently graduated from high school, and his close friend Tomoyo Sakagami as they start to see more of each other in a romantic relationship.

The gameplay in Tomoyo After follows a branching plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the title character Tomoyo. The game is a spin-off of Key's earlier all ages game Clannad, where Tomoyo is one of the game's heroines. Tomoyo After is an expansion of Tomoyo's story after the events of Clannad and is written by Jun Maeda and Leo Kashida. The art was done by Fumio, as opposed to Itaru Hinoue who had done the art in Clannad. The game ranked as the best-selling PC game sold in Japan for the time of its release, and charted in the national top 50 twice more afterwards. A manga adaptation illustrated by Yukiko Sumiyoshi, under the title Tomoyo After: Dear Shining Memories, was serialized in Fujimi Shobo's Dragon Age Pure in 2007. Unlike the game which is told from Tomoya's point of view, the manga is told from Tomoyo's perspective. A single tankōbon volume was released in Japan in December 2007.

Tomoyo After: It's A Wonderful Life Gameplay

Tomoyo After is a romance visual novel in which the player assumes the role of Tomoya Okazaki. Much of its gameplay is spent on reading the story's narrative and dialogue. Tomoyo After follows a branching plot line with multiple endings; depending on the decisions that the player makes during the game, the plot will progress in a specific direction.

Throughout gameplay, the player is given multiple options to choose from, and text progression pauses at these points until a choice is made. To view all plot lines in their entirety, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and make different choices to bring the plot in an alternate direction. In the adult versions of the game, there are scenes with sexual CGs depicting Tomoya and Tomoyo having sex. Later, Key released versions of Tomoyo After without the erotic content. Additional gameplay in Tomoyo After is a minigame called "Dungeons & Takafumis", which gives the player chances to play in a role-playing video game setting. "Dungeons & Takafumis" becomes available to play after the game is completed once.

Reception
According to a national ranking of how well bishōjo games sold nationally in Japan, the original Tomoyo After Windows release premiered at number one in the rankings. This game stayed on the charts for a month longer, ranking in at 35 and 36. Tomoyo After for Windows was the eighth most widely sold game of 2005 on Getchu.com. In 2006, the Japanese gaming magazine PC News reported that the PS2 version of Tomoyo After was the fourth-highest selling bishōjo game of 2005 with 49,226 units sold.