General Information
Ningyo Heart (人形ハート) is a RPG game created in 2013 by the user MightyDarkChocolate for the game forum RPGMaker.Net. The story tells the journey of Mamoru, a young man recently awakened from a coma, through a mansion full of immense dangers, in search of his childhood friend, as well as of his true self. The game, of the genre of Puzzling/Survival Horror and a duration of two hours, possesses a Spanish version translated by Shirouda, numerous gameplays in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai and Italian, making it the most known game by this author.
Plot
Mamoru and Ami are two longtime friends: He is a sensitive child who likes dolls and cooking, she is a girl who everyone fears for being a "tomboy"; Despite these differences, they complement each other and promise to be together forever. One day, however, everything breaks down when Mamoru falls into a coma due to a degenerative heart condition from which he apparently can never be awakened. However, two weeks later, Mamoru wakes up miraculously ... but Ami has disappeared. And her last trace takes him to the enigmatic and abandoned mansion of Dollmaker.
Now Mamoru must go through the mansion in search of his missing childhood friend, where he will have to depend on all his ingenuity and his courage to confront the mysteries, secrets and horrors hidden by the house and its enigmatic owner.
Will Mamoru be able to find Ami before the Dollmaker cuts all the threads?
Characters
(The characters of Ningyo Heart are separated into two categories: Human and dolls)
Humans:
Mamoru Keito: Main protagonist. A child with heart problems, which prevents him from having a normal life and having as unique friend a teddy bear named Mr. Teddy. Then he meets Ami and becomes his best friend. However, years later, his condition worsens to the point that he has fallen into a coma with no hope of survival. However he wakes up and notices that Ami has disappeared, and her last trace takes him to Dollmaker's mansion. Throughout the game several details are discovered about his tragic past, being Ami the only person who supported him during all this time, so he is determined to find her despite all the dangers of the mansion, using his will of fire and his ability to solve puzzles. His name means "Protect".
Ami: A girl with short dark hair described by everyone in the school as "barbaric and tomboyish", described by Mamoru as "strong and cool". She knows Mamoru since they are children and they have been together since then. When Mamoru falls into a coma, devastated, she is determined to use anything to save him, even paying a very high price with her own heart. While is not playable, you can see constant flashbacks and memories of her and Mamoru throughout the game. In the end it's confirmed that Dollmaker has her trapped in his mansion and will be the mission of Mamoru rescue her from his dark plans.
Kana Kaede: A nice but lonely third-year girl from the same school attended by Mamoru and Ami, known for being an excellent student. However, one year before the events of the game, Kana falls ill with LES (systemic lupus erythematosus), leaving her with very little time to live ... until one day, she mysteriously disappears from her deathbed. Throughout the game Mamoru will discover everything that happened with Kana, her relationship with Dollmaker and even more, her disturbing current connection with Ami.
Dollmaker: Main antagonist of the game. A sorcerer with the ability to create magical dolls. The urban legend says that once a year he leaves his mansion to give dolls that bring joy and endless happiness to children, making him a good person. However, a measure that advances the game is discovered that not only is behind the abduction and disappearance of Kana Kaede, but also in the disappearance of Ami, having some terrifying plans for her and for which he will want to remove Mamoru out from his path at any cost.
Dolls /Enemies/Inhabitants of the mansion:
Miku: Maid doll and Dollmaker’s assistant, making her one of the final bosses of the game. Her true form is a long black shadow with huge red eyes and long sharp claws. Although she's against the Dollmaker because he used necromancy, she’s also determined to avoid that Mamoru fulfil his mission, appearing in any place and at any time without previous notice, (generating a jumpscare in the players), placing various traps and challenges to curb our advance. In Densha Soul is revealed that she used to be a maid demon who worked in the Underworld but she was expelled.
Ichirou: A butler doll and also Dollmaker’s assistant, making him a final boss like Miku. Unlike she, who was born during the winter (making her cold and cruel), Ichirou was "born" in the spring. He behaves like a gentleman and for some reason, he likes roses very much. He isn’t really against to Mamoru but his actions could be unpredictable. Besides having the same powers as Miku and his true form is similar to her, Ichirou also can generate visions to the past that the player can see, managing to "introduce" Mamoru in one of them. Also, his past is similar to Miku, having been a demon who worked in the Underworld's train.
Perfect Puppet: A puppet made without any defect. He comes alive because Miku had amputated one of the other puppets in the room where he lives, making him angry. He can’t see anything with defects, Mamoru included.
Puppets: Perfect Puppet's minions. Some of them can run faster than others, while others may become invisible for a few seconds and reappear while chasing the player. Nevertheless, they get tired quickly after a short time.
Little Sisters Dolls: These are the four most precious dolls for the Dollmaker. Although he can’t stand with the idea to give them to children, he decides to give one of them to Kana, causing intense anger and jealousy of others. They’re one of the biggest menaces of Mamoru throughout the game, finding lying on the ground and pretended to be dead or hiding in closets or cabinets in a kind of game of hide waiting for an ambush. Their weakness is the loud sounds from a piano or bells.
Black-haired Ningyo: A living doll with form of small girl with long black hair that Mamoru finds several times along the game. Although she’s part of the “Little Sisters Dolls”, this one doesn’t represent any menace since she doesn’t have emotions most of the time. For some reason, the other three sisters don’t please her and constant try to intimidate her and attack her whenever they see her, being defended by Mamoru. Finally we discover that not only she was Kana Kaede's former doll, but in addition, she contains the soul of her owner inside.
Dora: Originally created as a "Family Doll”, Dora had dolls as "parents"; however, when these were burned, Dora lost all control, forcing the Dollmaker to keep her locked in an iron cage and inside of a dark room, because Dora get crazy with the signal of light or fire. The only way to defeat her is extinguish the flames of her room.
Red/Redpunzel: A doll with long black hair who hates the light. She challenges us to play two games, one of them lighting the lamps in a room that she will leave completely dark and the other in a guessing game where she will ask you to guess where she is, eating you if you're wrong. Although she seems to be blind, the player will notice a strange red eye on the door where she is seconds before disappearing.
Mr. Teddy: Little teddy bear that used to belong to Mamoru, reason for that the other children bothering him, being defended by Ami. He gives her the teddy a time later, asking her to keep and care for him. During the game it is discovered that the teddy bear got inside the mansion along with Ami (He had fallen from her pocket when she entered a room where the Dollmaker was), but when he tries to warn Mamoru that he had to hurry in rescuing Ami, Teddy dies incinerated by Big Ted.
Big Ted: Leader of the teddy bears of the mansion. Unlike other teddy bears that are friendly to humans, Big Ted is a wild doll with the strength and nature of a real bear, who he hasn’t only destroyed most of the dolls around, but he’s also the reason among the significant absence of dolls at level 3 of the mansion. He captured Mr. Teddy, and cruelly burned him in front of Mamoru. The only way to defeat him is stabbed with a knife the little red flaming bears around him, which are the main source of his power.
Killer Hood: Doll created by Miku from a snow jacket and a pair of pickaxes. He came to life by Ichirou. We could find him in the piano room, which is the penultimate boss that the player will face before the final boss of the game. He can only be defeated by destroying the pianos that are around.
Game Features
1. Heartbeat Sensor: The player will be able to listen the beatings of Mamoru's heart, which will increase of intensity before the sign of a possible danger, especially before run/chase events.
2. Two Endings: The two possible endings of the game will depend if the player read three diaries marked with a big red cross of blood that will be located in the following rooms: Puppet’s Room, Dora's Room and Piano’s Room. On having read them they will provoke a flashback about Mamoru's past. Reading all the three books will activate the Good/True Ending. Avoiding the last book will activate the Bad Ending.
3. Two Hidden Secrets: In the game there are two secret histories parallel to the linear history, which will be unblocked by a special event: Playing Ichirou's game. During a moment of the game, Ichirou will offer to help you in a puzzle in return for defeat him in a card game. Depending on the result, you can get one of the two histories (Note: You can unlock one story per game).
Dollmaker’s Story: Win the Ichirou’s game but don’t give him the item that Ichirou wants, which will activate a mini-game where he enclose you in a room when he will try to extract your heart (To activate it, the player must enter the Kana’s Tomb Room and go reverse). After managing to escape from him, a picture of a couple is shown. The player must go to Redpunzel’s Room and place the picture in the bloodstains located in the left side of the room, revealing a secret green room.
Kana’s Story: Win the Ichirou’s game and give him the item that Ichirou wants (which is a red rose that is obtained in the room called "8 maid dolls and a mother"). Upon reaching the corridor that leads to the room where we met Redpunzel for first time, there will be a green flag that reveals a picture of Kana Kaede. The player must take it and go to Kana’s Tomb Room, place it in the bloodstain on the left side and then touch it.
Connections with MightyDarkChocolate's games
Like all the games made by MightyDarkChocolate, Ningyo Heart has connections with some of the previous games, as well as in those games who followed it, already be with the appearance of several characters or situations, or with of references to the game.
House of Vampires: Sissy, a pink doll that we can see next to "Bride Doll" on having entered the receiver of the mansion, is a minor character in House of Vampires that we can find during an instant in the rooms and in a zone called "Maid's Lair" and that asks us to look for an object that will allow us to advance in the game.
Ten Tales: On having interacted with a group of dolls that are next to the Green Statue in the receiver, Mamoru mentions that a girl called Maria had spoken to him about the mansion. Maria is the protagonist of Ten Tales, known for being a lover of the books. It’s possible to surmise then that Mamoru and Maria are known, though it is more probable that they are companions of school.
Roaches: This one is the one that contains the largest number of references to the game, from the appearance of Mamoru and Ami in the north area of the town as a couple of lovers up to an allusive joke to the game: Flaming Book, the book that we find in several areas of the mansion and that works as a sort of tutorial for the player, is actually a spirit sent by a bookseller named Natsuki (Character of Ten Tales) not only to "help" Mamoru in his mission, but also to spy and to record the whole scene, which does that Natsuki was writing the whole novel based on the game. In turn we can see several references to the Dollmaker, from the mention of his curse as the address of the mansion.
Densha Soul: When you interact not alone with some butlers that we find in the fancy dining room that it leads to the Compartment Class B (as well as on having interacted with an old piano), but also with a few maids in the dining room of the Compartment Class C, there is revealed that Miku and Ichirou were demons that were working as employees of the H-666 train, which were expelled and their souls destroyed, being reborn both as devilish dolls put to the service of the Dollmaker.
Akumu: Disc 2 (Demo): During the beginning of the game, while the player walks to the grocery store, we can see the Dollmaker sat in a bench. On having interacted with him, he will say to us a monologue that can be interpreted of that our protagonist Kai, like Mamoru, used to have a doll or stuffed animal which was his best friend in childhood.
Curiosities
Ningyo Heart was the first game of MightyDarkChocolate to introduce a boss who must be fought directly, rather than run from it.
It's so far the only game in the series that has two finals, the rest has three finals (House of Vampires and Densha Soul) or only one (Ten Tales and Roaches)
Mamoru is the first male protagonist of the series, followed by Yui (Densha Soul) and Kai (Akumu: Disc 2). In turn, he is the second protagonist whose name and meaning has vital importance to the plot and especially at the true end: "Mamoru" means "Protect", while "Kizuna" (House of the Vampires) means "Bond" .
Despite being technically orphan, Mamoru has a living relative: Kawajima Keito, minor character of House of Vampires. However, the current state of this character is still unknown.