The Shinjuku Central Park Murder Case is the first installment in the long-running series of murder mystery games starring hard-boiled private detective Saburou Jinguuji (or Jake Hunter, as he's known in the few games that have been released outside of Japan).

When the strangled corpse of a popular bar-hostess mysteriously turns up in Shinjuku Central Park, Jinguuji's old mentor, Inspector Kumano, calls him in to crack the case. With help from Kumano and your assistant Yoko, you'll investigate clues and interview numerous witnesses and suspects to determine how the body came to be in the park and catch the killer.

Gameplay proceeds in typical Japanese adventure game fashion, with all actions being achieved via a series of menu options (look, take, ask, etc.) displayed next to a static picture of the current scene. The game is mostly presented in the first person, with the exception of Shinjuku Central Park itself, which is explored in a third-person overhead view roughly based on the actual layout of the real-life park.