Rance: Quest for Hikari (English Patched) NEC PC-98

Warning: Explicit content and adult themes.

This patch converts this infamous AliceSoft classic RPG/ADV hybrid to a hard-drive installed format, and inserts the English script from the 2010 Windows translation by HGTP Translations.

Translation Credits:

Released by: Alpharobo & BabaJeanmel
Language: English
Status: Fully Translated
Initial Release Date: 28 Oct 2023
Patch Version: v1.2
Patch Date: 22 July 2026

Source and details: https://baba-jpc.neocities.org/translations/rance/rance

Let's politely say that the Rance series is... pretty divisive. Eroge detractors will find everything they hate in this game, and even the casual eroge fan might be uncomfortable with Rance's... very personal take on consent. Nevertheless, it's one of the longest-running eroge series, sporting 24 years of RPGs, ADV and T-RPGs, sometimes of incredible depth and quality. As for this first game, it already has the trademark tongue-in-cheek humor, but lacks some polishing. It's basically a ADV/RPG hybrid that can be completed in a couple hours, with pretty crude graphics - especially the monsters. But every series has to start somewhere, right?

Needless to say, if you want a better experience, you can play the remake; the new script and the new english translation coming with it are both top-notch and the mechanics have been upgraded quite a bit. But if you like your localized eroge in full 16-color dithered glory and all the jank coming with it, the HGTP version is pretty much your only option, sorry.

Content/Trigger Warning: Rance is not a nice person. To say he doesn't care a lot with sexual consent would be a big understatement. Most of the sexual content in this game will be rapey and non-consensual. Even if the game is supposed to be written as comedy, I can't blame you if you find it offensive. So don't play it if you're likely to be offended.

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I highly recommend the emulator Neko Project 21/W for playing on Windows. It's the most feature complete emulator for the NEC PC-9801 and is in active development receiving frequent updates. Use this guide for help on how to obtain and configure the emulator.

It can also play fine using the Neko Project II Kai core in RetroArch. Just make sure you have all the PC-98 bios files in the System folder. (C:\RetroArch-Win64\system if using default install location on Windows) I shared them in this comment.

The 2nd download is the untranslated official freeware version from Alice Soft's website. It's the one the patch targeted.