title: Paddle (spanking)

text: Paddling was mainly used in many parts of the United States (and still is, in a few areas) as a means to discipline misbehaving school students. Paddling has also been used in some homes to punish children and teenagers. The results of a national household survey indicate that paddling is a discipline technique that 10% of parents are "very likely to use". The percentage of parents who say that they are very likely to paddle increases to 12% when involving teenagers.


title: Paddle (spanking)

text: The paddle is the almost invariable implement in US schools that still allow corporal punishment for student misconduct. Some paddles have traditionally had holes bored in them for aerodynamic effect, but many schools nowadays prohibit the use of such paddles.


title: Paddle (spanking)

text: Paddling typically causes a slight reddening of the skin but in some cases can cause bruises that are "visible for approximately two weeks". Whether or not particular bruises constitute evidence of "serious injury" or "abuse" or "child maltreatment" depends on individual circumstances and can ultimately be settled only by a court of law.


title: Paddle (spanking)

text: There have been cases in the past when paddling was administered incorrectly or excessively. Partly in order to avoid this danger, in the majority of U.S. schools, paddling is more strictly regulated than in the past, many schools publishing detailed rules in their student handbooks. It is usually a requirement that a professional witness be present. Currently, there is often a maximum of three swats (or "licks" or "pops"). In the past, paddlings of up to 30 licks were not unknown, especially in rural schools. Practice has gradually moved from paddlings in the classroom or hallway to paddlings administered out of the sight of other students, typically in the principal's office. "Hallway" paddlings could typically be seen by other students, administrators or even outsiders visiting the school.


title: Paddle (spanking)

text: In 1981, a 17-year-old student claimed bleeding wounds as a result of a school paddling. It was alleged that the assistant principal who had administered the punishment had held and swung the paddle with two hands. In order to prevent such claims, a school district currently may choose to require the handle of a spanking paddle to be "just large enough for a normal one-hand grip". Or a rule might provide that the handle shall not be more than long (just large enough to be held with one hand).


title: Paddle (spanking)

text: In 1982, a nine-year-old student was hit with a wooden paddle that was cracked. This caused a bleeding wound that became a permanent scar. To avoid this, nowadays some school districts have adopted rules which prohibit using paddles that have cracks in them. For example, the policies of Bloomfield School District provide that, "Corporal punishment will be administered by spanking the buttocks of a student with a flat-surfaced paddle which is smoothly sanded and has no cracks or holes and that will cause no more than temporary pain and not inflict permanent damage to the body."


title: Paddle (spanking)

text: A paddling is typically administered with two or more school employees present. The student may be ordered to bend over a chair or desk and, in that position, receive the prescribed number of strokes of the paddle. Paddling usually occurs in an office but may sometimes occur in a hallway. The punishment is delivered across the seat of the student's trousers or skirt.


title: Paddle (spanking)

text: In order to avoid allegations of sexual abuse, many school districts require that a female teacher be present during the paddling of a female student. A school might also "recommend" "that female staff members administer corporal punishment to female students (middle and high school)". Or a school board might "prescribe" that a "female principal(s) or designee shall spank or paddle female students" and that a "male principal(s) or designee shall spank or paddle male students."


title: Paddle (spanking)

text: As of April 2011, 19 states allow corporal punishment in public schools. See School corporal punishment in the United States for further information.


title: Paddle (spanking)

text: The paddle is also a favorite implement for non-disciplinary "fun" spankings such as "birthday spankings," as also for paddle games (such as trading blows) or a spanking pyramid or paddle machine. A paddle machine can be used in conjunction with a spanking bench. Numerous celebrities, including Jessica Jaymes, Jennifer Krum, Haydn Porter, Tabitha Stevens and Victoria Zdrok, have mounted Howard Stern's spanking bench to be paddled by his paddle machine, the "Robospanker". Paddles are also used by practitioners of erotic spanking.


title: Plus–minus

text: Plus−minus (+/−, ±, plus/minus) is a sports statistic used to measure a player's impact on the game, represented by the difference between their team's total scoring versus their opponent's when the player is in the game. In ice hockey, it measures a player's goal differential. When an even-strength goal or shorthanded goal is scored, the plus–minus statistic is increased by one ("plus") for those players on the ice for the team scoring the goal but decreased by one ("minus") for those players on the ice for the team allowing the goal. Power play or penalty shot goals are excluded. Empty net situations are treated the same as having the goalie in net for the purposes of plus-minus: i.e., unless the scoring team is on a power play, empty net goals still count in its calculation.


title: Plus–minus

text: A player's plus−minus statistic is calculated for each game played, to provide a more meaningful measure over a full season. The statistic is directly affected by overall team performance, influenced by both the offensive and defensive performance of the team as a whole.


title: Plus–minus

text: The NHL's Montreal Canadiens were the first team to track the plus−minus of its players, starting sometime in the 1950s. Other teams followed in the early 1960s, and the NHL started officially compiling the statistic for the season. While Emile Francis is often credited with devising the system, he only popularized and adapted the system in use by the Canadiens.


title: Plus–minus

text: The NHL awarded the NHL Plus-Minus Award each year to the player with the highest plus−minus statistic during the regular season from to .


title: Plus–minus

text: There are some drawbacks to the traditional calculation of the plus–minus statistic in ice hockey. Not all types of goals are included, specifically power play goals. Every goal included in the calculation is weighted the same regardless of the situation - even strength, power play, short-handed or empty net. Also, traditional plus–minus is not applied to goaltenders.


title: Plus–minus

text: Situational plus–minus (Sit +/–) is an alternative calculation that takes into account all types of "team-based" goals, which excludes only penalty shot and shootout goals. Each goal is weighted based on the number of skaters (i.e. not goaltenders) on the ice. The plus–minus rating is calculated by dividing the number of skaters on the ice for the team scored upon by the number of skaters on the ice for the scoring team, applied as a plus to all players (including goaltenders) on the ice for the scoring team and as a minus for all players (including goaltenders) on the ice for the team scored upon.


title: Plus–minus

text: The following is a list of situational plus−minus leaders by season, going back to the 2008-09 season (82 games, unless otherwise noted):


title: Plus–minus

text: Although the statistic was pioneered in the sport of hockey, it has found its way into use in other sports and areas of life. For instance, the NBA's Houston Rockets first utilized a modified version of the stat, which helped reveal the unheralded effectiveness of light-scoring Shane Battier. It is now in regular use throughout the NBA.


title: Plus–minus

text: A plus−minus statistic has been used in sports economics to analyze the degree of competitive balance over time in association football.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: The Dassault M.D.450 Ouragan () is a French fighter-bomber developed and produced by Dassault Aviation. It has its origins in a private venture by Dassault to produce an all-French aircraft which would make use of jet propulsion, which subsequently would receive orders from the French Air Force.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: The Ouragan holds the distinction of being the first jet-powered French-designed combat aircraft to enter production, and thus played a key role in the resurgence of the French aviation industry following the Second World War. The Ouragan was operated by France, India, Israel and El Salvador. While in Israeli service, the type participated in both the Suez Crisis and the Six-Day War.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: As a consequence of the nation being occupied by Germany during the majority of the Second World War, France had not been able to contribute significantly to the great strides that had been made in aircraft design during the conflict. In March 1945, aviation designer Marcel Bloch returned to France from captivity in the Buchenwald concentration camp and was eager to re-establish the aviation industry through the development and production of an all-French fighter, powered by newly developed jet propulsion technology. In particular, he was keen to develop the aircraft quickly enough to corner the emerging market for such an aircraft. In early 1946, Bloch renamed both himself and his new company "Dassault", after his brother's wartime codename in the French Resistance.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: In 1947, following the bare-bones preparation of a factory and equipment, Dassault formally embarked on the development of this all-French fighter, which was solely at his own initiative at the start. According to aviation historian Kenneth Munson, Dassault's design drew more on American rather than British inspiration, having elected to use features such as a very thin wing akin to the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star and a basic configuration comparable to the North American F-86 Sabre. Due to its interceptor role, an emphasis had been placed on a fast rate of climb. The aircraft was powered by a single Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet engine, which was already being licence-produced in France by Hispano-Suiza for the SNCASE SE-535, which was in turn a licence-built version of the British de Havilland Vampire.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: In September 1947, a series of talks outlining the project took place between Dassault and the Bureau d'Etudes et Plans d'Etat Major. The French government's response to the proposal was positive; however no firm order for the aircraft was placed at this time, necessitating the project to proceed as a private venture. In December 1947, the detailed design work phase of the project, which had been allocated the design number "M.D. (Marcel Dassault) 450", commenced. On 7 April 1948, the construction of a prototype began at the company's factory in Saint-Cloud, near Paris. On 29 June 1948, Dassault's decision to proceed was met with the issuing of contract No. 2223/48 from the Service Technique de l'Aéronautique of the Ministère des Armées "Air", which ordered the construction of three prototypes.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: The rate of progress on the project was such that, within 15 months of design work having formally started, the first prototype, designated "M.D.450-01", had been fully constructed and had performed its maiden flight. On 28 February 1948, the first prototype of the "Ouragan" fighter conducted its first flight with Dassault Chief Test Pilot Kostia Rozanoff at the controls. This prototype lacked pressurization, armament, and the distinctive wingtip fuel tanks of subsequent production aircraft. It was powered by a Rolls-Royce Nene 102 centrifugal-flow engine capable of generating 22.27 kN (2,270 kp/5,000 lbf) of thrust. During service trials in 1949, the first prototype attained a top speed of 980 km/h (529 knots, 609 mph) and achieved an initial climb rate of 43 m/s (8,465 ft/min).


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: In May 1948, the second prototype, "M.D.450-02", made its maiden flight. This second prototype featured a pressurized cockpit and more complete internal equipment. In November 1948, the second prototype was dispatched to Centre d'Essais en Vol de Marignane to participate in manoeuvrability trials, during which it was recorded as having climbed to an altitude of 15,000 m (49,213 ft). In December 1948, the 450 liter (118.9 US gal) wingtip tanks that would become an indelible feature of all Ouragans first appeared. Testing of the second prototype was discontinued following the sustaining of damage during one landing due an undercarriage malfunction.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: The completion of the third prototype was delayed to incorporate lessons learnt from the first two prototypes. On 2 June 1950, the third prototype, "M.D.450-03", conducted its first flight. This third prototype was powered by a Hispano-Suiza-licensed Nene 104, as envisaged for use on production aircraft. It was dispatched to Centre d'Essais en Vol de Cazaux to conduct weapons trials while armed with 15 mm and later 20 mm cannons.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: On 31 August 1949, the French Air Force ordered 15 pre-production aircraft, which were later reduced to 12, in order to support the test program. The contract was signed on 15 December 1949. These pre-production aircraft saw extensive use in various flying trials and evaluations, including various engines, armament schemes, and equipment payloads, as well as to support other development programs. Amongst these aircraft, which were designated "M.D.450-1" through to "M.D.450-12", were several notable revisions; "M.D.450-6" was the first aircraft of the type to feature electrically operated trim tabs, "M.D.450-8" (also known as "M.D.450R", was configured as an aerial reconnaissance aircraft, and "M.D.450-10", which was used as a flying testbed for the SNECMA Atar engine.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: According to Munson, around the time of the pre-production aircraft order, there had been considerations within the French Government for the procurement of up to 850 Ouragans under a five-year plan to recapitalise the French armed forces. On 31 August 1950, Dassault received an initial fixed order contract for 150 production Ouragans to equip the Armée de l'Air. In the following years, a further three orders, each ordering an additional 100 Ouragans, would be placed by the French government; however, the final of these additional orders would be cancelled in January 1952 in favour of an equivalent order for the newer and more advanced Dassault Mystère IIC.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: Dassault's production facilities proved to be unable to attain the rate of production necessary to keep pace with the domestic orders, in part due to a lack of time to refine the Ouragan's design to make it easier to mass-produce; accordingly, portions of the work were subcontracted to other French aircraft manufacturers. A manufacturing arrangement was formed with SNCASE to assemble forward fuselages for the aircraft at their Toulouse factory, while a similar agreement with SNCASO led to the firm manufacturing rear fuselages at Saint-Nazaire and wings in Bouguenais. Dassault's factories continued to produce the center fuselage and tail units, while final assembly was carried out at Dassault's facility in Mérignac, Gironde.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: On 5 December 1951, the first production Ouragan conducted its maiden flight. There was little difference between the pre-production and production aircraft, the most significant being alterations to the design of the doors enclosing the retractable nosewheel landing leg in response to accidents that occurred on the first two prototypes. By the end of 1952, a total of 39 production aircraft had been completed; a further 93 were manufactured in 1953, and the final 118 were finished by mid-1954.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: A handful of production Ouragans were experimentally adapted for intended use of the type from unprepared airstrips. Modifications included the substitution of the single-wheel main gear to a two-wheel configuration fitted with low pressure tires, which retracted into a fairing installed under the wing roots; drogue parachutes were also installed. Aircraft so fitted were nicknamed "Barougan", derived from combining the "Ouragan" name with the Arabic word "baroud" (battle). This configuration was intended for combat operations in Algeria. On 24 February 1954, the first Barougan performed its first flight. A further three aircraft would be used in the test programme, which involved multiple grass landings at varying weights. In 1958, further development of the Barougan variant was abandoned; some of the test aircraft were later re-converted back to the standard Ouragan configuration.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: The Dassault Ouragan was an early jet-powered fighter aircraft. It employed a straightforward basic layout, with a single divided air intake in the nose that carried air around either side of the cockpit to the engine, which was located directly behind the pilot. The Ouragan was powered by a single Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet engine, produced under license by Hispano-Suiza. Early aircraft were equipped with Martin-Baker Mk.1 ejection seats, however the majority of production aircraft were outfitted with SNCASO E.86 ejection seats instead. Some of the more advanced aerodynamic features of the Ouragan included its swept tailplane and its thin wing, which was tapered along the leading edge.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: In August 1950, prior to the delivery of any pre-production aircraft, the French government placed an initial order for 150 production Ouragans, with ambitions for as many 850 Ouragans in service with the "Armee de l'Air". In 1952, the Ouragan formally entered squadron service with the French Air Force in 1952, where it started to replace aircraft such as the British De Havilland Vampire.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: Due to the rapid entry to service of the type, the Ouragan's full test programme had not been completed, and this led to multiple instances of pilots inadvertently executing involuntary manoeuvres. In particular, the aircraft had a tendency to sharply snap during a hard turn, leading to unintended spins. Overall, the Ouragan reportedly proved pleasant to fly; according to Mason, French pilots were pleased with the stability of the aircraft, lending itself well to firing both guns and rockets. Its favourable handling qualities led to the Ouragan performing for two years as the display aircraft of the la Patrouille de France aerobatic team.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: The first 50 Ouragans were built to the "M.D.450A" standard, equipped with the Nene 102 engine; the majority of aircraft delivered were to the later "M.D.450B" standard, being fitted with a Hispano-Suiza-built Nene 104B engine, which was lighter than the Nene 102 and with slightly greater thrust. Wingtip fuel tanks were fitted as standard in both variants.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: In French service, the frontline service of the Ouragan was short-lived; from May 1955 onwards, the type began to be replaced by the more capable Dassault Mystère IV. In 1961, the last Ouragans were displaced from operational units; a number of aircraft were retained beyond this date in secondary capacities such as advanced tactical and gunnery trainers throughout the mid-1960s.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: On 25 June 1953, India placed an order for 71 Ouragans, these being broadly similar to standard production models, except for being powered by the slightly uprated Nene 105 engine. The first four Ouragans were delivered by air in late October 1953, while further deliveries were performed by sea; by mid-1954, all aircraft had been delivered. In March 1957, two additional orders for 20 and 13 second-hand Ouragans were placed, bringing the total procured by India to 104. The selection of the French-built Ouragan at this time is claimed to have reflected a deliberate decision to initiate diversification of supply sources. In Indian service, the aircraft was given the name "Toofani" (), the Hindi equivalent meaning the French name of the type.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: In 1961, Indian Toofanis were flown on active service, reportedly carrying out airstrikes in support of Indian Army forces engaged with Portuguese forces on the island of Diu, on the western coast of the Indian sub-continent. They were also used in ground-attack missions against anti-government rebels in Assam and Nagaland, and in 1962 to perform reconnaissance missions during the Sino-Indian War.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: On 24 April 1965, a single Toofani strayed over the border with Pakistan, and was forced to land by PAF fighters; while the pilot was returned to India, the aircraft was retained and ended up being displayed as a war trophy at a museum in Peshawar. It was later scrapped.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: As was the case in France, the Ouragan started to be replaced in frontline service by the Mystère IVA in 1957, being withdrawn fully from frontline service in 1965, although it continued in use for some years as an advanced trainer and target tug.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: In contrast to France and India, the Israel Air Force (IAF) became an enthusiastic Ouragan user. During the early 1950s, Israel, under pressure from regional hostilities with neighbouring Arab nations, was keen to acquire new military equipment of its own, particularly as Arab air forces were themselves commonly procuring advanced Soviet armaments such as the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 fighter. Seeking to augment its jet aircraft fleet of British Gloster Meteors, the IAF initially evaluated both French Dassault Mystère IIC and Canadian-built Canadair Sabre Mk.6 fighters. Due to development problems with the Mystère and a Canadian embargo on the Sabres, the order was changed to Mystère IVAs alongside a batch of Ouragans that were purchased as a stop-gap measure.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: By 1955, the IAF had received at least 75 aircraft, comprising a mix of newly built and retired French Air Force examples, with deliveries being completed that year. The Israeli Ouragans were assigned to a total of five squadrons for the purpose of performing close air support operations, since they could not match the performance of Egyptian MiG-15s. On 12 April 1956, an Israeli Ouragan shot down an Egyptian de Havilland Vampire flying over Israeli territory, it being the first recorded kill by an Ouragan in Israeli service.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: During the 1956 Suez Crisis, Ouragans principally flew ground-attack missions, but also flew escort missions. In the early hours of 30 October 1956, a pair of Ouragans shot down four hostile de Havilland Vampires in the Mitla Pass area. The two documented encounters between the Soviet-built MiG-15 fighters and the Ouragan (which were also powered by the Nene engine but furnished with a more modern swept wing) ended with one Ouragan surviving several 37 mm (1.46 in) cannon hits to fly the next day and one MiG-15 being heavily damaged by cannon fire after it entered a turning dogfight with the Ouragans. The poor training of the Egyptian pilots who were consistently unable to realize their advantage in numbers as well as the MiG-15's speed and climb characteristics, helped Ouragans to survive despite their inferior performance.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: On 31 October 1956, a pair of Ouragans armed with rockets strafed the Egyptian destroyer Ibrahim el Awal (ex-HMS "Mendip"), contributing to the capture of the ship. According to Munson, Israeli Ouragans were responsible for the destruction of a major proportion of the hostile tanks and military vehicles that came under aerial attack during the conflict, while only two Ouragans were lost during the five days of fighting, both of which were attributed to small arms fire. The Commander-in-Chief of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is reported to have later stated "The Ouragan was a much better aeroplane than had been thought".


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: In the aftermath of the Suez Crisis, the Ouragans were soon mostly relegated to secondary roles such as advanced training; by 1967, the type still equipped two close-support units along with an operational training unit. Israeli Ouragans saw more combat in the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1975, the IAF sold 18 Ouragans to El Salvador, where they remained in service until the late 1980s.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: In the wake of the Football War of 1969, El Salvador began a concerted push to modernize its air force. Unable to buy combat aircraft from the United States due to a US government arms embargo, the Salvadorans bought 18 surplus Israeli Ouragans on the international arms market. These aircraft were refurbished by the Israelis and were delivered to El Salvador between 1973 and 1978.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: El Salvador's Ouragans saw extensive combat during the Salvadoran Civil War of 1979 to 1992. Salvadoran Ouragans flew strike missions against communist FMLN forces, operating from Ilopango Air Base located near the capital city of San Salvador. As El Salvador is not a large country and combat radius was not a pressing concern, Salvadoran Ouragans in combat usually operated with their wingtip fuel tanks removed in order to save weight and allow for greater weapons loads.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: An FMLN attack against Ilopango Air Base in 1982 destroyed several Ouragans and accelerated the push to supplant, and eventually replace, the Ouragans with American-made Cessna A-37B Dragonfly ground-attack aircraft, which were made available after the Reagan Administration dropped the arms embargo. The remaining Ouragans served on for several more years, but were all retired by the war's end.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: Salvadoran Ouragans have been pictured in several camouflage schemes, and it is possible that during the war the Ouragan fleet operated in colors that were never completely standardized.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: An Armee de L'air Ouragan ("UQ") is displayed at the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: A number of MD.450 Ouragan examples are preserved in France including #251 and #450/"4-US", part of the jet aircraft collection at Chateau Savigny-lès-Beaune. The Musee de l'Air et de l'Espace at Le Bourget Airport has #154/ "4-LT" painted in a colorful "Indian-head" scheme but a previous code is just visible under the 4-LT markings. Ouragan #214/"UG," previously stored, is exhibited in the "Patrouille de France" paint scheme at the "Musée Européen de l'Aviation de Chasse," Montélimar.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: Israeli Air Force Ouragans "80" and "49", both combat veterans and survivors of the 1956 Suez War and 1967 Six-Day War, are on outdoor display at the Israeli Air Force Museum.


title: Dassault Ouragan

text: An MD.450 Ouragan (Toofani), "IC 554," is on display at the Indian Air Force Museum, Palam, New Delhi. It was painted earlier in grey-green camouflage but now appears in natural metal in No. 47 "Black Archers" Squadron markings.


title: Little Busters!

text: The gameplay in "Little Busters!" follows a branching plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the six female main characters by the player character, which increases to nine in "Ecstasy". There are additional minigames added into the gameplay, such as battle sequences that resemble fighting games or baseball batting practice, which serve to give the characters experience, obtain accessories to use during battle, and improve their statistics. Both "Little Busters!" and "Ecstasy" ranked as the best-selling PC game sold in Japan for the time of their release, and "Ecstasy" would go on to sell over 100,000 units. Key went on to produce an adult spin-off called "Kud Wafter" in June 2010, which expanded on the scenario of Kudryavka Noumi, one of the heroines from "Little Busters!" and "Ecstasy".


title: Little Busters!

text: There have been 14 manga adaptations based on "Little Busters!" and "Ecstasy" published by ASCII Media Works, Kadokawa Shoten and Ichijinsha. Comic anthologies, light novels and art books were also published, as were several music albums. There have been two Internet radio shows hosted by the voice actors of Rin and Kyousuke Natsume and Kudryavka Noumi. J.C.Staff produced two anime television series and an original video animation series between 2012 and 2014.


title: Little Busters!

text: "Little Busters!" is a romance visual novel in which the player assumes the role of Riki Naoe. Much of its gameplay is spent on reading the story's narrative and dialogue. The text in the game is accompanied by character sprites, which represent who Riki is talking to, over background art. Throughout the game, the player encounters CG artwork at certain points in the story, which take the place of the background art and character sprites. When the game is completed at least once, a gallery of the viewed CGs and played background music becomes available on the game's title screen. "Little Busters!" follows a branching plot line with multiple endings, and depending on the decisions that the player makes during the game, the plot will progress in a specific direction.


title: Little Busters!

text: There are seven main plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience. Throughout gameplay, the player is given multiple options to choose from, and text progression pauses at these points until a choice is made. To view all plot lines in their entirety, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and make different choices to further the plot to an alternate direction. When first playing the game, the scenarios for all six heroines are available. Once a scenario for any one heroine is completed, that scenario will be unavailable in the next play through because the last choice that will ultimately lead to that heroine's scenario becomes unavailable for players to choose. After the completion of these six routes, the final scenario called Refrain is made available, which serves to bring everything to a definite conclusion and answers questions brought up throughout the normal gameplay. Completing Refrain makes available all the heroine's scenarios that were previously made inaccessible during gameplay so that the player can revisit the scenarios again, along with some extra decision points that were previously unavailable.


title: Little Busters!

text: Throughout gameplay, the player encounters various minigames, which range from simple to more complex. The first type of minigame encountered is a battle sequence that resembles a fighting game, but no interaction from the player is required to fight. These recurring battle sequences represent when the members of the Little Busters get into physical fights with either each other or with others. Each member of the fight has a set of statistics attributed to them (which includes strength, stamina, agility, reflex, concentration, judgment, and luck) along with a life bar to keep track of how many hit points a fighter has left. The maximum number of hit points is determined by the given fighter's stamina rating. Weapons may be used along with any accessories the fighter has in their possession, and these items may be exchanged with other characters. Another recurring minigame involves the player being able to play baseball batting practice with members of the Little Busters. The player, as Riki, controls his position and when to swing the bat.


title: Little Busters!

text: The Little Busters will also participate in missions to accomplish some goal, and a mission will either be completed or failed depending on the choices of the player. These missions are connected with the battle sequences and batting practice in that they serve to give the characters experience, obtain accessories to use during fights, and improve their statistics. However, these missions do not affect the main plot in any way—the player even has the choice to turn off most of the minigames so that the player may focus on the main plot, including the battle sequences and batting practice. The first time that the game is played, Rin's statistics are weak compared to other characters. However, when the player completes several heroine's routes, Rin's and Riki's statistics will start out higher than before when the player starts a new game, allowing Rin and Riki to stand a better chance against opponents with higher statistics. The statistics of the Little Busters members are shown in a ranking system from highest to lowest in overall statistics.


title: Little Busters!

text: Despite "Little Busters!" having a rating for all ages, there is an ample amount of CG artwork featuring the female characters in situations, though never to the point to be considered sexual in nature. This is in stark contrast to Key's previous titles "Clannad" and "" that also have ratings for all ages, but those titles contain no such risqué situations or even any fan service.


title: Little Busters!

text: In "Little Busters! Ecstasy", adult elements were added to the gameplay in the form of sexual CGs depicting Riki and a given heroine having sex. "Ecstasy" extends the story for the scenarios of the heroines in "Little Busters!", as well as increasing the number of heroine routes from six to nine. These three heroine routes include scenarios for Kanata Futaki and Sasami Sasasegawa—two supporting characters from "Little Busters!"—and a new heroine named Saya Tokido who is only featured in "Ecstasy". The first time the game is played, these three heroine routes are unavailable to the player until after the Refrain scenario is completed, though the player is given the option to make them immediately available. "Ecstasy" has several minor additions and changes to the minigames as well, including the addition of weapons available for use in the battle sequences. Also, "Ecstasy" features the addition of two recurring minigames related to Saya: a shooting game with pistols and navigating a labyrinth.


title: Little Busters!

text: The main part of the story takes place at a high school in Japan. There is a "secret of this world" that Kyousuke speaks of; Kengo and Masato are also aware of this. The characters live in either the male or female dormitories on the school grounds which are across from each other. Beside the dorms is the main school building where classes take place, which also houses the cafeteria on the ground floor. The school is four stories and the roof is normally restricted from access. Beyond the main school building is the large schoolyard, with the pool area adjacent to the yard. On the other side of the field is the baseball field, with the gymnasium and tennis court beyond it, which are closer to the main school building.


title: Little Busters!

text: Childhood and adolescence are two important themes in "Little Busters!". The opening video of the visual novel starts with two lines written in English: "What 'Adolescence' do you have?" and "Do you remember 'Childhood'?". Riki Naoe, the male protagonist, has four childhood friends with whom he grew up together through adolescence and still hangs out with when the story begins. Thus, friendship is another theme presented in the form of Riki's relationships with his friends in high school, and is thought to be irreplaceable. The opening video of the original visual novel contains a third line written in English, "The irreplaceable one existed there," though another line was added into the opening video of "Little Busters! Ecstasy": "This will remind you that you have to recollect 'Adolescence'."


title: Little Busters!

text: The player assumes the role of Riki Naoe, the protagonist of "Little Busters!". He is seen as weak due to his girlish appearance and physical build but is very straightforward and has more common sense than most of his friends. He is a member of a group of friends called the Little Busters, which originally consisted of four members, but expanded to five with Riki during his childhood. The leader of the Little Busters is Kyousuke Natsume, who is the eldest member. He often comes up with absurd ideas, but almost always follows up with a reasonable explanation along with it.


title: Little Busters!

text: Kyousuke's younger sister is Rin Natsume, the main heroine of "Little Busters!", and is initially the only female member of the Little Busters. She does not communicate well with others due to her poor social skills and can be seen as inarticulate. Due to this, she is shy, and is usually seen alone. Rin loves cats and at school takes care of several strays. Riki's roommate and fellow member of the Little Busters is Masato Inohara who loves to work out and improve his muscle mass. He has a particular fondness for Riki, which he is more than willing to express out aloud. Masato's rival and fellow member of the Little Busters is Kengo Miyazawa who is skilled in the art of kendo and seemingly has a cynical personality, but his passion for the Little Busters is unmatched by any of the other members.


title: Little Busters!

text: In "Little Busters!", Riki meets five other girls attending his high school who later become members of the Little Busters, in addition to three more girls in "Ecstasy"; all eight are heroines in the game. The first is Komari Kamikita, a childish girl who takes great interest in fairy-tales, picture books, candy, and clothing with many layers of frills. She is very clumsy, though athletic, and will often not think before she acts. Haruka Saigusa is a schoolmate of Riki's from a different class, but always finds time to hang around in Riki's classroom. She incites uproars for her own personal enjoyment, which causes her twin sister, the public morals chairman Kanata Futaki, to chase after her. Kanata generally acts cold towards her sister, though gets annoyed when Riki gets close to Haruka. Kudryavka Noumi, known as for short, is a girl who is one quarter Japanese, and three-quarters Russian. Despite having a poor handle on the English language, she was able to skip a year in school due to credits obtained through studying abroad, making her the youngest member of the Little Busters. Kudryavka appears in Key's eighth game, "Kud Wafter", as the main heroine.


title: Little Busters!

text: Yuiko Kurugaya is Riki's classmate who has a self-sufficient personality, and is sometimes seen carrying a replica of a katana called Muramasa. She is seen as an older sister to everyone despite being the same age of almost the entire cast, and is fond of things or people she considers to be cute. Mio Nishizono is a calm girl who is very diligent. Due to having weak health, she is always seen with a parasol when outside. She enjoys reading, especially when the story contains boys love elements, and her room is filled with books. Sasami Sasasegawa is the captain of the girls' softball team and is Rin's rival; while Rin loves cats, Sasami is a devoted dog lover. Saya Tokido, who only appeared in "Ecstasy", is a popular girl at Riki's school, though she is known to be ditzy. At night, she wanders around the school to protect a "treasure" from those she calls the , and even has to fight them for it.


title: Little Busters!

text: "Little Busters!"' story revolves around the main protagonist Riki Naoe, a young male high school student. When Riki was a child, his parents died, leaving him hopeless and depressed. He was saved by a group—three boys and a girl, all his age—who referred to themselves as the Little Busters, a group dedicated to fighting evil and preserving justice. The leader of the group was Kyousuke Natsume who had a younger sister named Rin. The other two members were Masato Inohara and Kengo Miyazawa, who were friends despite being rivals. They took Riki out and played together with him during his time of need, making him the fifth Little Busters member. In time, Riki enjoyed playing with them, and his grief over his parents gradually faded away. When the story begins, Riki and his friends are seemingly in their second year of high school, except for Kyousuke who is in his third year. They still hang out together, and enjoy their school life.


title: Little Busters!

text: The story opens on Sunday May 13, 2007, and the next day at school, Kyousuke decides that the Little Busters are going to play a baseball game, except they do not have enough members to have a complete team. Kyousuke gives Riki and Rin the task of going around school to find more members to join, preferably girls so as not to leave Rin the lone girl. Riki finds five girls his age willing to help him out: Komari Kamikita, Haruka Saigusa, Kudryavka Noumi, Yuiko Kurugaya, and Mio Nishizono; three other girls Riki meets are Kanata Futaki, Sasami Sasasegawa, and Saya Tokido. Throughout the game, Riki hangs out with these girls and learns more about them.


title: Little Busters!

text: The story's main part takes place in what seems to be a normal high school, but in fact all took place in the school term previous to "Little Busters!", and Riki and Rin are reliving it in an artificial world created by the other members of the Little Busters. They, and the other main characters, were involved in a bus accident during a field trip, and only the two of them will survive. Kyousuke and the others created the artificial world to make them strong enough to deal with what will happen when they awaken in the real world. This was caused by a ripple effect based on all of their desires to save Riki and Rin. The world loops, but though they forget what happens, Riki and Rin do grow stronger, and Kyousuke hopes that they will eventually be strong enough to leave the world. They do manage to survive and get away from the crash site before Riki collapses because he has narcolepsy. Riki vows to fight against his narcoleptic condition, which was the reason why he was only able to save Rin and merely get away from the explosion before collapsing.


title: Little Busters!

text: Rejecting this turn of events, Rin travels back into the artificial world again (this time created by Riki and Rin) and helps Riki overcome his weakness. Afterwards, the two of them go back to waking up at the crash site. This time, Riki and Rin work together to save everyone at the crash scene. Kyousuke, who sneaked onto the bus (as a third year he was not allowed to go), managed to block the leak hole on the gas tank to delay the explosion, despite his injuries being far greater than anyone else. Everyone in the bus recovers from their injuries, although Kyousuke's recovery takes longer due to extensive injuries. Finally, after Kyousuke returns, he rents a minibus, and the members of the Little Busters set out for a trip to the ocean.


title: Little Busters!

text: For the first time in Key's history, two artists were given the position of art director for the visual novel: Itaru Hinoue and Na-Ga. Hinoue has been Key's signature art director since Key's first game "Kanon", and Na-Ga has been with Key since the production of "Air" working as one of the computer graphics artists to render background art used in Key's games. Due to having two art directors, character design was split between the two, though Na-Ga is responsible for the character design of the majority of the cast. Of the six heroines in the story, three were designed by each artist; Komari, Haruka, and Yuiko were designed by Hinoue while Rin, Kudryavka, and Mio were done by Na-Ga.


title: Little Busters!

text: For work on the scenario, Jun Maeda contributed along with composing some of the game's music. Further writers include Leo Kashida who had worked on "", and two new scenario writers to Key—Yūto Tonokawa, and Chika Shirokiri. Maeda wrote the scenarios for Rin and the entire male cast; Kashida wrote the scenario for Mio; Tonokawa wrote the scenarios for Komari and Yuiko; finally, Shirokiri wrote the scenarios for Haruka and Kudryavka. In an interview of Maeda and Tonokawa in the August 2007 issue of "Push!!", it was reported that the story of "Little Busters!" is twice as long as "Air's", but only half as long as "Clannad's". However, this does not take into account the minigames in "Little Busters!" which serve to lengthen the game. The music in the game, not counting Maeda's, was composed by Key's signature composers Shinji Orito and Magome Togoshi, in addition to Manack and members of PMMK. Togoshi left Key in October 2006 before the visual novel went on sale.


title: Little Busters!

text: Three or four months before the release of "Little Busters!", it was decided that an adult version of the game would be developed titled , or "Little Busters-EX" for short. Na-Ga designed the heroine Saya Tokido and Maeda wrote her scenario. Tonokawa wrote Sasami Sasasegawa's scenario, and Shirokiri wrote Kanata Futaki's story. Lines from the original game were rewritten as well for "Ecstasy", and the total number of lines with spoken dialogue comes to 43,347 lines. The total word count in "Ecstasy" exceeds that of "Clannad" by about 4,000 words, making it Key's longest work, and carries so much data that "Ecstasy" was released on two DVDs instead of one for the original release.


title: Little Busters!

text: An art exhibition of "Little Busters!" was held in Osaka, Japan between May 3 and May 4, 2007, and in Tokyo, Japan between May 24 and May 25, 2007. A large amount of the character and background art featured in the game was showcased, along with original art used to promote the character artwork, and other production sketches drawn when the game was still in development. Flowcharts outlining the story for the game were on display, along with the flowcharts for "Clannad". Also at the exhibition was a life-size mannequin of Rin Natsume with a baseball glove in one hand, though instead of a baseball, a cat was in the glove. This mannequin was later put onto the Japanese Yahoo! Auction website in late September 2007 and sold for 764,000 yen, a far cry from the original wish of selling the figure for 5,000,000 yen.


title: Little Busters!

text: "Little Busters!" was the first Key title to receive coverage in an entire issue of "Dengeki G's Festival!", a special edition version of "Dengeki G's Magazine" which is published in irregular intervals each year by ASCII Media Works; the issue in question was the ninth, published on June 30, 2007. Along with a full 80 pages of information on "Little Busters!", the magazine came bundled with a double-sided hug pillowcase, a small cell phone cleaner which could also attach to a cell phone, and a B5 size jigsaw puzzle. ASCII Media Works published the third volume of another special edition version of "Dengeki G's Magazine" named "Dengeki G's Festival! Deluxe" on June 30, 2008 which had a focus on "Little Busters! Ecstasy". Along with again containing about eighty pages of information pertaining to the visual novel, the magazine also comes bundled with an ergonomic mousepad, a jigsaw puzzle, and a deck of playing cards. The third volume of another magazine in the "Festival!" line, "Dengeki G's Festival! Comic", was sold on July 26, 2008 with Rin and Dorj on the cover, and the magazine came bundled with a hug pillowcase, a notepad, and a B2 size poster.


title: Little Busters!

text: On June 1, 2007, a free game demo of "Little Busters!" became available for download at Key's official website. In the demo, the player is introduced to the characters of the Little Busters group in the game through a short visual novel sequence. The demo does not give the player the chance to interact with the scene presented, making the demo a short kinetic novel. The game was released in Japan as a limited edition version on July 27, 2007 as a DVD playable on Windows PCs; the regular edition was released on September 28, 2007. The limited edition contained an arrange album of some of the music featured in the game, and a 128-page visual guide book titled . The book contained information and images on characters, background CGs, the art exhibition, images of the heroines published in various Japanese anime and gaming magazines, a question and answer section, information on the creators of the game, and lyrics of a couple of songs featured in the game.


title: Little Busters!

text: "Little Busters! Ecstasy" was released as a limited edition version on July 25, 2008 as two DVDs playable only on a Windows PC; the regular edition followed on September 26, 2008. The limited edition came bundled with a remix album of music featured in the game, and a 22-minute length CD containing a special broadcast of the "Little Busters!" Internet radio show. An updated version, 1.01, for the limited edition of "Ecstasy" was released by Key for free on their website on September 22, 2008; the regular edition of "Ecstasy" contains this update. An all ages version of "Ecstasy" for Windows was released by Key on July 31, 2009 in a box set containing five other Key visual novels called Key 10th Memorial Box.


title: Little Busters!

text: Prototype released a PlayStation 2 (PS2) port of "Ecstasy" titled "Little Busters! Converted Edition" on December 24, 2009, which removed the adult elements of the game. The PS2 version was available to try at Key 10th Memorial Fes, an event held in commemoration of Key's ten-year anniversary between February 28 and March 1, 2009. A PlayStation Portable (PSP) version of "Little Busters! Converted Edition", also by Prototype, was released on November 25, 2010. The Windows and PS2 versions had voice acting for only the major characters, but the PSP version contained full voice acting for all of the characters other than Riki. Prototype also released a version of "Little Busters! Converted Edition" ported to the PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) on March 22, 2012. Along with also having full voice acting, the PS Vita version contains 1.4x larger CGs than the Windows edition, and the limited edition came bundled with a drama CD. Prototype released a PlayStation 3 (PS3) version of "Converted Edition" with the additional content included in the previous consumer ports on March 20, 2013. An added feature in the PS3 version is a 3D rendering of the minigame in Saya's route where the player must navigate a labyrinth. A downloadable version of the PS3 release via the PlayStation Store was released by Prototype on May 29, 2013.


title: Little Busters!

text: Key released an all ages version of "Ecstasy" titled on November 30, 2012 for Windows. The "Perfect Edition" contains the additional content featured in the consumer ports, and came bundled with additional merchandise including: an expanded reprint of "Natsume Kyousuke Fūrai Ki", a CD containing a special recording of the Internet radio show "Little Busters! R", Microsoft Gadgets, wallpapers, a Rin Natsume-themed system sounds package for Windows which uses dialogue of Tomoe Tamiyasu—the voice of Rin, and nine promotional cards from the trading card games Weiß Schwarz, Chaos TCG and Megami Engage. A version of the "Perfect Edition" for a worldwide release titled "Little Busters! English Edition" was released on Steam on November 1, 2017, which is also compatible with Steam Deck. The "English Edition" features a swappable English and Japanese script, added touchscreen support, and is in high-definition. Prototype released a Nintendo Switch port on April 23, 2020 with text support for both Japanese and English.


title: Little Busters!

text: A series of 12 short stories were serialized in the Japanese bishōjo magazine "Dengeki G's Magazine", published by ASCII Media Works. The stories, under the collective title "Official Episode Collection", were published in two batches: the first six stories were published between the March 2006 and August 2006 issues, while the second batch of six were serialized between the October 2006 and March 2007 issues. In each of the two batches, one of the six stories centered on one of the six heroines, and featured illustrations by Itaru Hinoue and Na-Ga. The stories were written by the respective scenario writer for each girl: Jun Maeda wrote Rin's, Leo Kashida wrote Mio's, Yūto Tonokawa wrote Komari's and Yuiko's, and Chika Shirokiri wrote Haruka's and Kudryavka's stories. Key released five volumes of another series of official short stories, written by the original scenario staff and titled "Little Busters! SS", on iOS and Android devices between November 1, 2012 and March 7, 2013.


title: Little Busters!

text: A single-volume light novel anthology was released by Ichijinsha on January 25, 2008 under their DMC Novel imprint titled "Little Busters! Novel Anthology". The anthology was written by six authors, and illustrated by six artists. Four volumes of a short story compilation series by several authors titled "Little Busters! SSS" were published by Harvest between April and November 2008. Harvest published a novel by Tasuku Saika titled in September 2008. Ten volumes of another short story compilation series by several authors called "Little Busters! Ecstasy SSS" were published by Harvest between January 2009 and October 2010. Five volumes of an adult novel series titled "Little Busters! Ecstasy H&H" written by several authors were published by Harvest between February and June 2009. Harvest published a novel by Osamu Murata titled in March 2009.


title: Little Busters!

text: Two volumes of a short story anthology compilation series written by Shin'ichirō Kodama, Ken'ichi Itoi, and Kachō titled were released between May and July 2009. Paradigm published a light novel anthology character series in three volumes titled "Little Busters! Ecstasy Anthology" between February and June 2010. Harvest published a light novel anthology character series in three volumes titled "Little Busters! Ecstasy Character Anthology" between June and December 2010. Harvest published an illustrated short story anthology titled "Little Busters! Ecstasy 4-Page Short Story Collection" in October 2010. Paradigm published two volumes of a light novel collection between December 2010 and April 2011. Paradigm published a light novel based on Kudryavka, written by Masayuki Ogura and illustrated by Ayumu Shōji, on September 28, 2012. Paradigm also published a light novel under their VA Bunko imprint, written by Mariko Shimizu and illustrated by Zen, on October 30, 2013.


title: Little Busters!

text: An art book titled was released on December 20, 2007. Published by ASCII Media Works, the 206-page, hard-cover book contains a compilation of the published and promotional art from the visual novel, detailed character profiles and memo sections, and an overview of the visual novel's plot. Also included are all the CG scenes from the game, concept illustrations, staff interviews, and a short story written by Yūto Tonokawa. A short section also includes the sheet music and lyrics of the vocal songs featured in the game. Included with the book were two pencil boards. The statistics of the battle equipment used in the mini-games are listed on one of the boards. Another art book titled was released on December 19, 2008 by ASCII Media Works.


title: Little Busters!

text: A four-panel comic strip manga, titled "Little Busters! The 4-koma" and illustrated by Yūya Sasagiri, was serialized between the March 2006 and March 2010 issues of ASCII Media Works' "Dengeki G's Magazine". Some chapters begin as a normal manga layout and follow with comic strips. An "extra" chapter was published in the ninth volume of "Dengeki G's Festival!" on June 30, 2007, and special chapters of the manga have been published in ASCII Media Works's manga magazine "Dengeki G's Festival! Comic". Four "tankōbon" volumes were released between August 27, 2007 and April 27, 2010, published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Comics EX imprint. Sasagiri also illustrates the "Little Busters! EX The 4-koma" four-panel comic strip manga, which began serialization in the June 2010 issue of "Dengeki G's Magazine". The manga ended serialization in the magazine's May 2014 issue and continued serialization in "Dengeki G's Comic" between the June and December 2014 issues. Four volumes for "Little Busters! EX The 4-koma" were released between February 26, 2011, and January 27, 2015.


title: Little Busters!

text: A third manga, titled "Little Busters!" and illustrated by Nobuyuki Takagi, was serialized in "Dengeki G's Festival! Comic" between November 26, 2007 and October 25, 2013. Six volumes of Takagi's "Little Busters!" manga were released between April 27, 2009 and December 21, 2013. A fourth manga, titled "Little Busters!" and illustrated by Mogura Anagura, was serialized between the May 2008 and April 2010 issues of Kadokawa Shoten's magazine "Comp Ace" and was referred to as the "official "Little Busters!" comic". Two volumes were released for Anagura's "Little Busters!" manga: the first on September 26, 2008, and the second on April 22, 2010.


title: Little Busters!

text: A fifth manga adaptation, titled and illustrated by Zen, was serialized in "Dengeki G's Festival! Comic" between January 26, 2009 and February 23, 2010. A single volume of "Saya Tokido School Revolution" was released on April 27, 2010. Zen also illustrated the manga, which was serialized in "Dengeki G's Festival! Comic" between June 26, 2010 and April 26, 2011. A single volume of "Sasami Sasasegawa Black Cat Fantasia" was released on May 27, 2011. Zen later illustrated the manga as well, which was serialized in "Dengeki G's Festival! Comic" between June 23, 2011 and June 26, 2012. A single volume of "Kanata Futaki My Minroud" was released on August 27, 2012.


title: Little Busters!

text: Zen also illustrated the manga "Little Busters! End of Refrain", which began serialization in the November 2012 issue of "Dengeki G's Magazine". The manga ended serialization in the magazine's May 2014 issue and continued serialization in "Dengeki G's Comic" between the June 2014 and January 2015 issues. Four volumes of "End of Refrain" were released between March 27, 2013 and January 27, 2015. Zen later illustrated the manga , which was serialized in "Dengeki G's Comic" from the November 2016 issue sold on September 30, 2016 to the May 2019 issue sold on March 30, 2019. Three volumes of "Last of Refrain" were released between September 27, 2016 and July 26, 2019.


title: Little Busters!

text: A tenth manga, titled and illustrated by Juri Misaki, was serialized between the May 2010 and January 2012 issues of "Comp Ace". Three volumes of "Wonderbit Wandering" were released between September 25, 2010 and December 26, 2011. An 11th manga, titled and illustrated by Kazusa Yoneda, was serialized between the April 2011 and March 2013 issues of Ichijinsha's "Comic Rex". Four volumes for "Kudryavka Noumi" were released between August 27, 2011 and March 27, 2013. A 12th, four-panel comic strip manga, titled and illustrated by Misaki Sakura, was serialized between the August 2011 and March 2013 issues of Ichijinsha's "Manga 4-koma Palette". A 13th manga, titled and illustrated by Itotin, was serialized between the May 2012 and December 2013 issues of ASCII Media Works' "Dengeki Hime". Three volumes of "Little Busters! Ecstasy Heartful" were released between October 15, 2012 and December 15, 2013. A 14th manga, titled "Little Busters!" and illustrated by Kurohachi, was serialized between the November 2012 and July 2013 issues of Kadokawa Shoten's "Comptiq". Two volumes of Kurohachi's "Little Busters!" manga were released between March 9 and September 26, 2013.


title: Little Busters!

text: There have also been many sets of manga anthologies produced by different companies and drawn by a multitude of different artists. Six volumes of the earliest anthology series, a collection of four-panel comic strips released by Enterbrain under the title "Magi-Cu 4-koma Little Busters!", were released between September 2007 and July 2008 under their MC Comics imprint. Three volumes of an anthology series released by Ichijinsha under the title "Little Busters! Comic Anthology" were released between October 2007 and July 2008 under their DNA Media Comics imprint. Three volumes of an anthology series released by Ohzora under the title "Little Busters" were released between November 2007 and January 2008 under their Twin Heart Comics imprint. Another anthology was released in a single volume by Harvest on December 20, 2007 titled . A manga anthology titled appeared in "Comp Ace".


title: Little Busters!

text: Enterbrain released 17 volumes of a collection of four-panel comic strips under the title "Magi-Cu 4-koma Little Busters! Ecstasy" between November 2008 and August 2012. Four volumes of an anthology titled "Little Busters! Ecstasy Comic Anthology" were released by Ichijinsha between November 2008 and August 2011. Ichijinsha released 10 volumes of the anthology "Little Busters! Ecstasy Ecstatic Anthology" between July 2009 and November 2013. An anthology published by Brain Navi titled was released in December 2008. Another anthology titled appeared in "Comp Ace" and a single volume was released in April 2010. Two volumes of a manga anthology based on the "Little Busters! Ecstasy H&H" novel anthologies were released by Harvest in June and August 2010.


title: Little Busters!

text: ASCII Media Works released two volumes of an anthology titled "Little Busters! Ecstasy Comic Anthology" between December 2012 and February 2013. Enterbrain released three volumes of a collection of four-panel comic strips under the title "Magi-Cu 4-koma Little Busters! Re:play" between December 2012 and March 2013. Ichijinsha published an anthology drawn by Haruka Hano titled "Ring Ring Busters!" in January 2013. Ichijinsha published an anthology titled "TV Anime Little Busters! Comic Anthology" in March 2013. Each of the anthology series are written and drawn by an average of 20 people per volume.


title: Little Busters!

text: An Internet radio show to promote "Little Busters!" called had a pre-broadcast on June 9, 2008, and started regular broadcasting on June 23, 2008. The show was hosted by Tomoe Tamiyasu and Hikaru Midorikawa, who voice Rin and Kyousuke Natsume from "Little Busters!", for the first 35 broadcasts. Starting with the following broadcast on March 2, 2009, the show's title was changed to , and a third host was added, Miyako Suzuta, who voices Kudryavka Noumi from "Little Busters!". The show's final broadcast, episode 170, was on October 24, 2011. The show was streamed online every Monday, and was produced by the Japanese Internet radio station Onsen.


title: Little Busters!

text: An exclusive 22-minute broadcast of the show was included with the first press release of "Little Busters! Ecstasy" sold on July 25, 2008. Four CD compilation volumes containing the 35 episodes of "Natsume Brothers!" (including the pre-broadcast) were released between September 24, 2008 and March 26, 2009. Another 15 CD compilation volumes containing most of the 170 episodes of "Natsume Brothers! (21)" were released between June 26, 2009 and February 24, 2012; episodes 64 through 98 of Natsume Brothers! (21) were not sold in CD compilation volumes. An exclusive broadcast of "Natsume Brothers! (21)" was included with the release of the PlayStation 2 version of the game, "Little Busters! Converted Edition", on December 24, 2009.


title: Little Busters!

text: A second Internet radio show to promote the anime adaptation titled "Little Busters! R" broadcast 99 episodes between October 5, 2012 and September 12, 2014. Like the previous radio show, it was normally hosted by Tamiyasu, Midorikawa and Suzuta. However, once a month, the show was hosted by Midorikawa and Nobutoshi Canna, who voices Masato Inohara. The show was streamed online every Friday and was produced by Hibiki and Onsen. The 99 episodes were released on 11 compilation volumes between January 30, 2013 and January 28, 2015.


title: Little Busters!

text: A 26-episode anime television series adaptation, directed by Yoshinobu Yamakawa and produced by J.C.Staff, aired in Japan between October 6, 2012 and April 6, 2013 on Tokyo MX. The series was also streamed by Crunchyroll with English subtitles. The screenplay was written by Michiru Shimada, and chief animator Haruko Iizuka based the character design used in the anime on Itaru Hinoue's and Na-Ga's original designs. The anime series was released on nine BD/DVD compilation volumes between December 26, 2012 and August 28, 2013 by Warner Home Video in limited and regular editions. A BD containing an original video animation (OVA) episode was available for mail order to those who bought all nine limited edition BD/DVD volumes. The anime has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks for release in North America. Section23 Films released two BD/DVD collections on November 19, 2013 and April 22, 2014. Hanabee Entertainment has licensed the series in Australia and New Zealand for a January 2014 release on BD and DVD. MVM Films has licensed the series in the United Kingdom.


title: Little Busters!

text: The staff and cast from the anime returned for a 13-episode second season titled "Little Busters! Refrain", which mainly covers the final scenario in the visual novel. It aired between October 5 and December 28, 2013 on AT-X. The episodes were released on seven BD/DVD compilation volumes between January 29 and July 30, 2014 by Warner Home Video in limited and regular editions. "Refrain" has also been licensed by Sentai Filmworks, and it was released on BD and DVD on January 20, 2015. A series of eight OVA episodes titled "Little Busters! EX", based on the "Ecstasy" version of the game, are included on the BD/DVD releases of "Refrain". Sentai Filmworks also licensed "Little Busters! EX".


title: Little Busters!

text: For the first season, the opening theme is "Little Busters! (TV animation ver.)" and the ending theme is "Alicemagic (TV animation ver.)". Both songs are sung by Rita and are remixes of the theme songs featured in the original visual novel. For "Refrain", the opening theme is "Boys be Smile" by Suzuyu and the ending theme is by Ayaka Kitazawa. For "Little Busters! EX", the opening theme is "Little Busters! EX" by Rita and the ending theme by Suzuyu. The rest of the soundtrack for both anime series is sampled from albums released for the visual novels, "Little Busters! Original Soundtrack" and "Little Busters! Ecstasy Tracks", and the "Little Busters! Refrain Original Soundtrack".


title: Little Busters!

text: A crossover anime series, "Kaginado", featured characters from "Little Busters!" alongside other characters from franchises by Key including "Kanon", "Air", "Clannad", "Rewrite", and others. The anime debuted on October 13, 2021.


title: Little Busters!

text: The visual novel "Little Busters!" has six main theme songs, starting with the opening theme "Little Busters!", sung by Rita. There are four different ending themes; three depend on what heroine's story is completed, and the last is the game's final ending theme. The first ending theme for Yuiko's story is "Song for friends", which is also used as the first ending theme of the Refrain scenario. The ending theme for Komari and Haruka is "Alicemagic", which is also used as the second ending theme for Yuiko. The ending theme for Kudryavka and Mio is , and the final ending theme is "Little Busters! (Little Jumper Ver.)", which is used as the second ending theme of Refrain. One last theme song is an insert song played during Refrain called . The insert song and each of the ending themes are also sung by Rita. While not a theme song, the ending theme for Rin's scenario is the background music track "Regret" composed by PMMK. Seven of the main characters from "Little Busters!" have background music leitmotifs—the original six heroines, and Kyousuke Natsume. Rin's theme is "Ring Ring Ring!"; Komari's theme is ; Haruka's theme is ; Kudryavka's theme is ; Yuiko's theme is ; Mio's theme is ; lastly, Kyousuke's theme is "Boys Don't Cry".


title: Little Busters!

text: "Little Busters! Ecstasy" features a remixed version of "Little Busters!" as the game's opening theme called "Little Busters! (Ecstasy Ver.)". The song is a remixed version of the remix included in the album "Rockstar Busters!". "Ecstasy" also features remixed versions of the ending themes "Song for friends" and "Alicemagic". The former is a remix version featuring less lyrics and is renamed to "Song for friends (No Intro Ver.)", while the latter is the remix included on "Rockstar Busters!", but renamed to "Alicemagic (Rockstar Ver.)". The remix of "Alicemagic" is used as the ending theme for Kanata's and Sasami's stories, and the remix of "Song for friends" is used as a background music track. A new theme song featured in "Ecstasy" is Saya's ending theme "Saya's Song" and is sung by Lia. Saya's leitmotif is called and is a remix version of the song on Riya's 2005 album "Love Song" released by Key Sounds Label. Kanata's leitmotif is "Will&Wish", and Sasami's theme is .


title: Little Busters!

text: A maxi single titled "Little Busters!" was released in May 2007. This first single contained "Little Busters!", "Haruka Kanata", and "Alicemagic" in original and instrumental versions. As with Key's previous works (excluding ""), a music album came bundled with the limited edition release of the game; the album, released on July 27, 2007, was called "Semicrystalline." and contained arranged versions of 10 tracks of the game's music. Eight of the tracks were background music while the last two were remix versions of "Little Busters!" and "Haruka Kanata". The game's original soundtrack was first released in August 2007 at Comiket 72 containing three discs with 53 tracks. Of the 53 total tracks, three were left out of the visual novel. The original soundtrack was re-released in Japanese stores on September 28, 2007. Two more albums were released at Comiket 73 in December 2007: another arrange album titled "Rockstar Busters!" and an image song single called "" sung by Tomoe Tamiyasu, the voice actress who voiced Rin in the game.


title: Little Busters!

text: In February 2008, a trance remix album of "Little Busters!" themes titled "OTSU Club Music Compilation Vol.2" was released by OTSU—a disc jockey unit composed of a number of different remix artists. An EP was released in May 2008 containing original and remix versions of "Little Busters!", "Faraway", and "Alicemagic"; the remix versions are from the second "OTSU Club Music Compilation" album. A remix album titled "Ontology" containing arranged versions of nine tracks from "Little Busters! Ecstasy" was released bundled with the limited edition release of that game on July 25, 2008. A soundtrack containing the additional music tracks in "Ecstasy" titled "Little Busters! Ecstasy Tracks" was released in August 2008 at Comiket 74. An image song single called "Saya no Nemureru Requiem / Saya's Song" sung by Harumi Sakurai, the voice actress who voiced Saya in "Little Busters! Ecstasy", was released in February 2009 as a limited edition, and for general sale in March 2010. Two more image song singles were released in December 2009 at Comiket 77: "Raison / Pickles o Oishikusuru Tsukurikata" sung by Keiko Suzuki who voiced Kanata Futaki in "Little Busters!", and "Neko to Garasu to Marui Tsuki / Alicemagic (Aroma Tablet mix)" sung by Tomoe Tamiyasu who voiced Sasami Sasasegawa.


title: Little Busters!

text: A remix album titled "Deejay Busters!", featuring tracks from "Little Busters!", "Ecstasy" and "Kud Wafter", was released in May 2011. A single sung by Rita was released in October 2012 for the first anime series titled "Little Busters! / Alicemagic", which contains the anime's opening and ending themes in original, short, and instrumental versions. A piano arrange album titled "Ripresa", which also features tracks from "Little Busters!", "Ecstasy" and "Kud Wafter", was released in April 2013. A single sung by Suzuyu was released in October 2013 for the "Little Busters! Refrain" anime series titled "Boys be Smile / Mezameta Asa ni wa Kimi ga Tonari ni", which contains the anime's opening theme. A single sung by Ayaka Kitazawa was released in November 2013 for the "Refrain" anime series titled "Kimi to no Nakushi Mono / Namidairo no Tsubasa", which contains the anime's ending theme. A soundtrack containing tracks featured in the "Refrain" anime titled "Little Busters! Refrain Original Soundtrack" was released in December 2013 at Comiket 85. A compilation album titled "Little Busters! Perfect Vocal Collection" mainly containing previously released vocal tracks for the visual novels and anime adaptations was released in April 2014. Each of the albums released were on Key's record label Key Sounds Label.


title: Little Busters!

text: Getchu.com hosts a yearly voting poll called the "Getchu.com Bishōjo Game Ranking" where game users vote online for the best games of the previous year in several different categories. For the 2007 ranking, the categories were: overall, scenario, theme songs, background music, visuals, gameplay system, and heroines. In February 2008, users cast votes for more than 470 different titles released in 2007, and among the rankings, "Little Busters!" ranked first in all categories aside from visuals (placing third), and gameplay system (placing second). Rin ranked as the number one most popular heroine, while Kudryavka ranked fourth, and Komari ranked 13th. For the 2008 ranking, the categories were: overall, scenario, gameplay system, graphics, opening theme video, vocal theme songs, background music, individual characters, individual voices, and game title naming.


title: Little Busters!

text: In early 2009, users of Getchu.com cast votes for more than 400 different titles released in 2008, and among the rankings, "Little Busters! Ecstasy" ranked second overall, second in scenario, third in gameplay system, twelfth in graphics, fifth in opening theme video, third in vocal theme songs, second in background music, fifth (Saya Tokido) and tenth (Kudryavka Noumi) for individual characters, first (Kazane's role as Saya Tokido) and sixth (Tomoe Tamiyasu's role as Rin Natsume) for individual voices, and second for game title naming. The PS Vita port in 2012 was reviewed by the Japanese video game magazine "Famitsu", which gave it an overall score of 30/40 (out of the four individual review scores of 8, 8, 7, and 7).


title: Little Busters!

text: In a review of the first six episodes of the anime adaptation, Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network gave "Little Busters!" a C rating overall, criticizing its overuse of the "same gags over and over again, with predictably diminishing returns." He praised the "guy-to-girl ratio" compared to other series made by Key, but notes that Riki is a "bland main character." Kimlinger panned J.C.Staff's "unexciting professionalism" and for "animation that is only good enough to avoid looking cheap."


title: Little Busters!

text: From June to July 2007, the limited edition of "Little Busters!" ranked second in national PC game pre-orders in Japan. The limited edition version of "Little Busters!" ranked first in terms of national sales of PC games in Japan in July 2007. The game (which includes the regular edition) ranked consecutively seven more times achieving sales rankings of 14th, 25th twice in a row, 37th, 39th twice in a row, and 41st between the months of August 2007 and February 2008. According to public sales information published at Gamasutra, taken from the Japanese Amazon website, "Little Busters!" was the number one top seller between July 26, 2007 and August 17, 2007 for Japanese PC game sales. The game dropped to third highest the following week taken from August 24, 2007. "Little Busters!" was the highest selling game for the month of July 2007 on Getchu.com, and dropped to twelfth in the ranking the following month. Regardless of the drop in ratings earlier in the year, "Little Busters!" ended up as the most widely sold game of 2007 on Getchu.com.


title: Little Busters!

text: From May to July 2008, "Little Busters! Ecstasy" ranked first in national PC game pre-orders in Japan. The limited edition version of "Little Busters! Ecstasy" ranked first in terms of national sales of PC games in Japan in July 2008. "Ecstasy" sold quickly in Akihabara on its first day of sales, and by the end of the first day about half the stores were already sold out of the game. By the next day, the majority of stores in Akihabara were sold out of "Ecstasy". Only four days after "Ecstasy"s initial release, Key reported that many stores were already sold out of the game as well. Three months after "Ecstasy"'s initial release, Key reported that the game had already sold over 100,000 units. "Little Busters! Perfect Edition" ranked at 18th in terms of national sales of PC games in Japan in November 2012.


title: Little Busters!

text: The nine anime Blu-ray Disc (BD) compilation volumes for the anime's first season ranked in the top ten on Japan's Oricon weekly BD sales chart. The first three volumes sold over 8,000 units each in their first week of sales. For "Little Busters! Refrain", the seven BD volumes ranked in the top ten on Japan's Oricon weekly BD sales chart.


title: Little Busters!

text: A cover version of "Little Busters!" appeared in the sequel of Front Wing's visual novel "Time Leap" titled "Time Leap Paradise" released on July 24, 2009. Rin and Kudryavka were featured as characters in Illusion's "Characolle!" 3D animation program series. The program's third entry, "Characolle! Key", was released on March 4, 2011, and included the characters' models and scenery assets based on the locals in "Little Busters!" as part of the package.


title: Little Busters!

text: After the success of "Little Busters!" and "Ecstasy", an adult spin-off titled "Kud Wafter" was developed by Key and released on June 25, 2010. Set directly after the events of "Little Busters!", the story follows Riki and Kudryavka as they start to see more of each other in a romantic relationship at the onset of summer vacation. A mobile app game for iOS and Android titled "Little Busters! Card Mission", produced through VisualArt's and distributed via Mobage, was released on April 24, 2013. The player collects cards of varying rarity featuring "Little Busters!" characters, obtained through completing various minigame missions, to form a team. The player then trains the team's characters to improve their statistics and eventually challenge others who play the game. Paradigm published the first volume of an art book series for the game titled "Little Busters! Card Mission ArtWorks" on April 29, 2014. A Blu-ray Disc game, produced by VisualArt's and titled , was released on the first BD/DVD compilation volume for the "Little Busters! Refrain" anime series on January 29, 2014. Characters from "Little Busters!" also appeared in the mobile game "Rewrite IgnisMemoria" as part of a collaboration event.


title: Temperature coefficient

text: A temperature coefficient describes the relative change of a physical property that is associated with a given change in temperature. For a property "R" that changes when the temperature changes by "dT", the temperature coefficient α is defined by the following equation:


title: Temperature coefficient

text: If the temperature coefficient itself does not vary too much with temperature and formula_2, a linear approximation will be useful in estimating the value "R" of a property at a temperature "T", given its value "R" at a reference temperature "T":


title: Temperature coefficient

text: For strongly temperature-dependent α, this approximation is only useful for small temperature differences Δ"T".


title: Temperature coefficient

text: Temperature coefficients are specified for various applications, including electric and magnetic properties of materials as well as reactivity. The temperature coefficient of most of the reactions lies between −2 and 3.


title: Temperature coefficient

text: Most ceramics exhibit negative temperature dependence of resistance behaviour. This effect is governed by an Arrhenius equation over a wide range of temperatures:


title: Temperature coefficient

text: The constant "B" is related to the energies required to form and move the charge carriers responsible for electrical conduction hence, as the value of "B" increases, the material becomes insulating. Practical and commercial NTC resistors aim to combine modest resistance with a value of "B" that provides good sensitivity to temperature. Such is the importance of the "B" constant value, that it is possible to characterize NTC thermistors using the B parameter equation:


title: Temperature coefficient

text: Therefore, many materials that produce acceptable values of formula_6 include materials that have been alloyed or possess variable negative temperature coefficient (NTC), which occurs when a physical property (such as thermal conductivity or electrical resistivity) of a material lowers with increasing temperature, typically in a defined temperature range. For most materials, electrical resistivity will decrease with increasing temperature.


title: Temperature coefficient

text: Materials with a negative temperature coefficient have been used in floor heating since 1971. The negative temperature coefficient avoids excessive local heating beneath carpets, bean bag chairs, mattresses, etc., which can damage wooden floors, and may infrequently cause fires.


title: Temperature coefficient

text: Residual magnetic flux density or B changes with temperature and it is one of the important characteristics of magnet performance. Some applications, such as inertial gyroscopes and traveling-wave tubes (TWTs), need to have constant field over a wide temperature range. The reversible temperature coefficient (RTC) of B is defined as:


title: Temperature coefficient

text: To address these requirements, temperature compensated magnets were developed in the late 1970s. For conventional SmCo magnets, B decreases as temperature increases. Conversely, for GdCo magnets, B increases as temperature increases within certain temperature ranges. By combining samarium and gadolinium in the alloy, the temperature coefficient can be reduced to nearly zero.


title: Temperature coefficient

text: The temperature dependence of electrical resistance and thus of electronic devices (wires, resistors) has to be taken into account when constructing devices and circuits. The temperature dependence of conductors is to a great degree linear and can be described by the approximation below.


title: Temperature coefficient

text: formula_12 just corresponds to the specific resistance temperature coefficient at a specified reference value (normally "T" = 0 °C)


title: Temperature coefficient

text: where formula_14 is defined as the cross sectional area and formula_15 and formula_16 are coefficients determining the shape of the function and the value of resistivity at a given temperature.


title: Temperature coefficient

text: A positive temperature coefficient (PTC) refers to materials that experience an increase in electrical resistance when their temperature is raised. Materials which have useful engineering applications usually show a relatively rapid increase with temperature, i.e. a higher coefficient. The higher the coefficient, the greater an increase in electrical resistance for a given temperature increase. A PTC material can be designed to reach a maximum temperature for a given input voltage, since at some point any further increase in temperature would be met with greater electrical resistance. Unlike linear resistance heating or NTC materials, PTC materials are inherently self-limiting. On the other hand, NTC material may also be inherently self-limiting if constant current power source is used.


title: Temperature coefficient

text: Some materials even have exponentially increasing temperature coefficient. Example of such a material is PTC rubber.


title: Temperature coefficient

text: A negative temperature coefficient (NTC) refers to materials that experience a decrease in electrical resistance when their temperature is raised. Materials which have useful engineering applications usually show a relatively rapid decrease with temperature, i.e. a lower coefficient. The lower the coefficient, the greater a decrease in electrical resistance for a given temperature increase. NTC materials are used to create inrush current limiters (because they present higher initial resistance until the current limiter reaches quiescent temperature), temperature sensors and thermistors.


title: Temperature coefficient

text: An increase in the temperature of a semiconducting material results in an increase in charge-carrier concentration. This results in a higher number of charge carriers available for recombination, increasing the conductivity of the semiconductor. The increasing conductivity causes the resistivity of the semiconductor material to decrease with the rise in temperature, resulting in a negative temperature coefficient of resistance.


title: Temperature coefficient

text: The elastic modulus of elastic materials varies with temperature, typically decreasing with higher temperature.


title: Temperature coefficient

text: In nuclear engineering, the temperature coefficient of reactivity is a measure of the change in reactivity (resulting in a change in power), brought about by a change in temperature of the reactor components or the reactor coolant. This may be defined as


title: Temperature coefficient

text: Where formula_19 is reactivity and "T" is temperature. The relationship shows that formula_20 is the value of the partial differential of reactivity with respect to temperature and is referred to as the "temperature coefficient of reactivity". As a result, the temperature feedback provided by formula_20 has an intuitive application to passive nuclear safety. A negative formula_20 is broadly cited as important for reactor safety, but wide temperature variations across real reactors (as opposed to a theoretical homogeneous reactor) limit the usability of a single metric as a marker of reactor safety.


title: Temperature coefficient

text: In water moderated nuclear reactors, the bulk of reactivity changes with respect to temperature are brought about by changes in the temperature of the water. However each element of the core has a specific temperature coefficient of reactivity (e.g. the fuel or cladding). The mechanisms which drive fuel temperature coefficients of reactivity are different from water temperature coefficients. While water expands as temperature increases, causing longer neutron travel times during moderation, fuel material will not expand appreciably. Changes in reactivity in fuel due to temperature stem from a phenomenon known as doppler broadening, where resonance absorption of fast neutrons in fuel filler material prevents those neutrons from thermalizing (slowing down).


title: Temperature coefficient

text: Applying the Taylor series approximation at the first order, in the proximity of formula_28, leads to:


title: Temperature coefficient

text: The thermal coefficient of electrical circuit parts is sometimes specified as ppm/°C, or ppm/K. This specifies the fraction (expressed in parts per million) that its electrical characteristics will deviate when taken to a temperature above or below the operating temperature.


title: Geography of Norway

text: Norway is a country located in Northern Europe in the northern and western parts of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The majority of the country borders water, including the Skagerrak inlet to the south, the North Sea to the southwest, the North Atlantic Ocean (Norwegian Sea) to the west, and the Barents Sea to the north. It has a land border with Sweden to the east and a shorter border with Finland and an even shorter border with Russia to the northeast.


title: Geography of Norway

text: Norway has an elongated shape, one of the longest and most rugged coastlines in the world, and some 50,000 islands off its much-indented coastline. It is one of the world's northernmost countries, and it is one of Europe's most mountainous countries, with large areas dominated by the Scandinavian Mountains. The country's average elevation is , and 32 percent of the mainland is located above the tree line. Its country-length chain of peaks is geologically continuous with the mountains of Scotland, Ireland, and, after crossing under the Atlantic Ocean, the Appalachian Mountains of North America. Geologists hold that all these formed a single range before the breakup of the ancient supercontinent Pangaea.


title: Geography of Norway

text: During the last glacial period, as well as in many earlier ice ages, virtually the entire country was covered with a thick ice sheet. The movement of the ice carved out deep valleys. As a result of the ice carving, Sognefjorden is the world's second deepest fjord and Hornindalsvatnet is the deepest lake in Europe. When the ice melted, the sea filled many of these valleys, creating Norway's famous fjords. The glaciers in the higher mountain areas today are not remnants of the large ice sheet of the ice age—their origins are more recent. The regional climate was up to warmer in 7000 BC to 3000 BC in the Holocene climatic optimum, (relative to the 1961-90 period), melting the remaining glaciers in the mountains almost completely during that period.


title: Geography of Norway

text: Even though it has long since been released from the enormous weight of the ice, the land is still rebounding several millimetres a year. This rebound is greatest in the eastern part of the country and in the inner parts of the long fjords, where the ice cover was thickest. This is a slow process, and for thousands of years following the end of the ice age, the sea covered substantial areas of what is today dry land. This old seabed is now among the most productive agricultural lands in the country.


title: Geography of Norway

text: The contiguous area is slightly smaller than Vietnam and slightly larger than Ivory Coast. Compared to US states, the area is approximately equal to New Mexico.


title: Geography of Norway

text: With Svalbard and Jan Mayen included, the area is slightly larger than Japan. Compared to US states, the area is slightly smaller than California and slightly larger than Montana.


title: Geography of Norway

text: Norway's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) totals . It is one of the largest in Europe and the 17th largest in the world. The EEZ along the mainland makes up , the Jan Mayen EEZ makes up , and since 1977 Norway has claimed an economic zone around Svalbard of .


title: Geography of Norway

text: Mainland Norway comprises an extensive range of natural variation, given its moderate size, including both terrestrial, marine, limnic and snow and ice ecosystems. Norway has a high mineral and bedrock diversity, and high diversity of landforms. Major landscape types include inland hills and mountains, inland valleys, inland plains, coastal plains, coastal fjords and coastal hills and mountains. Glaciated; mostly high plateaus and rugged mountains broken by fertile valleys; small, scattered plains; coastline deeply indented by fjords; arctic tundra only in the extreme northeast (largely found on the Varanger Peninsula). Frozen ground all year can also be found in the higher mountain areas and in the interior of Finnmark county. Numerous glaciers are also found in Norway.


title: Geography of Norway

text: Scandinavian Mountains: the Scandinavian Mountains are the most defining feature of the country. Starting with Setesdalsheiene north of the Skagerrak coast, the mountains are found in large parts of the country and intersect the many fjords of Vestlandet. This region includes Hardangervidda, Jotunheimen (with Galdhøpiggen at a.s.l.), Sognefjell, and Trollheimen in the north, with large glaciers, such as Jostedalsbreen, Folgefonna, and Hardangerjøkulen. The mountain chain swings eastwards south of Trondheim, with ranges such as Dovrefjell and Rondane, and reaches the border with Sweden, where they have become mostly gently sloping plateaus. The mountains then follow the border in a northeasterly direction and are known as "Kjølen" (the "keel"). The mountains intersect many fjords in Nordland and Troms, where they become more alpine and create many islands after they meet the sea. The Scandinavian mountains form the Lyngen Alps, which reach into northwestern Finnmark, gradually becoming lower from Altafjord towards Nordkapp (North Cape), where they finally end at the Barents Sea.


title: Geography of Norway

text: The Scandinavian Mountains naturally divide the country into physical regions; valleys surround the mountains in all directions. The following physical regions will only partially correspond to traditional regions and counties in Norway.


title: Geography of Norway

text: Southern coast: the southern Skagerrak and North Sea coast is the lowland south of the mountain range, from Stavanger in the west to the western reaches of the outer part of the Oslofjord in the east. In this part of the country, valleys tend to follow a north–south direction. This area is mostly hilly, but with some very flat areas such as Lista and Jæren.


title: Geography of Norway

text: Southeast: the land east of the mountains (corresponding to Østlandet, most of Telemark, and Røros) is dominated by valleys running in a north–south direction in the eastern part, and in a more northwest–southeast direction further west, the valleys terminating at the Oslofjord. The longest valleys in the country are here—Østerdal and Gudbrandsdal. This region also contains large areas of lowland surrounding the Oslofjord, as well as the Glomma River and Lake Mjøsa.


title: Geography of Norway

text: Western fjords: the land west of the mountains (corresponding to Vestlandet north of Stavanger) is dominated by the mountain chain, as the mountains extend, gradually becoming lower, all the way to the coast. This region is dominated by large fjords, the largest being Sognefjord and Hardangerfjord. Geirangerfjord is often regarded as having the ultimate in fjord scenery. The coast is protected by a chain of skerries (small, uninhabited islands—the Skjærgård) that are parallel to the coast and provide the beginning of a protected passage for almost the entire route from Stavanger to Nordkapp. In the south, fjords and most valleys generally run in a west–east direction, and, in the north, in a northwest–southeast direction.


title: Geography of Norway

text: Trondheim region: the land north of Dovre (corresponding to Trøndelag except Røros) comprises a more gentle landscape with more rounded shapes and mountains, and with valleys terminating at the Trondheimsfjord, where they open up onto a large lowland area. Further north is the valley of Namdalen, opening up in the Namsos area. However, the Fosen peninsula and the most northern coast (Leka) is dominated by higher mountains and narrower valleys.


title: Geography of Norway

text: Northern fjords: the land further north (corresponding to Nordland, Troms, and northwestern Finnmark) is again dominated by steep mountains going all the way to the coast and by numerous fjords. The fjords and valleys generally lie in a west–east direction in the southern part of this area, and a more northwest–southeast direction further north. The Saltfjellet mountain range is an exception, as the valley runs in a more north–south direction from these mountains. This long, narrow area includes many large islands, such as Lofoten, Vesterålen, and Senja.


title: Geography of Norway

text: Far northeast: the interior and the coast east of Nordkapp (corresponding to Finnmarksvidda and eastern Finnmark) is less dominated by mountains, and is mostly below . The interior is dominated by the large Finnmarksvidda plateau. There are large, wide fjords running in a north–south direction. This coast lacks the small islands, or skerries, typical of the Norwegian coast. Furthest to the east, the Varangerfjord runs in an east–west direction and is the only large fjord in the country whose mouth is to the east.


title: Geography of Norway

text: Svalbard: further north, in the Arctic ocean, lies the Svalbard archipelago, which is also dominated by mountains that are mostly covered by large glaciers, especially in the eastern part of the archipelago, where glaciers cover more than 90%, with one glacier, Austfonna, being the largest in Europe. Unlike on the mainland, these glaciers calve directly into the open ocean.


title: Geography of Norway

text: Jan Mayen: to the far northwest, halfway towards Greenland, is Jan Mayen island, where the only active volcano in Norway, Beerenberg, is found.


title: Geography of Norway

text: Bouvet Island: located in the South Atlantic Ocean at 54°S and mostly covered by glaciers, this island is one of the most remote in the world, inhabited only by seals and birds.


title: Geography of Norway

text: Peter I Island: located in the South Pacific Ocean at 69°S and 90°W, this island is dominated by glaciers and a volcano. As with Bouvet Island, this island is regarded as an external dependency, and not part of the kingdom.


title: Geography of Norway

text: Queen Maud Land is Norway's claim in Antarctica. This large, sectorial area stretches to the South Pole and is completely dominated by the world's largest ice sheet, but with some impressive nunataks (bare rock) penetrating above the ice. The Troll Research Station manned by Norway is located on a snow-free mountain slope, the only station in Antarctica not to be located on the ice.


title: Geography of Norway

text: Areas in Norway located north of the Arctic Circle have extreme darkness in winter, which increases with latitude. At Longyearbyen on the Svalbard islands in the extreme north, the upper part of the sun's disc is above the horizon from 19 April to 23 August, and winter darkness lasts from 27 October to 14 February. The corresponding dates for still northerly Tromsø are 17 May – 25 July, and 26 November – 15 January. The winter darkness is not dark on the mainland, as there is twilight for a few hours around noon in Tromsø; but in Longyearbyen there is near total darkness during the dark period. Even the southern part of the country experiences large seasonal variations in daylight; in Oslo, the sun rises at 03:54 and sets 22:54 at the summer solstice, but is only above the horizon from 09:18 - 15:12 at the winter solstice. The northern part of the country is located in the aurora borealis zone; the aurora is occasionally seen in the southern part of the country as well.