Le Tour de Rance

About
Le Tour de Rance is a mock video game proposal developed by Alicesoft staff member Ebi Chili that is featured in Hanihon X, a special edition of the company's irregular fan magazine released to commemorate the end of the Rance Series. It is ostensibly a pitch for the launch title of Alice Europe, a new branch of Alicesoft intended to cater to European gaming markets by incorporating region-specific topics of interest into its games, in this case by adding long-distance bicycle racing to Rance X to create a "Tactical Road Race Simulation Game". The format of the outline is a direct continuation of the various Alice America titles Ebi Chili had created for earlier editions of Hanihon, with the shift in focus from America to Europe implicitly being done in response to officially-licensed English localizations of Alicesoft games by MangaGamer seeing release in the time since Ebi Chili's earlier proposals.

Preface
This corner runs parallel to the saturated Japanese eroge market. It is a corner to explore and develop potential modifications to our games tailored to foreign audiences with the goal of cultivating an overseas market.

While English versions of our products are already being released, they have completely lost their raison d'etre. I will proceed without worrying about them.

Changes
We will incorporate a popular sport, bicycle road racing, to more easily appeal to European markets.

I also considered using soccer, but believe that the concept has already been explored by Blood B*wl. My apologies.

Introduction
Despite the growing threat of the Monsters, the countries of the Human Realm continue to quarrel for dominance. In order to overcome such a situation, Queen Lia proposes a bicycle race to determine who will command humanity's forces.

The competition will be divided into 16 stages held in various parts of The Continent, such as the Rising Dragon Mountain Super Time Trial and the Zeth Circuit. The participant with the shortest total time taken to clear each stage overall will be declared the winner.

Sprint Points will be placed throughout each stage, and points will be given out based on order of arrival. You can upgrade your bicycle in exchange for the points you've earned. If you win a stage, you'll receive additional points and a podium girl.

Game Overview
Teams are divided into groups of eight. The basic strategy is to take turns leading the way, sharing air resistance, and preserving stamina. You can also work with your rival teams to share air resistance.

It isn't just about moving quickly; there are also rival teams, monsters, and spectators to deal with. Stamina decreases when damage is taken, so it's important to also consider combat power and formation.

Athletes are roughly classified as followed according to their abilities:


 * All-Rounder: A racer with well-balanced abilities.
 * Climber: A racer with excellent climbing ability.
 * Sprinter: A racer with excellent accelerating ability.
 * Puncher: A racer that can punch out the enemy. Nacer Bou**ni is the representative racer of this class in real life.
 * Healer: In addition to using Magic to recover stamina, these racers can also distribute various drugs, such as EPO, testosterone, and cortisone. After all, when you think of "Rance" and "Road Racing" together, drugs are indispensable.

Award Jerseys
At the end of each stage, the racers with the best performance in certain categories will be given an Award Jersey to wear in the next race:


 * Green Jersey: Overall leader jersey. The color is suitable for a king to wear.
 * Maillot à Pois Rouge: Brutality Award Jersey. A red blizzard of blood on a white background. Awarded to the racer who defeats the most monsters, rival racers, and disruptive spectators.

Characters
The following characters are featured in the pitch, either in promotional artwork or in text:


 * Rance
 * Sill Plain
 * Chaos
 * Sachiko Centers
 * Patton Misnarge
 * Lia Parapara Leazas

Stages
Of the 16 stages referred to in the pitch, two are explicitly named:


 * Rising Dragon Mountain Super Time Trial: A race from the Kalar village of Pencilcow to the summit of Rising Dragon Mountain.
 * Zeth Circuit: A race around the towers of the Four Lords of Zeth, beginning at Champion Tower, into the Zethan capital of Ragnarokarc.

Additionally, eight other stages are featured on a map included in the "Introduction" section:


 * A race spanning the distance between the Zethan cities of Marc and Old Zeth.
 * A race spanning the distance between the Zethan city of Italia and the Leazas-Zeth border.
 * A race across the Kinani Desert spanning the distance between the Zethan city of Nagarmaule and the Helmanian city of Sudori 13.
 * A race spanning the distance between the Helmanian city of Ikoma to the Leazish city of Scale. It is the longest course depicted, featuring Sprint Points in Laurengrad, Laborie, Lang Bau, Rosesgrad, and Volgo Z.
 * A race spanning the distance between the crashed Horus spaceship and Ho-Raga's tower.
 * A race spanning the distance between the Free Cities of Rockearth and M-Land, with the Free City of Kathtom as a Sprint Point.
 * A race spanning the distance between Leazas Castle and the Free City of Portugal.
 * A race spanning the distance between the JAPANese provinces of Owari and Sado.

Trivia

 * The title "Le Tour de Rance" parodies Le Tour de France, a real life multi-stage bicycle race held in and around France. The basic structure of the races featured in the game also take direct inspiration from the Tour de France.
 * In the preface to the outline, Ebi Chili mentions that he chose to forgo using soccer as a basis for the game due to a similar concept having already been used in the board game Blood Bowl, which incorporates elements of American football into the setting of Warhammer.
 * The "Puncher" racer class is stated to be inspired by the real life professional cyclist Nacer Bouhanni, who was placed under investigation for multiple counts of violent behavior toward other racers during the 2017 Tour de France, including punching one.
 * The "Healer" racer class is inspired by the Tour de France's history of having several high profile incidents of doping. In particular, the claim that drugs are indispensable to the combination of "Rance" and "Road Racing" references the real life Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, whose victories were repeatedly challenged and eventually revoked by allegations of using performance enhancing drugs. The name "Lance" is interchangeable to the name "Rance" when rendered in katakana (ランス, lansu).
 * The Maillot à Pois Rouge, which translates to "Red Polka Dot Jersey" from French, references the similarly-named jersey that is awarded to Tour de France participants who receive the highest number of points during the uphill sections of the race.