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Money Idol Exchanger and Sonic Wings Special on the PSN import store
MonkeyPaw Games is living up to its responsibility as the single publisher (so far) for the PSN Imports Store, dropping two interesting Japanese PlayStation games on the service today. In case you're not familiar with one or both -- a totally understandable happenstance -- here's what they are. Money Idol Exchanger is a pretty weird (but not Cho Aniki weird) Neo Geo puzzle game ported to PlayStation, in which you link up on-screen coins to combine them into higher denominations: five 1s become a 5, etc., until you match two 500s and they vanish. Also, there are idol characters in it for some reason. And Sonic Wings Special is a single game combining all three Sonic Wings shmups (known as Aero Fighters in America). The games are both available now for $5.99 each -- less for PlayStation Plus members.%Gallery-107537%%Gallery-107536%
Grandia coming to Euro PSN November 10
Considering Grandia's innovative, pseudo-real-time battle system, it's ironic that Europe has spent years waiting for its turn to see the game hit PSOne Classics. The game hit the Japanese PSN in April 2009 and landed on US PS3s earlier this year, and now the Game Arts favorite will finally be available on the European PSN starting November 10 (tomorrow!). For just €7.99/£6.29, you too can relive one of the greatest RPGs of the 32-bit generation and experience a battle system that today's games still have trouble topping.
Parasite Eves infecting Japanese PSN next month
Square Enix has been dancing around the prospect of bringing its supernatural survival horror RPG Parasite Eve to the PSN for a while now -- but at last, it seems the dance has concluded. The publisher recently announced that the series' debut outing will arrive on the PSOne Classics storefront on Nov. 4, while Parasite Eve 2 will arrive shortly thereafter on November 18. Both arrive before the December 22 launch of The 3rd Birthday -- but who cares about that one? You haven't played it before. Bo-ring. Feel free to get excited about this news, but keep in mind that Square Enix's titles have an awfully difficult time with making their way from the Japanese PSN to the American PSN. (Here's looking at you, Brave Fencer Musashi, Einhander, Vagrant Story and like, a billion others.)
ESRB rates Twisted Metal for PSOne Classics platform
Wait ... you're telling us that of all of the PSOne blockbusters that have made it onto the PlayStation Store, the original Twisted Metal hasn't actually made its arrival yet? We weren't aware of this surprising fact until we noticed that the ESRB recently slapped a Teen rating on the series' first installment, due out on the PS3 and PSP -- the usual indication that a title is awaiting release on the PSOne Classics platform. Seriously, we could have sworn that Twisted Metal was already readily available on the PSN. Is it possible that -- oh, wait a minute. We see what we did here. We confused Twisted Metal with Bomberman Fantasy Race again. Our bad!
Two more Arc the Lads rated by ESRB
The first Arc the Lad game was re-released on PSN this week. According to the ESRB, it won't be the only game in the series to become a PSOne Classic. Ratings have appeared for both Arc the Lad 2 and Arc Arena Monster Tournament on PSP and PS3. In their original disc-based incarnations, the two games interact: Arc Arena Monster Tournament is an arena monster fighting game that takes monster info from Arc 2. Both were originally released in North America as part of Working Designs' Arc the Lad Collection. All that's left from the collection for possible PSN release is Arc the Lad 3 -- well, that and a documentary, cardboard standees of the characters, analog stick covers and a memory card case. Maybe for PlayStation Home?
Alundra and Arc the Lad on PSOne Classics Oct. 12
Two PlayStation action RPGs originally published by Working Designs will be released on PSN tomorrow -- though, because they're digital, there won't be any room for cloth maps, toys, or other trinkets. Sorry! The upside is that the digital releases of Alundra and Arc the Lad, published by MonkeyPaw Games, will only run you the customary $5.99 PSOne Classics price. In its press release, MonkeyPaw teased that it "[plans] to promote the titles with some of the historical swag from the titles' original releases." What could that mean? We're following up with MonkeyPaw to find out. These two games won't be in the new PSOne Imports Store, as they were both officially localized and released here. They'll be in the regular PSOne Classics area instead.%Gallery-104801%%Gallery-104806%
Square Enix 'making adjustments' to prep Parasite Eve games for PSN
Last month, the Parasite Eve series' lead character designer Tetsuya Nomura stated that Square Enix would like to get the first two installments of the franchise on the PSOne Classics storefront before the arrival of The 3rd Birthday. Yesterday, director Hajime Tabata confirmed that Square was actively working to get the games on PSN, explaining that the publisher is "making adjustments" to bring Parasite Eve and Parasite Eve 2 to the PlayStation Store. Tabata also added, "please wait until it has been finalized and formally announced." Please wait to do what, exactly? Get excited about playing Parasite Eve again? There's nothing you can do about that. You're not the boss of us!
Cho Aniki, Gaia Seed hit new PSN import store Sept. 21
MonkeyPaw Games, how did you know? Seemingly in honor of a certain blogger's birthday, the upstart developer/publisher will release two PSOne Classics on the North American PlayStation Store on September 21. The identity of the two games, Cho Aniki and Gaia Seed, isn't a surprise, but the games have interesting implications (beyond the implication that you'll be able to play Cho Aniki). The two games are the first offerings in a service called Imports on the Playstation Store, on which unaltered Japanese games will be released. "Classics like Cho Aniki and GaiaSeed," according to MonkeyPaw, "will be followed by a steady stream of untouchable titles you dreamed of playing but were relegated to reading about." A steady stream of PSOne titles, period, would be noteworthy for the North American PSN service.
Sony discounting PSOne Classics for 15th birthday celebration
Sony's rolling out the average-sized guns for its celebration of the original PlayStation's 15th birthday. In a recent newsletter, the company announced that select titles on the PSOne Classics storefront will be discounted on a weekly basis over the coming months. In addition, one of the early PSN titles, Super Rub A Dub, will receive a 50 percent discount starting today and running until Monday, September 20. If you don't feel like spending any cash to join in the revelry, you can also pick up a free PS1 ornament (pictured above), with which to decorate your apartment in PlayStation Home, by visiting the Theater space. We sure hope Sony also releases a "Tower of Dave Matthews Band CDs" ornament and "A VCR With a Copy of Bio-Dome Stuck Inside" ornament, just so we can recreate that late-90s college dorm room experience.
Kitase: 3rd Birthday success could extend franchise to PS3
"The team had a lot of experience and knew a lot about making a game for PSP which is why we chose PSP as the platform for this game," said Square Enix's Yoshinori Kitase during a presentation at Gamescom in regards to The 3rd Birthday. "But if this game turns out to be a success then we'd be looking at extending the franchise into PS3." Now, Kitase could mean one of two things by that statement: Square Enix could develop an entirely new Parasite Eve game for the PS3; or he could be talking about re-releasing the first two Parasite Eve games as PSOne Classics. Neither are currently available on PSN, so we're inclined to think that's what he's talking about -- especially considering Square Enix has already expressed interest in going down that road.
Completely bizarre 'LSD' game coming to PSOne Classics
So, LSD: Dream Emulator is the weirdest game ever made by anybody. After becoming entranced by the hours of footage from the game currently on YouTube, we feel like we can make that statement with complete certainty. The game features no plot or any goals to speak of whatsoever -- it only tasks the player with taking short, ten-minute jaunts through areas inspired by a dream journal kept by a staff member of its Japanese developer, Asmik Ace Entertainment, who may or may not have been tripping on LSD at the time. If that sounds like something you can get behind, you'll be pleased to learn the game's creator, Osamu Sato, recently announced on Twitter that the game would be coming to the PSOne Classics storefront on PSN. Of course, it's unlikely the game will come to the U.S. store, as the title was never localized for the States. That's no problem, though -- you might be able to find it at your favorite online auctions site for upwards of $200. That's a small price to pay for immeasurable weirdness!
Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon coming to PSOne Classics in Japan
The train of Square Enix titles continues to barrel through the PSOne Classics storefront on the Japanese PSN, as producer Shinji Hashimoto recently revealed the next PlayStation-era title bound for the platform. You can guess if you'd like, but considering how just about all of Squeenix's PSOne games are on the PSN -- in Japan, at least -- that might take a while. According to Siliconera's translation, the game in question is the original Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon, an RPG you probably never played, assuming you weren't living in Japan in late 1997. Hashimoto didn't mention any kind of time table for the game's arrival on the Japanese PSN, but we hear it's coming to the North American store sometime in Febtober, which is a made-up month, because it's never coming to the North American store.
Legend of Mana to be next Square game on Japan's PSOne Classics
The RPG-loving gamers of Japan spoke up back in April about which of Square's catalog of titles they'd like to see on the PSOne Classics storefront. It seems a victor has been crowned: According to a Tweet from Shinji Hashimoto, the next Square Enix title bound for the service is Legend of Mana, due out next week on the Japanese PSN for 600 yen ($6.50). We've got high hopes that the beautifully illustrated Mana will come stateside, but seeing as how we're still waiting on the PSN localization of Brave Fencer Musashi, Einhander, Bushido Blade, Bushido Blade 2, Vagrant Story, Chocobo Racing, Final Fantasy I and II, all the Front Mission games, SaGa Frontier, Threads of Fate and Xenogears -- well, you get the picture.
Namco Bandai surveying for future PSOne Classics releases
Following the lead of techno-savvy game companies like Square Enix, Namco Bandai recently Tweeted a query to its fans and followers, asking which of its classic games people would want to see on the PSOne Classics storefront. You can let your voice be heard by sending your 140-character suggestion to @nbgi_webmaster. Now, we know most of you are going to start dropping the titles of your favorite Namco titles, ala Tekken or Tales of Destiny. However, don't sleep on Bandai's PSOne offerings -- a list which includes hits like Digimon World, Digimon World 2, Digimon World 3 and Digimon Rumble Arena.
ESRB rates Blockids, Magical Drop F for PS3
During E3, MonkeyPaw's John Greiner told us about his company's plans to re-release classic Japanese games in the US, though he declined to reveal any of the games that the company was working to localize. Now, it looks like the ESRB has beaten Greiner to the punch, listing two games for the PS3, both with MonkeyPaw noted as publisher: Natsume's Blockids, a 3D Breakout clone of sorts; and Magical Drop F, an entry in Data East's longstanding puzzle series (which is pretty great, incidentally). Both titles are likely headed to the PSOne Classics library on PSN. Check out footage of both games after the break.
Final Fantasy IX 'Fight, Magic, Item, Run'-ing to PSN next week
The final (and some would argue best) installment of the Final Fantasy franchise on the original PlayStation will, at long last, make it to the North American PlayStation Store next week. Final Fantasy IX will mimic the $10 price point of the other two PS1 Fantasies currently available on PSN and will be added to the storefront with the update next Tuesday, June 15. If you skipped out on the ninth entry in the long-lasting series -- which isn't too unlikely, considering its sales numbers clocked in well below those of FFVII and FFVIII -- the PSN re-release is your chance to find what all the fuss is about. We wish we'd have some time to reinvest into IX next week ourselves, but, well, we might be kind of busy.
ESRB: Bomberman Fantasy Race joining PSOne Classics
If you love the Bomberman characters, but you hate the Bomberman gameplay, you might be interested in the latest PS1 game rated by the ESRB for re-release on PSN. Bomberman Fantasy Race takes the familiar helmeted characters out of their explosive comfort zone and into a racing game in which they ride cartoon animals. We presume it'll sell for the standard "PSOne Classic" price of $6, which means it's cheap enough to be worth a purchase if you want a non-standard kart racer -- or if you want to be a pedant and use it to correct people who tell you that "all Bomberman games are the same."
ESRB rates Star Wars: Dark Forces for PS1 Classics re-release
Though we've all played some form of Jedi-centric game throughout the course of our lives, some of our younger readers may have missed out on the ground floor of the Star Wars FPS movement by not checking out the 1996 PlayStation classic, Star Wars: Dark Forces. Fear not -- you won't have to go hunting through pawn shops to get your Kyle Katarn fix. The game recently showed up on the ESRB's list of adjudicated titles, slated to land on the PSOne Classics platform. We've contacted LucasArts to find out a time frame for the game's arrival on the PSN. As for the new listings for XS Junior League Dodgeball and XS Airboat Racing, we ... man, we just don't know who we'd contact about those.
Final Fantasy IX could hit PlayStation Store soon
We have a bit of evidence now suggesting that Final Fantasy IX might be headed to the PSOne Classics selection of the PlayStation Store -- besides the fact that Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and Tactics are already available on the store. Square Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto Tweeted (translation by Andriasang) that "Regarding an FF9 download release, everyone is so passionate about it that I'll be proposing it at the next board meeting. Look forward to next week!" To those of you out there constantly discussing how awesome Quina is on Twitter, in Japanese, it looks like you might be victorious. Of course, this kind of statement is more likely to make fans feel engaged in a process that is going on independent of their participation -- by which we mean this was totally going to happen anyway.
ESRB: Magic Carpet, Sorcerer's Maze materializing on PS3 and PSP
Last week, Xbox 360 owners got the first look at Fable 3, the newest Peter Molyneux game. Don't feel left out, members of the PlayStation Family -- you've got your own Molyneux game on the way! An old one! The ESRB has rated the PlayStation version of Magic Carpet for release on PS3 and PSP, meaning it'll join last week's release of Populous: The Beginning as PSOne Classics at some point in the future. Why settle for being a king when, for the low price of $5.99, you could be a wizard on a flying carpet! If that doesn't grab you, you'll also be able to pick up Sorcerer's Maze at some point. While not a Molyneux game (it's a low-budget Arkanoid-style game published by XS Games) it is also about a sorcerer (not sure about the "maze" part). And how can you refuse that box art, even in a digital version with no box?
