Overview
3-Nen B-Gumi Kinpachi Sensei: Densetsu no Kyoudan ni Tate! (3年B組金八先生 伝説の教壇に立て!) is a "role-playing drama" that is based on the long running television drama 3-nen B-gumi Kinpachi-sensei about a teacher named Kinpachi Sakamoto who helps his students through their educational and personal struggles. Chunsoft developed the game for the PlayStation 2 and released it in Japan on June 6, 2004 with a Complete Edition following a year later in 2005 which contain additional scenarios. In 2004, the 9th CESA Game Awards awarded 3-Nen B-Gumi Kinpachi Sensei with the "Award for Excellence."
The title is notable for featuring art design by Satoko Morikawa, the character designer behind Ghibli's The Cat Returns, who was one of many Ghibli collaborators that helped create the game's visuals. The game is also one of the first titles directed by Jiro Ishii at Chunsoft, who would later become famous for his work on 428: Shibuya Scramble.
Story
During the 2004 school year at Sakura Junior High School, the famous teacher Kinpachi Sakamoto has been hospitalized. He will be unable to work for a full year so a substitute teacher is hired to teach his class while he is away. Kinpachi recommends the protagonist to take his place (an unnamed silent character) and so begins the player's one year journey as the teacher of 3rd Year Class B.
Trivia
- An eccentric freelance writer named Minoru Minorikawa appears as one of several protagonists in Jiro Ishii's 428: Shibuya Scramble. However Minoru's first appearance was actually as a side-character in 3-Nen B-Gumi Kinpachi Sensei where he is a newspaper reporter.
- The president of CyberConnect2, Hiroshi Matsuyama, stated during his PiroLive interview with Jiro Ishii that 3-Nen B-Gumi Kinpachi Sensei was one of the games that "changed his life" and that he would often bring it up when discussing games that were a "turning point" in his life.
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