DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed here are those of the author and are not reflective of Operation Rainfall as a whole.

Whether this is your first visit to Vincennes Private Girls’ Academy or your second, W Happiness has quite a bit offer.

On July 28, MangaGamer released the fan disc to 2015’s Princess Evangile entitled, Princess Evangile W Happiness. The “W” in the title being common Japanese shorthand for the word “double”. 

What’s a Fan Disc?

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the concept of a fan disc, it basically is a stand alone expansion to a game. Usually featuring additional content and routes. Many times these will either be “what-if” scenarios, expansions into backstory and minor plot points, or even a direct continuation. The reason these are called “fan discs” really stems from the idea that it’s a thank you to the fans for making a particular game successful.

Were you disappointed that Ruriko wasn’t an option in the original game? Fear not, that’s what fan discs are for after all!

Development of full-fledged sequels for Visual Novels and Eroge tend to be pretty expensive and could take several years. As such, the fan disc is a happy middle ground where by reusing the engine and a good chunk of the assets, a publisher can release something in an economical and timely fashion for their fans. Because after all, these are the people keeping the company in business. Princess Evangile W Happiness is no different in this regard.

W Happiness, Means W the Maidens

Princess Evangile W Happiness contains “Epilogue” routes for the original game’s four main heroines. These take place after their respective routes in the original Princess Evangile and are the only thing that isn’t recapped in W Happiness.In fact, Princess Evangile W Happiness is almost geared to new players due to the inclusion of the first game’s entire common route.

If you never played the original game, no worries. W Happiness includes all 16 chapters of the common route from the original.

The common route of Princess Evangile consists of 16 chapters and follows the story of Masaya Okonogi as he attends Vincennes Private Girls’ Academy. Being the only male student in the campus’ history. The reason? The school is facing financial difficulties and making the school co-ed could raise attendance. As such, Masaya is to be a sample student to see if the maidens of Vincennes can even adapt to boys. Considering many have been in the school since kindergarten and have had no interaction with males outside of family. It’s a tough fight, but Masaya is just the honorable kind of guy to actually be a good example. Which leads us to the actual routes.

W Happiness has 9 routes for you to enjoy. Four “Epilogue” and five “Another Story” routes

As I mentioned, the original game contained four routes:

Rise is essentially the “main” heroine. Her initial encounter with Masaya is what leads her to think he can be a good example of a boy to the school.

Rise Rousenin, leader of the White Lily Society and Masaya’s initial supporter.

Chiho is a transfer student to Vincennes and Masaya’s childhood friend. As you can see from their reunion, there might be a few issues to work out.

Chiho Sagisawa, Masaya’s childhood friend whom he reunites with at the campus.

Ayaka likes to flirt quite a bit with Masaya. A Stark contrast to her more prim and proper sister.

Ayaka Kitamikado, who is the laid back and playful daughter of the oppressive Headmistress.

Ritsuko may be the leader of the Red Rose Society. But she wants a fair fight above all else. Her nobility and gentleness are just some of her endearing qualities.

And finally, Ritsuko Kitamikado, who is the leader of the opposing Red Rose Society, Ayaka’s sister, and wants to uphold the traditions of Vincennes like her mother. Each of these was 10 chapters (Chapters 17-26) and served to answer some of the mysteries about the school as well as develop the relationship between Masaya and the chosen heroine. While W Happiness does offer continuations of their routes it also offers five brand new “Another Story” routes. These routes only require knowledge of the common route to play. Which since it’s included means first time players can easily enjoy these.

The particular circumstances Ruriko speaks of are a key plot point for the first part of the game. However, her “study” of Masaya continues throughout the game.

The heroine’s here are Ruriko Kamiyagi, a very sheltered and polite girl who takes a keen interest in Masaya.

Um… Konomi? That’s not quite how that works.

Konomi Yanase, a younger girl who adores Ritsuko as her “Onee-sama” and will do anything to protect her. She also has some very “interesting” ideas when it comes to sex and pregnancy.

Mitsuki, as you can see, is not exactly a fan of boys of Masaya at first. Much like many of the students of Vincennes.

Mitsuki Mekata, a member of the Red Rose Society, right-hand of the Student Council President, and very distrusting of Masaya at first.

Popular and beloved by all, Marika is absolute perfection to most of the student body. However, she goes through quite the internal conflict during her story arc in Princess Evangile.

Marika Myougi, the Student Council President, and Masaya’s first real opponent. Marika was elected unopposed to the Student Council and is beloved by all, however, there seems to be quite a conflict brewing in her heart.

Tamie really loves her job at times. However, at the end of the day, she’s a professional as they come.

And finally Tamie Nogi, the ace reporter for the school newspaper. Tamie never goes anywhere without her camera, microphone, and recorder. In addition, she really likes taking pictures of Masaya. Finally, let’s cover one of the neat things this game takes advantage of something that the original Princess Evangile couldn’t, MangaGamer’s free adult content restoration patch.

Putting the Romance Back into Steam

When the original Princess Evangile was released in 2015, it was released in two flavors. An All-Ages version with the Eroge content removed on Steam, and the 18+ unedited version through MangaGamer’s site. However, MangaGamer has started offering content restoration patches on their website starting with D.S. -Dal Segno- at the end of June. W Happiness takes advantage of this, so if you prefer to buy the Steam version you can easily restore the removed content. Here’s how:

1. Purchase the game from Steam and wait for it to install.
2. Download the 18+ patch from this page here on MangaGamer’s website
3. On your “Library” in Steam, right click “Princess Evangile W Happiness – Steam Edition” and select “Properties”
4. Select the “Local Files Tab” and click “Browse Local Files”. This will open the folder that we need to place the patch in.
5. Go to the folder you downloaded the patch to and extract the files. If you can’t find it, search your computer for “AP1026.zip”
6. Move “a.bin” into the Princess Evangile W Happiness folder.
7. Launch the game! If you get the following disclaimer, then you’ve done it correctly.

If you see this screen, you’re running the 18+ version of the game.

If you do run into any trouble you can send MangaGamer at support@mangagamer.com, or reach them via Twitter here.

The Maidens of Vincennes Await You

If the original is any indication then W Happiness is going to something to look forward to.

As you can probably tell from this write-up, I’m actually quite excited about the release of Princess Evangile W Happiness and I will be reviewing it. I recently just finished playing the original game and am in the process of writing up that review. Personally, I’m eager to explore both Ruriko and Konomi’s routes in particular. The former because it felt like she should have had a route in the original and the latter because of the humorous interactions she has with Masaya. In short, however, more Princess Evangile is a good thing and I’m hoping W Happiness will also get a Limited Edition as nice as the original.

So if all this sounds interesting to you, the jump on in! Ruriko and Panterbell are waiting!

Princess Evangile W Happiness can be bought from Steam, or MangaGamer’s website. If you want to check out the original Princess Evangile you can buy a copy from Steam, or MangaGamer’s website here. If you want a hard copy of the game, however, you can buy a copy of the Limited Edition from MangaGamer here, which comes with both a physical copy of the 18+ version and a Steam key for the All-Ages version.

If you pick up either game let us know either via a comment below, on Facebook or Twitter. Also be sure to let MangaGamer know that grabbed a copy as well via their Twitter.

Uh… Konomi what exactly are you reading? …On second thought I’d probably have to age-gate this article so let’s just leave it there. Later everyone!

Until next time everyone, enjoy your time in the world of Vincennes!