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Nintendo registers suspiciously Seaman-ish trademarks
Nintendo has registered two trademarks in Japan that sound a heck of a lot like a certain man-faced fish from the Dreamcast days. Mysterious Partner: Legend of the Fish With A Human Face and Mysterious Pet: Legend of the Fish With A Human Face are the two terms in question, and when we hear the term "fish with a human face," Seaman is the first aqua-dude that springs to mind. There have been murmurs in the past of a Nintendo-fueled Seaman revitalization on the 3DS, the most recent being a Nikkei report from February of last year. The report posited that a Seaman revival was the first step in a larger Nintendo master plan to revive defunct competitors' products on the 3DS. Since then, Seaman creator Yoot Saito has designed Aero Porter (as part of Guild01) for Nintendo's handheld. He also tweeted a picture of a Santa-themed Seaman about a year ago, which remains as unexplained now as it was the day he posted it.
Santa Seaman's implications cannot be fully ascertained
Yup, that's a Santa Seaman all right, and we're just as desperately curious to find out why it exists as you are. The weird thing was tweeted by Seaman creator Yoot Saito, who also said that it was time to begin thinking about the end of the year, according to Andriasang's translation.We have so many questions. Is Saito hinting at some kind of holiday announcement, or even better, some kind of holiday release? Do kids these days even remember Seaman? Is this related to that Nikkei report? Was this whole post just an excuse to publish that picture of Santa Seaman?Answers, in order: We hope, probably not, maybe, and definitely.
Nikkei: Seaman finds new life on the 3DS
Back in the summer of 2010, a tantalizing prospect came up: Seaman on the 3DS. It was teased by Yoot Saito, the creator of the Dreamcast original, and since then we've been all about it. We've been so about it.According to a report from Japanese news outlet Nikkei Inc. (via Andriasang), Seaman is the first of many rival-published games Nintendo is aiming to bring to the 3DS. The report mentions Seaman as an example of the types of games Nintendo is looking to revive on the 3DS, yet sadly offers no further detail on the impending update.Saito, along with three other notable Japanese developers, is working on a special 3DS project for Level-5 called Guild 01. Saito will design one game, to be included with the other three from Suda 51, Yasumi Matsuno and Yoshiyuki Hirai.
No More Heroes, Seaman and Vagrant Story creators making Level-5's 'Guild 01'
Level-5 has assembled a dream team of unconventional game designers for the 3DS "variety" game Guild 01, out in Japan next year. Four creators are each designing a single game, to be collected on a single cart. From Suda 51 comes Kaiho Shojo, a touch-controlled mech shooter starring a schoolgirl who is also "president" of Japan, and operates an 11-foot-tall winged mech. This game features animation from the studio Bones, suggesting a high-budget approach to these games (which are close to being considered "minigames"). Yoot Saito, creator of SimTower, Seaman, and Odama, contributes Air Porter, a game about managing luggage at an airport. There's really no overarching theme to these things! Yasumi Matsuno, the man behind Ogre Battle, Vagrant Story, and Final Fantasy XII, is making a "darkness fantasy" RPG called Crimson Shroud. Matsuno is actually working full-time at Level-5 now. And, weirdest of all, comedian Yoshiyuki Hirai (from the group America Zarigani) is designing a game about running an RPG-style item shop, called Rental Bukiya de Omasse. These details originate from Famitsu leaks; we'll certainly learn more this weekend at Level-5's event.
Yoot Saito's 'The Tower' headed to iPad
Though his last potential outing on Apple's mobile platform was denied for being too "unpleasant," Yoot Saito is taking another stab at the App Store. According to TouchArcade, a rough translation of Saito's blog reveals that the idiosyncratic developer is bringing his skyscraper-crafting sim, The Tower, to the iPad. For those unfamiliar with the series, The Tower (or, as its sometimes titled Sim Tower or Yoot Tower), is reminiscent of the SimCity series, only more ... vertical. Players are tasked with the construction and management of a tower, all the while pursuing that prestigious five-star ranking. We've got our fingers crossed for a U.S. release. Or, for that matter, any kind of release -- though we don't see how strategic building maintenance could be considered too off-putting for Apple's lofty standards.
Yoot Saito teases possibility of Seaman on 3DS
If you were to take the entire 3DS lineup announced at Nintendo's E3 press conference last week, and roll all our anticipation for said titles into a single lump, it probably wouldn't match the scope of our excitement for this faintly teased remake. A fan of Yoot Saito recently asked the idiosyncratic game developer on Twitter about the chances of getting a new Seaman title on the 3DS. According to Andriasang's translation, Saito responded to this query by saying he couldn't mention specific details, but said fan should keep hoping for said game. The fan went on to (understandably) voice his excitement for the prospect of Seaman 3D, which Saito once again responded to, saying his development team would work to meet the fan's expectations. We know we've been hurt before (how's that Seaman 2 localization coming along?), but we could really go for a portable version of that scaly little sardonic bastard.
Apple rejects Yoot Saito's iPhone game, dev staff considered Seaman DS
We're more than willing to give Apple's do-everything-device the benefit of the doubt if they want to try to make it a legitimate gaming platform, but when we hear a story like this, we can't help but develop a few hangups. Yoot Saito, developer of the unsettling/brilliant Seaman, recently wrote a blog post describing the fate of his in-development iPhone game, GABO (a spiritual successor to Seaman, but with a caveman instead of a manfish). That fate is unfortunately grim -- according to Saito, Apple gave the game the axe due to "unpleasant" gameplay.He also mentions that the game's development staff had considered going to work on Seaman DS before working on GABO. We'd like to know how much money they'd need to follow through with this ambition, as well as the mailing address to where we should send said funds. [Via Offworld, Translation via Kotaku]
Yoot Saito working on Seaman-related game for iPhone
Oh wow, we're embarrassingly excited by this news: Yoot Saito is working on what appears to be a reworked version of Seaman 2 for the iPhone called Gabo. Though it's only headed to Japan at the moment, a worldwide release seems to be in the cards, judging from a shoddy translation of Saito's blog. The only bad news is we'll have to remember for 364 days to give thanks for the universe's kindness.Though there doesn't seem to be any voice recognition in Gabo, what Saito's currently showing off (in a video you can see after the break) looks just delightful.
Ground broken on The Tower DS
Famitsu has revealed the first screens of the newest game in Yoot Saito's Tower series, called, sensibly enough, The Tower DS. It looks very much like the other games in the series, which is, of course, a good thing. Towers are still seen side-on and feature elevators heavily; you still have to deal with the tenants' problems and with robberies. Most importantly, it looks like you can still check in on your tenants and find out how they're feeling. The major innovation here over, say, The Tower SP, is touchscreen control. For any building-type game, it's a lot nicer to use a stylus than a pad and buttons!Nintendo characters (or a character, at least) make appearances as monuments -- or maybe as buildings! Who wouldn't want to live in a giant Mario?Hop in the elevator and go to the "past the post break" floor to look at the full scan. Digitoys is set to publish the game in Japan on June 26th for 4,800 yen ($47).
Yoot Saito building a Tower on DS
Before he was making games about historical pinball battles and sarcastic fish monsters, Vivarium's Yoot Saito created a skyscraper-building game called SimTower. He put the same kind of quirky, bizarre charm into what seems like a run-of-the-mill Sim game as he did Seaman, leading to a game in which you can read every resident's thoughts as they ride elevators.Saito followed SimTower with a PC sequel called Yoot Tower, and a Game Boy Advance version called The Tower SP that, sadly, didn't get released until 2006. Now, according to a blog post, he's working on a version for a current system -- the DS. The Tower's vertical orientation is a perfect match for the DS's unique aspect ratio, we think. He's hoping to have the game out before summer.[Via IGN]
Odama dev tweaks game for Wii remote use
Yoot Saito, creator of the pinball-war game hybrid Odama, has recently showed off his GameCube adventure with some Wii-centric modifications. At the Japanese media arts festival, Saito controlled the troops on screen using a Wii remote to point and click instead of the original GameCube control scheme, where troop movements were controlled via voice commands through a microphone.Does this mean we will see an Odama sequel or remake? The GameCube version met with mixed reviews, but the idea was original enough that it could warrant another try. Saito, who has previously worked on Seaman and Sim Tower, is currently working on a sequel to Seaman for the PlayStation 2 and an unnamed DS project. If Odama is making a Wii invasion, we wouldn't expect it any time soon. [Via 4cr]
