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Atlus lovers, head to Amazon
We've already established that having the Atlus name on the front of a box is usually A Very Good Thing, and look! Somebody at Amazon must clearly have been listening to us, as the uber-retailer has the following Atlus-published titles up for sale: Rondo of Swords -- $19.99 Draglade -- $13.39 Ontamarama -- $10.04 Contact -- $23.44 Touch Detective 2 1/2 -- $9.99 That's not all -- while we were scrounging though Amazon's bargain basement section, we found a couple of other potentially worthy additions to your DS library: Children of Mana -- $20.09 Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble -- $10.04 You can also get Ping Pals for $4.29. But like that deserves a functioning link. %Gallery-14108%
The Twelve (well, thirteen, actually) Sales of GameFly
Video game rental service GameFly has a pretty big year-end sale going on through January 4th for over 30 of its used DS games. Though the carts are all pre-played, each one will come with a new manual and case, so you need not worry about receiving an incomplete set. As usual, we've picked the notable titles out of the bunch and listed them for you, except this time, we've done it in Christmas carol form! On the twelfth day of Christmas, DS Fanboy sent to me: Twelve Diddy Kong racers Racing ($17.99), Eleven Spectrobes for collecting ($15.99), Ten Hoshigamis a-SRPG-ing ($14.99), Nine Planet Puzzles Leaguing ($19.99), Eight Custom Robos a-fighting ($12.99), Seven Sim Cities a-building ($16.99), Six Bombermen a-touching ($22.99), Five of Sonic Rush's golden rinnngggggs ($17.99), Four Mana Children ($14.99), Three Elite Beat Agents ($22.99), Two Mega Man Star Forces ($17.99 each), And a Naruto: Ninja Council 3 ($17.99)! [Via CAG]
DS releases for the week of January 8th
Excellent -- the rest of us actually have a few games hitting shelves this week, and Japan doesn't have quite the flood they've enjoyed lately, so things are reaching equilibrium. Now let's hope for an upcoming deluge of goodness for everyone. Starting next week, there are some interesting titles heading out into the world ... so let's see what we have to tide us over.First up, the US:DS releases Arthur and the Invisibles GBA releases Arthur and the Invisibles For more on global releases, check after the jump.
Children of Mana preview
The Mana tree has always been one of our favorite, er, trees and we are happy to see the series possibly lift back to what it once was after that mistake of a Legend of Mana game. Yes, we said it. Legend of Mana and all its Winnie the Pooh type environments rubbed us the wrong way. Fortunately, Children of Mana, set to release October 30, is forming rather well. Or, we think it is based on what other journalists lucky enough to play it are telling us. Being able to play with a friend via ad-hoc seems fun and we like the sound of investigative revenge streaming from broken-hearted orphans. Hopefully, Children of Mana will aid in healing the series.
Final Fantasy III & Rune Factory go head-to-head in Japan
On August 24, Final Fantasy III and Rune Factory: Shin Bokujou Monogatari (Harvest Moon spinoff) will be released in Japan fo DS. While FFIII certainly has the brand edge, both titles look to boost the DS's credibility as a viable RPG platform. Famitsu recently published its reviews for the two games, suggesting that FFIII is slightly superior: Final Fantasy III (Square Enix): 9/8/9/8 - 34/40* Rune Factory (Marvelous Interactive): 8/9/7/9 - 33/40 Keep in mind that, back in March, Children of Mana scored even higher than FFIII, earning a 36/40, and will be released in the US on October 30. FFIII will land stateside in November (hopefully). Rune Factory: Shin Bokujou Monogatari has not been confirmed for release outside of Japan, but Harvest Moon DS is scheduled for September 12. *C3 News notes that Famitsu's score for the original FFIII (NES) was 35/40.
New Children of Mana trailer
If you head on over to Square Enix's World of Mana website, you can catch a glimpse of the forthcoming DS entry in the recently reborn RPG franchise. Children of Mana certainly falls in line with Square Enix's habit of constructing stellar graphics that live up to their bold and thoughtful art design, though one should be warned about the adorable bunny beanbag creatures that feature heavily in the game. Centering on the adventures of Flick, Tumble and Pop (fresh from breakfast cereal mascot auditions), the game aims to attract fans of the classic Mana series in addition to newcomers. The battle system seems geared more towards reflexes than strategic thinking, but with some Wi-Fi cooperative gameplay, it should turn out to be an excellent and much needed DS RPG (that doesn't star a certain portly plumber). To view the trailer, follow the link, click on "Trailer" and then on the "Children of Mana" picture. [via Cubed3]
