There are 24 proper effects in Yume Nikki (not including the Instructions). Each effect changes Madotsuki's appearance and some provide special abilities.
Gathering all 24 effects is considered to be the primary objective of the game, and only when all effects have been gathered can the player see the game's ending by leaving them all in the Nexus and waking up.
The effects are scattered throughout the dream world, and some are more easy to find than others. Some are found by touching particular objects whereas others are received from interacting with certain characters.
While most of the effects are purely cosmetic, there are a few events and locations that are unreachable without them. They can be collected in almost any order, except for the Poop Hair effect, which requires either the Yuki-onna or Umbrella effect first. It is also recommended to get the Lamp effect before attempting to get the Knife or Witch effect, which require traversing dark areas.
Descriptions and names on this article are given in the order of fan translation first, official translation second, and original Japanese third.
Note: On this wiki, the fan translation names are used on pages due to being the most recognizable by the majority of the fandom.
Effects
Frog (かえる）
Become a frog / Transform into a frog.
Appearance: Madotsuki transforms into a humanoid frog, walking with a hunched over back.
Passive Effect: Madotsuki walks at normal speed through water.
Action: (1) Madotsuki hops in place like a frog
Location: Either Forest World or Dense Woods B (Frog Path) - Interact with the Frog
Practical Uses: Walking through the Pink Sea and Uboa's Trap is much faster, although the Bicycle does the same thing.
Umbrella （かさ）
Open an umbrella / Use an umbrella.
Appearance: Madotsuki holds a red umbrella.
Passive Effect: It rains, which continues until Madotsuki unequips the umbrella into her normal form. The rain also enables the Demon effect to produce a clap of thunder and lightning.
Action: (1) Madotsuki spins the umbrella
Location: Puddle World - Pick it up off the ground
Practical Uses: Can be used to douse the fire in the Blazing Corridor, although the Yuki-onna effect does the same thing. Can be used to stop the rain in the Dense Woods A.
Hat and Scarf / Hat & Scarf（ぼうしとマフラー）
Wear a hat and scarf / Don a hat & scarf.
Appearance: Madotsuki wears a hat and scarf.
Passive Effect: In the snowman form, Madotsuki cannot pinch herself awake due to her lack of arms, and she walks twice as slow.
Action: (1) When snowing, Madotsuki transforms into a snowman.
Location: Block World - Pick it up off the ground.
Practical Uses: As a snowman, interacting with Mafurako will always teleport you back by her side on the return trip, meaning you don't have to search for her to teleport again. In the Blazing Corridor, standing next to the fire will cause Madotsuki to slowly melt and become immobile.
Yuki-onna / Snow Woman （ゆきおんな）
Become the snow woman / Morph into a Snow Woman.
Appearance: Madotsuki transforms into a Yuki-onna.
Passive Effect: It snows, which continues until Madotsuki unequips the Yuki-onna effect into her normal form. This also enables the Hat and scarf effect to transform Madotsuki into a snowman.
Action: None
Location: Snow World - Interact with the Yuki-onna
Practical Uses: Can be used to douse the fire in the Blazing Corridor, although the Umbrella does the same thing. Can be used to stop the snow in Snow World.
Knife / Kitchen Knife（ほうちょう）
Wield a kitchen knife / Equip a kitchen knife.
Appearance: Madotsuki holds a knife.
Passive Effect: Mobile NPCs will run away from her. Most characters that can't move will animate faster, as if in panic.
Action:
- (1) Madotsuki switches the knife between hands
- (Z) Madotsuki stabs with the knife, killing or wounding characters. Some characters and objects react strangely to being stabbed, including:
- Toriningen - Become lunatic.
- Mars-san - Its eye changes color.
- Onsen-san - It completely changes color and stops drinking its water.
- Pain Blob - Shows its face.
- Arms and Legs in the White Desert - They twitch.
- White Desert A - Has a 1 in 30 chance of taking you to see the Eye Box.
- Henkei Shita - The one in Hell has a 1 in 256 chance of transporting you to the Footprint Path A.
- Extinguishes candles in Candle World.
- Makes the eyeballs change color in Eyeball World.
Location: Dark World (Somewhat north-east of the gate to the Wilderness)
Practical Uses:
- Killing/wounding NPCs
- Scaring NPCs away from you - Can be used to move NPCs that block your way
- Interacting with the environment
- Obtaining money by killing NPCs
- Accessing new areas
- Clearing out the Stabbing Room
Medamaude / Eye Palm (めだまうで)
Become Medamaude / Warp into an Eye Palm.
Appearance: Madotsuki's head becomes a giant hand with an eye in its palm.
Passive Effect: None
Action: (1) Madotsuki closes her palm and teleports to the Nexus
Location: Eyeball World - Interact with Medamaude
Practical Uses: Can be used to teleport back to the Nexus quickly and escape from traps (such as being caught by a Toriningen or Uboa) without having to pinch yourself awake.
When Madotsuki pinches herself, you can notice a little teardrop.
Fat / Fatten（ふとる）
Get fat / Balloon in size.
Appearance: Madotsuki becomes fatter.
Passive Effect: None
Action: (1) Madotsuki's belly rumbles and an emote appears.
Location: The Docks B - Interact with Strober
Practical Uses: None
Midget (こびと）
Become small / Shrink in size.
Appearance: Madotsuki becomes very small
Passive Effect: Madotsuki can fit through certain small entrances
Action:
- (1) Madotsuki produces another midget which walks in sync with her. She can produce up to 7 midgets at once.
- (3) One of the cloned midgets will scream and burst in a small spray of blood.
Location: Candle World - Catch and interact with the Dwarf.
Practical Uses:
- Getting in and out of the Stairwell on Mars.
- Getting into Sewer Tunnel C from Sewer Tunnel B
Flute （ふえ）
Play a flute / Brandish a flute.
Appearance: Madotsuki holds a flute to her lips
Passive Effect: None
Action: (1) Madotsuki plays a short tune. There are a few different tunes that Madotsuki randomly plays.
Location: The Music Room in the Mall - Pick it up off the floor
Practical Uses: None
Neon （ネオン）
Become a neon light / Glow like a neon sign.
Appearance: Madotsuki glows like a neon sign.
Passive Effect: None
Action: (1) Causes the screen to change color as if bathed in a neon light. The effect wears off when the effect is unequipped. Pressing the 1 button again causes the screen to cycle randomly between shades of red, blue, yellow and violet.
Location: Neon World - Interact with the Neon Parrot
Practical Uses: None
Nopperabou / Faceless Ghost （のっぺらぼう）
Become the faceless ghost / Materialize as a faceless ghost.
Appearance: Madotsuki becomes a Nopperabou.
Passive Effect: None
Action: (1) Madotsuki's head jumps off her shoulders and spins around.
Location: Sewage Processing Plant B in The Sewers - Interact with the faceless ghost
Practical Uses: None
Severed Head （なまくび）
Become a severed head / Be reduced to a severed head.
Appearance: Madotsuki becomes a severed head
Passive Effect:
- Madotsuki's height and speed decrease
- Madotsuki cannot pinch herself awake due to her lack of arms
Action: None
Location: Guillotine World near the Bed Room - Interact with the Guillotine.
Practical Uses: Allows Madotsuki to see Closet Madotsuki, as her normal height blocks the view.
Towel （タオル）
Wrap up in a towel / Wrap yourself in a towel.
Appearance: Madotsuki has a towel wrapped around her.
Passive Effect: None
Action: (1) Madotsuki sneezes.
Location: The Infinite Wilderness - Interact with Ittan-momen
Practical Uses: None
Cat （ねこ）
Grow ears and a tail / Sprout cat-ears and a tail.
Appearance: Madotsuki grows cat ears and a tail.
Passive Effect: None
Action: (1) Madotsuki faces the camera and meows like a cat, with large red eyes. She paws the air with her right hand and holds a koban coin in her left, resembling the Maneki Neko.
Location: Shield-folk World - Interact with Nekoin.
Practical Uses:
- Drawing NPCs toward you - Can be used to move NPCs that block your way or to find NPCs hidden in the area
- Provoking a reaction from certain NPCs and the environment
- Summoning UFOs in certain locations
Notes: In most cases, this allows you to move characters out of your way without using the Knife Effect to kill them. This may be in tune with the Maneki-Neko being loosely associated with Gyuanin, who is revered in Japan as Kannon (観音), the goddess of mercy and compassion.
Lamp （でんとう）
Become a lamp / Change into a lamp.
Appearance: Madotsuki's head transforms into a lamp.
Passive Effect: When the light is on, dark areas light up, improving visibility.
Action: (1) Switches the light on and off.
Location: Lamp World - Interact with the Walking Lamp
Practical Uses:
- Can be used to navigate Dark World, the Dark Woods, and the FC Dungeon more easily.
- Can be used to light up the inside of the hot spring house in the Wilderness.
- In previous versions, it was needed to light up the deeper part of FC World B where the Buyo Buyo was found.
Bicycle （じてんしゃ）
Ride a bicycle / Mount a bicycle.
Appearance: Madotsuki rides a bicycle
Passive Effect: Madotsuki's speed is doubled
Action: (1) Madotsuki rings the bell
Location: Graffiti World - Pick it up off the floor
Practical Uses: Can be used to travel through the dream world much faster than by walking, catch fast moving characters and escape from Lunatic Toriningen.
Long Hair （ロングヘアー）
Grow long hair / Grow long hair.
Appearance: Madotsuki's hair becomes longer
Passive Effect: None
Action: (1) Madotsuki sits down (Same as default).
Location: Mural World - Interact with the long hair Mouth Monster.
Practical Uses: None
Poop Hair / Poo Hair (ウンコヘアー)
I certainly hope it's hair / Grow poo hair.
Appearance: Madotsuki's hairstyle is done up to resemble a poop. At least; we hope so.
Passive Effect: None
Action: (1) Madotsuki drops a fly which buzzes around in place
Location: The Storage Room - Interact with poop hair Mouth Monster.
Practical Uses: Can be used to mark locations for a short time.
Blonde Hair / Blonde （ブロンド）
Grow long, golden hair / Glow long blonde hair.
Appearance: Madotsuki's hair becomes long and blonde.
Passive Effect: None
Action: (1) Madotsuki sits down (Same as default).
Location: Mural World - Interact with the blond hair Mouth Monster
Practical Uses: None
Triangle Kerchief / Spirit Headband (ずきん）
Wear triangle kerchief / Put on a Spirit Headband.
Appearance: Madotsuki wears a triangle kerchief as a tiara, symbolising death in Japanese culture.
Passive Effect: In the 'ghost form', Madotsuki is invisible to NPCs.
Action: (1) Madotsuki transforms into an 'invisible' ghost, and becomes translucent. (Note: In older versions of the game, the 1 key would make you gradually less visible, and the 3 key would make you gradually more visible.)
Location: Ghost World - Catch and interact with the Fleeing Ghost
Practical Uses: When in 'ghost form', lunatic Toriningen can be avoided as Madotsuki is invisible to them, but they will trap her if she interacts with them intentionally.
Witch （まじょ）
Become a witch / Become a witch incarnate.
Appearance: Madotsuki becomes dressed like a witch, including the pointed hat and robe.
Passive Effect: None
Action: (1) Madotsuki mounts a broom and hovers a short distance from the ground.
Location: The Witch's island, Dense Woods - Interact with Kimajo.
Practical Uses: Can be used to fly off The Rooftop of the Mall. Pressing Z returns to the rooftop, Pressing 1 dismounts the broom in midair, causing Madotsuki to fall out of bed and wake up.
Demon / Oni （おに）
Become a demon / Reconstitute as an oni.
Appearance: Madotsuki transforms into a Demon. Her skin turns red, horns appear on her head and she wears some sort of animal skin.
Passive Effect: None
Action: (1) When it's raining, a clap of thunder and lightning can be produced. In snow, only the thunder is heard.
Location: In the FC Demon Room of the FC Basement - Interact with the FC Demon
Practical Uses: Can be used to summon the Demon in the Pyramids area of the FC World B. The Demon warps you to the Demon Room in the FC Basement.
Buyo buyo / Squish-Squish （ぶよぶよ）
Body becomes soft and squishy / Change into a squishy blob.
Appearance: When Madotsuki walks, she wobbles around like jelly.
Passive Effect: None
Action: (1) Madotsuki wobbles up and down
Location: FC World B - Interact with Buyo Buyo.
Practical Uses: None
Stoplight / Traffic Light （しんごう）
Become a stoplight / Change into a traffic light.
Appearance: Madotsuki transforms into a stoplight
Passive Effect: Madotsuki cannot pinch herself awake due to her lack of arms.
Action: (1) Switches stoplight between green (go) and red (stop)
Location: Dense Woods B (The Road) - Interact with Shitai-san
Practical Uses: When the light is red, it affects NPCs in a couple of ways:
- All NPCs will freeze in place, which is useful for avoiding Toriningen or catching fast-moving characters.
- The appearances of some characters also change, for example:
- Monoko: Transforms into her five-armed state. Also allows access to her full-screen event when interacted with.
- Mafurako: Becomes fully visible.
- Steve 'Leif' Kareha: Closes his eyes.
- Wheelies: Transform slightly.
- The Thing with the Quivering Jaw: Its jaw stops quivering.
- KyuuKyuu-kun: It stops rubbing his pole.
Instructions / Tutorial （ゲームのせつめい）
See the instructions again / Review the game's tutorial.
Appearance: None
Passive Effect: None
Action: (Equip) A basic tutorial on how to play the game
Location: Madotsuki starts with this effect
Practical Uses: Learning how the game works
This is the only effect that can be used in the real world and cannot be dropped as an egg in the Nexus.
Pseudo-effects
These are actions that work like effects, but are not added to Madotsuki's inventory and are not required to finish the game.
Chair
The chair in Madotsuki's dream room can be ridden when Madotsuki sits on it then pulls the chair away. Instead of writing in her diary, sitting at the desk and pressing Z (facing the desk) will let Madotsuki scoot the chair around her bedroom. She can ride the chair to almost anywhere in the dream world (albeit very slowly), but will not be able to get off it until she returns it to her desk. Some areas are also inaccessible with the chair, such as:
- The Famicom worlds, as there is no sprite for the chair in Famicom form.
- The Sky Garden, as she can not go up The Stairway to the Sky.
- The Staircase of Hands, as she can not sleep in any of the dream world's beds. Thus, she is also unable to reach The Spaceship and therefore Mars.
- Witch's Island, as she can not sit on the Traincar seat to travel there.
- The Number World stairway and the White Desert areas containing Monoe, the Eye People, or the Severed Heads, as the Knife effect is required to get to all of them.
Crick in the Neck
The only involuntary effect, Madotsuki has a random chance of waking up with a crick in her neck. She will constantly be looking left. As she does with no effect, pressing 1 will cause her to sit down. She is unable to write in her diary or play NASU. Going back to sleep and waking up again should solve the problem.
Madotsuki will not dream that she has a crick in her neck, and yet there is a matching FC World sprite.
Effect Glitches
Speed Glitch
A useful glitch that quadruples Madotsuki's walking speed. Although Madotsuki will appear as her normal sprite (except in the FC Worlds), the glitch will be active. The bicycle is the most commonly used effect for this, as it allows for quadruple speed. The Speed Glitch is an oversight caused by allowing the player to use the menu in the chair.
Instructions
- Sit in the chair in Madotsuki's dream room
- Open the menu with X
- Equip the Bicycle
- Press down, then Z to exit the chair.
The glitch will now be active. The effect will disappear if you equip any effects. Madotsuki will sit if 1 is pressed, but the other action will happen as well (e.g. with the bike, the bell noise will play).
This glitch can also be used to "store" effect actions. For example, if the above instructions are followed but the Bicycle effect is substituted for the Midget effect, Madotsuki will be able to walk through small spaces as if she had the Midget effect equipped, despite using her normal sprite. It should also be noted that using any other effect other than the Bicycle still increases Madotsuki's walking speed, though not as much as when the Bicycle is used.
Hyperspeed Glitch
A related glitch that is slightly more complicated, but allows the effect to stack allowing for movement eight times faster than the walking speed, which is equal to that of Candle World's Toriningen. There are two ways of acquiring this glitch.
Instructions
First Way:
- Sit in the chair in Madotsuki's dream room
- Open the menu with X
- Equip the Bicycle
- Press Z to ride the chair
- Ride the chair into the Nexus
- Press 5 to drop the Bicycle effect, then pick it back up
- Open the menu (you should hear the 'unable' sound effect), and equip the Bicycle
- Return to the bedroom. There will be no chair at the desk.
- Go to the desk and sit down on the invisible chair, then press down and Z to get up.
Second Way:
- Sit in the chair in Madotsuki's dream room
- Open the menu with X
- Equip the Yuki Onna effect
- Equip the Hat & Scarf effect
- Press Z to ride the chair
- Press 1 to turn into a snowman, then press 1 again
- Open the menu (You should hear the 'unable' sound effect), and equip the bicycle
- Go to the desk and sit down on the invisible chair, then press down and Z to get up.
Note: The second glitch will speed up any equipped effect by simply replacing the bicycle with your desired effect.
Noclip Glitch
Disables most collision, allowing Madotsuki to walk through objects and walls.
- Note This will also work with the Umbrella effect
Instructions
- Sit in the chair in Madotsuki's dream room
- Equip the knife effect
- Press down, then Z to get off the chair
- Quickly (while Madotsuki is moving) press 1 to switch hands with the knife
This will allow Madotsuki to walk through anything with any effect equipped, though some loading zones don't trigger, limiting the amount of areas that can be explored. Hell is useful for getting to locations with this glitch, as it provides alternative methods of getting to areas through the use of Toriningen and Nenrikido that substitute normal loading zones (even the single Henkei Shita located there is the only way to get to Footprint Path A). Toriningen in other locations such as Guillotine World and The Checkered Tile Path also help for accessing other areas.
It should also be noted that getting into any of the Beds in the dream world, even if they send you to The Staircase of Hands, deactivates the glitch, returning Madotsuki to normal. Thus, the glitch can not be utilized in Underground World, The Spaceship, or Mars.
Broken Instructions
A somewhat convoluted glitch that allows you to be able to move, and enter a new area while the instructions are open which leads to a variety of glitches.
Instructions
- Equip the frog effect in the chair.
- Go to the area you want to do this. It has to be somewhere where you can just walk into a different area.
- Press 1 and you should see Madotsuki sit down, then jump back up.
- Equip the cat effect. (Can also be done with an egg drop in the Nexus)
- Wait for a little while and the game will force you to sit down.
- Press the X key once (only once) a few seconds after being forced to sit down.
- Press 1 and the menu should open after the animation for the cat effect is finished.
- Open the instructions (don't close them).
- Wait a few more seconds and then press 1.
- You should hear the same sound as when you use the cat effect, and be able to move freely.
- Walk into the walk in area mentioned before.
- Press the Z normally to reopen the instructions, however pressing Z while equipping effects will not reopen it.
Sub Glitches
Invisible Madotsuki: This glitch is a side effect of broken instructions, and requires no extra setup beyond what's listed above.
BGM storage: Another side effect of broken instructions. The way this one works is that when you open the instructions the music stops, but it starts again after you close it. If you close the instructions in a different area it will take the music from wherever you opened the instructions and play that. This is because the game still has it stored.
Glitched movement: Glitched movement is a glitch that occurs when you close the instructions while sitting down. Your movement will be cycling between 4 of the sitting animation sprites. Left is the first sprite and then it continues in order clockwise.
There is also a newer type of glitched movement. Do the process for the broken instructions, but not the whole thing. Then, close the menu, open it and press 1. It will do nothing. Then, while you still have the Cat effect equipped, go in Snow World and you will be in the sleeping animation sprite. You are able to move freely while you are sleeping.
Broken save: This is a glitch that makes a save file unplayable. To do this glitch do broken instructions and wake up with the instructions. Press 1 so you are sitting, then press Z to reopen the instructions. This will give you glitched movement. If you save with glitched movement your save will be unplayable.
Broken witch event: If you do broken instructions and close the instructions in the witch event the game will put you in the center of the witch event where you can work around. This works because the game stores Madotsuki when you open the instructions, so if you close the instructions in the witch event the game will think it needs to put you back into the game in the same way you were when you opened the instructions. This causes there to be two Madotsukis you control at the same time. As well as enables menu use.
Video demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIPXeCRhY2s&t=1s
Unused effects
These are effects that exist in the sprite sheets and have limited handling in the game's coding, but are not accessible in the game. These may be added in a future version of Yume Nikki.
Blindfold
Appearance: Madotsuki wears a black blindfold.
Speculation: A type of effect that affects what Madotsuki can (or can't) see.
Grayscale
Appearance: Madotsuki appears in monochrome.
Speculation: It's possible this was intended to be the appearance Madotsuki takes on in the White Desert, as there is no counterpart FC World sprite. If this is the case, then it's likely that it was dropped since it could cause confusion as to whether the White Desert was really white, or whether the effect was a result of a problem with the player's perception of it (as is the case with old monochrome photos).
Allowing Madotsuki to retain her hues makes it clear that the player's vision is normal and that the world is white.
Another idea is that this is an effect that you get from the White Desert that makes Madotsuki (and possibly the room you are in) monochrome.
These sprites are used for Madotsuki's Ghost in Mini Hell, however.
Will o' the Wisp
Appearance: Madotsuki transforms into a flame-like spirit wearing the Triangle Kerchief.
Speculation: A possible alternate form considered for the 'ghost form' of the Triangle Kerchief, as spirits are commonly depicted as blue wisps in Japanese folklore (they're known as "Hitodama" [人魂, ひとだま]).
Note that the sprites below the mugshot have (to date) only been found in version 0.04, but are still unused in that version. It appears that it would have been able to change colors.
Trivia
- When the Steam release of Yume Nikki first came out, the translation mislabeled many effects with different names, such as the Fat effect being called "Get Fat", the Flute being named "Whistle", the Severed Head being called "Talking Head", the Demon effect being called the "Devil" effect, and the Instructions being called "Game Info". This was fixed 12 days after the original release. The mobile version of the game also features some different names, such as the Midget being named "Dwarf", the Medamaude being called the "Evil Hand", the Nopperabou being called "Faceless", and the Severed Head being called the "Chopped Head".