"Port Town Serial Murders" is a mystery adventure game created by Yuji Horii and released for PC by Enix in 1983. Players take on the role of a detective superior, leading their partner nicknamed "Yasu" to investigate the death of the president of a lending company.
| Title of the work | The Portopia serial murder case |
|---|---|
| Chinese name | The serial murder case in Port Town |
| Platform | FC / Mobile / PC-88 |
| Genre | AVG |
| Also known as | The Portopia Serial Murder Case |
| Release | Enix & SQUARE ENIX |
Death in the secret chamber
The Famicom version begins with Kozo Yamakawa being found dead in the mansion's study. Secretary Fumie Sawaki, seeing that he hadn't arrived at the company for a long time, went inside to look for him; After security guard Xiao Gong broke open the locked door with her, they found the body and the key still on the inside of the door. Subordinate A-Kang initially reported it was a suicide, but his superior thought there were still doubts.
Bosses and partners
Players take on the role of a senior detective in the First Investigation Division, deciding the direction of investigations based on orders; Yasuhiko Mano is responsible for execution and reporting the results. Yamakawa's secretary and gatekeeper provide initial testimony, and the deceased's experience running a lending company leads the investigation into broader interpersonal relationships.
Operation of PC and FC
The original PC version used keyboard input commands. In the FC version, you can select actions using arrow keys, press A to confirm, and press B to switch command groups or cancel, and use magnifying glasses or other pointers to check specific positions on the investigation screen. The two versions operate differently.
How to advance the investigation
The FC version of the command covers location movement, questioning, inquiring about personal history, verifying alibis, finding witnesses, and presenting evidence. After making new discoveries, the same place or person may give different answers; Before calling witnesses into the interrogation room, it may also be necessary to first find out their whereabouts. Players need to verify testimony and physical evidence, rather than carrying out arrests based solely on suspicion.
Sequence and recording of clues
Some facts must only emerge after the preliminary investigation is completed. Even if players already know someone is not the culprit, they may not be able to skip related events when restarting. FC manuals recommend documenting relationships and discoveries; In this version, after powering off, investigation progress is not retained; replaying requires progressing from the beginning.
Later, the technical trial version
On April 24, 2023, Square Enix released an AI Tech Preview themed around the original PC version, using natural language to understand and parse player text instructions, and demonstrated speech-to-text input. The product page clearly states that the natural language-generated chat feature was removed at launch. It is a later standalone technical experience, not the system already present in the original 1983 game.
Text adjustments made at the end of the FC version's development
According to Yuji Horii's recollection, the FC version was about 2KB oversized by about 2KB in its final stages. He checked about a thousand passages sentence by sentence, compressing each by two characters, while preserving content that would make players smile.
Source: Structured works maintained by the Bangumi community, filtered and rearranged by this site.
Related entries
- Characters:Boss (Gangkou Town serial murder case)
- Characters:Yasuhiko Mano
- Characters:Mountains and rivers are cultivated and cultivated
- Characters:Fumie Sawaki
- Characters:Rokusuke Komiya
- Setting and Setting:ローンヤマキン
- Setting and Setting:Yamakawa residence
- Original Work:Yuji Horii
- Derivative Technology Trial Version:Portopia AI Tech Preview
- Early Mystery Works by Yuji Horii:Karuizawa Kidnapping Guide
- My personal review of the FC version's sentence-by-sentence editing:Yuji Horii
References
- Bangumi entry for works: Portopia serial murder case
- Bangumi Copyright Notice
- Square Enix：Portopia AI Tech Preview
- Square Enix: Portopia Technology Demo Announcement
- FC Version Manual Transcript: Serial Murder Case in Port Town
- Famitsu: Yuji Horii and Takaya Ishiyama discuss adventure game development
- GAME Watch: Yuji Horii 30 Years Review
Source author: Bangumi article contributor and community maintainer; License: CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/); Adaptation: This site filters and reorganizes structured facts, without copying the article summary.
Data compiled on: 2026-10-07.