About

Yume Nikki (ゆめにっき) is a Japanese indie freeware PC game by the developer KIKIYAMA.^[1] A surreal adventure game based around the dreams and nightmares of a girl named Madotsuki, the game became popular on the internet for it's creepy and scary gameplay and settings, and has a large fan following.

History

Yume Nikki was created by the Japanese developer KIKIYAMA and was created using the popular game-making program RPG Maker 2003.^[2] The title "Yume Nikki" translates to "dream diary," reflecting the game's gameplay, in which the player must traverse through a number of surreal dream worlds in order to collect 25 effects. The game is noticeably lacking in any form of plot, with nearly all of the characters names and backstories being fan-made.

Interest in Yume Nikki first began on the Japanese message board 2channel , where it soon gained a cult following. The popularity in the western world began after the release of an unofficial English patch for the game, with an official English patch added to the game with version 0.10 in October 2007, the most recent version of the game so far.

Steam Release and Countdown Clock

On January 10th, 2018, Yume Nikki was released on Steam^[3][4] free of charge. Additionally, the publisher posted a link to a page with a countdown^[5] to "the next Yume Nikki project." The countdown appears as though it will last for roughly two weeks.

Yume Nikki Dream Dairy

At the end of the countdown clock on January 24th, 2018, an image promoting the follow-up game Yume Nikki Dream Diary was placed on the page, announcing that the game would be released for Windows on February 23rd.

Screenshots provided for the game show a 3D representation of the Yume Nikki world (shown below). In the coming days, several video game news site published articles about the announcement, including IGN,^[6] PC Gamer^[7] and Polygon.^[8]

Notable Characters

Uboa

Uboa is one of the most famous characters in the game. Uboa can appear randomly (1 in 64 chance) after flicking a light switch in the house of a girl named Poniko. When he appears, the room transforms and the exit disappears, while he begins to chase you. If he touches you, you are transported to an alternate dimension with a bizarre demon like creature in the background.

Seccom Masada-sensei

Seccom Masada-sensei is a black and white humanoid figure dressed almost entirely in black, with lazy eyes that point in opposite directions, who is found inside of a white UFO. He is frequently interpreted by fans to represent Madotsuki's piano teacher due to the presence of a piano in his ship.

Monoko

Monoko is at first glance a seemingly ordinary girl, if the Spotlight effect is used in Monoko's presence, she will transform into a more grotesque form, with multiple limbs sprouting on her body, including her head, while some form of liquid seeps from her face. Interacting with her in this form leads to a fullscreen event where the image of her as shown above spins round the screen.

Related Memes

Vomit-chan

Vomit-Chan is the nickname given to a fan art of Madotsuki attempting to contain her vomit. The drawing has been often used as reaction image to express disgust towards someone's opinion or facts, in addition to its use as exploitable template.

The original image was drawn by the Pixiv artist 蒼天空 (Aosora),^[2] known for his drawings featuring guro, and originally posted on July 7th, 2010 under the title "★嘔吐★" (Vomiting).^[3] The original image can't longer be found on his account.

Aztec Rave Monkey

Aztec Rave Monkey is a psychedelic animation from Yume Nikki featuring a multi-colored Aztec-style depiction of a monkey with electronic synth music playing in the background. Online, the sequence has spawned numerous music remixes and fan illustrations. In the grasslands area of the game, the player is shown a full-screen animation of an Aztec monkey rapidly changing colors while synth music playing in the background. This spawned numerous remixes in future years.

Search Interest

External References