The Higurashi minigames offer a tongue-in-cheek parody story of the characters in the game, and were originally unlocked as the player finished different story arcs in the visual novel. All minigames are available in the translation, although it is recommended to play them in order.

The patch is released as a zip archive, with the latest ONScripter-En build for Windows included. Mac and Linux users are strongly encouraged to download the current version from the ONS-En project site. The patch requires a full installation of Higurashi 4, but should not be used to replace any English translation. It does however share the saves and settings with other patches by Sonozaki Futago-tachi, so that beating and/or unlocking minigames now will be remembered in future translation releases.

The main entity that brought together Higurashi and MangaGamer is apparently HOBIBOX, a seemingly new member of an increasing number of companies behind MangaGamer. HOBIBOX, a multifaceted company with divisions that work on things like PC games as well as anime songs and drama CDs, has actually been working with 07th Expansion, the doujin circle that created Higurashi, for five years now. Some fruits of this collaboration include a port of Higurashi to the mobile phone in Japan, as well as a collection of drama CDs corresponding to each of the arcs. They were also at Anime Expo 2009 in side the MangaGamer booth, selling various music CDs and physical discs of the Japanese version of Higurashi. Before Anime Expo, HOBIBOX, not knowing about the fan translation for Higurashi, approached MangaGamer and sublicensed them rights to produce a commercial English release. This deal was sealed in June of 2009, literally weeks before the announcement at Anime Expo 2009 in early July. Furthermore, HOBIBOX also contacted and negotiated rights with the various music artists who provided music for the games so that they can distribute the music within the games as well, since 07th Expansion is not the primary rights holder of the music in their games.

Sonozaki Futago-tachi, real-life twins who were working on an English translation patch for Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, eventually received an email from MangaGamer asking for their cooperation, both in proofreading their release and in the removal of their current patches. The twins agreed to remove their patches, and were in negotiations with MangaGamer on whether they would be able to help out with the official translation. However, due to the extremely fast schedule that was required of them, the twins felt they were unable to properly do the job and thus turned down MangaGamer’s offer for proofreading.

However, it appears that the rights on an English translation held by HOBIBOX and thus MangaGamer were not exclusive. That is, it would be possible legally for other translations to exist concurrently. Furthermore, given 07th Expansion’s attitude towards fan translations, as can be seen in emails both public and private, it appears that 07th Expansion still can and will likely still allow for fan translations of Higurashi, despite MangaGamer’s plans to publish a commercial English translation. Therefore, Sonozaki Futago-tachi have decided to continue in their efforts to translate Higurashi, but they also suggest MangaGamer’s version as well for people who do not want to wait as long.

Meanwhile, after some correspondence with MangaGamer staff, it appears that they have modified their usual workflow for translation. Instead of having a single editor and single proofreader follow the translation stage, there will be now a few proofreaders who will each read through the entire script. In fact, the rumor is that they’ve also managed to hire a well-known bilingual proofreader who is also a hardcore fan of the Higurashi games.

For the future, Sonozaki Futago-tachi are also working on enabling other translators to translate Onikakushi into their own languages. Meanwhile, HOBIBOX has written in an email to us indicating that they wish for people to stay tuned to the MangaGamer website for various Higurashi announcements in the near future. Higurashi is going to be released in two parts — the question arcs are projected to be released in October, and the answer arcs are projected to be released in December.

Most well known for its anime adaptations, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is an extraordinarily successful doujin franchise, comparable to TYPE-MOON’s success with Tsukihime. It has sold over half a million copies, seen many spin-offs and ports and has even been adapted into two live action movies to date. It is most acclaimed for its suspenseful and horrific story and how the player is often long kept in the dark about what is going on.

Onikakushi, which roughly translates to ’spirited away by demons’, is the first out of four Question Arc chapters. The entire Question Arc can be bought with Himatsubushi-hen, the fourth chapter of the arc. The patch translates the entire first chapter of the game and is released in two versions: One works with Himatsubushi-hen and the other works with the standalone version of Onikakushi-hen, which is available for free download from the maker’s site.