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Sentimental Graffiti Game Launches Crowdfunding for 20th Anniversary Event

GungHo Online Entertainment launched a campaign on Japanese crowdfunding platform Campfire on Thursday to fund a 20th anniversary event for NEC Interchannel's Sentimental Graffiti dating simulation game. The campaign has already reached its goal of 10 million yen (about US$89,000), with 17,964,158 raised as of press time.

The project is primarily funding a special talk show and concert event in Tokyo on January 19, though part of the funds will go to the creation of backer rewards. The campaign has reward tiers that offer merchandise only, for those that wish to purchase goods but are unable to go to the event. The merchandise includes a t-shirt, towel, pen light, 20th anniversary CD, illustrated clear file, and calendar, among other items.

The project has several stretch goals that it has already met. The 20th anniversary CD will include a new song by music producer Tomoyuki Hamada and original game scenario writer Raita Ōkura, and backers at most tiers will receive a DVD of the event. Other stretch goals include additional pages for the backer rewards pamphlet, upgrades to the DVD release, and finally, at 25 million yen, a new audio drama written by Ōkura.

Sentimental Graffiti debuted in Japan on the Sega Saturn in 1998, and it was later ported to Windows and PlayStation. It inspired the 12-episode Sentimental Journey television series from Sunrise and director Kazuyoshi Katayama (Appleseed, The Big O, Those Who Hunt Elves) in 1998. MediaWorks released the series on DVD in 2004.

Source: Sentimental Graffiti's Campfire campaign