(often abbreviated as LLSIF or Sukufesu) is a Japanese rhythm game series. The first game, developed by KLab and published by Bushiroad's Bushimo, was released in Japan on April 15, 2013, for iOS and June 8, 2013, for Android. The game was free-to-play with an in-app purchase system. It featured songs and characters from the series Love Live! School Idol Project and Love Live! Sunshine!!, newly introduced girls, and stories that were not included in other media in the Love Live! franchise.
The English localization was released worldwide on May 11, 2014, for iOS and Android devices. It was also localized in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and South Korea. At the end of September 2016, the English version added Korean support, and the two servers merged. The Traditional Chinese version, which was operated by Mobimon in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, also merged with the English version on May 18, 2017. In February 2021 it was announced that the worldwide server would be merging with the Japanese server, which was completed in June 2021. The changes included the removal of Korean and Traditional Chinese language from the server.
On January 11, 2016, the cast of Love Live! Sunshine!! live streamed a special announcement regarding Aqours' members joining the app in July 2016. In the game, Aqours received original main and side stories, playable songs, and fully voiced cards. KLab added R rarity cards for each Aqours members on January 31, 2016, though they were only voiced after the official release in July. In June 2016, two Aqours members, Chika and Riko, were featured in an event for the first time. The group officially joined the game on July 5, 2016, along with a new card rarity and other major updates.
An arcade version of the game titled Love Live! School Idol Festival: After School Activity (developed and published by Square Enix) was released on December 6, 2016, in Japan, and a PlayStation 4 port was released in North America, Japan, and Southeast Asia on March 24, 2021. Another spin-off game titled Love Live! School Idol Festival All Stars was released in Japan on September 26, 2019, and worldwide on February 25, 2020. It starred the girls from Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club, with μ's and Aqours also prominently featured in the game. All Stars game service was shut down on June 30, 2023.
A sequel to the original game titled Love Live! School Idol Festival 2: Miracle Live! (officially abbreviated as SIF2) was announced at the franchise's 2022 thanksgiving festival. Along with previous groups—μ's, Aqours, and Nijigasaki High School Idol Club—Liella! also made their appearance. The global version was released on February 1, 2024.
Love Live! School Idol Festivals game service was shut down on March 31, 2023, and was succeeded by SIF2 which itself was shut down on March 31, 2024 in Japan and on May 31 globally.
Gameplay
The game had two gameplay modes—"Story" and "Live"— which featured all nine members of the idol groups μ's and Aqours. Players acquired a score in the rhythm "Live" mode, in which they could tap circles at the proper time in order to receive a high score that can be placed on the leader board. These songs were divided into 4 difficulties: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Expert. Another difficulty called "Master" was added, and included rhythm icons where players had to swipe their fingers on the screen during some songs.
In "Story" mode, the player worked as μ's' and Aqours' helper and managed their training and schedule. The mode was full-voiced with all of the idols' respective voice actresses. The players interacted with the girls as they lived their lives as school idols.
The game had several currencies: LP: Stamina necessary for doing a Live. One song could use up to 25 LP depending on the song's difficulty. LP could be refilled by using one Love Gem, by using "Sugar Cubes" and "Sugar Pots" obtained via Special Rewards, by waiting for it to be refilled (1LP per 6 minutes), or by raising the account level or "Rank". Every 2 ranks, the player's maximum LP increased by one point. When the player reached rank 300, their maximum LP would take 3 ranks to increase by one point instead of 2. Refilling the LP or leveling up would cause the LP to be overflowed, which meant that players may sometimes end up with more LP than their account would normally be able to have. Gs: The app's in-game currency, Gs could be used for leveling up or idolizing an idol, or buying temporary stat increases during some events. Friend points: Points that could be acquired by having other players help during a Live. Friend points could be used to scout N, SSR and R rarity cards. Love Gems: The app's in-game currency which could be bought through in-app purchase. It could be used for refilling the entire LP bar, member scouting (gacha pull), or continuing a failed Live. Scouting Ticket: Besides Love Gems, the other way to scout a rare member through the "Honor Scouting" system was by using a scouting ticket. There were three types of tickets: green regular tickets, blue scouting coupons, and purchased scouting tickets that guaranteed cards of a certain rarity. Stickers: If an R, SR, SSR, or UR rarity card was used for practice or deleted, the player would gain a sticker. These stickers could be used for idolizing a card or purchasing other cards or scouting coupons from the Sticker Shop. Stickers' rarity were divided into 4 types that depended on the rarity of the used cards. Cards that didn't feature the girls from either μ's or Aqours, and promotional and skill cards wouldn't give stickers.
Cards and team formation Players could form 9-person units. The girls in the formation were called "members". Players acquired new members by doing Lives or scouting through "Student Scouting" that used the gacha system. Two same cards could be combined and they would be "Idolized", which unlocked new card art and a side story gave a Love Gem. Each member had their own card level and skill that could be leveled up by doing a "Practice", which involved sacrificing one or more cards to increase the level of another one. In order to increase skill level, cards that were "practiced" had to have the same skill. Increasing skill and card levels improved the scores players could obtain in "Lives". New Aqours and regular members were added every time an in-game event has ended and μ's cards are added halfway through events.
Members cards were divided into 5 rarities: N (normal), R (rare), SR (super rare), SSR (special super rare), and UR (ultra rare). Each rarity (except N-rarity) had a different set of leader skills (passive) and active skills that affect the Lives scores. Cards and songs were divided into attributes that represent each card's idol type: Smile, Cool, and Pure. Using the same attribute members to do Lives of the same attribute song gave a higher score.
The original characters added in the game were featured in the N-rarity cards. There were 54 characters with 9 girls represent 6 different schools:
Seiran High School Shizuku Ōsaka
Chitose Bridge High School
Shinonome Academy
Kanata Konoe
Touou Academy
Shion Girls' Academy
Y.G. International Academy
Emma Verde
These characters were not voiced, but Emma Verde (previously only named Emma), Kanata Konoe, and Shizuku Osaka were promoted to become part of the Nijigasaki High School Idol Club and were each given voice actresses. Fujimaru designed the new characters.
Besides the regular cards, the game also included "promotional cards" and "skill up cards". Promotional cards could be obtained free as a bonus from purchasing Love Live! merchandise, clearing quests, purchasing through Sticker Shop, scouting using Gs, or simply logging in to the game. Regardless of rarity, promotional cards had relatively low stats and leader skill effects. They also didn't give stickers when practiced or deleted. The cards were usually pre-idolized, which meant that players could not idolize the card for different art. μ's and Aqours' respective rival groups (A-Rise and Saint Snow), the groups' younger selves, and the girls from Nijigasaki High School are also featured as fully voiced promotional cards.
A skill up card was used to level up the skill of a card. It couldn't be idolized or used in a Live. These cards featured characters around the main groups such as the girls' mothers, school friends and teachers, and even animals. These cards could be obtained by logging in, special box scouting, in-game event rewards, or purchasing a limited time sale pack.
In-game events Every 15 days, an in-game event with a total of 1 UR rarity card as a reward was held. Each event ran for around 10 days with a 5-days break. The UR rarity card was obtainable by collecting event points and competing with other players through event points ranking. Reward included Gs, Love Gems, and skill-up cards.
The game had 6 type of events:
Players played an event-exclusive song to get the event points. The song required Tokens which are collected by playing songs. Sometimes, the event also featured a short story that was previously featured in the franchise's novel series School Idol Diary.
4 players competed with each other to get the highest score from a randomly-chosen song.
Players could play up to three songs in a row and could use stat increases to improve their score and/or Live prize. Some stat increases would appear randomly from in-game friends.
Players could play up to 5 songs and receive the accumulated prize at the end of the challenge. μ's members would appear and give random ability increases. If 3 members with same sub-unit, school year, and/or wear same uniform appeared, a specific mission would appear. Clearing the mission would give the players an additional prize.
Players cleared Live songs to unlock Aqours and μ's side stories and cleared missions while "taking a stroll" around the event map. Live songs also gave 'souvenirs' which players could exchange for friend points, event SR rarity cards, and in-game backgrounds.
Worked like Score Match, but instead of competing against each other, the event required 4 players to work together in clearing missions by reaching certain scores or combos. Players' scores were determined by how much they contributed. While in score mission they were ranked from highest to the lowest score, combo mission would always display anyone with "Full Combo" as the first place(s).
Collaboration event In 2019, the Japanese server of School Idol Festival held its first collaboration event outside the Love Live! franchise. The collaboration event with mobile TCG, Shadowverse, was held in both of the games (September 20–30 within the School Idol Festival app). Between the 9 girls of Aqours, Yoshiko Tsushima was chosen as representative through fan votes. The collaboration campaign includes a new song, "Deep Resonance" that was included in the group's 4th single, collaboration SSR cards of the group, a limited UR card for Yoshiko, as well as login bonuses.
A Code Geass x School Idol Festival collaboration event was announced in March 2022 as a part of the game's 9th anniversary campaign. Event reward included UR card Chika Takami in Ashford Academy uniform.
Service termination On January 31, 2023, the SIF Japanese server, worldwide server, and simplified Chinese server officially announced the end of game service on March 31, 2023. The game was succeeded by Love Live! School Idol Festival 2: Miracle Live!.
Love Live! School Idol Festival 2: Miracle Live!
The successor to School Idol Festival was announced at the franchise's 2022 thanksgiving festival. Along with previous groups—μ's, Aqours, and Nijigasaki High School Idol Club—Liella! also made their appearance. Players of LLSIF were able to transfer their account data in the game to SIF2. The data transfer retains players' obtained cards in an album feature.