Tantei Jinguji Saburo: Tomoshibi ga Kienu Ma ni

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**Tantei Jinguji Saburo: Tomoshibi ga Kienu Ma ni** (探偵 神宮寺三郎 灯火が消えぬ間に, *Detective Saburo Jinguji: Before the Lights Go Out*) is a murder mystery adventure game developed by Data East and released in 1999 for the Sony PlayStation in Japan. It is the last game in the *Detective Saburo Jinguji* series developed by Data East.

## Story

Saburo Jinguji is a private detective with an office in Kabukicho, Shinjuku. Together with his assistant Yoko Misono, he has placed himself in this city and has observed the intentions of countless people. Everyone who visits this place knocks on the office door, wanting to hang onto someone.

One night, a young man rushes into the Jinguji office after being chased by thugs. The man looked like he was drunk, broken and clinging. The man said to Jinguji, who could not help but intercede, "Please let me live in this office for a while." From then on, a strange life with him began.

The man, who calls himself Masataka Yagi, has a bright and cheerful personality, but the dark shadows he occasionally reveals remind us of his tattered appearance that night. Although he used to be a college student and even went to study abroad in Austria, he felt frustrated by everything and dropped out. Jinguji could sense that he was gradually becoming interested in this man.

Just then, two requests came to Jinguji. The mission is to search for a missing woman and investigate a gun smuggling organization from his friend Inspector Kumano. There are only weak clues for both requests, making the investigation difficult. These two seemingly independent incidents become the starting point, and various mysteries become intricately intertwined with him. And the stage is strangely set in Austria, the place of Masataka's memories...

Jinguji is now flying to Austria. And before you know it, Jinguji himself becomes involved in an unexpected incident...!

## Gameplay

*Tomoshibi ga Kienu Ma ni* plays much like the previous two entries, bringing back most of the systems from those. This title introduces the concept of time, multiple endings, TPS (Talking Profile System), and instructions to partners as new experiments. As a result, the difficulty level in this game is higher than the previous works. Only the TPS system would return in subsequent entries in the series.

## Characters

### Main Characters

* **Saburo Jinguji**: The game's protagonist, a detective known for his sharp thinking and bold resolve.
* **Yoko Misono**: Saburo's assistant, well known for her good intuition.
* **Sanzo Kumano**: A veteran inspector and friend of Saburo, he's an old school detective with a strong sense of justice.
* **Masataka Yagi**: A man who studied music abroad in Austria and came to Tokyo from university.

### Other Characters

* **Shoka Matsuzawa**: A hostess working part-time at the La Mer bar who's saving money for college. Currently dating Masataka.
* **Gozo Furin**: The boss of the Kanto Meiji-gumi gang operating in Shinjuku.
* **Sawako Suda**: A woman who went missing an year ago.
* **Taeko Suda**: Sawako's husband, requested help for searching his wife.
* **Naohisa Imaizumi**: Kanto Meiji-gumi's wasahisa.
* **Alfred Bauer**: A federal police anti-smuggling officer from Austria.