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Joystiq's Top 10 of 2009: Little King's Story
It seems like everyone who played Little King's Story fell in love with it. Unfortunately, almost nobody played it. It may have been too weird to attract a mass market, or too cute-looking to get the attention of people usually interested in strategy games. That cuteness, however, is what producer Yoshiro Kimura used to present some rather dark themes in a way that seems totally innocuous on the surface. Little King's Story almost forces the player to become attached to each individual unit -- every unit in your employ has a name, and is assigned to its job by you, the king. In addition, your soldiers will frequently fall in love, marry, and give birth to children. And when just one of your soldiers -- or chefs, or miners, or farmers, etc. -- dies, the whole town wears black in mourning, and many of the citizens attend the funeral service at the church. At first, you follow the "advice" of the experienced vet who recommends invading all the neighboring kingdoms. But, as you play the game and come to know your subjects, you realize that the other kings are more childish than malevolent, and the indigenous creatures are basically defending their own territory, and you begin to wonder just why you're sending all your townspeople, who were "Carefree Adults" before you met them, to their death in these missions. You feel guilty even as you're enjoying the gameplay. That dichotomy is the essence of Little King's Story. It's cute, but it's dark. The story is simple, but it inspires questions. It's one of the best games of the year, but nobody bought it. << Back | Comment | 9. Everybody loves donuts >>
Lunar: Silver Star Harmony gets 'definitive' Limited Edition
Has any game been remade and repackaged into "Limited Edition" bundles more often than Lunar: Silver Star? With the announcement of this special edition PSP package from XSEED, we think the answer is "no." The Limited Edition will include a UMD version of the game, soundtrack CD and a set of 13 "bromide" collector cards "highlighting the girls of Lunar." Oh, game publishing companies, you know what fans want. The press release calls this the "definitive version of Lunar: The Silver Star." That is, until the next time they decide to remake this game. The Limited Edition will cost $40, $10 more than the standard edition, and will release on PSP in Q1 2010.%Gallery-80575%
Marvelous lost money on most of its Wii releases
Pretty much everyone can guess why No More Heroes is being released again -- Marvelous needs money. During a Q&A presentation (PDF link, Japanese) about its fiscal Q2 2010 earnings, Marvelous boldly revealed that three out of its four 2009 Wii releases lost money, though it didn't say which was the winner. Muramasa sold 47,000 units in Japan, the company said, not specifying American sales. Arc Rise Fantasia, which will be published Stateside by Ignition, sold 45,000 copies. Little King's Story sold 26,000 copies in Japan, 37,000 copies in North America, and 67,000 in Europe. Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga, which came out in September in North America, sold just 16,000 copies (Japanese sales, which started in October, are not mentioned). Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility on Wii somehow sold 57,000 units in 2009 despite being a 2007 release in Japan, a 2008 release in America, and not out until October in Europe and Australia. Because of lower development costs, Marvelous said, PSP software was more successful, with four out of five releases making money on similar sales numbers. Half-Minute Hero was Marvelous's overall best-performing title, at 70,000 copies sold. [Via Siliconera]
TGS 2009: Interview: Little King's Story's Yoshiro Kimura
Yoshiro Kimura is the creator of Little King's Story, likely the only game in history to be the inspiration for a giveaway of one hundred hamburgers, one hundred bananas, and one hundred coupons for a visit to a spa -- all simultaneously. We spoke to Kimura during Tokyo Game Show about the secrets of the Wii game, about that rather strange contest, and about a can't-miss concept for a game about an old man drinking on a bench.
XSEED employee rewarded with adorable Little King's Story bento
Click to see full bento box. Warning: may cause incredible jealousy and/or hunger. Making a video game is no easy task. XSEED's Christine Nakashima had been working long hours on the Wii game, Little King's Story. Thankfully, someone noticed her effort! Her sister stayed up late one evening, making a Japanese-style "bento" box for Christine, featuring various characters from the game. Perhaps we have a bias for looking at adorable things ... and then eating them, because this looks far more appetizing than Little King Story's other food promotion.
Little Burger King's promotion for Little King's Story
Marvelous is taking an extra step in Japan to market the upcoming release of Little King's Story, and it's one that makes a lot of sense: the company is partnering with Burger King to promote the strategy game. Burger King restaurants in Japan are displaying the poster depicted to the right, and will also have LKS placemats. According to Andriasang, Burger King's mail magazine will also include Little King's Story information. In addition, a small army of Burger King employees, led by a real little king, will lead an assault on a nearby McDonalds in an attempt to take down Ronald. We may have made that up. It's pretty amazing that Little King's Story is a big enough game to get this kind of promotion, which is reserved in the US for huge franchises. Either that, or Burger King is a small enough operation.
Marvelous planning a 'Super Little King's Story'
Little King's Story creator Yoshiro Kimura had previously said that he's interested in making a sequel to his strategy title. Now, speaking to Siliconera, Kimura explained that he is in the early stages of working on just such a thing. "We are planning to make a sequel to Little King's Story, like Super Little King's Story," Kimura said, "but we're still in the process idea phase." At the moment, Marvelous is looking for funding for the sequel, as well as "partners" to help make it. The first game was developed by Cing and Town Factory, along with some high-profile freelancers. While we don't want anyone involved with the first game excluded from this potential sequel, we can understand the appeal of having a single team make a game, if that's Kimura's intent. %Gallery-24964%
Marvelous' Wada: Game industry needs originality, Marvelous needs more recognition
Last month, Marvelous president Yasuhiro Wada posted a note on the publisher's site, in which he said he had "teary eyes" over disappointing sales of Marvelous' Wii products, including No More Heroes, Rune Factory Frontier, and Muramasa. He discussed his sentiment in an interview with Edge Online, saying that he is frustrated with the lack of originality in games and hopes to counter this with the Marvelous catalog. "I think this is why gamers are leaving video games," Wada told Edge of the reliance on existing IP. "I believe that variety is the only way to bring more people into gaming." Wada also said that the Xbox 360, despite Microsoft's "great job in bringing that many JRPGs on its console," is a lost cause in Japan, though there is hope for the next generation. As for why Marvelous games aren't selling, Wada puts some of the blame on lack of company recognition. "Marvelous has just reached the point its games are getting noticed and getting good reviews," he said. "But we are not a major name yet. The Marvelous brand is still associated to some not so good titles we made in the past." He compared the publisher to others like Nintendo, Capcom, and Square Enix. "Even if you don't fully understand what a title is about, because it's branded Nintendo, Capcom or Square Enix, you feel like ok to buy and try it." He said that the company needs to try to reach the roughly million-strong "gamer market" on Wii. A market that might enjoy, say, Little King's Story.
Review: Little King's Story (Wii)
When I started Cing/Town Factory's Little King's Story, I expected to find a cute, very charming little strategy game whose flaws prevented it from greatness, like most games this heavy on the quirkiness factor. I was blindsided by how much fun I continued to have through hours of play. It's rare for a game to be this cute and odd, but also this good. I found this game utterly magical, and I hate strategy games. %Gallery-24964%
Little King's Story sequel could have multiplayer
Yoshio Kimura, producer on Little King's Story, originally planned to include multiplayer in the strategy title, according to an interview with 411mania. "This game used to have a 2-player mode," he explained, "but we couldn't make the QA and debug in time, so we had to take it out. And this is one of the things that I really wanted to have." If setting competing armies of townspeople against one another, or collaborating to expand your shared kingdom, sounds great to you (like it does to us), you know how you can make your voice heard. "But if Little King's Story does well and a lot of people get to play it and if I have a chance to make a sequel, that's definitely something I want to implement." Aside from gameplay-focused matters, Kimura had a lot to say in this interview. Check it out for discussion of the character designs and how, uh, a talking squirrel inspired him to create the game. %Gallery-24969% [Via GoNintendo]
Lunar: Harmony of the Silver Star may get US release via XSEED
The first screens of the PSP remake of Lunar look very good. The sprites have been redrawn, but the lovingly detailed backgrounds really demand the most attention. Siliconera has more screens of the PSP remake, and we very much approve. While it seems likely a US publisher will bring over the RPG to the games-starved masses on this side of the Pacific, Siliconera notes that "XSEED might be picking this up for North America." We hope some publisher gets on board supporting this project. We want a localized version as soon as possible.
Rising Star taking Little King's Story on the road
Rising Star Games, Marvelous's European publishing partner, has high expectations for Little King's Story. The company plans a large marketing campaign in Europe for the adorable sim/RTS -- the region in which LKS will debut. Rising Star's Yen Hau sees the game as appealing to "'potentially anyone who owns a Wii." In addition to print and online advertising, Rising Star plans a "road show," about which few details are known other than that it will continue through May, when it will finish at the London MCM Expo. After the break, Rising Star's Tyrone Walcott provides the most detailed rundown of the gameplay we've seen yet, with plenty of accompanying video. %Gallery-24969%
Europe to learn 'Little King's Story' first
Marvelous is still assuring everybody that Little King's Story is coming out, announcing yet another release date. Unless another delay is in the forecast, the latest news should make European Wii owners happy: European publisher Rising Star Games is planning to release the game on April 24, before it comes out anywhere else. The last announced North American release date for the town-building RPG was February 17, but XSEED said even before then that the game was likely to be delayed -- which it obviously has. GameStop currently has a May 15 release date -- not to mention an adorable pre-order bonus! %Gallery-24969%
XSEED warns of possible Little King's Story delay
NeoGAFfer "Hero of legend" periodically sends emails containing other forum members' questions to XSEED's Ken Berry, and actually gets substantive responses! Most of the questions are in the area of "would XSEED localize (game)?" -- and those are illuminating -- but occasionally a question about the company's existing lineup slips through, as was the case in the last round. In a response to a query about the Little King's Story release date, Berry mentioned that the company has been "shooting for a February release date, but good chance that it will be delayed past that right now." The question related to Canadian stores, but we would expect the release date to be the same across North America. So, yeah. That February 17 release date on Nintendo's Q1 releases list? Don't count on it. %Gallery-24969%
Little King's Story to be told in Europe
Where would Europe be without Rising Star Games? Answer: in a very, very dark place. The European publishing arm of Marvelous has already announced localizations of Muramasa: The Demon Blade and No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle, and has now confirmed plans to bring Cing's hat-obsessed strategy title, Little's King Story, to the region next March. You can watch a trailer for the game here, if you like, and make yourself queasy with the cloying cuteness of it all. Not only that, but nine new screens (sadly not wearing adorable hats) sneaked into our gallery! %Gallery-24969%
Little King's Very Cute Little Trailer
We're completely dying of charm here. The TGS trailer for Cing's Little King's Story has dialed the quirky adorableness to levels that are potentially hazardous to human sanity. Look at Howser the Bullknight and his faithful companion, Pancho! One of the job classes is "Carefree Adult!" Seriously, every aspect of this game has been designed by Science to melt hearts and fill the air with joyous laughter. We're going to have to do our very best to overcome our natural aversion to games about ordering a bunch of people to build stuff for you and try this. Speaking of which, we're looking forward to finally reading more hands-on impressions from TGS! %Gallery-24969%
Little King's Preview
We've stared at Little King's Story for a while, so we're quite familiar with the look of the tiny monarch and his populace of multifariously-hatted thralls. But, partially as a result of being stood up at E3, we have only the faintest notion of what playing it entails. Like its contemporary tiny-king-building-a-town game, My Life as a King, Little King's town uses different buildings to determine what can be done. In Little King, the buildings serve to train the occupants in different skills, including fighting and farming. Unlike the WiiWare title, every townsperson is called into combat at your command, and their skills determine their abilities on the battlefield. Your population doesn't seem to be able to diminish; according to the preview, when someone dies, a new resident washes up on the beach, though this new person will have "no loyalties and no relationships." And when someone does die, you have to attend his funeral. It's a strangely personal touch for the strategy genre. You must also participate in hand-raising votes about the growth of the kingdom. If you fail to vote along with the majority of your constituents, your popularity will decrease and people will be less likely to do what you ask. %Gallery-24969%
E308: This trailer tells the Little King's Story
We were sorely disappointed when we couldn't get our hands on Little King's Story, but Marvelous and XSEED managed to make up for it a little bit with this enchanting trailer. We just can't help but be lured in by the game's style -- check out the knight using a cow as a mount, for example. It's too bad that we couldn't find out if the gameplay matched the rest of this title's charm, but them's the breaks. Either way, we're looking forward to trying out Little King's Story in the future.
E308: Marvelous pulls Little King Story from the show floor
When I arrived at my XSEED/Marvelous appointment here at E3, I had one question on my mind: how awesome is your Little King's Story game? Being the incredibly professional blogger that I am, I came up with that hard-hitting question following two days of grueling punishment at the show with a combined 8-9 hours sleep. But, when I got there, I had not a single chance to unleash my intelligent query as the game was nowhere to be found. In asking PR rep Jimmy Soga, he informed me that it was the decision of Marvelous to yank the game from the show. Why? Well, they felt it wasn't a strong enough build to show the public. I asked if it was perhaps a problem of the game crashing or it being that the section quarantined for the press at E3 was rather glitchy, but he had no other information for me other than I would not be able to play it. Stay tuned for impressions from the games that are at the show.
E308: Marvelous and XSEED's lineup is full of charm
We've been nothing but impressed by how drop-dead gorgeous Rune Factory Frontier looks, so we're more than happy to know that good old Marvelous will be showing the game at next week's E3 conference. Hopefully we'll find out whether the game is as pretty in motion as it is in screens, and more importantly, if the gameplay matches up to its lovely graphics. The other game that we're eager to learn more about is Little King's Story, which corners the "looks fun and adorable" market. This life sim meets real-time strategy meets adventure game had our hearts ever since we saw this charming trailer. We'll finally be able to get our hands on it when the title releases here this winter, but until then, a taste at E3 will do us some good. %Gallery-24969% [Via press release]
