Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks has averted closure after???????????????????????????? KRAFTON, Inc. purchased the studio and the aforementioned IP from Microsoft.

Announced in a Krafton press release, the PUBG publisher said it “welcomed the talented people of Tango Gameworks to their team,�after an acquisition that would “include the rights to Tango Gameworks�acclaimed IP, Hi-Fi RUSH.�/p>

Notably missing from the acquisition are the IPs of the studio's previous works, Ghostwire: Tokyo and The Evil Within??, which Microsoft will continue to retain at this tim?e.

Established in 2010 by industry veteran Shinji Mikami, Tango Gameworks is no stranger to new ownership, as it was purchased by Bethesda’s parent company, ZeniMax Media, that same year. In 2021, it came under new ownership again following Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax. A sequel to Hi-Fi Rush was in the planning stages prior to - and possibly contributing to ?- the announcement in May that Tango would be among four studios slated to shut down.

With Krafton’s commitment to “maintain continuity at Tango Gameworks, allowing the talented team to continue developing the Hi-Fi RUSH IP and explore future projects,�it appears?? that the studio has been granted a second chance to resume work on this follow-up title.

Although studio founder Shinji Mikami left in 2023, the creative director at Tango Gameworks, John Johanas, confirmed in a post on X/Twitter that he would remain at the studio, stating, “We’re back, baby!�/p>

Although it's unclear how many other previous staff members will return to the company, Krafton stated that they “[intend] to support the Tango Gameworks team to continue its commitment to innovation and delivering fresh and exciting experiences for fans.�/p>

No news was shared on whether the upcoming physical release of Hi-Fi Rus?h ??via Limited Run Games will be affected by this transaction, but it does not appear likely as the press release stated that “there will be no impact on the existing game catalog of The Evil Within, The Evil Within 2, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and the original Hi-Fi RUSH game.�/p>

While this is an uplifting turn for the nearly-defunct studio, it is worth noting that Krafton’s is not without its own track record of layoffs, with 32 staff let go from Striking Distance Studios last year after its debut title, The Calisto Protocol, fell short of sales expectations. Regardless, this is undeniabl??y a more ideal outcome for the company than anybody could have expected, with renewed opportunity under new ownership.

This surprising turn of events offers a faint glimmer of hope to the desperate fools like myself still holding out for the Tango team to conjure up The Evil Within 3 someday. If Toys for Bob can partner with Microsoft for a new ga??me after separating from them earlier in the year, what’s stopping Tango from collaborating with Microsoft on another Evil Within title in the future?

The post Hi-Fi Rush and developer Tango Gameworks acquired by PUBG’s Krafton appeared first on Destructoid.

A week after Nintendo nearly broke the Internet with a very cryptic and unnaturaly creepy video of a smiling man wearing a bag over his head, the company has finally revealed what the Emio viral campaign was all about. Turns out Emio is the star of a new game in a series dating back to the Family Computer (Famicom) Disk System days that is about ?to make a spooky return.

Via a video that can only be accessed directly on YouTube, Yoshio Sakamoto, the man who's been behind the series this whole time, reveals that Emio is the star of Emio - The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club.

What is Famicom Detective Club?

It's this club:

It's also the name of an adventure game series that has long been on hiatus. So far, it's composed of only two entries: The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind. They came out in 1988 and 1989, respectively, and were bot??h designed and ??directed by Sakamoto.

The Missing Heir is about the investigation of a mysterious death in the Ayashiro Dynasty, whereas The Girl Who Stands Behind is a prequel that follows the investigation of a creepier folklore tale seemingly more akin to what Emio is teasing.

These are adventure games in the vi?sual novel style where we play as a young detective who roams the Japanese countryside and solves mysteries by interrogating people and examining objects. Though its gameplay was similar to that seen in many visual novel titles of the time, this series was ground-breaking for its themes of murder and drug abuse.

The original games never saw the light of day outside of Japan, but you can play remakes of the two original Detective Club series on the Nintendo Switch. I've never played either game, but it seems like there are those, like Destructoid's own CJ, who likes their stories and finds the remakes engaging en?ough for you to get nowadays. There are also detractors, who claim that the original games haven't aged well for modern audiences, and that ??the great-looking remakes still su??ffer from the same gameplay problems plaguing the original games.

Detective Club: Origins

Producer Yoshio Sakamoto joined Nintendo as a designer, working on games like Metroid and Kid Icarus before his start with the Detective Club series '88. His main inspiration was a 1983 Enix game for the NEC PC-6001, The Portopia Serial Murder Case, which Sakamoto claims had a mind blowing effect on him. (Square Enix would later re-release Portopia using AI chat-bot technology, which did not go over well.) He'd previously thought games had to be all about action, not something such as procedural?? investigation.

In a 2000 interview translated by Shmuplations, Sakamoto tried to have Detective Club not emulate mystery novels, bu?t something that would? work effectively as a game.

"I?n the context of a game, I think a complex and detailed plot demands too much of the player, so I wrote a scenario tailored specifically to the format that, when viewed objectively, might seem a little half-baked, but is more co??ncerned with having the player enjoy the flow of the plot," said Sakamoto.

Nintendo is a company known for holding on to its employees, so it's not particularly surprising that Sakamoto has been there for so long. But what has he been up to since the release of the last Detective Club game in '89? Well, it turns? out that though he's not the most famous names in Nintendo's roster, he's still one of its most prolific develo??pers.

During the Detective Club hiatus, Sakamoto would continue to work on some notable Nintendo series, like Wario and Metroid. He wound up directing classics such as Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, and also produced Metroid Dread. Do you like all the cool new mechanics introduced in Metroid Fusion? Well, according to another interview translated by Shmuplations, those came about because the team wanted Samus to sport a new look. Sakamoto tried to get them to think about new gameplay elements, and the in-game re??ason for them.

"The very first thing I needed them to understand was what kind of game Metroid is. I told them they were like a lowly enka singer who had suddenly struck it rich�but I don’t think they understood that. [Laughs] My goal, of course, was to impress upon them how important it is that the team that makes Metroid really understand what Metroid is all about."

Yoshio Sakamoto, via Shmuplations

While Sakamoto didn't create the Metroid series, he's arguably one of the most powerful creative forces in the history of 2D Metroid games. Then in the year 2000, Sakamoto even created and directed Card Hero, a Game Boy Color title inspired by Pokémon and Magic: The Gathering that ended up getting a physical release as short-lived tradin?g card ?game. He's since worked on a variety of Nintendo games, including Rhythm Heaven, Tomodachi Life, and Metroid: Samus Returns.

My bet is that Nintendo didn't didn't greenlight a new Detective Club from Sakamoto solely due to the popularity of this series. I fully believe that Sakamoto and his team have spent a lot of t?ime working out how to update the series for modern player??s in a memorable way. Remember Samus' suit: this is not the kind of person to make games without good reason.

Let's see how the Detective Club series has evolved after so long in dormancy once Emio releases on the Switch on August 29.

The post With Emio’s reveal, here’s what to know about the Famicom Detective series appeared first on Destructoid.

The quest to catch them all never ends, especially in Pokémon Go, where Niantic has slowly been doling out Pokémon from past titles as time goes on. Pokémon from Gen 5's Unova region have been in the game for a while now, many with their own evolu?tion techniques that are unique to Pokémon Go. The most common of these is evolution?? via the Unova Stone.

This guide will go over the best ways to get Unova Stones, as wel??l as which Pokémo??n use them to evolve, so that players can know what exactly they need to do the catch them all.

How Do You Get Unova Stones in Pokémon Go?

Unova Stones can be collected in two ways:

• Completing Research Breakthroughs
• Defeating Team GO Rocket Leaders or Giovanni

Both methods give the player a very small chance??, about 1%, to receive a Unova Stone as a reward. These methods take large amounts of time to complete as well, so players would be best to play continually and plan on gathering Unova stones over time, rather than trying to find a way to earn them quickly. By completing the daily research tasks and taking on Team GO Rocket balloons and PokéStops, players will eventually gather the necessary Unova Stones.

What Pokémon Need Unova Stones To Evolve?

There are seven Pokémon that need Unova Stones to Evolve, as liste?d below:

• Eelektrik, evolving into Eelektross
• Lampent, evolving into Chandelure
• Minccino, evolving into Cinccino
• Munna, evolving into Musharna
• Panpour, evolving into Simipour
• Pansage, evolving into Simisage
• Pansear, evolving into Simisear

While it may seem disheartening to learn that the Unova Stone is so rare, players can at least take solace in knowing they will only need ?seven of them to complete the Pokédex. As long as players log in and play consistently, they will be sure to earn enough Unova Stones for all required evolutions.

The post How to get Unova Stones in Pokémon Go appeared first on Destructoid.

There aren't many video game developers who are as popular as Hideo Kojima. He left an indelible mark on the gaming world through the Metal Gear franchise, then managed to reboot his career following his departure from Konami. A new studio, Kojima Productions, was formed, and its first game, Death Stranding, was released in 2019. The studio's mascot is Ludens, and he wears a spacesuit, maki?ng him look ready for? any adventure.

Recently, a fan took inspiration from Ludens and created a handmade ring for Kojima. The ring, which Kojima showed off on Twitter, features the Ludens helmet, and the words "60th anniversary" are engraved, likely a reference to Kojima turning 60 this year. The eccentric game ?creator expressed great gratitude for the beautiful ring.

The significance of Kojima Productions' Ludens mascot

Ludens is the Latin word for play, and it beautifully captures Kojima's driving philosophy. The mascot's name is a reference to the 1938 text by Johan Huizinga titled Homo Ludens. The text theorizes that it would be more accurate to characterize ?humans as a species of play, as play and imagination form integral parts of human societies and culture.

The concept weaves its way into Death Stranding, as seen with the Ludens sunglasses players receiv??e early on. It features the following relevant description: "Sunglasses designed with 'Homo ludens' in mind, their form encourages the wearer t?o never forget their playful side".

Despite turning 60, Kojima has certainly not forgotten his playful side, as he recently posted a picture of himself holding a Concorde Lego set. He's also shown his love for Starfield, suggesting he's been quite star-bound lately.

The post Hideo?????????????????????????? Kojima receives gorgeous handma??de Ludens ring from fan appeared first on Destructoid.

Sympathy for the Underdog

We're still a few months away from seeing the eighth mainline entry in the Like a Dragon series. Fortunately, it won't be long before players meet Kazuma Kiryu again in the spinoff, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. That's right, Kiryu did such a thorough job erasing his name that he goes by the unsuspecting name of "Joryu". All the while, he'll find himself once again embroiled in threats, violence, and underworld intrigue. But those who manage to endure these trials will get treated to a Special Trial Version of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.

SEGA and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama revealed this and much more in an overview trailer and developer update video, which doled out a deeper look at the spinoff's story and gameplay before moving onto the bonus goods. Of note to hardcore fans, the unlockable Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth demo will include scenes that aren't present in the main game. This won't be a problem for Like a Dragon completionists, but it's an interesting approach to demo presentation. Of course, we don't know how much content we'll see in the sample. 

Like a Dragon Gaiden catches up with the former series star after he faked his death and made himself scarce. Yokoyama says this entry will offer "the best insight into the personality of Kazuma Kiryu". Even though, of course, we all know his personality really only comes out on the dance floor. The other side of his personality awaits at the end of his fists and feet. The trailer reinforces this by highlighting the gadget-focused Agent Style combat alongside some old fashioned Yakuza street fighting. 

[caption id="attachment_397465" align="alignnone" width="640"] Screenshot via Sega[/caption]

Tokyo Drifter

It wouldn't be a Like a Dragon game without minigames to distract you from those battles without honor and humanity. Gaiden looks to get carried away with everything from arcade games to arena brawls, cabaret clubs with somewhat creepy live-action footage and, of course, karaoke. What's that? You made a time-sensitive threat against the orphans I devoted my life to back in Okinawa? Sorry, the night is young and I just got to the chorus of "Today is a Diamond." 

Mainstays like Goro Majima, Daigo Dojima and Taiga Saejima are on tap for the Coliseum battle arena and can join your team if you pre-order to get the Legendary Fighter Pack. They'll join Kiryu (sorry, I mean Joryu!) when Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name launches on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on November 9, 2023. Meanwhile Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth will launch sometime in early 2024. 

The post You’ll need to beat Like a Dragon Gaiden to play the next game’s demo appeared first on Destructoid.

Straight from the horse's mouth

Since the premature death of Silent Hills and the P.T. demo, we've seen a constant stream of supposed leaks and rumors about what will be the next Silent Hill game.  Plenty of people claim to have inside information, but this Wednesday, we'll hear it directly from the people who actually run the show.  Konami dropped word on Sunday that a Silent Hill Transmission will broadcast on October 19 and will feature "the latest updates for the Silent Hill series."

//twitter.com/Konami/status/1581754864702398464

It's anybody's guess what we'll see in the show, but I'd put my money on Konami pulling back the curtain on that recently uncovered Silent Hill: The Short Message product listing.  Could The Short Message be a new game or a remake of one of the previous games in the series?  Is it that Abandoned game we've all stopped making fun of?  I used the Silent Hill: Shattered Memories key art in the banner image because Sam Barlow mentioned a follow-up to that masterpiece in the past.  And Masahiro Ito seems to be aware of it.  I guess as long as Konami isn't reveal?ing a new pachinko machine, it sho??uld be worth tuning in for.

The Silent Hill franchise has been in purgatory for about a decade following the release of Downpour and Book of Memories in 2012.  Hideo Kojima famously tried to take the reigns of the franchise in 2014 with Silent Hills, but following a well-publicized fallout with Konami, he left the company and the project behind to form his own studio.  There have been many rumors of Kojima creating a Silent Hill game over at Kojima ??P??roductions, but there's not been anything concrete on that front.

Whatever it is, fans won?'t have to wait long. The Silent Hill Transmission is set for October 19 at 2:00 pm Pacif?ic.

The post ?Konami set to reveal the latest on the Silent Hill series this Wednesday appeared first on Destructoid.

But who will play Abobo?

River City Girls 2 director Bannon Rudis sent me a cryptic message on Friday. "There is a play in Japan. I have no info on this."

That's the kind of mystery I live for, so I got to researching, and eventually found out that a theater company called Solid Star (Heaven Eleven, Yu x You) is putting on a River City Girls play based on the original game. It's set to be performed live from December 7th to 11th, 2022. That's quite the limited run! And the cast is massive, maybe larger than that of the original game. Is that even possible? Bannon tells me that neither he nor River City Girls 2 writer Adam Tierney have anything to do with this production, so like Willie Scott once sang, "Anything Goes."

I'd love to see Bannon and Adam go to Japan to review this official(?) River City Girls play, but I'm not sure who'll pay to make that happen. Maybe Solid Star will? Even better would be if they shelled out some extra dough to cast my old Road Rules Northern Trail friend Bob Sapp as Abobo. Bob also hit me up just last Friday, for the first ti??me in 25 years, to see how I was doing. Having Bannon and Bob come at me on the same day feels l?ike more than a coincidence.

Solid Star, if you're reading this, I will personally pay for Bob's airfare and ??lodging if that's what it takes to see him hit the stage in your show. Abobo was the role he was born to play.

The post The River City Girls hit the stage in a new Japanese p?lay appeared first on Destructoid.

It's fun 2B fashionably late

NieR: Automata was first released in 2017, just close enough to the Switch launch date that it could have helped define the console's larger identity. It's definitely a "Style over Horsepower" game, and did little to tax the hardware of the now last-gen PS4. It's also developed by PlatinumGames, who've done a lot to build their audience on Nintendo consoles in recent years. Between The Wonderful 101, the full Bayonetta franchise, and Astral Chain, the Switch is where the bulk of their character action games live now. That's another reason why it's felt a little weird to see NieR: Automata on every major platform but Switch for all these years, but then again, weird has always been Nier's thing.

Now the gam??e is finally headed to Switch on Octob??er 4, 2022, and I'm happy to report it's been made slightly more strange along the way.

Before we get into all that, let's do a quick recap of some of what makes NieR: Automata different. You might not already know, because people really don't like explaining this game. Even talking about how it plays may spoil some of it, because many of its mechanics are tied directly to its story. But it's safe to tell you upfront that Automata is more "arcade-y" than most character action games. It even starts off with a traditional shmup-style sequ?ence, setting the stage for a massive amount of mechanical death to follow.

After that opener, the action largely sticks to the third-person melee-and-guns action that fans of the genre have come to expect. The only initial clue that there's more going on here comes from a short warning. Ironically enough, the game doesn't "automatically" save, so you can't turn it?? off anytime you want without ??killing your progress.

Again, there are story reasons for that. Like Undertale and Chrono Trigger, NieR: Automata is meant to be played through again and again for different endings, so when and where you save counts in a big way. After you see them all, these endings all work to sort of explain why 2B (the Hamlet-inspired star of the game) is fighting against an army of trash-can-looking robots?? named after guys like Karl Marx and Soren Kierkegaard.

The fact that so many of those last-gen, occasionally pitiably automatons look alike probably helps NieR: Automata to run so well on Switch. There just isn't a lot going on here to cause the current-gen hardware to chug. I didn't notice any new slowdown or frame rate drops when playing the game ??in handheld or docked mode. Load times were also a non-issue.

I was surprised to see that my o?nly problem with the visuals? of this Switch port came from how loyal it is to the source material. Like in the original version of the game, the camera sometimes zooms way out and 2B gets really small on-screen. That was fine on a big TV, but on the original Switch, it can be hard to keep track of her.

Having the camera switch to a side view, a landscape view, or a top-down angle is yet another way that the gameplay relates to the underlying narrative themes. Taking "multiple perspectives" is a big part of what series creator Yoko Taro wants players to do with all the Nier games. But for handheld players, t?hat might mean getting your girl lost in a h??ail of purple bullets and rusty, rotted-out androids.

As for additional content, the game comes with the previously released Automata DLC, some exclusive skins, and also optional motion controls. I didn't see that last one coming. The character action community historically hates motion controls. Back in the Wii days, fans of the genre almost lobbied immediately to have traditional control options added to the No More Heroes and MadWorld franchises, and they succeeded on both fronts. Nintendo even made motion controls optional in its Switch re-release of Skyward Sword, a game designed from the ground up for them.

So it's fitting that NieR: Automata on Switch flies in the face of convention yet ??again by jamming motion controls into the game just for the heck of it.

At least, it might be just for the heck of it. After testing them out and seeing that they work fine (if you don't care about a touch of input lag), I went back to button presses right away, but I wouldn't at all be surprised if there is a new Switch-exclusive "waggle only" ending hiding away in there somewhere. Given Yoko Taro's intere??st in making an adult video someday, we can guess how that might turn out.

All in all, there aren't a lot of reasons to double-dip on NieR: Automata for Nintendo Switch, but the motion controls are a cute novelty, a??nd having the option to get some of those extra endings while you're on the go (or in the bathroom) in handheld mode is always a good thing.

As a slightly obsessive Platinum fan, it will be fun for me to see Automata's icon lined up alongside the full Bayonetta trilogy ?o?n my Switch dashboard by the end of October.

The post NieR: Automata on Switch ought to have come earlier but it’s nearly perfect appeared first on Destructoid.

Sweaty men not included

I’ve been eagerly anticipating the release of Advance Wars 1+2 Re-boot Camp since its announcement. I’ve loved the series since I first played it on Game Boy Advance back in 2001. At the time, I had no idea that the games date back to the Famicom, and, for some reason, Advance Wars was just the first we got in North America. When I started co??llecting for the Famico??m, it was one of the first games I looked for.

I wound up with Daisenryaku due to a strangely worded listing. The collector’s market was kind of w??eird back t??hen.

I did eventually land what I was looking for. I had the privilege of trying it out with a friend of mine who also loves the series. As it turned out, there was some to be had. Nothing? that hasn’t been antiquated by later games in the series, but fun nonetheless.

I want to talk about the box art to Famicom Wars because it’s one of the strangest I’ve ever seen. Forget about bearded fellows playing the banjo or horrible Sega Master System covers, Famicom Wars decided to promote itself using a row of sweaty boot camp trainees screaming at the camera. I honestly cannot fathom the discussions that went on around the use of it. W??as Nintendo happy? Was the development team happy? Did the ??company that put this together ever find work again?

Those sweaty men don’t feature within the game. Instead, it’s the same bizarre light-hearted app??roach to war that we’re used to from the ser?ies. Okay, there’s no dialogue, so we don’t get COs patting each other on the back for the great battle that resulted in untold collateral damage and lives lots, but it’s still presented in an off-puttingly goofy fashion. Forget the horrors of war, just focus on the strategy.

Perhaps predictably, Famicom Wars is the formula distilled down to its purest elements. You’ve got the Red Star and Blue Moon armies.?? They’re evenly matched, and the COs are? just generic army dudes. However, the main gameplay elements are all here. Grid-based, units with strengths and weaknesses, terrain that offers defensive cover, and capturing cities for a better daily income. If you know how to play Advance Wars, then you’re all set here. If you don’t, then just know it’s a simple take on the tactical war genre.

Many of the units that would be carried through the Game Boy Wars games and into Advance Wars existed here. Tanks and artillery in light and heavy flavors, infantry, bazooka infantry, battleships, and bombers. The big difference is that APCs and supply trucks are separate units. The supply trucks deserve special mention because they’re very unintuitive. When in a group? of units, they always resupply the unit closer to the enemy. They would also sometimes just refuse to resupply for reasons I couldn’t discern. Maybe if I had the instruction manual.

One feature that I wished was carried over to later games in the series is the persistent campaign. There’s no story mode, but there’s a series of islands to be taken over. If you’re playing a 2-player campaign, then you’re essentially fighting to see who can capture the most islands. There’s a bat?tery backup in the cartridge, which means that you can keep the campaign going over multiple play sessions. Unfortunately, the battery in my ca?rtridge died. Have you ever tried opening a Nintendo-type Famicom cartridge? There are no screws, just plastic clips. Taking them apart without breaking those clips is a harrowing experience.

There are some drawbacks. The AI takes all the time to make its moves as a human player would, but without the conversation and smack talk. It’s not bad in early maps where there aren’t many units fielded, but in the bigger maps, I would literally walk away from the game and come back after a few minutes to find that they were still thinking about moving units. This was a problem with a lot of early turn-based strategy games. SD Gundam World, for example, or even Game Boy Wars.

It’s also a rathe??r unbalanced game. I recall a ??match where I was being trampled by a friend of mine in 1v1. I was on the ropes, but I turned the whole battle around because I was the first one to drop the money on a battleship. Those beasts hit anything; land, sea, air. They’re the ultimate artillery and I can’t think of a single strategy that could defeat a blockade of those things. Of course, I’m no, uh�Captain Picard. I’m drawing a blank here on actual military leaders.

I had to bri?ng up that time I won because he was always better than me at s??trategy games.

It’s somewhat important to note that, while both games are similar, Famicom Wars predated Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light by about two years. Both were designed by Intelligent Systems, or perhaps more accurately programmed by Toru Narihiro. While Fire Emblem is a much more advanced game with its narrative, persistent unit death, and RPG elements, there’s a lot of Famicom Wars DNA in there, and itâ€??™s unlikely it would ex?ist without its predecessor.

It’s easy to say that Famicom Wars was made obsolete by later games in the series, but I think it’s more important to appreciate how fun it still is. Even back in 1988, the foundation of the series was pr??etty strong. I just wish we got it over here.

Nintendo did recently go to the effort of localizing the original Famicom version of Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light, though they only offered it for a limited amount of time and then, mystifyingly, pulled it from stores. However, they tend to have more respect for the Fire Emblem series since the western audience latched onto it and turned it into a million-seller. Maybe if Advance Wars 1+2 Re-boot Camp succeeds, we’ll finally see a localization. On the other hand, you could just use the map editor to remake all the Famicom Wars maps, so what do I know?

As for what’s there now, if you’re brave, ?you can poke around with the Japanese menus and try to figure things out. Otherwise, you need to know the language. There’s no story, but there are a lot of stats and unit types. Luckily, ?there is a fan translation available. Maybe check it out if you’d like to see where this series spawned.

Check out previous Famicom Fridays right here.

The post Famicom Wars was already a solid foundat?ion for Advance Wars appeared first on Destructoid.

Ikuze!

It’s an absolute crime that we got so few titles from the Ganbare Goemon series in the West. Not that all of them were terrific, but they almost always tried new things and were usually enjoyable. We didn’t see our first until the third (Fourth? Fifth? It’s complicated) game in the series, localized as 1992’s Legend of the Mystical Ninja on SNES.

While the original Ganbare Goemon on Famicom got the series off to a good start, it would be 1989's Ganbare Goemon 2 that would establish one of the franchise’s hallmark features: s??imultaneous co-op.

As the story goes, Goemon is in prison, where he meets his soon-to-be BFF Ebisum?aru. Ebisu-chan tells of a mystical treasure. Bored of life in prison, the duo decides to just leave and traipse across Japan to look for this treasure.

There’s a lot borrowed and a lot changed from the first Ganbare Goemon. The original title had a pretty strict gameplay loop of having you seek out three passes in each level to proceed. While that makes a return for some stages, Ganbare Goemon 2 shakes things up by ending others with bosses and cutsc?enes. There’s less emphasis on finding holes in the ground by jumping over them. It also doubles down on the mini-g??ames and anachronism jokes.

The Goemon series has never been totally straight-faced, but there’s an obvious decline into insanity throughout the titles. Ganbare Goemon 2 for example, has yokai-interrupted strip shows, the option to run into the women’s bath, and a store that sells Konami game cartridges that changes the enemies into popular characters from other games. While there are no roller-skating giant robots just yet, the weirdness Goemon is known for is in full swing.

It’s also where Goemon really begins his traipse across Japan. Most games in the series involve him traveling around his home country, but the original Ganbare Goemon stuck to one prefecture. Here, you travel from Kyushu to Hokkaido, one level at a time. Feudal Japan is maybe not as splendiferous as it would be on the SNES, but it gives the Ganbare Goemon 2 a decent sense of variety and a tangible feeling of? progr?ession.

It can be a grind, however. Most levels subscribe to the rule of two passes being underground and one of them being in a �D�maze. However, you can also buy passes in stores, which can be expensive. There’s no indication of where the underground passages are hidden, so you jump in slightly conspicuous spots to find them. You might just wind up buying the passes to avoid the hit and miss of ??leaping across the levels.

But one stage doesn’t even give you the option. You have to buy all three passes. The only ways to get money are bopping enemies and gambling, so if you haven’t managed to accumulate all the n??eeded scratch by the time you get to that level, you’re l?eft to grind for the rest. This is painful, especially in co-op.

It’s maybe not the best game in the Goemon series, but it is a formative title, cementing standards that would be held through the series�run. One thing to note is that while the Ganbare Goemon series is consistently enjoyable, it’s very rarely great?. Most titles have little issues that hold them back, and the formula in them changes so substant??ially from game to game that it never quite gets things nailed down.

Ganbare Goemon 2’s setbacks larger come down to difficulty and the need to grind. Money can get you far. Items will allow you to take extra hits, you can heal at many shops and inns around the stages, and you can even buy more lives. It?? makes a big difference when it comes to getting through the more difficult areas, of which there are quite a few. It’s not impossible, and I’ve made it through with a co-op partner on more than one occasion; it can just make things a lot more troublesome.

Still, there’s a lot of fun to have in co-op, as long as someone doesn’t mind being the bizarre Ebisumaru. While the first Famicom title may have arrived too early to feel the full effects of The Legend of Zelda and Metroid’s impact on console games, Ganbare Goemon 2 di??tched all the old arcade hold-overs and is a much more enjoyable experience than the first gam??e. It’s a pretty solid title for the Famicom overall.

Can you get through Ganbare Goemon 2 without knowing Japanese? That’s tough. I’ve done it multiple times knowing minimal Japanese, but it’s eno??ugh to let me know what each building does. However, the basics of gameplay are easy enough to grasp without it. Luckily, if you can’t navigate the lang??uage, there are fan translations out there that can greatly demystify things.

It was ported to the Wii U and 3DS Virtual Consoles, but only in Japan. I’m still holding out hope that Konami will bring us a Goemon collection, but considering they had M2 port Getsu Fuuma Den to modern consoles and didn’t bother translating it; forgive me if I'm doubtful.

Check out previous Famicom Fridays right here.

The post Ganbare Goemon 2 is where the series ?starts getting weird appeared first on Destructoid.

Jetto, Jetto, Jetto-man!

I was at the perfect age when Mighty Morphin Power Rangers hit the scene. I absolutely ate it up like almost every kid my age. Then my sister made fun of me for watching it so hard that I actually became too ashamed to tune in. Whenever I bring this up to her, she just says, "you're welcome." Older sisters suck.

I don’t remember what lead me to watch Choujin Sentai Jetman. It was Toei’s 15th entry in the Super Sentai series and was the one right before Kyouryuu Sentai Zyuranger: the series that was adapted into Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I was learning J?apanese, and for some reason, I was curious about Tokusatsu, so I just grabbed the series. I didn’t make it through its 50-some-odd episodes, but I watched a significant chunk and don’t regret it. That is one weird damned show.

Anyway,? there was a Famicom game based on it, and while I wasn’t expecting much, I had to have it. It definitely wasn’t muc??h.

Choujin Sentai Jetman translates to “bird-person squadron Jetman,�which I find rather amusing since it implies that its members are both birds and jets. The story of the show is that a spac??e station explodes while trying to make super-soldiers, and random people in Japan are hit with “birdonic waves.�The group behind Jetman decide to just recruit thes??e people to help save the world from aliens, and understandably, two of the five don’t even want to be there.

From there, if you’re familiar with the Power Rangers formula, it isn?’t much different here. The bad guys, who look like they’re from a Visual Kei band, create monsters to terrorize Japan, and the bird-people jet-men show up to deal with them. Th?ey fight their goons, then they fight the monster, then the monster grows so they summon their robot and fight while causing extraordinary collateral damage.

What I loved about Choujin Sentai Jetman was how weird it was. The monsters were things like a bus or a camera, and then there was my favorite: an evil cup of instant ramen. It had a love triangle, for some reason, and the lead guy never stops ?pining for his dead lov?e, who later turns out to be alive or something.

None of this is translated into the game, but love triangles are a little advanced for the Famicom. Actually, there isn’t much plot represented within the game at all. That would probably take effort, which I don’t think the team at Natsume cared to invest in. Monsters from the show make appearances as boss?es, but I don’t really think their levels reflect the episodes they’r??e from. Granted, it’s been ten years since I watched the show, but I mostly remember the battles happening in quarries and public parks.

Each of the five levels has two parts: a really boring sidescroller and a very crappy fighting game?. You select from the five bird-jets, each using their weapons from the show. Blue Swallow and White Swan have bird blasters. Black Condor and Red Eagle have swords, and Yellow Owl has the gauntlet. Yellow Owl is probably the best, but in the show he’s the comic relief character. No one wants to play ??the comic relief character. They want to play as Gai, the Black Condor, because he smokes and rides a motorcycle. He’s like Japanese Wolverine.

I want to be clear: Choujin Sentai Jetman isn’t strictly bad; it’s just extremely low-effort. The sidescrolling sections are so basic. The only real difference between them is the odd enemy that shows up in some levels but not others. They only scroll horizontally; there isn’t even a token elevator section. It plays like Shatterhand with none of its redeeming qualities.

The boss battles are equally as interchangeable but twice as bullshit. Each boss is largely the same, but to keep you guessing, sometimes they throw two punches in a row, and other times they throw three punches. You have a special bar that charges over time and is t?he real key to beating the bosses,? but you can’t just back off and wait for it to charge, or it’ll be death by chip damage. It really comes down to trying to do more damage than the enemy.

If you’re going to die, it’s probably going to be during the boss battles. That sucks, because if you die during the sidescroller sections, you switch to another ranger and start from the checkpoint, but if you lose to the bo?ss, you start the whole level over again. The levels are stupid-short, so it’s not the end of the world, but when you just want to learn the boss battle, it’s frustrating that you have to do the whole level ag??ain.

After you beat the five initial levels, you’re sent to the end game, which plays out basically the same as any normal level. Th??e whole game can be finished in less than an hour if you already know the basic??s.

Again, Choujin Sentai Jetman isn’t horrible to play; it is just startlingly routine. It’s like the development team created a generic video game template, slapped on the license, and forgot to add the fun. The only thing going for it is that you get to play as your favorite jet-people. It fits my very specific definition of a game.

You don’t really need a translation for Choujin Sentai Jetman. The logo is in Japanese, but the main menu is in English, and there’s no dialogue. You might think there’s no point to it getting released in North America, but Shout! Factory actually released the TV series on DVD in North America back in 2018. Weird, ?but if you like the show, the game?�exists.

Check out previous Famicom Fridays right here.

The post Chouj?in Sent?ai Jetman was more spandex than the Famicom could handle appeared first on Destructoid.

We're definitely not gambling this Famicom Friday

From a young age, video games have covertly been teaching me to gamble, which is funny because I don’t. I think my parents took me to a casino for my 19??th birthday. I won $300 on a slot machine and decided to never gamble again. That means I beat the system. I beat it for $300.

I think video games have just taught me how boring gambling is. Why leave winning up to random chance when I can use my big beefy thumbs to take me up gratitude lane? Even games that mix in some skill aren’t that interesting when I can play against Sam from Sam & Max in Poker Night in the Inventory. Oh, I guess you can’t really buy that anymore. Okay, then against bikini’d women in Xtreme Beach Volleyball 2.

I digress; video games have been at it essentially since video games became a thing. It was no different in Japan, except they also had Pachinko games. Take Mezase Pachi Pro: Pachio-kun for example, which is potentially the cutest way ??to feed a burgeoning addiction.

If you don’t know what Pachinko is, I’ll tell you this: it definitely isn’t gambling. Gambling is illegal in Japan, afte?r all. No, this is nothing like ??it. You win balls, not money, then you take those balls and trade them for a special token. You can then take that special token somewhere else (completely unrelated to the pachinko establishment, I assure you) and sell it for money. See? Nothing like gambling.

Despite not being gambling, a not insignificant percentage of Japan’s GDP is generated by Pachinko and Pachislot. It’s ??rooted in the country’s culture, and like gambling over h?ere, it’s ruined some lives.

So here’s Pachio-kun to teach you the basics. Like in, say, Casino Kid, you roam the parlor as an anthropomorphic pachinko ball.?? There are rows of machines �72 in all. Only three machines are really unique, but each has different angles for its pins, affecting how the balls bounce. Your goal is, I’m told, to drain all those balls. Each machine has a set amount, and you need to suck them?? all dry. Listen, it’s very monotonous, and my brain had ample time to start thinking up juvenile analogies involving balls.

You adjust the strength that the balls are ejected, then you just�hold the b?utton down, making small adjustments a??nd trying to get them into the machine’s various holes. Because of the various ways that the pins are bent, it’s impossible to just find the right vector and stick to it. Even after finding a vague spot where you find consistent success, the lever loosens over time, so you have to stay awake and just keep moving it back to where it was.

You can inspect the pins, and maybe that will give you some way of strategizing the quickest way of defeating the machine, but this is an 8-bit system. Chances are that lever has 255 settings, and most of those are too strong or too soft to really matter. It is not difficult to find a swe??et spot, and then it’s just a matter o??f keeping your eyes open to keep the balls flying to the right place.

There were at least twelve of these Pachio-Kun games: five on the Famicom and three on ??the Super Famicom. On top of that, there were another three on the PC-Engine CD and one on the PC-FX. That seems a little excessive, but at least on the Famicom they’re cheap and fun to collect.

They’re also interesting for maybe ten minutes, and after that, if you’re still playing, it’s probably for that constant endorphin rush of seeing numbers go up. I guess some people have more desire for that than I do. Games that are entirely just slot machines are still created to this day, and those just involve pressing a button and passively awaiting the results. At least Pachio-kun lets you annoy the other patrons.

Speaking of which, there’s a shocking amount of text in Pachio-Kun, but I think most of it is for flavor. I looked for a translation and found hints that one was being worked on but couldn't find the finished product. Still, it’s perfectly playable without n?eeding one. The language of balls is universal.

Check out previous Famicom Fridays right here.

The post Pachio-Kun is a cute way to introduce children to Japan’s favorite addiction appeared first on Destructoid.

Break out the rohos for this Famicom Friday

One of the holy grails of the NES library is a game called Little Samson. While it’s a pretty solid game, it commands the highest value for an official NES game (yes, Stadium Events is more expensive, but it’s just a different title screen for World Class Track Meet). It was developed by Takeru, and if you’re unfamiliar with the name, that’s because North America only got one of their games, and it was Little Samson. So, that’s not very helpful.

They made one other game for the Famicom, and that was Cocoron. Let me show you its pedigree: Cocoron was designed by Akira Kitamura. Have you heard of him? He created Mega Man. He was the designer of Mega Man and Mega Man 2. Excited yet? Maybe cool those jets.

Mega Man, this is not, but it certainly tries. Cocoron is definitely an action platformer, but its focus is more on fusion. You start off by creating a character by choosing a head, body, and projectile. Depending on what you put together, you’ll get something with completely different firepow?er, jump height, and speed. While you start off with this character, as you progress, you start building a stable of freakish monstrosities to choose from.

But that’s not all! The level progression, like Mega Man, has you simply pick where you want to go next. However, the stage you’re ?presented with is a combination of the one you’re currently at and the one you’ve chosen with a boss at the end of it. Stages change depending on what sequence you pick, so, technically, there are a lot of unique places to visit.

Unfortunately, that’s the main problem you’ll bump into. Because the stages are all stitched together, their design is positively posterior. Each segment has its own obstacles, but none are as interesting as something you’d find in, say, Mega Man??. Even in?? different environments, some of the sections seem a little too similar.

There’s a big finale after you’ve defeated the main bosses and rescued the princess, which, once again, is just like Mega Man. The big difference is that you’re tasked with reclaiming all your constructed heroes who have been captured?. It hits when it’s needed and is a nice change of pace.

There are also a lot of options for your character, but certain ones like the boat body don’t make a whole lot of sense to me. Yeah, it can make certain segments of a level easier, but it seems more practical to create a general use character that works for most situations. You can have a stockpile of char??acters, but they each level up individually,? so it makes more sense to use only one or two. You can only choose a new one at the beginning of each level, so it’s not like you can just swap to the most optimal one for each obstacle.

It’s kind of unfortunate because the platforming is as tight as you’d expect from the creator of Mega Man. The graphics also show a lot of love and detail. Characters who stand on a slope, for example, will change posture to fit the slope. It kind of makes Cocoron feel extremely tech first; one of those games that is trying to see how much it cou??ld squeeze from Nintendo’s 8-bit powerhouse but sort of forgets to place its chips where it counts.

That’s not to say that Cocoron isn’t fun; it’s just a whole heap of wasted potential. The variety that is such a focus is wasted because the design doesn’t necessitate its use enough. The result is a game that doesn’t even provide a convincing argument against Mega Man’s imitators like Bucky O’Hare.

Cocoron is still worth checking out, but more as a curio or tech demo. You won’t find anything quite like it on the Famicom. It feels more like a “can we d??o it�sort of game rather than a “will it be fun�approach.

There’s a decent amount of Japanese text, but you can mostly ignore it. It’s most helpful to know the language when building your character since i??t’s the only way to know what projectile you’re saddling them with. However, for those English monolinguists among us, there is a fan translation available.

Speaking of the language, there’s one strange quirk with Cocoron: I could never figure out how to add a tenten or maru mark when entering a name. To explain briefly, these marks change the consonant sound in Japanese syllables. Without them, I couldn’t spell, for example, robo. It can only be spelled as roho. It’s a strange oversight considering the dialogue has these m??arks. Maybe I’m just missing something, but I don’t know where you hide a function on a Famicom controller. The second player controller’s microphone?

Check out previous Famicom Fridays right here.

The post Cocoron is a strange departure for the creator? of Mega Man appeared first on Destructoid.

Taco Hog missed you

If there’s one Japanese trend that it’s maybe better off we missed out on in the Famicom era, it??’s their non-games. Or anti-games, maybe?? They were deliberate kusoge that played with the expectations players had learned in much more popular games. They were designed to confound. If the gameplay wasn’t obtuse, it was obnoxiously inconvenient, or insurmountably difficult.

Th?at’s how you teach children what it’s like to be an adult.

I’m not sure if these were supposed to be funny, but the joke wears thin pretty quickly. Off the top of my head, I can name three of these games: the legendary Takeshi no Chousenjou, the bizarre Utsurun Desu, and 1988's Paris-Dakar Rally Special. I think the latt?er is th??e most malicious because by looking at the name or cover art, you can’t really tell it’s anything but a racing game.

The Paris-Dakar Rally was an endurance race that, appropriately, started in Paris, France, and ended in Dakar?, Senegal. Due to security concerns, it ended in 2008 and just be??came the Dakar Rally, moving to other regions. I guess some people don’t appreciate it when a bunch of rich people drive high-performance cars through impoverished areas of Western Africa.

Inequality aside, that’s not a bad idea to base a game on, but I don’t think the developers at ISCO, Inc really wanted to. I’m not sure they wanted to make a game at all. In fact, I feel like the notoriety behind Transformers: Convoy no Nazo might have motivated them to t?op it as an unfairly difficult kusoge.

Forget what you know about rally driving, which will be easy if you’re like me because I know very little. Paris-Dakar Rally Special starts you off trying to acq?uire a car, a sponsor, and a co-driver. This means walking the streets, entering every building, and inquiring each of them about the above things. Despite being the most needlessly complicated part of the game, it’s also the easiest because you can’t die or run out of time.

Then it’s time to actually race, and this is where Paris-Dakar Rally Special really starts showing its contempt for you. It’s easy e??nough, at first, as you avoid cars and barrels, but then other cars start coming up from behind and you have little room and time to get out of their way. A single hit drops a life off your gauge, and you can only get hit three times before you have to start the whole level ove?r.

This was the part I was stuck on for the longest. Mainly because it goes on forever. Partially because I wasn’t acclimated to Paris-Dakar Rally Special’s maliciousness.

The next level is, like, sort of a maze.?? You’re still tryin??g to reach the top of the screen, but you need to pilot your rally car through city streets while other cars meander about. It’s straightforward once you learn that going onto the left-most street summons a death car gunning for your tailpipe. However, once again, this segment just keeps going and going. You have to be precise and not make any mistakes to get to the end.

After that is a side-scroller where your car can shoot for some reason. There’s some light puzzle-solving as you need to get out of your car to hit a button and extend a bridge or open a gate. I found this to be one of the easier levels in Paris-Dakar Rally Special.

It looks like you’re in for more of the same in the following stage since it too is a sidescroller. However, after carefully getting across a couple of water hazards, suddenly you just descend underwater to live under the sea. I guess you have to get across the Mediterranean somehow. This is a water stage, much like th??e ones that haunted children of the �0s. However, I didn’t find this to be?? overly taxing.

Then, you’re offroading. This is like a less a??nnoying version of Stage 1. The hardest part is getting across the bodies of water by using raf??ts. The controls are just kind of terrible and missing the raft means death. This version is probably the easiest of the top-down stages, but that’s not saying much.

After that, you’re attacked by either the military or aliens or both. The vehicles look kind of otherworldly to me, but that might just be bad pixel art. Anyway, they want you dead. They did not authorize a race in this vicinity. Thankfully, this leg of the race is one of the shorter ones, and I still think you can die faster on the streets of Paris on l?evel 1.

Finally, the 7th stage of Paris-Dakar Rally Special has you drive along precarious cliffs. My advice: take it slow. It’s a long segment, but there’s pl??enty of time.

Maybe don’t take my advice in going slow, because Paris-Dakar Rally Special ranks you at the end based on your time. Seriously, there’s a bad ending if you didn’t. It isn’t too difficult to beat all the other drivers, but, I mean, it’s a real bummer if you don’t. Paris-Dakar Rally Special is a pretty brutal game. Not the hardest I’ve e??ncountered on the system, but just really stupid hard for what it is.

It’s mostly notable because it’s easy to think this is a game strictly based on the Paris-Dakar Rally, when it is blatantly not that. Not unless I missed something and the drivers actually swim their cars through the Mediterranean Sea. It’s just really weird. It feels like something that shouldn’t exist and probably wouldn’t in today’s market. There are many anti-games that still get re?leased today, but I don’t think any went to the effort of acquiring a license just to pull a bait-and-switch.

If you’re wondering if English monolinguists can play it; sort of. The first section is text-heavy, but?? you can get pretty far just by going into every building and selecting every option. That’s because you essentially need to do that even if you know the language. It’s hard to know which building will give you money and which will provide you with a co-driver. It might help if you patch in the fan translation. Feeling your way through the first area might be the least of your challenges, however.

Check out previous Famicom Fridays right here.

The post Famicom? Friday returns with the legendary bait?-and-switch Paris-Dakar Rally Special appeared first on Destructoid.

The Wide Wide World of Suda-Sports

Is this another April Fools' joke, or did that crazy sonofabitch actually go an?d do it?

Last time we interviewed Suda51, ??CEO of Grasshopper Manufact?ure, I asked him if he'd ever make a badminton game. Suda was a budding star in the sport back in his early years at school, and those days still mean a lot to him. He told us that if he were ever to do something with badminton, he'd want it to be a massive crossover between all his franchises, including No More Heroes (which his company partially owns) and Shadows of the Damned (which they fully own). Then we laughed, because what are the chances of anyth??ing like that ever actually happening?

Well it looks like the chances were pretty good!

[embed]//www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nTOTh??c0SLc[/embed]

Grasshopper Manufacture All-Stars: Killer Badminton is the debut title from Little Grasshopper, the new "all-ages" division of Grasshopper Manufacture. Like Multiversus, WB's upcoming crossover fighter, it looks like Killer Badminton will be free-to-play, but with an initially limi?ted roster of characters.

It's just Travis and Garcia to start, which is a little disappointing, but it's nice to see the two finally take a few swings at each other, especially after their proposed franchise-meld in No More Heroes 3 was cut. Shoko from Liberation Maiden, Toriko from Flower, Sun and Rain, and Notorious from Fire Pro Wrestling World: The Vanishing also make cameo??s at the end of the trailer. They may be in the game too, but so far I haven't seen them.

But is it all a big joke? I don't think so, and not to toot my own horn, but my track record on these kinds of things is pretty spotless. To further add to the game's legitimacy, it looks like Tony Astro, composer of Gold Joe's theme from No More Heroes 3, did the soundtrack for Killer Badminton as well. You can get the full album on Youtube, SoundCloud and Bandcamp.

The post Killer Badminton i??s your new No More Heroes Shadows of the Damned crossover appeared first on Destructoid.

Are you ready for the GAME CRAZE?

The Tokyo Game Show (TGS) is officially set to return in full capacity later in 2022. As announced by organizers CESA, Nikkei, and Dentsu, Japan's premier industry event, which has been on hiatus for the past three years??, will make its grand comeback this Se??ptember, hosting a four-day extravaganza for both industry folk and the gaming public.

The theme for the show will be "Nothing Stops Gaming" �referencing the fact that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused a st??eady shutdown of industry events across the globe, including TGS itself.

"Over these two years, various fun events disappeared from our daily life, but games still lightened up our days," explained CESA in a press statement. "Games will continue to br??ighten up the days of everybody now and forever �this year’s theme implies such strong determination."

In case you still haven't gotten it, the organizers have even banded together to write an actual theme song for the e?vent, ?which goes as follows *clears throat*

Nothing Stops Gaming

"We had to give up doing fun things one after another over these two years. How many times we thought, what happened to our days? Even then, we still had games that kept us going. Thrilling plot twists, captivating and heated experience lightened up our everyday life. Games became our hope.

2022 is the year to show the real spirit of games. Tokyo Game Show has the mission to create our hope and beyond. Update our possibilities. Unprecedented excitement is always born out of something you have never imagined.

Let’s open the gate to the forefront of games. Give courage and enthusiasm to everyone. Show your love of games to each other.

For everyone to share the 'great feeling of living in this era.' Let’s dive into the heart of game craze.

Nothing Stops Gaming!!!"

Makes you think.

TGS is just the latest in a selection of global events that are feeling optimistic about making a comeback in 2022. The San Francisco-based Game Developer Conference (GDC) and European megashow Gamescom have already announced their own "live" events for the year, though E3, typically considered the biggest games show of the entire year, may or may not be making an appearance this summer.

It should be noted that the threat of COVID-19 remai?ns very much in existence, and continues to spread among the global populace. As suc?h, some visitors might still be understandably discouraged from attending said events. It does seem, for the most part, that the industry is making a concerted effort to return to normal... or at least a "new normal."

Tokyo Game Sho??w 2022 is scheduled for September 15-18. It wil??l be hosted at Makuhari Messe in Chiba City, Tokyo.

The post Tokyo Game Show wil??l return in 2022, with its own th?eme song! appeared first on Destructoid.

You ok? You look a little off..?

Nippon Ichi Software has announced that its charming but morbid survival RPG Void Terrarium is to receive a sequel later in 2022. Void Terrarium 2 �or to give it its full name "void tRrLM2(); //Void Terrarium 2" �is currently in development? for PS4 and Nintendo Switch.

While details of the new sequel are currently slim, it seems that o?nce again a brave little survival bot will be tasked with the protection and evolution of the last human on Earth �the young Toriko �as she attempts to thrive, or even survive, in a miserable post-apocalyptic world. Unable to brav??e the outside world due to its toxic atmosphere, Toriko remains within a weak glass terrarium, with the player controlling her robot friend as its scours the land for resources, nourishment, and other elements to make Toriko as comfortable and as happy as she can be in this painful, desolate world.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqp4tIf05Iw

While Void Terrarium has lovely storybook visuals and cute and charming thematics, it is also decidedly grim and distressing. A sickly girl, young Toriko suffers from an abundance of gruesome body-horror illnesses, which must be cured with remedies from the environment. Of course, there is also the ever-looming presence of the end of the universe, and the inherent loneliness of our protagonists. I'm not describing this as a disparaging statement against Void Terrarium, but for yer boy �who has legi????timate and serious empathy issues �even just the original game's trailers were a little much for my tear ducts.

Still, for those of you who enjoyed this incredibly weird but intriguing release, know that there is more adventure en route. While NIS has currently only announced Void Terrarium 2 for Japan, we can very likely expect a localization through its western arm NIS America. So stay healthy, stay tuned and perhaps check out our own CJ Andriessen's review of the original game.

Void Terrarium 2?? is scheduled to launch in Jap??an for PS4 and Nintendo Switch this summer.

The post The cutely, grossly, sadly Void Terrarium is getting?? a sequel appeared first on Destructoid.

It's obscure and a little creepy... for a change

Nippon Ichi Software, in a surprise to end all surprises, has launched a new teaser website, offering up obscure clues to some unknown title currently in the works at the Japanese developer. In keeping with 95% of all NIS teasers, the tone of the website is both old-school in aesthetic while being some?what unnerving.

The site features an old VDU-style monitor, on which appears to be security camera footage of a laboratory of some kind. Visitors to the site can control a cute little researcher, walking around the lab and examining various objects, including files, books, and a cup of coffee. My Japanese is a little rusty??, so I can't translate the in-game text, but ?it is all very intriguing at any rate. in the background, we can hear nothing but some disquieting static. What could it be?

We'll be sure to give you a heads up when NIS spills the beans, with an updat??e expected today.

The post Today is a day, and that means it’s time for a new NIS teaser website appeared first on Destructoid.

Thankfully I keep my soul safe behind firewalls and proxies

Capcom wasn't the only company with a countdown clock leading to today. Atlus also had its own thing going, but it was slightly less mysterious about what would be announced when the clock struck zero, given the website was specifically for Soul Hackers. Early this morning, the developer pulled back the curtain on the Soul Hackers 2 trailer and it looks pretty damn good. Sadly, this is one of those age-rest?ricted trailers which YouTube insists you watch on its website.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=emsm8wfo_MQ

In Soul Hackers 2, players will take up the role of Ringo, a super-intelligent AI, as they team up with various allies to save the world from certain doom. The game is a long, long, long, long-awaited follow-up to Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, which was originally released in 1997 on the Sega Saturn. A 3DS port was released back in 2013 that brought the game to a worldwide audience. If you haven't played it yet, just remember you only have a? year before the 3DS eShop shuts down.

Soul Hackers 2 will launch on August 26, 2022, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Curiously, the Japanese press release for the game lists the Xbox versions as being download only. I'm sure a Switch port will arrive sometime after the console gets Persona 5 Royal.

Speaking of P5, costumes for the Phantom Thieves will be available in Soul Hackers 2 as preorder DLC, though so far this is only b?eing promoted on the Japanese website.

The post Soul H??ackers 2 brings a war against the Devil Summon??ers this summer appeared first on Destructoid.

Kachou on!

Retro Game Challenge is a bit of a special title for me. I never really stopped retro gaming, honestly. When I had my Gamecube, I still busted out my Super Nintendo from time to time, but 2009 was around the time when “retro gamer�was catching on as an identity. I’ve never really considered myself t?o be a “retro gamer�because I play new titles with comparable frequency. I prefer to call myself chrono-agnostic. Regardless, the identity made me reflect on my gaming habits and filled me with a sense of individuality.

Years later, however, I would fall in love with a Japanese show, Game Center CX. Following comedian Shinya Arino as he attempted to c??omplete old titles with his meager skills, it was my gateway into the world of Japanese games and?? culture. It wasn’t long before I had a Famicom of my own and was reading Japanese at the comprehension level of a golden retriever.

I bring up Game Center CX, because we got one of the games based on it, even when no one over here really knew anything about the show. That would be localized as Retro Game Challenge, and while any reference to the show would be scrubbed off, the spirit can never be removed; experiencing games as we did in the �0s. Well, not me. I’m? not old enough to remember the �0s.

At its core, Retro Game Challenge is a compilation of eight games that appear as though they’re ripped straight from Famicom cartridges, but are actually completely new creations. You’re given a list of goals to complete within each game before you can proceed to the next. Each of the games can be completed (and they have to be if you wish to actually finish the game), though there ar?e often tricks and cheats to? get you through to the end quicker.

The games start off with what is essentially Galaga and progress to a strange amalgam of Ninja Gaiden and Metroid, essentially translating the early days of the Famicom to its halcyon days. A decent number of genres are covered, including a Dragon Quest 3 styled JRPG.

??This wouldn’t be all that impressive, but it comes wrapped in a package of nostalgia. You’re thrown from the future back to the �0s where you assume the role of a child. Your goal is to vanquish the demon who sent you back with the help of his younger self. As such, you both plop yourselves in front of a TV and while away afternoon in its cathode glow. Every couple of challenges cleared, your friend brings back a magazine highlighting upcoming games and disclosing cheats for the ones you’re already playing. It’s a rather impressive commitment to replicating the era.

The only crack in its facade is that it is more committed to emulating the Japanese �0s experience. Even the living room sports tatami floors and the console looks a lot like a Famicom. One of the major ways it differs from a Western �0s experience is the emphasis on “hidden characters�and other secrets. A lot of Japanese schoolchildren relished swapping tricks and talking rumors, which is why we got cryptic games like Milon’s Secret Castle. They were puzzles that needed a communi?ty to unravel. That sort of thing never really caught on over here.

There’s also this joke in the game, where one of the titles you play is a sponsored special edition of a game you play previously. Rally King SP is a harder and a bit remixed version of Rally King but otherwise feels like a cop-out to pad the game. This would have been more forgivable if we had experienced the phenomenon of reskinning games with a marketing bent in the west, but I can’t name a single instance of where that happened over here. Meanwhile, in Japan, there were games like All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros based on the radio show and Kyorochan Land, an adaptation of Nebulus that stars the Choc??oball masco?t.

Another joke the game plays that I really don’t appreciate is the old “beat the game a second time but harder to get the real ending.�That wasn’t funny when Ghosts N Goblins did it. You can screw right off with that biz.

Retro Game Challenge also celebrates games that didn’t quite catch on in the same way they did in Japan. Star Prince is essentially Star Soldier, which was super popular in Japan in part because Toshiyuki Takahashi used it to demonstrate his ability to press the fire button 16 times in a second and rockete?d t?o video game celebrity.

For that matter, the JRPG wasn’t a popular genre in North America until around the release of Final Fantasy VII on Playstation, so while Dragon Quest 3 might have been a unifying experienc??e in it??s home country, Enix and Nintendo could hardly even give the game away in the West.

That sort of thing didn’t really ruin the experience for me, personally, as I was too young to be playing games in the �0s anyway. If you were a Western gamer who is looking for a dose of nostalgia, however, it will be dulled slightly by the choice of titles. A North American version might focus more on recreations of The Legend of Zelda, Rad Racer, and Double Dragon.

There’s also the fact that retro gaming isn’t what it used to be. Today, both compilations and individual releases cover large swaths of old libraries, but in 2009, it was still heavily curated and slim pickings. Like I said, being a retro gamer was still emerging as an identity. Old cartridges could be obtained cheaply. The idea of a game replicating what it was like in the �0s was a novel idea. Now, however, many titles try to emulate the experience, whether it’s with pixel art and scanlines or similar compilations like 198X.

However, Retro Game Challenge stands as an earnest and successful attempt at this. It does more than just present you with a series of new games with old design philosophies, it tries to draw you ba??ck to the era; back to your childhood (potentially). If anything, it effectively demonstrates exactly how things have changed.

Unfortunately, Retro Game Challenge didn’t sell well at a time when niche games still struggled against inflexibly high expectations. There was a sequel, which Xseed opted not to localize due to the perceived failure of the first. Itâ€??™s unfortunate, because the sequel takes the formula of the first game and expands upon it, making an even more effective package. There was also a third game on 3DS, but I’ve also heard it isn’t as good. Still, I feel unfulfilled having not playe??d it.

I guess we were lucky to even get Retro Game Challenge. Considering it was based on a show that hadn’t touched our shores yet, Xseed was taking a risk on it. However, in 2009, it was validating to play a game that celebrated the era I still clung to. Old games aren't worse than what we play now, they are simply ever-living examples of how things were at the time. Playing them now on modern consoles only tells part of their story, it's games like Retro Game Challenge that try to tell the whole thing.

For other re?tro titles you may have missed, click right here!

The post Retro Game Challenge for DS is a loving cel??ebration of the 8-bit era appeared first on Destructoid.

But might not appeal to anyone else

I have so many vivid memories of Monster Rancher growing up. For those unaware, this was a monster-training game (and anime!) in which players used their real-life CDs (those things before MP3s took over) to generate monsters. So imagine a whole generation of gamers rifling through their? collection of Backstreet Boys and Sum 41 CDs to find out which ones would provide the coolest and most powerful monster in the game. Or maybe asking their dad for every AC/DC CD (that's fun to say!) in hopes that "Back in Black" might yield something other than another Sue?zo (the one-eyed poster child for the series).

It was an absolute blast and one that just hasn't been replicated for obvious reasons. Actually, I guess there was that one Digimon handheld device that scanned barcodes in the store to give you different Digimon. That was also really neat! But herein lies the problem: this shit is so late-1990s, and to be honest, I'm not really sure Monster Rancher holds up for anyone completely new to the idea.

Seriously, does anyone under the age of 24 own a single music ?CD?

With the new DX ver??sion of these games, CD-hunting has gone by ?the wayside.

Instead, Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX players simply type in an artist or album they want to use, and then click on the CD they want �and off it goes. Again, it's fun to be a millennial a?nd think back to all those amazing artists we used to (and probably still do) jam out to. I didn't need a reason to recall Blind Melon's self-titled album and see what abomination the game spit out at me, but I sure as hell enjoyed doing it! But would anyone else who doesn't have nostalgia for the game and the time period? Probably not.

So, for the uninitiated and soon-to-be-disappointed, after generating a monster using masterpieces like No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom, players take their monstrosity back to the ranch (hence the title) and train it. This is a very passive event; players simply pick a training program, then watch the monster do it. Sometimes they fail, sometimes they cheat, the little bastards. Stats go up and down depending on the training progr??am, and every once in a while, monsters can go on bigger training prog??rams to learn new moves.

This all culminates with the monster fighting in tournaments. The fighting itself can be passive or active, but even the active method isn't very mechanically engaging. Monsters go monstro a monstro (please laugh) and shimmy back and forth while executing attack moves. Players can tell their monster which move to use, but only if they are at the right distance apart from their opponent. Early on, monsters will occasionally not listen, making it all the more...exciting? To be honest, it's kind of lame to describe, but dang if I don't get hyped up while yelling at my little shit for not listening or m??issing a key attack. There is a hard-to-describe riveting nature of it all.

//youtu.be/LQRhmzimAIE

And that's kind of it? Eventually, monsters will die from old age, or even run away. They can be frozen and fused, in line with the monster-seeking madness of the 1990s, but it's still a very passive game. To me, though, this is perfect. Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX is a low-??stakes, chill-out kind of game that fits perfectly with lazy afternoons and vacation days. The music is boisterous and fun (and remastered!), while the PS1 aesthetic brings me back to my youth in all the best ways.

Maybe I'm wrong �maybe a new generation can stumble onto this one day and appreciate it for all that it is; there is something to be said for watching your monster gro?w up, stop cheating on its training, and reap the benefits in future tournaments.

I think it's important to note that I'm honestly not sure there is any appeal in playing the first Monster Rancher. Pl?aying it ??now, I'm pretty confident I have never even played the original before. It just feels like the second game, only worse.

Outside of your nostalgia coming from the OG Monster Rancher, the only real draw here is the second, more robust sequel. The DX version auto-saves frequently, which is wonderful, as well as having a fast-forward feature (not as useful as those in many of Square's ports) and monster sharing and battling online. Great features, but?? other than the better auto-sav?ing, none that I personally am too interested in. I just want my little weird-ass monster to eat his fish, punch rocks over, and fight giant crabs.

The Nintendo Switch port is fine, if not a bit disappointing. There are buttons in the margins that make up for the aspect ratio difference, but you can't actually touch them on the touchscreen. You have to push the associated button.

It's worth noting th??at the screenshots in this article are from the St??eam port, and from what I understand those buttons are clickable with a mouse, though I can't comment personally on the usefulness of the mouse and keyboard control scheme �reading Steam reviews, it's not great. Even the fast forward operates from a menu only. So either everything is in fast forward, or it isn't. Not to mention I had no idea that it was actually the fast forward option because it's just called "FF" with no context.

So while I don't think that Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX is here to sweep up a new generation of fans and propel the series into a second wave of popularity, I do think it hits all the right nostalgia buttons for my generation. This isn't a case of a bad game that we now realize is bad because we're older; it still has that same charm and wonder that it used to, I just don't know if it translates well to a new audience without the physical media and monster-collecting craze as context. But, to borrow a phrase from the younger generation, playing Monster Rancher again while cozy in my pajamas is definitely a vibe.

_{[These impressions are based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Monster? Rancher 1 and 2 DX is the perfect cozy game for millennials on winter break appeared first on Destructoid.

Double the pleasure, double the fun

I've been writing for this website for a little more than six years now and there is a lot I've done in my time here that I don't fully remember. That's especially true of many of the games I've reviewed. There is only so much space in my brain for the myriad of 6's that have crossed my path, but one review that will always stand out for me is when Chris Carter and I jointly reviewed Gal Gun: Double Peace. I took the PlayStation Vita version for our review and was in constant awe of just how silly and bawdy that game got. In my opinion, it's the best entry in the series. If you want to judge for yourself, you can buy it right now on the PlayStation store or just wait to pick up the Gal Gun: Double Peace Switch definitive edition early next year.

If you haven't played Double Peace or any of the prior Gal Gun titles, the game is an on-rai??ls shooter starring Houdai, an unseen protagonist who has to fend off hoards of girls who want to love him until it hurts. Armed with a Pheremone Shot, players will travel throughout Houdai's school and beyond looking for his one true love or else risk living alone forever. The game features multiple girls Houdai can choose and secret endings for those willing to put in the work to find every available path in the game.

//youtu.be/7d4p_x1oLSE

So what are you getting with this "definitive" version of Double Peace? Well, a lot, actually. Not only will it contain the full game from 2015, but nearly all the DLC costumes released for the original release will be included as well. There will also be a new opening animation, and if you own either of the two previous Gal Gun titles for Switch, you can expect some goodies as well. Inti Creates is teasing exclusive content for those who own Gal Gun 2 and/or Gal Gun Returns.

What hasn't been confirmed yet–at least not in any language I can read–is whether or not Double Peace on Switch will have the touch screen control option of the PlayStation Vita version. Touch controls were not available in either Gal Gun 2 or Gal Gun Returns, so it wouldn't surprise me if this is a touchless affair as well. It's not a dealbreaker without it, but some parts of the game definitely benefit from being able to finger your way t??hrough them.

Gal Gun: Double Peace will arrive on Switch on March 17, 2022.

The post Gal Gun: Double? Peace is brin??ging its salacious schoolgirl antics to Switch appeared first on Destructoid.

This protagonist's life was probably pretty plain until he saw the dead bodies in the rain

I'd wager Spike Chunsoft was one of the five best publishers of the last decade with all the quality Japanese content it brought over to western audiences. Not only did it give us the wonderful Zero Escape franchise, but it localized smaller titles as well, like Conception and One Way Heroics. Of course, the franchise most of our readers probably associate with the publisher is Danganronpa. In 2017, the creators of that masterpiece left Spike Chunsoft to form Too Kyo Games, and after releasing two titles last year with IzanagiGames, the team is back with their old company for their next project called Enigma Archives: Rain Code. Not much is known about the game right now outside of what you can see in the Rain Code trailer below. Kazutaka Kodaka, who wrote the scenario for the Danganronpa series, is back on writing duties here, along with Rui Komatsuzaki as th??e lead designer and Masafumi Takada handling the soundtrack.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAgEmdFuOuE

Dead bodies, kids in peril, dark humor; yep, everything in that trailer is pointin??g to a Kazutaka Kodaka game for sure?. After the misstep that was World's End Club, I hope the Too Kyo Ga??mes team can find a way to rebound and knock this one out of the park. The trailer has me intrigued; now I just need to make sure the gameplay isn't going to infuriate me. Enigma Archives: Rain Code currently has no release dat?e or announced platforms, but I suspect all of that will be cleared up once we get into 2022.

The post Enigma Archives: Rain Code is a dark mystery from the minds beh??ind Danganronpa appeared first on Destructoid.

"Suda-verse Badminton" is my future GOTY

No More Heroes 3 is packed with hints about the future of the series. But for now, none of them are happening. Suda told us that while working on No More Heroes 3, he decided to put the series on pause. The game's polarized reception had nothing to do with it. It's more about Suda's priorities. His plan for the next decade is to work on games starring characters owned by his company, Grasshopper Manufacture.

And that doesn't just mean the big, numbered games in the series are over. I asked Suda if he might consider continuing No More Heroes as a comic, an animated show, or with a smaller-scale game like Travis Strikes Again. None of those ideas are part of his plans right now, but many of the characters from No More Heroes 3, like New Type Kamui, Midori Midorikawa, and Notorious could return in their own games. Grasshopper owns all three of them, where Travis and most other characters from No More Heroes are the property of Marvelous Inc. When pressed further, Suda actually confirmed that Notorious will play a role in one of the three games that Grasshopper is currently worki?ng on. And one of them might be a new entry in the Shadows of the Damned series.

That's right, Suda announced that Grasshopper has reclaimed the rights to the Shadow of the Damned franchise! That must have cost them something, right? I'd be shocked if they spent all that money without a plan to at least port the original game to modern consoles, with a potential sequel to fo?llow.

During our interview with Suda, we talked about all that, how fusing with a video game console made Travis immortal, why Dr. Naomi turned into a tree, the chances of a Grasshopper Vs. River City/Kunio-Kun crossover, and a whole lot more.

Suda, a former high school badminton champion, even teased the release of a giant Suda-verse badminton game. Is he joking? "Maybe." But then again, Cat Girl Without Salad was started as a joke too...

The post Suda51 says No More Heroes is “no more” but Shadows of the Damned may live again appeared first on Destructoid.

So says the new trailer out of TGS 2021

It's been a few months since the closed beta test for Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier. The free-to-play battle royale, which takes place 30 years before the start of Final Fantasy VII and tells the origins of the SOLDIER program, was announced for a 2021 release date back when it was originally revealed. According to a new trailer out of ?the Tokyo Game Show, it's still on track to meet that goal with a planned worldwide launch for later this year. Not only does the trailer reconfirm that, but it's also giving players a closer look at the character classes you can choose from in the game.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vnbr7SG3bag

The one thing that immediately grabbed my attention with this trailer is the debut of the Ninja class. During this sum??mer's closed beta, it was not available to test. Now that I'm seeing it in action, it looks to be more up my alley than either the Warrior or Monk classes I stuck with through? most of the testing period.

Of course, whethe??r I dedicate myself to becoming a Ninja or not will depend on if I'm even going to download the game when it launches. I had a bit of fun with the beta, but as I noted in my write-up on it, you're going to want a pretty beefy phone if you want this game to run smoothly. I encountered a lot of framerate drops and pop-in during ??the test period on my Google Pixel 3A. I haven't upgraded my phone since then, so unless improvements h??ave been made for mid-range devices, I'll probably just stick with something like Pokémon Unite until I eventually make the upgrade.

When it finally does launch, Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier ??will be av??ailable as a free-to-game with in-app purchases for iOS and Android. If the idea of a Final Fantasy battle royale do??es noth??ing for you, just know that Final Fantasy: Ever Crisis is still on the horizon for 2022.

The post Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier is still on track for ??2021 appeared first on Destructoid.

Do you like it?

Microsoft has been aggressively courting and absorbing studios this generation, as they prepare for an all-out battle that will end in a ton of exclusives for the publisher. While they already have big guns ??like Bethesda (who are now dipping into exclusivity), they're also creating key partnerships with crea??tors who may not want to sell. Like, oh I don't know??, Hideo Kojima?

According to a report from GamesBeat, Kojima is on his first steps in terms of actually making a game for Microsoft for Xbox platforms. Allegedly Kojima has "signed a letter of intent," w??hich will kick the wheels of a project created for Microsoft, barring legal dotted Is and crossed Ts. Several reports have noted that Kojima has been speaking to Microsoft for some time, and that this letter of intent is a good sign that things will actually move forward. That said, GamesBeat reports that "few people know" what an initial pitch would be, if there even is a specific pitch right now. So this project could be years away.

It behooves Microsoft to aggressively court folks in these deals and agree to terms, especially with Japanese developers that would bolster the platform's title diversity worldwide. Maybe they learned some lessons from the Scalebound fiasco.

The post Hideo Kojima reportedly is on his firs??t step ?to make a game with Microsoft for Xbox platforms appeared first on Destructoid.

Running through my veins

NIS America has released a gameplay trailer for its incoming third-person shooter Poison Control. The psychede??lic anime adventure will launch on PS4 and Ninten?do Switch April 13, 2021.

Described by NIS as a "darkly amusing tale of redemption" Poison Control will ??see the player step into the dual roles of the high-energy Poisonette and her "Soul Mate" – a custom character stepping in as the player avatar. Wielding the gun-toting skills of the latter and the toxin-absorbing abilities of the former, the player must free a selection of troubled individuals from their unhappiness, achieved by purging their very souls of Poison Mires and the deadly "Belle's Hells."

As our heroes push through the adventure, they will unlock new skills, weapons, and abilities, with the player boosting Poisonette's stats through conversation and dialogue choices. While we're yet to check out the action for ourselves, Poison Control has a pretty kooky premise, and of??fers a vibrant, almost lurid reality with its hyper-colorful visuals. With release day a mere two ??months away, we'll soon see whether the gameplay proves equally as intoxicating.

The post Check out the colorful, intoxicating world of Poison ?Control appeared first on Destructoid.

Bad news for the Flower Division

2020 saw Sega hit the reset button on its long-running RPG franchise, Sakura Wars. The year saw the western launch of a pretty good PS4 reboot, alongside a new anime, a great-looking stage show, and a slew of new trademarks, with a clearly stated intent to revitalize the brand for the new decade.

Unfortunately, this plan might have hit a particularly brutal pitfall, as it is being reported that DelightWorks' brand new mobile release Sakura Revolution: Hanasaki Maidens has completely flopped at launch, with a Business Journal article (translated by Resetera user Joseki) stating ??that the free-to-play gacha titl??e has raked in a paltry ¥73 million (roughly $703,000 USD) in its first month of release, debuting 215th in the mobile sales ranking charts.

While a six-figure sum is nothing to be sniffed at in isolation, in contrast it is stunningly low revenue for an Asian mobile game to achieve during its debut month, with the modest of titles generally expected to launch within the Top 50, at the very least. The real concern lies in the offset of Sakura Revolution's development and marketing budget, which industry analysts believe to be somewhere in the region of ¥3 billion - or a bewildering $30 million USD.

If all of the above proves to be correct, (this is mostly analyst chatter, as opposed to official figures from Sega), then the biggest worry is how Sakura Revolution might impact Sega's plans for the Sakura Wars re-launch. The franchise still has plenty of fans, (myself included), and has even pulled new players into the fold with its recent endeavors, but if Sakura Revolution is truly the financial disaster that is being spoken about in hush-hush terms, then Sega might decide that it is time this legendary series faces its final curtain, and given Sakura Wars' energy, character, and legacy, that would ??be a terribl??e shame.

Sakura Wars mobile game revenue "a catastrophe" [Business Journal / Resetera]

The post Sakura Wars mobile game has reportedly been an expen?sive disaster appeared first on Destructoid.

Coming to Japan this summer

Developer Acquire continued its week of news with the reveal of a brand-new adventure title, Labyrinth of Zangetsu, which i??s currently eyeing a summer release in Japan.

As featured in the latest issue of Weekly Famitsu (courtesy of Ryokutya2089), Labyrinth of Zangetsu is a 3D dungeon adventure that will reportedly feature a traditional RPG-base??d exploration and combat system as players pick their way through a dank fantasy kingdom. Of particular note are the new title's visuals, which showcase beautiful "brushstroke"?? effects recalling ancient Japanese inkbrush paintings.

This visual style is ??also intertwined with the adventure's narrative, as players battle against a strange phenomenon known as the "Ink of Destruction," that i?s slowly engulfing the land and turning its inhabitants into terrifying demons and monsters known as the "Ink Beasts."

In keeping with Labyrinth of Zangetsu'??s classical art-style, it appears that the game will be rendered in monochrome, and feature a score composed of tr?aditional instruments and music styles. It seems that Acquire are going all-in on trying to create an adventure game that reflects the gameplay, art-styles, and sounds of yesteryear.

While no platforms nor a western release were confirmed, its is believed that Labyrinth of Zangetsu is in development for PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch. You can take a look at several low-fi screenshots below, courtesy of Gematsu.

The post Acquire unveils artistic dungeon exp??lorer Labyrinth of Zangetsu appeared first on Destructoid.

Why is that girl wearing stockings in the sea?

Koei Tecmo has announced it is taking legal action against an individual who sold unlicensed DVDs of footage pulled from the cheesecake title Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation.

The DVDs, which were reportedly made available through online auction sites, feature extended video compilations taken from the Japan-only PC release. In the videos, modding tools have been implemented to showcase the DoA roster completely nude, removing the remnants of what little clothing th??ey were sporting in the first place.

Citing copyright infringement, Koei Tecmo reported the seller to the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Department before filing both criminal and civil lawsuits for compensation. The publisher has reiterated on its website that it will take similar measures agains??t any parties th?at it believes are infringing upon the copyright of its IPs and licenses.

Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation is the fifth entry in the Dead or Alive Xtreme series and sees the majority of the women from the DoA roster take to a tropical island for rounds of beach vo??lleyball and a selection of mini-games. The free-to-play title is sustained through a bevy of microtransaction and gacha elements, whereby players can unlock characters, bathing suits, and other c?ustomization items.

Koei Tecmo s?ues seller of unauthorized ??Dead or Alive DVD [Siliconera / Famitsu]

The post Koei Tecmo b??egins legal act?ion over naughty, nudey Dead or Alive DVDs appeared first on Destructoid.