Love Live! School Idol Festival

Overview

Love Live! School Idol Festival (often abbreviated as LLSIF or Sukufesu) is a Japanese rhythm game series. The first game, developed by KLab and published by Bushiroad's Bushimo, was released in Japan on April 15, 2013, for iOS and June 8, 2013, for Android. The game was free-to-play with an in-app purchase system. It featured songs and characters from the series Love Live! School Idol Project and Love Live! Sunshine!!, newly introduced girls, and stories that were not included in other media in the Love Live! franchise. The English localization was released worldwide on May 11, 2014, for iOS and Android devices. It was also localized in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and South Korea. At the end of September 2016, the English version added Korean support, and the two servers merged. The Traditional Chinese version, which was operated by Mobimon in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, also merged with the English version on May 18, 2017. In February 2021 it was announced that the worldwide server would be merging with the Japanese server, which was completed in June 2021. The changes included the removal of Korean and Traditional Chinese language from the server. On January 11, 2016, the cast of Love Live! Sunshine!! live streamed a special announcement regarding Aqours' members joining the app in July 2016. In the game, Aqours received original main and side stories, playable songs, and fully voiced cards. KLab added R rarity cards for each Aqours members on January 31, 2016, though they were only voiced after the official release in July. In June 2016, two Aqours members, Chika and Riko, were featured in an event for the first time. The group officially joined the game on July 5, 2016, along with a new card rarity and other major updates. An arcade version of the game titled Love Live! School Idol Festival: After School Activity (developed and published by Square Enix) was released on December 6, 2016, in Japan, and a PlayStation 4 port was released in North America, Japan, and Southeast Asia on March 24, 2021. Another spin-off game titled Love Live! School Idol Festival All Stars was released in Japan on September 26, 2019, and worldwide on February 25, 2020. It starred the girls from Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club, with μ's and Aqours also prominently featured in the game. All Stars' game service was shut down on June 30, 2023. A sequel to the original game titled Love Live! School Idol Festival 2: Miracle Live! (officially abbreviated as SIF2) was announced at the franchise's 2022 thanksgiving festival. Along with previous groups—μ's, Aqours, and Nijigasaki High School Idol Club—Liella! also made their appearance. The global version was released on February 1, 2024. Love Live! School Idol Festival's game service was shut down on March 31, 2023, and was succeeded by SIF2 which itself was shut down on March 31, 2024, in Japan and on May 31 globally.

Gameplay

The game had two gameplay modes—"Story" and "Live"— which featured all nine members of the idol groups μ's and Aqours. Players acquired a score in the rhythm "Live" mode, in which they could tap circles at the proper time in order to receive a high score that can be placed on the leader board. These songs were divided into 4 difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Expert. Another difficulty called "Master" was added, and included rhythm icons where players had to swipe their fingers on the screen during some songs. In "Story" mode, the player worked as μ's' and Aqours' helper and managed their training and schedule. The mode was full-voiced with all of the idols' respective voice actresses. The players interacted with the girls as they lived their lives as school idols. The game had several currencies:

LP: Stamina necessary for doing a Live. One song could use up to 25 LP depending on the song's difficulty. LP could be refilled by using one Love Gem, by using "Sugar Cubes" and "Sugar Pots" obtained via Special Rewards, by waiting for it to be refilled (1LP per 6 minutes), or by raising the account level or "Rank". Every 2 ranks, the player's maximum LP increased by one point. When the player reached rank 300, their maximum LP would take 3 ranks to increase by one point instead of 2. Refilling the LP or leveling up would cause the LP to be overflowed, which meant that players may sometimes end up with more LP than their account would normally be able to have. Gs: The app's in-game currency, Gs could be used for leveling up or idolizing an idol, or buying temporary stat increases during some events. Friend points: Points that could be acquired by having other players help during a Live. Friend points could be used to scout N, SSR and R rarity cards. Love Gems: The app's in-game currency which could be bought through in-app purchase. It could be used for refilling the entire LP bar, member scouting (gacha pull), or continuing a failed Live. Scouting Ticket: Besides Love Gems, the other way to scout a rare member through the "Honor Scouting" system was by using a scouting ticket. There were three types of tickets: green regular tickets, blue scouting coupons, and purchased scouting tickets that guaranteed cards of a certain rarity. Stickers: If an R, SR, SSR, or UR rarity card was used for practice or deleted, the player would gain a sticker. These stickers could be used for idolizing a card or purchasing other cards or scouting coupons from the Sticker Shop. Stickers' rarity were divided into 4 types that depended on the rarity of the used cards. Cards that didn't feature the girls from either μ's or Aqours, and promotional and skill cards wouldn't give stickers.

Cards and team formation

Players could form 9-person units. The girls in the formation were called "members". Players acquired new members by doing Lives or scouting through "Student Scouting" that used the gacha system. Two same cards could be combined and they would be "Idolized", which unlocked new card art and a side story gave a Love Gem. Each member had their own card level and skill that could be leveled up by doing a "Practice", which involved sacrificing one or more cards to increase the level of another one. In order to increase skill level, cards that were "practiced" had to have the same skill. Increasing skill and card levels improved the scores players could obtain in "Lives". New Aqours and regular members were added every time an in-game event has ended and μ's cards are added halfway through events. Members cards were divided into 5 rarities: N (normal), R (rare), SR (super rare), SSR (special super rare), and UR (ultra rare). Each rarity (except N-rarity) had a different set of leader skills (passive) and active skills that affect the Lives scores. Cards and songs were divided into attributes that represent each card's idol type: Smile, Cool, and Pure. Using the same attribute members to do Lives of the same attribute song gave a higher score. The original characters added in the game were featured in the N-rarity cards. There were 54 characters with 9 girls represent 6 different schools:

These characters were not voiced, but Emma Verde (previously only named Emma), Kanata Konoe, and Shizuku Osaka were promoted to become part of the Nijigasaki High School Idol Club and were each given voice actresses. Fujimaru designed the new characters. Besides the regular cards, the game also included "promotional cards" and "skill up cards". Promotional cards could be obtained free as a bonus from purchasing Love Live! merchandise, clearing quests, purchasing through Sticker Shop, scouting using Gs, or simply logging in to the game. Regardless of rarity, promotional cards had relatively low stats and leader skill effects. They also didn't give stickers when practiced or deleted. The cards were usually pre-idolized, which meant that players could not idolize the card for different art. μ's and Aqours' respective rival groups (A-Rise and Saint Snow), the groups' younger selves, and the girls from Nijigasaki High School are also featured as fully voiced promotional cards. A skill up card was used to level up the skill of a card. It couldn't be idolized or used in a Live. These cards featured characters around the main groups such as the girls' mothers, school friends and teachers, and even animals. These cards could be obtained by logging in, special box scouting, in-game event rewards, or purchasing a limited time sale pack.

In-game events

Every 15 days, an in-game event with a total of 1 UR rarity card as a reward was held. Each event ran for around 10 days with a 5-days break. The UR rarity card was obtainable by collecting event points and competing with other players through event points ranking. Reward included Gs, Love Gems, and skill-up cards. The game had 6 type of events:

Token Collection (アイコンコレクション, Aikon Korekushon) Players played an event-exclusive song to get the event points. The song required Tokens which are collected by playing songs. Sometimes, the event also featured a short story that was previously featured in the franchise's novel series School Idol Diary. Score Match (スコアマッチ, Sukoa Macchi) 4 players competed with each other to get the highest score from a randomly-chosen song. Medley Festival (メドレーフェスティバル, Medorē Fesutibaru) Players could play up to three songs in a row and could use stat increases to improve their score and/or Live prize. Some stat increases would appear randomly from in-game friends. Challenge Festival (チャレンジフェスティバル, Charenji Fesutibaru) Players could play up to 5 songs and receive the accumulated prize at the end of the challenge. μ's members would appear and give random ability increases. If 3 members with same sub-unit, school year, and/or wear same uniform appeared, a specific mission would appear. Clearing the mission would give the players an additional prize. Adventure Stroll (おさんぽラリー, Osanpo Rarī) Players cleared Live songs to unlock Aqours and μ's side stories and cleared missions while "taking a stroll" around the event map. Live songs also gave 'souvenirs' which players could exchange for friend points, event SR rarity cards, and in-game backgrounds. Companion Match (なかよしマッチ, Nakayoshi Macchi) Worked like Score Match, but instead of competing against each other, the event required 4 players to work together in clearing missions by reaching certain scores or combos. Players' scores were determined by how much they contributed. While in score mission they were ranked from highest to the lowest score, combo mission would always display anyone with "Full Combo" as the first place(s).

Collaboration event

In 2019, the Japanese server of School Idol Festival held its first collaboration event outside the Love Live! franchise. The collaboration event with mobile TCG, Shadowverse, was held in both of the games (September 20–30 within the School Idol Festival app). Between the 9 girls of Aqours, Yoshiko Tsushima was chosen as representative through fan votes. The collaboration campaign includes a new song, "Deep Resonance" that was included in the group's 4th single, collaboration SSR cards of the group, a limited UR card for Yoshiko, as well as login bonuses. A Code Geass x School Idol Festival collaboration event was announced in March 2022 as a part of the game's 9th anniversary campaign. Event reward included UR card Chika Takami in Ashford Academy uniform.

Service termination

On January 31, 2023, the SIF Japanese server, worldwide server, and simplified Chinese server officially announced the end of game service on March 31, 2023. The game was succeeded by Love Live! School Idol Festival 2: Miracle Live!.

Love Live! School Idol Festival 2: Miracle Live!

The successor to School Idol Festival was announced at the franchise's 2022 thanksgiving festival. Along with previous groups—μ's, Aqours, and Nijigasaki High School Idol Club—Liella! also made their appearance. Players of LLSIF were able to transfer their account data in the game to SIF2. The data transfer retains players' obtained cards in an album feature. In the game, players assumed the role of a student belonging to the newspaper club at their school. The player could choose among the main groups to do their interview about school idols with. Although not playable, Yu Takasaki, the protagonist of Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club, also makes her appearance. Besides the main groups, songs from groups and school idols under the Love Live! franchise, like A-Rise, Saint Snow, Sunny Passion, Wien Margarete, as well as songs from Hasunosora Girls School Idol Club and School Idol Musical were also included. Liella! performs the opening theme song titled "Miracle New Story." The rhythm gameplay from the previous game was back with a renewed UI. New features included a character/group chat system, in which a player could unlock conversations by deepening their bond with the characters. The Japanese version was released on April 15, 2023. The global version, which includes English, Traditional Chinese, and Korean languages, was supposed to release in the same year but due to development changes especially in the JP version, the global version release date was moved to February 1, 2024.

Service termination

On January 25, 2024, it was announced that the Japanese servers for School Idol Festival 2 would close on March 31 of the same year. An offline local version is provided after service terminated on March 31 16:00 (UTC+9), to let players view the albums (idol cards) and titles got in the game. Later that same day, the official Twitter account for the global version of the game announced that the game was still slated for release in February, but would end service on May 31. The game finally launched on February 1, and shut down at May 31 06:00 UTC. An offline local version as was in the Japanese version were also provided.

Love Live! School Idol Festival: After School Activity

On November 27, 2015, the official website of the game announced the production of the arcade version of Love Live! School Idol Festival. The arcade game titled Love Live! School Idol Festival: After School Activity (often abbreviated as SIFAC or Sukufesu AC) is a joint development with Square Enix and operates using NESiCA Cards. The name comes from the fact that because the initial release of the game was an arcade game, players will have to go to a game center to play the game, which gives it an "after school" feeling. A beta testing on location were held on May 13–15 and May 27–29, 2016. The game was fully released on December 6 of the same year. Different from the mobile game, the arcade version featured a cooperative mode; it can be played by up to 3 players in certain modes and has fully 3D CG dances for all songs. It also lets players collect and print Profile Cards and Member Cards—each comes with buff skills—just like the original game. The game had 3 type of in-game events: Birthday Event (バースデーイベント), Skill Card Event (スキルカードイベント), and Score Ranking Event (スコアランキングバトル). In October 2017, Aqours from Love Live! Sunshine!! were announced to join the arcade game. They first appeared for a limited time from December 6, 2017, until January 8, 2018, as a preliminary trial as part of the game's 1st anniversary campaign. In April 2018, Square Enix announced the game will receive a major update titled Love Live! School Idol Festival: After School Activity Next Stage as part of Love Live! School Idol Festival's 5th anniversary campaign. Aqours' songs were added as well as a new function named "School Idol Outing" (おでかけ♪スクールアイドル, Odekake Sukūru Aidoru) and a new song difficulty. The group has been officially added to the game along with the major update on December 6, 2018. On September 5, 2019, Saint Snow, the rival duo of Aqours, was added to the game, along with several of their songs. Square Enix announced in October 2020 that the arcade version will receive a final update on November 10, 2020, essentially ending support for the game's arcade iteration. However, a 4th anniversary "Thank You" promotional campaign was held from December 2020 to March 2021. The game service for the arcade version ended on October 1, 2021. The arcade version has been ported to PlayStation 4 under the title Love Live! School Idol Festival: After School Activity Wai-Wai! Home Meeting!!, released digitally in North America, Japan, and Southeast Asia on March 24, 2021.

Gameplay

The gameplay is similar to its mobile counterpart, however the arcade version uses nine physical buttons placed around the display panel instead of touchscreen. The main difference from the mobile game is there's no stamina system, so players cannot fail any songs. However, in order to reach higher score and ranking, the player must hit all nine "Finale Rhythm Icons", which is a note with a star, anchor, or snowman (μ's, Aqours, and Saint Snow modes respectively). Each Final Rhythm Icon will add letters to a gauge which would spell out "Love Live!", if all nine are collected. When all nine are collected, the Finale Mode begins, usually at the song's outro, where all notes will yield extra score points. The difficulty levels are different from mobile game to accommodate with physical buttons. The highest difficulty level, "Challenge", requires players to press up to four buttons at once. The arcade version had a separate card printing machine, where players could collect Member Cards, and create their own Profile Card. The Member Cards were collected through a gacha-style system. A Member Card comes in two varieties, each with different rarities, R and HR. An R card unlocks the costume set, while an HR card also adds additional effects, like "Finale Focus" (introduced in the Next Stage update). Player's Profile Cards are created by taking a screenshot of the desired member in music videos, and adding up to three Skill Cards. These cards could be printed out and shared with other players to assist their gameplay.

PlayStation 4 version

On October 10, 2020, a console port of the arcade game was announced, titled Love Live! School Idol Festival: After School Activity Wai-Wai! Home Meeting!! (officially abbreviated as SIFAC HM). It was released in North America, Japan, and Southeast Asia on March 24, 2021, for PlayStation 4. The game also features English, simplified and traditional Chinese localisations, similar to other games in the franchise. SIFAC HM received exclusive content not featured in the arcade version. The game is natively backward compatible with PlayStation 5. SIFAC HM is free-to-start, which the base game includes eight songs. Additional songs are available as paid downloadable content (DLC). At the release, 21 Song Pack DLCs (13 for μ's, and 9 for Aqours / Saint Snow; 117 songs in total) became available. Unlike the arcade version, SIFAC HM has its own difficulty levels to accommodate for DualShock 4 and DualSense controllers. From easiest to hardest, "Beginner" and "Standard" are played with 4 buttons, while "Hyper" and "Adventure" are played with 6 buttons. Arcade mode with 9 buttons, with all its original difficulty levels, is also available. Another difference from the arcade version is the player can unlock a costume set by "creating" it, using materials received from playing Live Shows. Alternatively the player can also purchase the costume sets as DLC immediately.

Technical issues

An infamous bug occurred in the first day after the Next Stage update had been released for the arcades in 2018, wherein sometimes the characters appeared to be naked during the dance sequences. This bug was widely shared on Twitter as screenshots and clips of dancing "Barbie doll-esque" nude characters during gameplay had been spread across it. This bug caused Square Enix to take the game server in "urgent maintenance" for few days in order to fix the bug.