No one should have to burden themselves with waiting for Rhythm Tengoku Gold to arrive Stateside. Aside from the fact that Nintendo of America still hasn't announced a specific release schedule for the game (we're looking at you also, Jam With The Band), any title with rhythm as the main focus of the gameplay lends itself perfectly for importing.
Of course, any game you import from Japan has its fair share of unreadable text. From roleplaying games to intense puzzlers, the fear exists that the Japanese language will overwhelm you and make you feel like you wasted precious dollars on an unplayable game. Fear not! For Items of Import is here for you once again -- to guide you through trouble, and to encourage you to start importing.
Rhythm Tengoku Gold was just released last week in Japan. With its catchy Tsunku-produced tunes and zany visuals, the game could be your perfect import choice of the month. Show it to all your FPS-loving gamer friends; show them what those crazy Japanese call games these days. With merely a handful of Japanese to conquer compared to those icky RPGs, you'll be enjoying Rhythm Tengoku in no time. And who's going to help you through it all? Why, look what we have here? -- another edition of Items of Import to share, educate, and encourage you to take that step!
The final gameplay keyword is the one you see above. Possibly the most important mechanic in the game, flicking the stylus across the touchscreen is used so often in most minigames that it must be mentioned here. As I've written in the Japanese, you'll often find different versions of the "flick" verb, depending on the circumstance at hand. Put simply, "hajiku" is "to flick" literally; and "hajiite" is more like a request to flick -- like, "Please flick the stylus" -- and you will often come across this in the genial tutorial.
Here's a handy graphic detailing the three techniques. Number 1 shows "touch," 2 shows "let go" and 3 shows "flick." As can be seen from the flicking image, it's like writing a tick mark quickly. The note for number 3 states: "Flick with a good sense of force. If the flicking distance is short, or there's no momentum, it will not work."
A quick explanation of the other modes present in the game is in order! Apart from the 50-odd minigame challenges, there are two areas where more rhythmic fun can be had. First up is the Medal Corner. Each time you gain a "High Level Medal" in a minigame -- by being a Rhythm God, of course -- you are awarded a medal which can then be used to buy little extras: "endless games" where the goal is to get a high score (or die trying) in simple one-notion minigames; "rhythm toys," and so on.
The second mode is the Coffee House. This is where you can talk to the barista to gain tips, as well as listen to music and read books you've unlocked through accomplishing perfects. This is meant more to be a time to relax and while away the minutes, just as a nice cafe would. Explore these modes at your own leisure, and you'll surely come across hidden gems.
Closing Off
Containing only a handful of Japanese words to learn and navigate, and being one of the most inventive rhythm games on the DS, Rhythm Tengoku Gold is a title any keen importer should consider to be on top of his or her list. Don't let those unusual scribbles scare you away -- dare I say it, but you might as well use this little humble column once in awhile to help you on your way!
Items of Import is a weekly column dedicated to titles only out in Japan. With in-depth impressions of games long before localization and knowledgeable language how-tos, it attempts to bridge the gap between the import savvy and import fearing. Come on, now! You, too, can make that giant leap! Yokoso!
You with the face: listen up. As beings of supreme beauty, we're often asked how we maintain our flawless complexions and glossy, healthy hair. The truth is this: we have no idea. It could be our steady diet of Cheetos, pizza and cereal, combined with the sixteen hours a day we spend in front of our PC monitors, but it's probably all just natural.
For those of you not blessed with such a becoming appearance, all is not lost. Sega has teamed up with Japanese cosmetics maker Shiseido to develop Project Beauty -- full translated name Shiseido Beauty Solution Supervised Exploration Center Project Beauty -- a non-game dedicated to the kind of over-the-counter tips and advice you'd expect to receive in any cosmetics department store.
Project Beauty's most tantalizing hook, however, is that it will ship with the sleek camera add-on that came with Otona no DS Kao Training (Adults' DS Face Training) when it launches in Japan this November 27th. There's also a cheaper version sans camera, for all those people who bought Face Training and have had to wait for months for more software that supports the add-on.
Looking to satisfy the legions of perverts interested in its upcoming homebrew release, Half-Elf Tentacle Assault, doujin-developer Team-DSX has posted a potential design for the game's CD-ROM cover -- to cut down on costs, the group plans to release the ROM on CDs instead of traditional carts, so that customers can transfer the game to their flashcarts.
The screenshots featured on the packaging give you a good idea of what to expect from the visual novel (if the Half-Elf Tentacle Assault name wasn't descriptive enough) and are, naturally, very NSFW. Even with stars and white spots covering all the naughty bits on the images, we've hidden the cover past the post break, away from chaste eyes.
Just one last quick caution -- the boxart depicts half-elf Colin and another heroine in suggestive scenes of forced sodomy. Also, a green pig-man with killer abs has his head totally slashed off. You've been warned!
Another benefit to being one of the lucky few to attend the Square Enix DKΣ3713 event, besides getting to play new games and see trailers and be surrounded by journalists (what do you mean that's no benefit?) is that awesome exclusive merchandise is available for purchase.
Seen above: two strangely fashion-backward shirts for the very fashionable The World Ends with You. They feature the date of the event and the TWEWY skull logo on the back, and an assertion that "I PARTICIPATE IN THIS GAME" on the front. We must admit that we're charmed by the boldness of the shirt. Sometimes you want to wear art, and sometimes you just want to be a huge nerd.
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is supposed to be playable at Square Enix's acronym-tastic event this weekend in Tokyo, so it's no surprise that the company has confirmed that the DS title is still on track for release this year. If you want anything more specific than "winter," though, you'll have to wait; nothing else has yet been announced. We're keeping our fingers crossed for several sets of impressions from DKΣ3713.
Some of you may be saying "Good grief!" or "Aaaaaugh!" right now, but young children and women are the audiences holding the football in the Japanese DS market now, and Square Enix recognizes this. They've launched a new brand called "Pure Dreams" which focuses on casual games for the family audiences. The first two games both carry popular licenses.
Snoopy DS: Let's Go Meet Snoopy and His Friends! is a communication game in which you create a custom Peanuts character and interact with the gang, chatting with them and playing minigames. Pingu's Wonderful Carnival is a minigame collection based on the Swiss stop-motion series about a penguin.
Square Enix is pretty serious about casual gaming in Japan -- this line joins their large DS Style selection in Japan. But outside of Japan, it's still RPG after RPG.
The latest trailer for Pokémon Platinum shows the series' trademark creatures playing around in their natural habitat: a promotional trailer for a new video game. Also the woods and a field or whatever. It's a lot more pleasing to look at than the last trailer, though the excellent production values on display have less to do with that than the method of capture.
Also featured is an absolutely crazy-looking area in which your orientation constantly changes as you walk on surfaces perpendicular to each other, and what appears to be a multiplayer, Pokémon-themed version of Mr. Bucket. Without the mouth. Okay, so it's not like Mr. Bucket at all.
Chalk this one up to "we saw this coming," but the troubled waters that flash carts have found themselves in has led to an increase in R4 sales.
Nintendo and fifty-three other companies are filing a suit against retailers selling flash carts, demanding that they stop the sales and imports of said cards. According to Kotaku, Japanese retailers in Akihabara are noticing a difference in demand for flash cards already. Regarding the R4, one staffer noted, "The rush in demand has been amazing. These devices always sell well. But this weekend should be staggering, don't you think?" Amazon.jp has also seen a rise in cart sales, which is to be expected.
We're sure Nintendo foresaw the immediate panic following the company's announcement, and that's the risk they decided to take -- watching things get worse before they get better. If Nintendo and the others win the suit, though, it will likely be worth their while in the end.
After the announcement of a DS Ragnarok Online game over a year ago, we weren't sure if Gungho would get around to showing the game before the actual Ragnarok occurred. We haven't been plunged into an extreme winter yet, and the world has yet to be submerged with water, so we're pretty sure Gungho and developer Gravity have come out ahead.
Ragnarok Onlinemay not be an MMO like the original game, but even as a single-player RPG (with unspecified online features) it's worth keeping an eye on, mostly due to the absolutely gigantic character sprites. It also appears to have gestural attack inputs controlled by the stylus. Ragnarok Online DS comes out December 18, and we're sure more info will show up soon.
Some developers use the extra screen on the DS to display a map. Some use it to display an inventory. Still others put commands and special attacks on the touchscreen. For Densetsu no Stafy 5, at least in one area, TOSE decided to use the second screen for a giant, sentient snowball in a hat. Or maybe it's a cloud? A cloud makes more sense.
The little guy appears to create strong winds with his breath whenever he's awakened. When sleeping, he generates a strong current of total cuteness. In fact, if there's anything the latest Stafy screens have in common, it's that the bottom screen is tuned for optimum delivery of cuuuuuute.
Nintendo is finally taking aggressive action against piracy, as the company is suing five Japanese firms over flash cart equipment. The Big N is just one of many plaintiffs in the case, though, with fifty-three others joining in to aid the fight -- just a few companies that you may have heard of, like, oh, Square Enix, Sega, Level-5, Hudson, Pokemon, Capcom, Namco Bandai, SNK Playmore, Koei, and so forth.
While details are scarce, we can imagine a lot of popular carts (like the R4), if not all carts, will be affected. Should Nintendo and friends win the suit, selling and importing such carts will be illegal, meaning that people would have to resort to the black market to get their hands on one.
We understand why Nintendo and other companies would want to fight the good fight against piracy, but we can't help but fret over the impact on our precious homebrew hobby. At any rate, we'll give you more information as this case unfolds.
Technically, you could have seen almost every screen of Chrono Trigger that a magazine or website would be able to share, on account of the game having been released for several years. If it's not an image of the map/interface screen found on the touchscreen, or of the new dungeon, then it's basically a screen of a Super NES game.
However, you may be able to infer from the fact that we are publishing this post that we consider Chrono Trigger awesome enough for us to share screens with you no matter their age. Besides, even after twelve years, it's still a very nice-looking game.
SNK Playmore unleashed footage from their recently-announced Kimi no Yuusha, an RPG slated for Japanese release this winter. The good news? The battles look three billion times better (we counted) in motion than they did in the recent scans. We still don't know a lot about what's going on here, but we do know there is violence of the roleplaying variety afoot ... and that's pretty much all we need.
A Japanese doujin circle called Team-DSX has created a retail hentai game for the DS -- sort of. Half-Elf Tentacle Assault is unequivocally hentai -- even the preview image for the visual novel is NSFW in multiple places.
The "retail" description is a bit more controversial (for certain values of "controversy"). They're selling the game at Comic Market (Comiket) for 1,980 yen ($18.70) on a CD; to play it, (shifty-eyed, mouth-breathing) buyers then transfer it over to a DS flash card.
The distribution model is innovative and neat for the DS: even though the "homebrew game on CD" sale could only work at Comiket, anything that lets "unofficial" DS developers make money from their works is a good thing. Except for the poor half-elves.
Looking to satisfy the legions of perverts interested in its upcoming homebrew release, 
Some of you may be saying "Good grief!" or "Aaaaaugh!" right now, but young children and women are the audiences holding the football in the Japanese DS market now, and 
Some developers use the extra screen on the DS to display a map. Some use it to display an inventory. Still others put commands and special attacks on the touchscreen. For 
A Japanese doujin circle called Team-DSX has created a retail hentai game for the DS -- sort of. Half-Elf Tentacle Assault is unequivocally hentai -- even the preview image for the visual novel is NSFW in multiple places.
_thumbnail.png "Defenders of Law, Inc: Crime in Willburg (PC Screens)")
