Rance: Quest for Hikari

Rance: Quest for Hikari is the first game in the long-running Rance series made by Alice Soft in 1989. It is an Adventure Game with RPG Elements.

The story follows Rance, a mercenary working for the Keith Guild. His current job is to find out what happened to Hikari Bran, a young student kidnapped by ninjas. With his faithful slave Sill, Rance has to rescue the missing girl before it's too late.

This game is now freeware, and it can be found with a Fan Translation here.

This game was given a remake in 2013, dubbed Rance 01: The Quest for Hikari.

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This game contains examples of:

• Affectionate Parody: This game lampoons pretty much every ancient RPG trope it can get its hands on.
• Ascended Extra: A literal case with the nameless girl who runs the level shop. After this game, she becomes a series regular as Level Goddess Willis.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Princess Lia seems to be a benevolent ruler with grace, but she kidnaps girls (including Hikari) and tortures them for her amusement.
• The Cameo: Miki appears from Alice Soft's earlier Little Princess series.
• Chain of Deals: You need to trade a straw for a mandarin, which gets you a key. Rance lampshades the oddness of it.
• Cyborg: One of Rance's opponents on the Colosseum.
• Early Installment Weirdness: In this game, Rance could both learn magic (from H-ing Sill) and equip shields. He also lacks his Rance Attack among other unique features.
• Everything's Better with Princesses: Princess Lia is far more efficient at running the country than her parents. Except she's the Big Bad who's behind Hikari's disappearance.
• Fate Worse Than Death: The man trapped in cement.
  • He is actually British, an important character in the back story of the Rance world. He has been stuck there for more than a thousand years and was the leader of the Eternal heroes.
• God Save Us From the Queen: Lia is the villain. While she is only a princess in this game, she holds the real power in the Leazus Kingdom, so she qualifies for this trope.
• Gladiator Subquest: Rance gets to take part in gladiator battles to best then bed Yuran.
• Guide Dang It: Knowing what spells to get from Sill. Also, much of the game itself, considering how it's an old Adventure Game.
• Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja: Hikari was kidnapped by female ninjas.
• Lady Not-Appearing-In-This-Game: No, the girl on the box isn't Hikari. Nor is she any other character you see in the game.
• Law of Conservation of Detail: This is Princess Lia. These are Lia's parents. No guesses for who's more plot-important.
• Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: Missing student --> The princess has been kidnapping and torturing honor students at that school for years.
• No Fourth Wall: Rance actually addresses the player during an H-scene, along with the below example.
• Non-Indicative Name: The Colosseum fighter called Puppeteer is a zombie.
• No Name Given: The girl in the level shop, who says it's because the authors got lazy.
• Nonstandard Game Over: If you decide to assault the girl in the Thieves' Cave, Rance will decide that Being Good Sucks and join the thieves.
• Our Zombies Are Different: One of them is a contestant of the Colosseum and seems pretty sentient, but clearly intends to eat Rance's brain.
• Out with a Bang: Maris attempts to do this to Rance, but fails.
• Pooled Funds: In the ending, Rance takes a bath in his 20,000 gold reward, while lampshading how painful it is.
• Put on a Bus: Yuran Mirage, who never made any future appearances until Rance Quest, over 20 years later.
  • Hikari herself makes her first reappearance in the expansion pack, with some... interesting revelations.
• Refuge in Audacity: Setting the standard for future games. The "Assault" option on the menu is the least of them all.
• Signature Move: Yuran's Illusion Sword and its ability to dazzle her opponents with bling light is unique to her.
• Standard Hero Reward: Played with. After raping the princess, Rance is later informed that the person who takes the princess's virginity has to marry her. Of course, he and Sill make a quick escape before that happens.
• Town with a Dark Secret: The school's honor students are kidnapped as personal playthings for the princess.
• Wham! Episode: The visit to the haunted mansion gives a unsightly revelation on the Hikari's disappearance.