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Capcom's 'Teppen' card game pits Chun-Li against Dante
Capcom clearly couldn't resist the temptation to hop on the card game bandwagon. The gaming giant has teamed up with GungHo to release Teppen (no, not Tekken), a card battler for Android and iOS that revolves around better-known characters from Street Fighter, Devil May Cry, Darkstalkers and other classics. If you've ever wanted to see Chun-Li fight Dante or Morrigan take on Mega Man, you can make it happen.
Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros. Edition announced [update]
Do not adjust your monitors, do not wipe your glasses clean. You're 100 percent looking at a Super Mario-glossed entry in GungHo's incredibly popular Puzzle & Dragons series, and it's coming to 3DS in Japan this April. GungHo America also notes an "overseas release" of the thus-titled Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros. Edition through Nintendo. [Update: A Nintendo spokesperson told Digital Spy that currently Puzzle & Dragons Super Mario Bros. Edition is a "Japanese-only announcement." So it's unclear what exactly GungHo America's referring to by "overseas release." We've reached out to GungHo for clarification.] Details are limited at the moment - according to Gematsu the match-3 game features both local multiplayer and StreetPass functionality. From another angle, the most important details lie in the numbers. GungHo just revealed that the original mobile Puzzle & Dragons surpassed 6 million downloads in North America, taking the free-to-play game's worldwide tally to more than a staggering 41 million. To put that in perspective, in April 2013 Puzzle & Dragons raked in $3.76 million per day. Furthermore, it's well established that Mario likes gold coins. If you still puzzled, check out GungHo's announcement trailer below the break.
GungHo strikes publishing deal with Skulls of the Shogun dev
Puzzle & Dragons creator GungHo Online Entertainment America has secured a deal to publish games from 17-BIT, developer of the multiplatform tactical strategy game Skulls of the Shogun and the upcoming Galak-Z: The Dimensional. GungHo notes that it established the relationship in order to "[deliver] classic game experiences with modern technologies and hardware." The company previously partnered with developer Grasshopper Manufacture to produce PS4-exclusive Let It Die. "17-BIT's dedication to re-energizing classic genres for next-gen gaming fits perfectly with GungHo's core values and notably expands the breadth of our game portfolio," said GungHo America CEO Jun Iwasaki. "We pursued this partnership because we have high expectations for the developer and are eagerly awaiting to collaborate on their next major release." Galak-Z is due to launch this fall for the PlayStation Vita, PS4, and PC platforms. [Image: 17-BIT]
Suda51 and Let It Die's carousel of death
From the sound of it, GungHo Online and Grasshopper Manufacture's PS4 exclusive Let It Die is some sort of giant death recycling program. As we detailed last week, Let It Die stores every player death on its servers, and those dead players repopulate the games of other players as AI enemies. If you were gong to classify it, according to executive Kazuki Morishita, "Let It Die is a survival crazy action game." Also on board is Goichi Suda, best known as "Suda51," who says that coming up with the concept of storing death data was a key point in the development of Let it Die (formerly Lily Bergamo). "We all agreed the idea was good, so we decided to focus on this idea, thinking it would be a great new challenge for us." Suda is also in charge of creating the game world itself, as already evidenced by the figure of Death riding a skateboard in the announcement trailer. And before you ask, yes, Suda's shoes are amazing (as always), and yes, we did get a shot of them.
Let It Die explained by a diagram ... of death!
Have you seen the trailer for Grasshopper Manufacture and GungHo Online's PS4 exclusive, Let It Die? Did it leave you wondering just what the hell was going on? Fear not, because I have the explanation from none other than Let It Die executive producer Kazuki Morishita – in handy diagram form. Need a little help? See, when players die, their dead selves are uploaded to Let It Die's servers (into what I'm calling the "Death Cloud"). From here, your dead hero is downloaded to other players' Let It Die game, where your character becomes an enemy. Likewise, your own world is populated by the dead characters from other players' worlds. And the little figure of Death riding a skateboard in the Let It Die logo? That's not just for show, says executive director Goichi Suda (best known as Suda51). Death is a character in Let It Die, and he does ride a skateboard, presumably because he's so busy reaping the souls of its poor, poor players.
Ragnarok Odyssey Ace treks to EU, AUS, NZ next week
Ragnarok Odyssey Ace brings its additions to Europe, Australia and New Zealand on April 30, and that Wednesday due date points towards a PS Store release [Update: GungHo confirmed to Joystiq it's PSN-only]. Ragnarok Odyssey Ace is the updated version of Game Arts' Vita action-RPG, and it brings the game to PS3 for the first time as well as Vita, along with cross-platform play between console and handheld. Monster hunters breaching the new version will find all the DLC from the original bundled in, but in terms of what's new, there are an assortment of fresh bosses, AI companions, skills, and dungeons to master/lose hundreds of hours to. [Image: GungHo Online Entertainment]
Twenty developers you don't know, but should
Between consoles, PC, mobile and everything in between, there are so many games released today that it's impossible to keep up with everything that's coming out – and it's even harder to keep up with the studios behind them. Even with a gaming public that's grown accustomed to following big developers like Valve and small studios like Double Fine, countless other studios slide under the radar. In the interest of sifting a signal from the noise, the Joystiq crew has selected 20 developers that deserve your attention. These studios are making games you should play, and their future work should be highly anticipated. This list is by no means exhaustive, and we invite you to share your own favorites in the comments!
Dokuro free, PixelJunk Monsters discounted on PS Plus this week
Starting tomorrow, PlayStation Plus subscribers can download puzzler Dokuro for free to their Vitas. Dokuro joins PixelJunk Monsters Ultimate HD on the portable system, which is discounted to $11.99 for PS Plus users this week. Lastly, Max Payne 3 and Max Payne 3: Ultimate Edition are on sale starting this week for $7.99 and $11.99, respectively. The Ultimate Edition version includes the Rockstar Pass, which grants access to maps, items and other DLC such as the Local Justice pack.
Suda 51 and Grasshopper are using Unreal Engine 4 'heavily'
No More Heroes and Killer is Dead dev Grasshopper Manufacture is "heavily relying" on Unreal Engine 4, with next-gen games in mind. Speaking to Joystiq at E3, Grasshopper CEO Goichi Suda, most commonly known as Suda 51, confirmed his studio's use of Epic's next-gen engine when asked about his thoughts on the PS4 and Xbox One. "As a developer, we're heavily relying right now on Unreal Engine 4," Suda told us. "That works really well with both systems – or in the sense that we could go either way." Grasshopper recently revealed it has a stylistic action game in development that isn't Killer is Dead - and it isn't No More Heroes 3 either. As Suda told Siliconera back in April, it's a new game coming to one or more consoles. He also teased to Siliconera the game was either running on Unreal Engine 3 or Unreal Engine 4, adding that if he said which one then "you would know about the platforms." Suda told Joystiq we can expect Unreal Engine 4 in Grasshopper games "if it's a big title, or if it's suited to that title," all of which suggests a next-gen landing for said secretive game. As for the future possibility of No More Heroes 3, Suda told us, "Travis [Touchdown] is one of the characters I'm really fond of, that means a lot to me. So if there was the opportunity to create another sequel then yeah, I'm always up to the idea."
Puzzle & Dragons coming to 3DS in Japan
Mobile puzzle hit Puzzle & Dragons, in which players build teams of monsters and explore dungeons, leading them into combat through color-matching puzzles, is coming to 3DS this winter, according to scans of CoroCoro Magazine found by Siliconera.The 3DS version, called Puzzle & Dragons Z, features 200 different monsters to battle with. The nature of the release is as yet unknown – the mobile versions are free-to-play, but that is exceptionally rare on 3DS (approximately zero games ever have used the model on the platform).
Updated 'Ace' version of Ragnarok Odyssey coming west
Gungho Online Entertainment is planning an expanded version of its Vita online action RPG Ragnarok Odyssey, called Ragnarok Odyssey Ace, and will release that version in the west as well as Japan. The Ragnarok Odyssey series is a multiplayer Monster Hunter-style RPG based on the universe of the Ragnarok Online MMO.According to Gematsu's translation, Ragnarok Odyssey Ace packs all the DLC quests from the original version, and adds a new playable epilogue, a random dungeon, and a new "ACE Skill" system that gives characters extra abilities. Ragnarok Odyssey Ace comes out in Japan this July; a date for the international release has not been announced.
Grasshopper already working on another action game
Grasshopper Manufacture's latest assassin action game, Killer is Dead, is still in progress, but Suda 51 and co. are already thinking about the next stylized sword game.Suda shared the above concept art by No More Heroes (and Fire Emblem: Awakening) character designer Yusuke Kozaki, for Grasshopper's first game to be conceived and developed as part of Gungho Entertainment (and now part of Softbank!)"There is a base for our specialty, the slash action games we've made so far," Suda told Famitsu (translated by Gematsu). But with Gungho's power, we want to put in our knowhow in ways we haven't done before. We are also considering developing for not just offline devices, but online devices too."
The Sentimental process behind GungHo's PSOne Imports
I was impressed with Gungho Online Entertainment's first batch of PSOne Import games, partly for symbolic reasons: they were all interesting games, yes, but they were also numerous, and Gungho CEO Jun Iwasaki told me the company had plans to release more. Imports, in my mind, are the most potentially exciting aspect of legacy download services, as companies can cheaply bring over games that wouldn't have big enough audiences to justify a localization, much less a spot on shelves.Gungho's second batch of imports crosses an important milestone on the path to comprehensive import catalogues by adding text-heavy games to the lineup. Most PS3 or Vita owners won't even be able to play dating game Sentimental Graffiti, due to the pages and pages of Japanese text required to enjoy it."Our approach is to bring over as many games as possible as long as we can secure the licenses to publish them in North America and Europe," CEO Jun Iwasaki told me in an email interview. As this batch of games shows, "as many games as possible" could mean almost anything!Of course, a small group of bilingual gamers will be delighted by things like Sentimental Graffiti, as will people hoping to improve their Japanese reading comprehension through video games. And releasing games that don't really make sense to release is a step toward getting them out there indiscriminately – the true iTunes of retro games.
PSOne Imports get extra challenging this week
Looking for a new challenge from an old game? Gungho Online Entertainment has a new batch of PSOne Imports this week, which includes Sentimental Graffiti, a dating game that is, as far as we know, untranslated. Do you dare attempt to scale the walls of Japanese text?You can also try your kanji dictionary skills with RPGs First Queen IV, Rung Rung: Oz no Mahou Tsukai, and Favorite Dear: Enkan no Monogatari. For a full-on language and culture shock, here's a mahjong game, Mahjong Uranai Fortuna: Tukino Megamitachi. Or a more familiar (but still Japanese) card game, Trump Shiyouyo!Somehow, the DICE-developed racing game, Motorhead, got mixed in with these imports, all coming Tuesday.
Grasshopper Manufacture acquired by GungHo
Suda 51's studio Grasshopper Manufacture has been acquired by Gungho Online Entertainment, known for its longstanding MMO Ragnarok Online. Rather than be renamed or realigned within the company, Grasshopper will continue to operate as Grasshopper Manufacture, much like Gungho's other acquired studios Game Arts, Gravity, and (ironically) Acquire, but will now have its games published by Gungho."We believe the strength of a publisher lies in its creative talent so with the addition of Grasshopper Manufacture and Suda 51 we are adding some of the most innovative talent in today's gaming world to our stellar family of independently-operated studios," said Kazuki Morishita, Gungho CEO (pictured, above, with Suda. "Suda 51 projects are known to put a unique spin on every game so coupled with our proven ability to support development with AAA resources including a tailored online experience, we believe gamers will benefit from this collaboration."The good news there: Gungho has an American publishing operation, which recently released Dokuro, Puzzle & Dragons, and a selection of PSOne Imports, meaning Grasshopper games now have a built-in Western publisher.
Puzzle & Dragons now available on Android
You guys are never going to guess what Puzzle & Dragons is about. Not in a million years. Want a hint? Well it's got something to do with ... Oh, no that's totally right, yeah. Puzzles and dragons. Good guess.Originally released for iOS back in November, Puzzle & Dragon is now available on the Google Play store for Android devices in South Korea and North America. The free-to-play puzzle/RPG is an equal parts Bejeweled, Puzzle Fighter and Pokemon cocktail, with players capturing (and evolving) teams of monsters in order to do battle against other monsters. Damage is done by successfully matching groups of colored gems, as seen in the trailer above.Puzzle & Dragon's microtransactional hook comes in the form of Magic Stones, which, once purchased, can be used to restore health, obtain rare monsters and restart failed dungeons, among other uses.%Gallery-173499%
GungHo on its new PSOne import initiative
Welcome to Living in the Past, a weekly column about what's new in old games. Now get off our lawn. Last week, GungHo Online Entertainment America joined the ranks of PSOne Imports publishers with a bumper crop of six Japanese games, all available on the PlayStation Store for $5.99 each. Since it's so rare – an initiative only taken to heart by MonkeyPaw Games in the past, and one that requires extensive licensing work for a potentially niche product – I asked Gungho president and CEO Jun Iwasaki about the company's plans."We are hoping to bring over as many PSOne Classics as possible," Iwasaki, who previously ran XSEED, told me, "but oftentimes these releases require license deals." He explained that the somewhat unusual collection of games, ranging from shooter collection Zanac X Zanac to dekotora board game Art Camion Sugorokuden, wasn't curated according to some unifying theme. "We were able to secure the licenses for these particular PSOne Classics, so we went ahead and released them first."So far, Zanac x Zanac seems to be getting the most attention out of the six titles," Iwasaki added.
Gungho releases six PSOne imports
Joining the esteemed ranks of Capcom and MonkeyPaw Games and nobody else ever, publisher Gungho Online America has released a suite of weird, random Japanese games to the PSOne Imports Store on the PlayStation Network.The six simultaneous releases include shmup compilation Zanac X Zanac, Kendo Rage sequel Makeruna Makendo 2, mech vehicle combat game Vehicle Cavalier, Art Camion Sugorokuden – a board game about the garish "dekotora" trucks in Japan – and no fewer than two games with stars in their titles, the match-three puzzle game/platformer hybrid Lup★Salad and the action rock-paper-scissors game Finger★Flashing.All six will be available on PSN today when the store updates, for $5.99 each.%Gallery-172607%
Dokuro review: The Mr. Skullhead Show
Let's talk about puzzle games. When you hear the term, your mind usually goes to falling-block stuff like Tetris and Puyo Puyo, right? But it's broad terminology: it can also apply to games in which you are presented with a series of problems that need solving – say, escaping a room, moving objects into certain positions, solving riddles ... you know what I mean, right?Well, I have an issue with these games: I'm almost universally terrible at them. I can't really tell you why, either. I like most of the ones I play, mind you. But as soon as I start feeling that twinge of frustration from a solution that eludes me, I hop on the internet and turn on Youtube. If I don't, I'm just going to fluster myself trying to figure it out. By the time the game reaches its climax, I have a controller under one hand and my laptop under the other, checking to make sure I'm doing everything right.This is one of the reasons why GungHo and GameArts's Dokuro sticks out so much. For perhaps the first time since the original Portal, I'm not immediately running to the online solution bin the moment things start to get tricky. I'm savoring the feeling of gradually figuring things out for myself, discovering how mechanics work together and deducing how they can be used to accomplish the task at hand, and I'm loving it.%Gallery-168492%
Ragnarok Odyssey journeying to North American Vitas sometime this year
In addition to bringing Orgarhythm stateside sometime before the end of this calendar year, XSEED has also announced equally nebulous plans to localize Ragnarok Odyssey for North American audiences and their Vitas. This follows the game's Japanese release last February, though how closely it'll follow remains to be seen. Set in the same world as Ragnarok Online, Odyssey is a Monster Hunter-esque runabout wherein the player's (fully customizable) character traverses the world, hunting "monsters and giants" as they do so. Players can choose from six different job classes, switching between missions when necessary, and play cooperatively either online or via local ad-hoc network, the later of which supports up to four players at a time.
