Fan translators release first English patch for 1996 PC-98 visual novel Shizuku

Pcgamer reports that on Monday a team of fan translators released an English patch for the 1996 Japanese PC-98 game Shizuku to mark its 30th anniversary.

Shizuku was the first entry in Leaf's mid-90s "Visual Novel Series," and the studio coined the term "visual novel" even though its work was heavily influenced by Chunsoft's earlier "sound novels" such as Otogirisō. Leaf emphasised on-screen character depiction and erotic content; Shizuku was a modest success, while the series' third game, To Heart, later became a major hit. A remake of To Heart landed on Steam last year with an English translation and no adult scenes, and Leaf's parent company Aquaplus remains active, most recently releasing an Utawarerumono beat 'em up on Steam in December 2025.

The fan translation is being framed as a historical milestone and is mainly of interest to those studying the genre: the patch can be applied to a copy of Shizuku available on the Internet Archive and run in the PC-98 emulator Neko Project 21/W. YouTuber Bowl of Lentils said they played two hours of the new translation, noting the script reads well despite reservations about the font and warning the game is very NSFW.