Kamaitachi no Yoru

• Tōru (透, Tōru): Mari's boyfriend. He was given the name Tōru Yajima (矢島 透, Yajima Tōru) in later installments. He was renamed Max in the iOS version.
• Mari (真理, Mari): Jirō's niece and Tōru's girlfriend. She was given the name Mari Kobayashi (小林 真理, Kobayashi Mari) in later installments. She was renamed Grace in the iOS version.
• Jirō Kobayashi (小林 二郎, Kobayashi Jirō): Mari's uncle. He owns the ski lodge named Spur (シュプール, Shupūru) (renamed Snowflake Inn in the iOS release). He is renamed William Forrest in the iOS release.
• Kyōko Kobayashi (小林 今日子, Kobayashi Kyōko): Jirō's wife. She is a disastrous chef who dislikes quarrelling with others. She is renamed Colleen Forrest in the iOS version.
• Seiichi Kayama (香山 誠一, Kayama Seiichi): A company executive from Osaka and stereotype of Kansai region. He is renamed Chase Buchanan in the iOS version.
• Haruko Kayama (香山 春子, Kayama Haruko): Seiichi's wife. She is renamed Amber Buchanan in the iOS version.
• Toshio Kubota (久保田 俊夫, Kubota Toshio): A sixth-year college student who does ski often. He is renamed Bobby Trottier in the iOS version.
• Midori Shinozaki (篠崎 みどり, Shinozaki Midori): A young woman working at the lodge. She is renamed Abby McCarthy in the iOS version.
• Kanako Watase (渡瀬 可奈子, Watase Kanako): A office lady with an outspoken personality. She is renamed Tiffany Oakley in the iOS version.
• Aki Kawamura (河村 亜希, Kawamura Aki): A lady with glasses. She is renamed Molly Starks in the iOS version.
• Keiko Kitano (北野 啓子, Kitano Keiko): A lady on vacation due to cooking influences. She is renamed Debbie Mason in the iOS version.
• Yōsuke Mikimoto (美樹本 洋介, Mikimoto Yōsuke): A social cameraman. He is renamed Jonas Faberge in the iOS version.
• Ichirō Tanaka (田中 一郎, Tanaka Ichirō): A mysterious man. He is renamed John Jones in the iOS version.
• Jenny (ジェニー, Jenī): A family cat. She is renamed Ruby in the iOS version.

After finding a note and losing phone calls, a group of guests solve the case about the mass murder at the lodge. Additional deaths occur for a bad ending if the player cannot find clues. After completing the main story with different endings, the player can unlock occult and espionage chapters. The player can unlock two self-parodical stories, after clearing all three with a good ending. Having one requirement allows the player to unlock a parody of Torneko no Daibōken: Fushigi no Dungeon. The additional stories cover a wide variety of themes and is not related. The settings differ for the game.

The competition was announced in the official guidebook, before the game was released for Super Famicom. It called for readers to write their own storylines based loosely on the events. Only for a very short period of time was allotted for submissions, and many readers cannot finish the storyline. Ten of them (including those in short story and gamebook format) were published in a book titled Anata dake no Kamaitachi no Yoru (あなただけのかまいたちの夜, lit. "Your Own Night of the Sickle Weasels"). The book was a great success, despite the fact that it only targeted readers who had played the game and read the official guidebook. Prize money was awarded to the writers' whose compositions made it into the book. A similar competition was started upon the release of Kamaitachi no Yoru 2. It went out of print after several years, but was re-published after the release for the sequel.

Composed by Kōjirō Nakashima and Kōta Katō, the music gained significant popularity and was reused in television shows concerning Aum Shinrikyo, which was at the center of the Japanese media. The background music for accusing the murderer continues to be used in related shows in Japan. Two songs, "Sequence" and "Two People Return Alive" were orchestrated for the fourth volume for Orchestral Game Music Concerts.

Images were used for backgrounds, including the "Knulp" lodge in Hakuba, Nagano. Exceptions are the background for bathrooms and the wine cellar, which were taken using miniatures. All characters have animated silhouettes. The English localization changed the setting including the graphics to a lodge in British Columbia.

The game was ported on the PlayStation as "Kamaitachi no Yoru Tokubetsu Hen" (December 3, 1998) and the Game Boy Advance as "Kamaitachi no Yoru ~Advance~" (June 28, 2002). It has been released on the J-PHONE as "Kamaitachi no Yoru mini" (April 1, 2002), and on PC as "Kamaitachi no Yoru internet" (July 1, 2002). i-mode released it on January 30, 2004. The main story was included in the PlayStation 2 sequel Kamaitachi no Yoru × 3, with minor changes made to the script. On January 24, 2014, Aksys Games released the game in English for iOS, under the title Banshee's Last Cry.[7]

PlayStation version

• A flow chart was added, and choices were colored according to whether they were chosen in previous playthroughs. The player may replay past scenes.
• Vibration added.
• Two additional stories were added.
• Changes in unlocking the extra storylines and parodies.
• Improved graphics.
• Added background information on characters.

Game Boy Advance version (comparison with PlayStation version)

• The names were changed to "Tōru Yajima" and "Mari Kobayashi", following the changes made in Kamaitachi no Yoru 2
• A commercial message for the sequel can be unlocked.
• No vibration.
• Two extra stories added in the PlayStation version were excluded due to lack of cartridge space.
• Some minor changes in the script.

A radio drama was released on Compact Disc. The same characters appeared in a different story-line, involving biochemical weapons. It stars Hikaru Midorikawa and Yumi Tōma.

The two-hour drama series was produced by Tokyo Broadcasting System, and aired on July 3, 2002. Kamaitachi no Yoru 2 was set to be released on July 18 of the same year, and the first edition of the game contains a bonus DVD of the entire drama. Like the radio drama version, the TV drama is not a rendition of the actual game (the premise is that fans had gathered to shoot a film based on the game, when one of the cast members are killed). The drama recreated the tense and mysterious atmosphere of the game.