Disgaea-4
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Danganronpa 2, Fairy Fencer F, Disgaea 4 dated for Vita in North America
North American Vita owners are going to be busy this fall, with two RPGs and a mystery-centered adventure on the way from NIS America. IGN reports that Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited will lead the effort on August 12, followed by the narrative-focused Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair on September 2, leaving Compile Heart's Fairy Fencer F to be released on September 23. Each game will retail for $40. While Disgaea 4 is a port of the existing PS3 game, it will offer "brand-new scenarios," all of the PS3 version's DLC, new characters and cameos from the casts of previous Disgaea games. Similar to the style of its predecessor, Danganronpa 2 is an adventure game that follows a highschool student's handling of life-or-death situations. Lastly, Fairy Fencer F is a new, turn-based RPG with character art by Tsunako. It also incorporates concept art by Yoshitaka Amano and music by Nobuo Uematsu, both of Final Fantasy fame. That just leaves the PS3's Battle Princess of Arcadias to be scheduled, which was assigned a general 2014 release window with the other games earlier this year. [Image: NIS America]
Disgaea 4 Return picks up an official Japanese release date
Disgaea 4 Return will make its Japanese debut on January 30, 2014, according to a Famitsu report translated by Siliconera. Like the PSP's Disgaea 2: Dark Hero Days and the Vita's Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention, Disgaea 4 Return is a portable update to 2011's Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten. It's currently unknown what additions the game will see in its Vita incarnation, though if prior portable adaptations are anything to go by, you can expect new characters, new stages and a host of new items and equipment to complement the basic story elements found in its PlayStation 3-exclusive predecessor. There is currently no word on when (or if) Disgaea 4 Return might reach Western territories, though the series' popularity in North American and European regions should ensure it receives an English-language localization at the very least.
Disgaea 4 Return coming to Japanese Vitas in January
Disgaea 4 Return is on its way to Vita, along with a game with the working title of Criminal Girls Invitation, Siliconera says. Disgaea 4 Return is reported to be a port of Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten, and it's due out in January 2014 in Japan. Criminal Girls Invitation is scheduled to launch this winter. There's no word on a western release for either game. Publisher Nippon Ichi Software announced the games during its 20th anniversary event on Saturday, where it also revealed an Asagi 10th anniversary game is in planning stages for unannounced platforms.
Get the Disgaea 4 premium edition for $40 on Amazon today
If you've been feeling tied down, unable to spread your wings and fly -- like a penguin, we'll say -- or as if your life is attached to a trip wire in the middle of an earthquake -- like it's about to explode -- Amazon is here to tell you that everything is fine, and these things are completely normal. The premium edition of Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten is Amazon's Deal of the Day, at 33 percent off ($40) its original price of $60.The premium edition includes the original soundtrack, a Fuka figurine and the Disgaea 4 artbook, along with the actual game, and at $40 it's below the price of a standard PS3 game, just for today.
Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten review: A premise unchanged
The Disgaea series is a tough nut to crack. With its dated gameplay and recycled graphics and music, each new entry in the franchise has flown in the face of convention. Nevertheless, whether owing its longevity to quirky storytelling or staggeringly deep and complex mechanics, the franchise has found favor among strategy role-playing game enthusiasts. That storied tradition looks to continue with earnest in Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten, a testament that, all things considered, developer Nippon Ichi definitely still knows its audience. %Gallery-131379%
Disgaea 4, ClaDun X2, Atelier Totori dated
Disgaea 4 will explode like a spectral penguin onto PS3 on September 6. Publisher NIS America announced that and a few other release windows today on the PlayStation Blog. It'll be available in three different configurations, depending on how much extra stuff you want to pay for. Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland, a new alchemy-themed RPG for PS3 (and sequel to last year's Atelier Rorona), will be out on September 27. In this game, young Totori searches for her missing mother while defeating monsters, helping townspeople with quests, and learning the art of alchemy in order to synthesize items. And on PSP, ClaDun X2 will offer more pixelated action-RPG fun "at the end of August." This one promises more customization options than its predecessor, the amusingly named "ClaDun: This is an RPG." What isn't customizable is how you can buy it: it'll be released only on PSN.
Disgaea 4 pre-orders available in three flavors
The Disgaea 4 Premium Editions we outlined last April are now available for pre-order, so get ready to have the penguin and/or bomb-shaped voids filled in your strategically battling little hearts. Pre-order packages come in your choice of Original Recipe, Extra Crispy (the "Premium Edition"), and Buffalo-style, (the "Premium Figure Set"), with art books and adorable figurines awaiting those who are willing to drop a little extra coin. All three options come with the game's soundtrack, however, so you won't be entirely left out of the freebie fun if a 4-inch-tall anime penguin girl isn't worth 20 extra smackers. [Image credit: Penny Arcade]
Two DLC packs announced for Disgaea 4 in Japan
Most North American players haven't even seen one mission of Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten yet, as it's set to come out in the States this September. But the game came out in Japan last February, and now Nippon Ichi has announced two different downloadable scenarios coming this August and October. The first is called "The Tyrant Valdorez," and will follow that character (along with his new playable moves) through a story with follower Fenrich. And the second is "Fuuka & Desco's Chapter Begins," focusing on the side story of those two characters. Fuuka and Desco's story will also be available either in add-on disc form, along with a collectible Desco figurine, in a special edition Disgaea 4 collection with the full game, or simply as a downloadable content pack. Note that both of these DLC packs are only announced for Japan at this point -- it's unknown whether they'll see the light of day here in the US yet.
Disgaea 4 Premium Edition is loaded with toys
NIS America is going to save you Disgaea superfans a little time, by allowing you to buy Disgaea 4 and a tie-in toy at the same time. The publisher announced a Premium Edition, which will be available at "GameStop and other retailers" at the September launch, and contains an artbook and an exclusive Nendoroid figurine of Fuka (above, snapped for the Japanese Disgaea blog). If you really want a big box of Disgaea stuff, though, you'll want to pre-order from NIS's own store. It'll begin taking pre-orders in July for two different bundles: the same Premium Edition sold elsewhere (with the addition of a bonus soundtrack), and a Super Premium Edition that comes with nine more exclusive toys. Oh, also, all of these packages include the actual game.
Disgaea 4 coming in September, dood
This fall, you can look forward to massive level numbers and dead souls turned into explosive penguins. That's right, Disgaea's coming back. NIS America announced that it's strategically launching Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten on PS3 this September. It's coming to Europe, too, with a less clearly-defined "fall" release window. In addition to localizing the netherworld strategy game itself, NIS is also importing the naming contest used to market the Japanese release of the game. The "Come up with Dis-name-a" contest seeks new names for a sword, a skill and "a scantily-clad NPC." To see the objects in need of names, and hopefully to find inspiration, check them out here.
Disgaea 4's special attacks are as bananacakes as you'd expect
Even if you've never played a Disgaea game before -- heck, if you haven't played any game before -- you should watch the Disgaea 4 trailer posted below. It shows off a handful of the game's absolutely preposterous special attacks, many of which involve slamming foes into various celestial bodies.
Disgaea 4 intro makes as much sense as the other three games
Which is to say, none at all. There's a vampire and a monster and a girl who's a monster and a bunch of Prinnies and they almost kiss and then the world blows up in a church and there's a -- oh, forget it. Just go watch it after the break.
Only you can help name some of Disgaea 4's attacks
If you've got a penchant for giving your boring, monotonous daily maneuvers wildly eccentric titles like "Flying Eagle Bagel Spread" or "Tsunami Power Work Commute," you seem like the perfect candidate for Atlus' newest promotion. All you have to do is check out a few videos from some heretofore nameless special attacks from Disgaea 4, and provide each of them with a fittingly outrageous title. Of course, submissions are limited to ten characters, so the examples provided above wouldn't exactly be eligible. We're sure you can still blend brevity and exuberance, though. Here, watch this: "METEORGUN." Yeah, that's solid gold stuff, right there.
Nippon Ichi shows off improved Disgaea 4 art
If you're a fan of Nippon Ichi's twisted strategy RPG series, Disgaea, you've likely spent a ludicrous number of hours staring at illustrator Takehido Harada's charming 2D character art. You'll get to do so again with Disgaea 4, with the benefit of higher-resolution artwork. By the looks of things (check out Andriasang for some neat comparison and screenshots), the new sprites have lost none of their personality in the long-awaited upgrade. Disgaeaeaeaea 4 will launch on PlayStation 3 in February 2011 with a limited edition package, including a Nendoroid Petit figure, art book and soundtrack CD. It'll also retain all the original illustrations, allowing you to toggle between the old and new characters. It's nice that the old art is sticking around, but couldn't Nippon Ichi have shipped their used goods to a less fortunate soul, like IGA?
Disgaea 4 coming to PS3 in Japan February 2011
Nippon Ichi Software introduced a project that "holds the fate of our company" -- Disgaea 4. The president of Nippon Ichi took the stage of a TGS press conference to announce the game wearing a Prinny suit to show "how serious we are." Like previous entries in the series, Disgaea 4 is a hardcore SRPG with a comedic twist. NIS is promising "stupidity to the MAX" in this upcoming endeavor. Taking place in hell, the story will have a political theme, with players building their own political cabinets. "I'd love to have questionable politicians play this game," he joked. New features for Disgaea 4 are the addition of network features which will allow you to invade other player's worlds, and vice versa. However, the primary new feature is the revamped focused on graphics. While the game will still retain its trademark 2D look, the resolution of the sprite art has been bumped significantly, and will look more like illustrator Takehito Harada's original drawings. "Wow, that must have cost a lot," the NIS host joked during the presentation. Disgaea 4 will be releasing exclusively on PS3 on February 24, 2011 in Japan. A US release should follow afterwards.
Nippon Ichi to focus on PS3, plans new Disgaea game
Niche Japanese publisher Nippon Ichi hasn't had a very good year. With an expected loss of 299 million yen ($3.33 million) for the fiscal year, it's clear NIS must make drastic changes to turn things around. According to a report by Andriasang, the company blames its poor performance for relying too much on externally-developed games, something that will be rectified in the coming fiscal year. 2010 will feature a more focused title catalog, with only eight game releases. With 1.6 million Disgaea games sold so far, the franchise is unquestionably Nippon Ichi's most valued asset. Going forward, the company plans on releasing yet another Disgaea title for the PS3. The new release is part of a new initiative at the company to focus on potential growth areas: PS3 software, and the North American market. However, the off-the-radar release of their last PS3 game, Last Rebellion, proves Nippon Ichi may not be properly equipped to exploit the current generation. Disgaea may be well known in the hardcore gaming community, but will another game be enough to turn Nippon Ichi's fortunes around?
