Tsukihime ~Half Moon Edition~ (TYPE-MOON)

NSFW/spoiler warning: This is a review of an 18+ eroge. It contains screenshots of NSFW H-scenes (put into spoilers). It also contains game/content spoilers.
Cross-posted on MFC and Beast's Lair

Tsukihime ~Half Moon Edition~ was released at Comiket 58 as the first playable trial of Tsukihime before the completed game, Tsukihime ~Full Moon Edition~, was released.

It contains only the "Near side of the moon" routes, i.e. Arcueid and Ciel's routes, a few preview screens of the Full Moon Edition, and a bunch of extra omake material that was later also included in Tsukihime PLUS+DISC. Only 300 copies were sold, making it one of the rarest Tsukihime collectors items, next to Tsukihime (Preview Edition) and Tsukihime (Trial Edition). 17 copies were reprinted for Comiket 59.

Info:
– Type: Doujin, PC Game, 18+
– Title: 月姫～半月板～ / 月姬 (半月版) / Tsukihime ~Half Moon Edition~
– Version: 半月板 / Half Moon Edition
– Series: 月姫 / Tsukihime
– Circle: TYPE-MOON
– Release date: 2000/08/11 (Comiket 58, Limited)
– Specs: CD-R, for Windows 95/98
– Price: ¥1000
– JAN: N/A
– ID: N/A

Links:
– TYPE-MOON official page
– Tsuki-kan entry
– VNDB entry

Buying
In total, only 300 copies were ever printed. Good luck getting your hands on a copy ;(

Links:
– TYPE-MOON official page
– Tsuki-kan entry
– VNDB entry
– Mandarake info
– YAJ auction
– YAJ auction (different one)
– Mirror of YAJ auction

Photos:

Front of CD case

Back of CD case

CD case opened

CD-R

Content
The CD is divided into three main folders: digital_comic, omake, and 月姫～半月版～
– digital_comic – "Clowick Canaan-vail", turned into a "visual novel"
– omake – Almost same content as Tsukihime PLUS+DISC:
– 99年冬コミ体験版 – Tsukihime (Preview Edition)
– 99年夏コミ無料配布告知版 – Tsukihime (Preview Edition) web version
– デモ版 – Tsukihime (Trial Edition), under the folder "HP用デモ版" in Tsukihime PLUS+DISC
– ワルキューレ「ニーヴサガ」 – Valkyria NEAV SAGA, not included in PLUS+DISC
– 壁紙 – "Wallpaper"
– 空の境界 – First 4 chapters of Kara no Kyoukai
– 月姫～半月版～ – the game itself, Tsukihime ~Half Moon Edition~

CD content/file structure

I've included FULL screenshot reviews of each of these items (i.e. pretty much the entire content of the Tsukihime PLUS+DISC, with Clowick Canaan-vail and Valkyria NEAV SAGA) in the Tsukihime ~Half Moon Edition~ Omakes post.

Tsukihime ~Half Moon Edition~

The Tsukihime ~Half Moon Edition~ was sold during Comiket 58 (summer of 2000) in the CDs. Only 300 copies were sold, making it one of the rarest Tsukihime collectors items and the last version of Tsukihime before it's release.

This is a fully functional NScripter game, complete with save states. The Half Moon Edition only features the "Near Side of the Moon" routes, i.e. Arcueid and Ciel's routes (e.g. no washboard imouto and no maid raping). Note that I haven't actually finished playing all of Tsukihime (Full Moon Edition), so I can't give a complete in-depth comparison, soz! orz

For this review, I go through the Intro, Prologue, Arcueid's True Ending (with some bad endings), and bonus Full Moon Preview section that appears after clearing a route.

Note that the screenshot captions are my own creation and are mostly (actually, almost all) not actually be relevant/accurate to what's going on (i.e. just me making bad jokes). They contain spoilers and their comments are intended to be enjoyed by those who have already played the game through once. They are also just an excuse for me to upload screenshots of the gameplay. If you want to actually to experience the awesome story that Nasu tells in Tsukihime, I'd advise you to stop right here and play the actual released game yourself.

Controls are standard early NScripter controls. Space bar, enter, and left mouse click advance the text. Right mouse click opens the game menu. Here's a quick mapping:

Main menu:
– Play intro
– Start game
– Load game
– Exit game

Game menu:
– Hide dialog
– Advance to next choice
– Save
– Load
– Dialog history
– Main menu

Run "月姫～半月版～\月姫～半月版～.exe" under AppLocale.
You will want to copy the game folder to your computer first if you want to save your progress (there's no installer in the Half Moon Edition, and trying to save while running from disc will crash since NScripter will try to write the save files back to the CD and fail). You still need to keep the CD (or a burned copy of the CD) inserted though since that's where the game's music is stored (otherwise the game won't start)

Menus

Main menu

In-game menu

Intro

Splash screen

It all started with this line…

And this scene

And this bloody flashback

What a beautiful moon

Main menu

Prologue

Menu option 2

Day 0 – Prologue

You wake up in a hospital bed

You meet a mysterious woman outside

She grabs your face and starts nosebleeding…

Nasu likes walls of text

She was kind, so you call her Sensei…

Arcueid's Route

Day 1, just a typical day at school

Here we make our first choice. For simplicity for this review, I always chose the first option unless it lead to a bad ending

ohaidere Satsuki, aka the girl who gets no Nasu love

ohaidere Ciel, aka Takeuchi's #1 "easy" girl

ohaidere Kohaku, aka evil mastermind of the Tohno mansion

ohaidere Akiha, aka washboard imouto

ohaidere Hisui, why the face? Not looking forward to your nighty duties with your new master?

Nasu loves text, did I mention?

*stareeeee*

Shiki, wtf are you doing outside alone in the middle of the night?

You might meet weird perverts, like this guy (Nrvnqsr)

Day 2

In the completed Tsukihime ~Full Moon Edition~, unfinished scenes like these get completed backgrounds I think

So Shiki, how was your first night with Hisui? ;3

ohaidere Arcueid, mai waifu

Better be a creepy stalker and follow her to her room

Mmmm, text

*chop chop chop into 17 pieces*

Nasu really, REALLY loves walls of text

Day 3

ohaidere again Shiki, surprised to see me?

Run, run, run!

le-gasp!

OMNOMNOMNOM

Ok, Shiki, what do you do when a a beautiful woman asks you to protect her while she goes to sleep lying beside you?

Clearly go outside and rendezvous with the pervert you met earlier!

Bad ending ;<

Lets try this again. Be a man and do the right thing.

Okay, it's night time. Lets be stupid and go outside anyway

Ohh, scary hallway

ohaidere cute puppy again

Dramatic childhood flashback with washboard imouto

It's the pervert!

*le splash*

Oh, Arcueid's still alive

Day 4

Nice place

Duct tape fixes everything!

First a puppy, now a kitty?

Pew pew, Nero beasts all turn to goo!

Half-faced Nero so mad he wall-of-texts you

And turns into a rawr-rawr

I'm pretty sure a few CGs were incomplete here, cause it went right to day 5 after some more text ; /

ohaidere referenced Len. You're here to give me a wet dream? Hmm, who should I dream about… (this is your first H scene choice)

Spoiler (Click to view)

Arcueid of course

Spoiler (Click to view)

Dat quality HCG (not)

How about the second choice?

Spoiler (Click to view)

Ciel, Takuechi's ideal "easy" girl

Spoiler (Click to view)

Yeah… Tsukihime was not exactly known for its quality H scenes…

Clear your mind and think of your blood-filtered time with washboard imouto

Or this guy. In bandages. Apparently he has the same name as you.

I like this CG of Ciel much better.

Day 8 (I think I skipped taking a few screenshots)

Nii-san! Why are your sheets all sticky! (actually, here, Akiha is lecturing Shiki about sneaking out at night)

*stareeeeee*

A little kiss won't hurt…

… or maybe it will… bad ending

You chase after Arcueid, she kinda looks mad…

Spoiler (Click to view)

How to calm a mad Arcueid? Rape of course!

Spoiler (Click to view)

If you choose the rape option, you get this HCG, but you go down the Good Ending instead of True Ending.

I skipped a bunch of scenes here. Somehow you convince Arcueid that you weren't trying to rape her earlier, and she forgives you. By making out of course.

Spoiler (Click to view)

Making out, which leads to clothes coming off

Spoiler (Click to view)

Which leads to sex anyway

Spoiler (Click to view)

Takuechi doesn't always draw H scenes, but when he does, he crams them all together in one scene

Spoiler (Click to view)

More H

Spoiler (Click to view)

It keeps going

Spoiler (Click to view)

On and on

Spoiler (Click to view)

Like an Energizer battery

Ok, it's done (and morning). Arc leaves a note telling Shiki that it was all just a one-night stand.

Day 11 (the last day)

Hey, look, it's Avenger!

Or not, just some skinny pervert who goes by Tohno SHIKI

Now he's cyan for some reason

Stuff happens and you rescue your princess

Happy ending, ever after

True ending.

Credits!

More credits!

Game complete!

Full Moon Preview

After completing the game, you are given the option to preview some WIP screenshots for the Full Moon Edition

Akiha's route. This CG is in the completed game.

Hisui's route. This CG is in the completed game.

Something's route. This CG is in the completed game.

Spoiler (Click to view)

Hisui H scene sketch. This sketch gets turned into an actual HCG in the completed game.

Spoiler (Click to view)

Kohaku and Akiha synchonization H scene. This CG is in the completed game.

Satsuki turns into a vampire scene. I don't think this actually ends up turning into any CG in the completed version since Sacchin's route gets cut.

Full coloured version of those flashbacks

Another Hisui route. This CG is in the completed game.

Spoiler (Click to view)

Hisui H scene. This CG gets modified in the completed game (the back bed frame disappears)

Something.

More Akiha CG This CG is in the completed game.

More moons

Release date (is accurate!)

For reference, here are the two Hisui Hscenes that changed in Tsukihime ~Full Moon Edition~

Spoiler (Click to view)

HCG from Tsukihime ~Full Moon Edition~, based off the HCG sketch in the preview

Spoiler (Click to view)

HCG from Tsukihime ~Full Moon Edition~, tweaked from the HCG draft in the preview (note the missing bed frame in the back)

And that is all for the complete Tsukihime ~Half Moon Edition~ review!

~Keripo