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Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 3/17-3/23
Last week was the week of new releases! Anticipating high holiday sales, many publishers made sure to release their games last week, with a total of fifteen ending up in the top thirty (seven of those being DS titles). With this slew of new releases, though, a lot of games were bumped off the chart to make room. Etrian Odyssey II and Soma Bringer, for example, did not survive the onslaught. Yet, somehow Mario Kart DS managed to move up a spot -- that game never ceases to amaze us.The top of the heap was none other than Pokémon Ranger: Batonnage, which completely crushed the competition in its debut week. Sim City 2 DS did well also, ending up in the number four spot. In fact, this is the best an EA game has ever done in its first week in Japan, with the exception of the FIFA titles. Time Hollow and Super Dodgeball are some other notable new releases, ending up in spots ten and seventeen, respectively.
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 3/10-3/16
"If you bundle a game with a special brush stylus, they will come," the heavens whispered to Nintendo. While we expected Beautiful Letter Training (also known as Bimoji or Calligraphy Training) to do well, we didn't expect it to sell 66,000 copies in its first week. This first-party effort by Nintendo looks as polished and full of content as a calligraphy nongame could get, but we're still surprised by the high demand for this game in Japan. Nintendo has understood sales markets better than anyone else this generation, though, so we probably should have expected this.Also appearing on the charts are both versions of Hayate the Combat Butler, as we predicted. The mansion edition was slightly more popular, as preference was given to the little girls in little black dresses. At the sixth spot was Shugo Chara!, which, in case you were wondering, is yet another manga/anime-based game about a school girl.Harvest Moon: Shining Sun and Friends, meanwhile, jumped back into the top ten, while Soma Bringer dropped down a few notches. One other notable game on the chart is the infamous Duel Love, which debuted at spot twenty-seven. That's not a great start for the title, but perhaps nipple rubbing is more niche in Japan than we thought.Despite making a killing in software and having fifteen games in the top thirty, the DS remained in third for hardware sales. Still, considering that everyone and their mother already owns a DS in Japan, we're somewhat surprised that it comes so close to the top, week after week.Mosey on after the break to see the numbers in full, folks.
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 3/3-3/9
Japan loves Doraemon, and it shows. Not only did the manga-based robot cat have a successful DS baseball game, but now a game based on the manga itself debuted in the top ten. Soma Bringer was still the top dog for the handheld, though, selling a total of 68,000 copies in two weeks. Are numbers like these high enough to motivate Monolith Soft to bring the game to English speaking markets? Well, we certainly hope so, but that remains to be seen.As for hardware, the DS stayed in third place again last week, but wasn't too far behind the PSP: Wii: 57,068 PSP: 53,924 Nintendo DS: 48,658 PlayStation 3: 21,008 PlayStation 2: 10,429 Xbox 360: 2,891 The numbers and placings for software are listed after the break, so if you're curious, just click away.
Another Week in Japan: Hardware and software numbers 2/25-3/2
The DS dropped to third in last week's hardware sales, as the PSP inched its way to first. (In case you haven't been keeping track, Wii sales have been above those of the DS for quite some time, but the PSP and DS keep flip-flopping for the week's best selling portable.)Hardware: PSP: 73,706 Wii: 64,535 Nintendo DS: 51,922 PlayStation 3: 13,520 PlayStation 2: 10,986 Xbox 360: 2,282 In the software chart, though, Nintendo's portable dominated once again. There were fourteen DS games to hit the top thirty last week, three of which made the top ten. Most of note is the new release Soma Bringer, a game that many of us outside of Japan have been coveting. It debuted in fourth, and was the top seller for the dual-screened handheld last week.Meanwhile, Professor Layton 2 and Animal Crossing slipped back into the top thirty, while Harvest Moon and Etrian Odyssey II managed to remain in the top ten. Check after the break to see a whole lot of DS games in boldface.
Soma Bringer video explosion 3: The Legend of Curly's Gold
If there's one thing we like about Soma Bringer, it's the fact that there's always plenty to look at. The gaming journalist in us loves that, while the game-obsessed geek in us loves that. It's a very feel good thing.And, on top of the video above, there are two more fresh trailers for the game, conveniently situated past the break for your viewing convenience. Hit them up and then make fun of us for a City Slickers 2 reference in the comments.%Gallery-8412%
Bringing the Soma to Japanese televisions
We don't know what it is about Japanese adverts that we like so much. Maybe its the pleasantly-voiced women they find to narrate these things. Maybe its the remarkable ability to condense information and every interesting aspect of the subject material into a brisk advert.Anywho, we're loving everything we've seen on Soma Bringer. It has amazing graphics and looks to include quite the solid battle engine. Surely we're not the only ones?%Gallery-8412%
Monolith planning to Bring more Soma?
Having seen video of Monolith Soft's Soma Bringer and having found it to be, well, basically sumptuous, we're tentatively pleased to hear that it's probably going to be a series. That's according to a newly-translated tidbit in a "Creative Voice" interview with Soma Bringer producer Tetsuya Takahashi and composer Yasunori Mitsuda. In a discussion about the building of the Soma Bringer world, Takahashi makes this casual mention of the plan: "As this is the first title, it does not have to comprise of every single detail of the world, instead the elements of the storyline best suited for an Action RPG were selected to be told."We're tentatively pleased, of course, because we really have no idea if Soma Bringer is a) any good, and b) planned for localization at all. If both of those conditions are satisfied, then yay for sequels![Via NeoGAF]
Soma Bringer video explosion: the sequel
It's been a whole two days since we've had anything to look at on Soma Bringer, and we've been needing a fix. Thankfully, one of the kind souls over at GAF got their hands on numerous gameplay videos from the title. So be sure to hit up the video above then cruise past the break for a bunch more of the video goodness.
These Soma Bringer scans will energize you
Let's face it -- most of us didn't care much about Soma Bringer until we saw a plethora of awesome videos for the game last week. Now that Nintendo and Monolith Soft have gotten our attention, though, we can't get enough of it. Because of this, we were excited to see more Soma Bringer scans leaked around the internets. With a scan explosion to match last week's video explosion, these magazine pages show tons of art and screens for the game. They're definitely worth a look by anyone anticipating this title or hoping for localization. Check after the break for eight more of them.
Soma Bringer video explosion!
It appears that Nintendo finally saw what their new company Monolith Soft was up to and realized that they should really be promoting it, hence the sudden rush of video content to Nintendo's Soma Bringer page. It is most definitely to the game's benefit -- while the generic character art makes the game look unexceptional in screens, once you see Bringer in video, it suddenly becomes a top-tier action RPG. Big, well-animated sprites, incredibly lush backgrounds, and excellent animation make Soma Bringer pretty much transcend its hardware. NeoGAFfer Danj has been uploading the videos to YouTube as they appear on Nintendo's pages, but be sure to check the official site and touch-ds.jp (both linked) for updates as well, because they seem to be frequent. And check after the break for a few more of the videos.Read - Soma Bringer siteRead - touch-ds.jp
Famitsu brings the Soma Bringer in these scans
Click image to enlarge Under the developmental wing of Monolith Soft, Soma Bringer is a title we don't know that much about. Sure, we've seen lots of pretty screens (which you can see in our gallery below) and know the title will be an action RPG, allowing the player to string various combos together. The player will also be able to command a three-person party.Well, we know a little about the game. But, what we want to know about is the rich story, what with it being an RPG and all. Unless we can read Japanese magazine scans (see: we can't), we'll just have to settle for looking at screens and our imagination for now.Head past the break for the other scan.%Gallery-8412%
Soma Bringing the screens to you
New screens of Monolith Soft's vaguely mysterious DS project Soma Bringer have appeared, along with a few gameplay details. Luckily, this sounds a lot more like our kind of game than Monolith's best-known work, Cutscene Collection Xenosaga. In this action RPG, attacks are mapped to each of the DS's four face buttons, and the game is designed to allow "nonstop attacks." That means combos, and that means that this action RPG should be heavy on the action. There is even a "break" attack, that allows your character to break through blocking enemies.The fighting takes place in three-person parties. Three actual humans can play together via local multiplayer, or one person can bring a pair of AI-controlled characters along. We're pretty surprised by how cool this is looking!
Soma Bringer develops some identity
We may not have much in the way of details on Soma Bringer, Monolith Soft's forthcoming RPG, but the game is starting to look a little less generic now that we can see more of it. Sure, the actual character designs are very typical, but the characters themselves look like they have a little personality. See for yourself in our updated gallery below.%Gallery-8412%[Via press release]
RPG magazine scan time: DQIV, Card Hero, Soma Bringer
It's time again to reap the bounty from, uh, some dude with a scanner and access to Japanese magazines! Three games are shown off in today's crop (to continue the farming metaphor for some reason), all RPGs of various kinds.Most interesting (to us) is the first real blowout of images from Intelligent Systems' Kousoku Card Battle Card Hero, which we haven't heard from in about a month. Also in the "somewhat mysterious RPG project from Nintendo-owned developers" department is Soma Bringer, Monolith Soft's new RPG, which, according to NeoGAFfer charlequin, "has possibly the most generic character designs ever seen in a JRPG." It's probably going to be a pretty good game and all, but it does rather look like they put some money into a JRPG Character vending machine. "One EVIL LONGHAIRED GUY, and ... hmm, maybe GIRL IN ELABORATE DRESS."We initially thought it was a strategy RPG, but the magazine description pegs it as an action RPG.Finally, Dragon Quest IV gets a seven-page preview, which is thick with screens of, well, basically running around on the overworld and then also battling, which is what happens in Dragon Quest IV quite a bit.
Mystery trademark revealed: Monolith Soft's Soma Bringer
Last month, Nintendo registered a bunch of trademarks in Japan that were primarily Wii-related (which led to some confusion when we spotted Nintendo Magic on the list). One of the more mysterious trademarks was something called "Soma Bringer." Along with about a billion other things, the identity of Soma Bringer was revealed today in a Nintendo conference. It's a new strategy RPG (from the looks of it, at least) developed by Nintendo's newest acquisition, Xenosaga developers Monolith Soft. Just from looking at the screens, we see attacks mapped to the face buttons, and multiple camera angles. As a new Nintendo-published SRPG, we're sure we'll be hearing more about Soma Bringer soon.%Gallery-8412%
