If you happen to love visual novels and checking out obscure PS2 titles, then we have some great news to share.
Mabino×Style, a 2005 anime-style dating sim from the Japanese developer Kid, has just received a fan translation, making it available to play in English for the very first time (thanks GameVecanti for the spot).
The new translation was published late last week (on Friday, January 16th) and is the work of the Brazilian ROM hacker, translator, and reviewer Gopicolo (who previously translated the PS2 title Di Gi Charat Fantasy), alongside Monnekey and Nanaboshi Hoshikawa (who handled the cutscene and image editing).
The game is set in a magical school called the Mabonigi Magic Academy and has players take control of Kei Mikagura, a human who is mysteriously summoned to the academy and then finds himself dividing his time between learning magic and interacting with the various girls he encounters.
Gameplay revolves around using a calendar to decide which girl to spend time with and what kind of magic you want to learn, with certain events happening depending on your familiarity with the game's characters.
It was originally meant to be the first in a long series of ambitious games and spin-offs. However, other proposed titles in the series never ended up happening, though the game did get manga from Hiiro Sasa serialized in the magazine Monthly Gangan Wing and a novel from Takashi Aki, revealing more of the game's secrets.
The patch is available to download from the website romhack.ing. You can watch a trailer below, which features a subtitled version of the game's main theme, sung by the Japanese vocalist and lyricist Riya.