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**HŌMA HUNTER LIME [size=10]PERFECT COLLECTION[/size]**
As the subtitle [size=10](which you are free to ignore for the "last letter" game)[/size] implies, Hōma Hunter Lime on the SegaSaturn can be considered a collection of several games, although it would be more accurate to consider them different episodes or chapters of an interactive digital comic.
Hōma Hunter Lime was originally a series of barely interactive adventure games, closer to a _visual novel_ really, developed by Silence circa 1993 on behalf of the electronics manufacturer Brother. These games were created as original episodic contents (the _Squid Game_ or _Naked Director_ of its time if you will) for their TAKERU kiosks, which allowed the cheap purchase and download (on a rewritable floppy disc) of any game available in their catalogue – a system very similar to the Famicom Disk System’s business model, but for micro computers.
https://youtu.be/wwjv0KaRT1Y
Hōma Hunter Lime tells the adventures of the titular heroine (i.e. eye candy) Lime and her companion (i.e. player avatar) Birth, two inexperienced intergalactic demon hunters who infiltrate Modern Japan as fake high school students while they are chasing after runaway aliens who stole evil and powerful jewels. Each episode follows a pretty standard Monster of the Week format. Each Alien has a strange power and attribute, wreaking havoc in the neighborhood, and catching the monster will invariably involve Lime disguising in a tropey kind of sexy outfit. Here is a glimpse at the first episode featuring the ever popular Playboy bunny outfit.
https://youtu.be/ecamsH0EBFY
Obviously, what you are seeing above is not how the TAKERU games looked like originally, although the characters designs and scenes remain very faithful. Asmik took upon the chance of the shiny new CD-ROM format to have the Hōma Hunter Lime episodes remade with modern art and animation, add voice acting and compile the episodes on two discs (sold separately on the PlayStation but together on the Saturn, hence the "perfect" nature of this collection).
There is a pretty obvious [Takahashi Rumiko](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumiko_Takahashi) vibe to the whole experience, which will feel fairly nostalgic to any former kid of my generation who grew up with animated adaptations of her works. Lime is pretty close to Takahashi’s Lum-type mischevious minxes and voiced by Takagawa Sakiko (known for dubbing popular foreign teen idols of the ‘80s like Phoebe Cates and Sophie Marceau), while Birth is a proper (male) Ranma expy and even voiced by Yamaguchi Kappei himself (Ranma, [Kabuki](https://forums.insertcredit.com/d/506-the-thread-in-which-we-talk-about-the-videogames-we-are-currently-playing/894), InuYasha, Usopp etc.).
Therefore, it shouldn’t surprise one to learn that the character design and key animations of Hōma Hunter Lime have been handled by Nakajima Atsuko, one of the key artists and animators behind many adaptations of Takahashi’s classics (Urusei Yastura, Maison Ikkoku, Ranma½). The entire game series was directed by another animator, Nakamura Ken-ichirō, who is possibly most famous for creating the naughty Lemon Angel series but also took integral part in the anime adaptation of Ranma½ as well as tons of other stuff (DanKūGa, Granzort, Detonator Orgun etc.). Arakawa Ken-ichi, who had earlier collaborated on the BGM for [Rusty on the PC-98](https://youtu.be/lh7Qb2N6xM4), will reappear a few times more on the SegaSaturn with the soundtracks for Game Tengoku (Jaleco) and Terra Phantastica (Sega). It’s a fairly interesting staff roll to dig through, all around.
We’re at the peak of Japanese publishers trying to figure out what’s gonna work commercially on those darn new fancy multimedia CD-ROM machines in 1995, with a product for which the absence of a PC-FX version frankly baffles me. Hōma Hunter Lime will quite logically transition to a series of OVA a few years later but it’s pretty sweet that the Saturn was able to capture, besides its better known adaptations of Falcom RPG and erotic thrillers from the PC-98, a slightly lesser exposed heritage from the Japanese micro computer scene.