Marvelous and developer Asmik Ace will release a DS game based on the Tokyo Majin Gakuen franchise on August 21. The supernatural anime and manga series are in turn based on the Tokyo Majin Gakuen: Kenpucho series of adventure/RPG games on the PlayStation and Playstation 2.
Last year, ADV licensed Tokyo Majin, about high school students who fight the undead, for American release. The DVDs are still coming out as of this month, but the series' web site goes nowhere. We're not sure what that says about ADV's confidence in Majin, though we doubt they're going to pursue this DS game. We aren't sure if it's popular enough over here for another company to try to grab some of the revenue, either.
We already knew Taiko no Tatsujin's characters are pretty darn cute from playing the games, but this clay anime series, officially produced by Namco, makes sure we'll never forget it. Though it's supposed to be a show for children -- it originally aired on Japan's Kids Station channel, if that's any indication -- we've found ourselves totally drawn into the adventures of Wada Don, Wada Katsu, and their clay friends.
A total of 26 episodes were put out over two seasons in 2005-2006, and the first seven are subtitled and available to watch on Youtube. Like the clip above, each Taiko No Tatsujin Clay Anime episode is only four minutes long, so you could feasibly watch the entire collection of translated videos in the time it takes you to watch a single episode of a much less interesting anime.
On the topic of Drum Master, Siliconera has an excellent preview and walkthrough of Taiko no Tatsujin: 7 Islands' Adventure, which shipped to stores in Japan just last week. Combine that with these menu translations, and you've got nothing stopping you from importing the rhythm game!
After getting wind (yes, we know) of Dungeon of Windaria, we were intrigued. Maybe because we like the visual style we were presented with, or perhaps its our unnatural love for the act of crawling about in dungeons and killing countless enemies. Whatever it is, this new video isn't helping.
Unlock most Japanese teaser trailers, this one is longer than 10 seconds. The rub is that about half the trailer won't be understandable to any of you who cannot read Japanese. Still though, nestled deep within is some tasty gameplay footage. We know how you all like that!
Posted Apr 23rd 2008 11:15AM by Eric Caoili Filed under: News
Not to be outdone by The World Ends With You, Sega has announced its own apocalypse-impending RPG in the latest issue of Famitsu, World Destruction. With Masato Kato, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Kunihiko Tanaka managing the game's script, music, and character design, Image Epoch (Luminous Arc) is also working on the production, clearing up at least one of the developer's three mystery projects listed on its company site. World Destruction will be a traditional RPG with turn-based combat and giant bosses filling up both of the system's screens. Following Blue Dragon and Inazuma Eleven's example, Sega will accompany the game's summer release with an anime starting July. Turn your Bible to the Book of Revelation and head past the post break for a glimpse at two of World Destruction's characters.
Remember Samurai Deeper Kyo, that anime-based game released with the Samurai Deeper Kyo DVD set earlier this year? It's a rare cart due to its limited availability with the expensive "Complete Series" collection, and it has the added allure of also providing a solid action experience, despite having been originally released in Japan back in 2002.
Well, those of you who saw the DVD set's exorbitant mark up and resigned yourself to never owning this gem might want to reconsider with Best Buy's sale price: $29.99. While that might seem like a lot to pay for a GBA game these days, that's less than half of its usual list price of $79.99! Plus, you'll also get a heap of episodes from an anime which may or may not be worth watching!
Success Corp recently updated the company's summer schedule for Japan, which is full of DS games that will likely never see the light of day outside the Land of the Rising Sun. Two notable titles are based on anime licenses, specifically Yawaraka Sensha and Kuwagata Tsunami. The interesting thing about these animes is that they're Flash-based shows, which fans can watch online (here and here). According to Siliconera, these animes are rather popular in Japan, so we wouldn't be surprised to see these games pop up in the software charts come July.
The rest of Success's summer line up consists of games we're not familiar with, which are called Windy Windom, Escape Johnny, and Tactical Guild (which is possibly Tactical Guide). While those of us outside Japan may not be getting any of these games, at least we have our own Successtitles to look forward to.
Windaria is a classic anime movie from 1986 that tells dual Romeo & Juliet stories in a fantasy setting, as two pairs of lovers are pulled apart by the wars of their kingdoms. And now it's a dungeon-crawling game for some reason! Compile Heart has released the first screens of the new Dungeons of Windaria.
While exploring random dungeons as one of the movie's protagonists, Izu, may not make much sense, at least Compile Heart has the right idea with the style -- totally 2D vintage dungeon-RPG. Maybe the randomly generated dungeons are a good match to the randomly licensed anime, though, now that we think about it.
Likely surprising no one considering the popularity of the Bleach manga/anime series, Sega announced its plans to publish Bleach: Dark Souls (or Bleach DS: 2nd Kokui Hirameku Requiem, as it's known in Japan), the follow-up to Bleach: The Blade of Fate, this summer in North America.
The Treasure-developed 2D fighter features a number of improvements on the original:
an exclusive storyline that takes place in between the series's first and second season
44 playable characters (The Blade of Fate has 26)
30 new Power-up Cards and Power Crystals
Bleach encyclopedia containing "fun and interesting facts about the entire Bleach universe"
All that comes on top of the game's four-player online battles and multi-plane stages. Hit the gallery below for English-translated screenshots from Dark Souls, or check past the break for a two-minute trailer from the Japanese release.
Capcom's anime adventure game Rosario + Vampire will include a very cool preorder bonus: a pair of reversible replacement boxarts, for a total of four possible boxart choices. Each one focuses on one of the game's female characters, of course. The second reversible cover can be seen after the break.
We aren't really that taken with the Rosario + Vampire cast -- they seem like pretty standard anime characters, who no doubt confound the hapless protagonist with their one personality quirk each -- and we don't care much about anime in the first place. However, the idea of alternate boxarts as a bonus appeals to us. We don't really see our DS boxes all that often, but we find the idea of customizing them fun.
Just when we thought we had played the last great GBA game, Siliconera pointed us towards Samurai Deeper Kyo, a slick action title recently brought to the US by Destineer. Marvelous Interactive published it in Japan back in 2002, but that doesn't take away from how fun it looks! The game only comes packed as a bonus with the Samurai Deeper Kyoanime series DVD set, so you'll find it difficult to acquire a copy.
Anyway, the idea of having another GBA release to look forward to finding and playing reminded us how long it's been since we tapped that bottom box on the DS's initial menu screen. Months! How long has it been for you? And what was the last GBA game you loaded up?
This Petit Eva screen takes a bit of explaining, and we admit that we don't exactly know how it works logistically. Misato, the teacher, has lost all of her students' report cards, so Shinji and the rest of the class go to her home to help her look for them. But Misato's apartment is such a mess that it is deemed expedient to turn on fans and blow the clutter out of the way in the search for the missing report cards.
You see now why Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the greatest dramas in anime. In addition to "Touch Puzzles" like these, there will also be "Touch Action" segments which seem to involve clearing a path for a running Rei Ayanami clone, and "Heart Touch" segments in which Shinji must answer characters' questions correctly in order to boost relationships.
Really, it's just like the original series: synchronizing brain function with a giant biomechanical robot in order to defeat supernatural monsters is roughly equivalent to moving the soccer ball.
We generally approach anime and manga games hesitantly, much like one would approach a bear trap surrounded by a moat. But Namco Bandai's latest Sgt. Frog(Keroro Gunso) game, Super Movie Version Sgt. Frog 3: It's an Adventure in the Sky! looks not only really dang cute but also very clear and colorful.
As the title suggests, this game ties into an upcoming theatrical release, meaning that it is not only an anime license, but a movie license as well. If more movies would do things like completely changing the genre for a boss battle (like the shmup seen in Dengeki's screens), we might not be so harsh on licenses. Also if they weren't terrible all the time.
Capcom has released a trailer of their game adaptation of the conceptually wacky manga series Rosario + Vampire (Rosario and the Vampire). As you'd expect for a game based on manga and anime, the trailer spends most of its time showing some anime footage, then fits some actual gameplay in at the end.
Past the adventure-game-style location searching, past the cutscene of the poor protagonist being bitten by his vampire girlfriend (what did he expect?) and past the clicking-on-floating-hearts minigame, you can catch a glimpse of the unusual touchscreen-based combat. On the bottom screen, it looks just like an Ouendan-type thing. On the top, it's a 2D fighting game!
In our enthusiasm to learn more about Namco Bandai's latest 2D platformers, Kekkaishi: Kokubourou Shuurai and GeGeGe no Kitarou: Youkai Daigekisen, both based on anime licenses, we came across this screenshot for the latter (minus the picard-wtf.jpg photoshop, of course).
Sure, Touch Detective introduced phallic creatures to the DS years ago, but that mushroom thing was cartoonish and nonthreatening. As for this thing? This wrinkled beast? We imagine that if Picard and crew were to ever bump heads with this walking willy, screens would be off-ed, shields would be raised, and photon torpedoes would be fired. "Ensign, get us out of here! Maximum warp!"
Deformed wang monster aside, GeGeGe no Kitarou looks to be a tame platformer with some gliding portions to keep things interesting. Float past the break for a few more of the screenshots we grabbed from Famitsu.
Good news, Gundam fans! (And we know you must be out there, or else there wouldn't be so many games based on this anime franchise.) Namco Bandai just announced a new title for the DS that's scheduled for release in March 2008. The game will be based on the most recent Gundam series, Gundam OO. Of course, like the G Generation games, these probably won't be released outside of Japan (blame your respective countries for not loving anime enough, the fools), but we're sure hardcores won't mind importing.
Also, if you love a good dose of mech porn giant gun-toting robots, Famitsu scans of the game are sitting pretty after the break.
Marvelous and developer Asmik Ace will release a DS game based on the Tokyo Majin Gakuen franchise on August 21. The supernatural anime and manga series are in turn based on the Tokyo Majin Gakuen: Kenpucho series of adventure/RPG games on the PlayStation and Playstation 2.
