Vampire Knight DS

Vampire Knight DS is a Japanese Nintendo DS romance simulation based on Matsuri Hino's Vampire Knight manga and its anime adaptation. D3Publisher released the game in Japan on January 29, 2009, calling its genre a “Bloody Love Simulation”; it was rated CERO B and offered in both standard and limited editions.

The player takes the role of Yuki Cross, a first-year student at the boarding school Cross Academy. Yuki and her childhood friend Zero Kiryu serve as Guardians, policing the crowds around the elegant Night Class while protecting its defining secret: its students are vampires. The academy's experiment in human–vampire coexistence gives the school life a constant undercurrent of danger.

Rather than retelling the source verbatim, the game builds an original, what-if story set in that world. Yuki balances guardian duties and daily campus life with encounters that can develop into a forbidden romance across the human–vampire divide, putting the focus on character scenes as much as the academy's mystery.

Its principal romance cast includes Kaname Kuran, Zero Kiryu, Hanabusa Aido, Takuma Ichijo, Akatsuki Kain, and Senri Shiki. Their major dialogue is fully voiced by the anime cast, and the presentation uses illustrated event scenes to spotlight intimate and dramatic moments; unlocked event graphics can be revisited in a gallery.

Progress is broken up by DS-oriented minigames. Examples include defeating Level E vampires and patrolling the school at night to catch students who are out after hours. Other activities make direct use of the touch screen, including interactions where the player touches characters, so the handheld's stylus is part of the game's romantic fan-service as well as its routines.

Choices during the story and performance in the intervening activities feed the relationship-focused progression. The structure invites players to pursue the different featured characters, see its variations on the Vampire Knight setting, and collect the event imagery and conclusions tied to a successful route.