Princess Maker

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Princess Maker is a series of raising simulation games created by Gainax. In these games, you act as a parental figure who raises a young girl from age 10 to 18. By scheduling her activities and spending money on her development, you shape her skills and future. The ending you reach depends on the many choices you’ve made, from becoming royalty to taking on ordinary or troubled paths.

The original game came out in 1991 for PC-98 and expanded to many platforms over the years. The series includes titles like Princess Maker 2 (1993), Princess Maker 3, and Princess Maker 4 (2005, developed by GeneX with Takami Akai still supervising). Later entries continued to evolve, with Princess Maker 5 releasing in 2007 and several spinoffs like Princess Maker: Faery Tales Come True, which focused more on life simulation than adventuring.

In 2025, a new mainline game, Princess Maker: Children of Revelation, entered early access on Steam. It’s developed by D-ZARD under a licensing deal with Yonago Gainax, with the protagonist named Karen Daidoji. The developers planned a full release in 2026, and the project originated from fan activity in Korea before facing restructuring and then being restarted with a new partner, GEAR2.

Across its long run, Princess Maker appeared on many systems, including PC-98, MSX2, MS-DOS, FM Towns, PC Engine, Saturn, 3DO, Mac, X68000, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Windows, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices. There were also official soundtrack albums, manga adaptations, and influence on other media. The series is credited with helping start the “raising simulation” genre and found a substantial audience in Japan and other parts of Asia, especially Korea and Taiwan.

By the mid-1990s, the games had sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Japan, and total sales surpassed a million by 2005. The games inspired manga and influenced anime, with elements appearing in works like Petite Princess Yucie. While the early titles drew some Western feminist critique for certain content, the series is widely recognized for its role in shaping simulation games where nurturing and life decisions determine a character’s destiny.