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Final Muramasa Rebirth DLC drags players to hell Sept. 2
Vanillaware will wrap up its DLC plans for the PS Vita brawler Muramasa Rebirth early next month with the launch of "Hell's Where the Heart Is," the fourth and last entry in the "Genroku Legends" expanded storyline. Muramasa's final DLC chapter stars the Lord of Hell's daughter Rajyaki, who must shift between three playable forms as she hacks away at demonic creatures and confronts classic bosses featured in the game's core campaign. Previous Vita-exclusive DLC releases include "A Cause to Daikon for" and last month's "A Spirited Seven Nights' Haunting." "Hell's Where the Heart Is" launches digitally via the PlayStation Network on September 2 in North America and September 3 in Europe. [Image: Vanillaware]
Dragon's Crown raises level cap, adds massive, randomized dungeon
All Dragon's Crown wants for Christmas is a massive new dungeon, increased level cap and a bit more soul-crushing difficulty. Fortunately, developer Vanillaware has an in with Saint Nick. Previously, Dragon's Crown allowed players to develop their chosen brawlers to level 99. As of today, that cap has been raised to 255. To complement the extra 156 levels, Vanillaware has introduced a new Ultimate difficulty level that unlocks once players have cleared the ninth layer of the Labyrinth of Chaos. Not only is the Ultimate difficulty level intensely hard, it also offers players better rewards than lesser difficulty settings. In addition, Vanillaware has introduced a new dungeon, dubbed "The Tower of Mirages." This dungeon is only available in the Ultimate difficulty setting, and is seemingly designed to break whatever self-confidence you might have. Each time to you enter The Tower of Mirages, its levels are randomized, which is problematic given that there are "tens of thousands of levels" for you to hack and slash your way through. On a more generous note, Vanillaware has also included a few stability fixes in this new update, along with a new feature that allows anyone who has completed the Story Mode to skip right past it when creating a new alternate character.
Dragon's Crown ships more than 800,000 copies
Atlus has shipped more than 800,000 copies of Dragon's Crown since the game's launch in August, Games Industry reports. Dragon's Crown is the 2D RPG and beat 'em up from Vanillaware, and our review touches on possible reasons for its success. For one, "combat in Dragon's Crown is fluid, satisfying and intense, and represents a major, necessary evolution of the style introduced in Capcom's Dungeons & Dragons series." Atlus also announced today that it's moved 700,000 copies of Persona 4: Golden worldwide since that game's launch in 2012.
Dragon's Crown cross-play patch comes to Europe
The global tour of Dragon's Crown cross-play culminates in Europe, after NIS America announced the patch enabling play between PS3 and Vita adventurers is live across the region. The fear was the patch would take a while longer; NIS America originally said it was "due in the coming months." Thankfully, it's only taken weeks, so Euro-friends can hack-and-slash all manner of beautifully drawn monsters in cross-platform contentment. Vanillaware's gorgeous brawler was a critical hit with us, and perhaps slightly more importantly for publisher Atlus a commercial success in Japan, where it shipped 300,000 copies in its first week.
PSA: Muramasa Rebirth invades Europe
Following a March release in Japan and a June release in North America, Aksys Games has announced that Muramasa Rebirth is now available to European Vita owners via PlayStation Network download. As its name suggests, Muramasa Rebirth is an enhanced re-release of 2009's Wii-exclusive Muramasa: The Demon Blade. The original game was widely praised - JC awarded it a 5/5 score and described the game alternately as "beautiful" and a "great action game" - but the Vita remake adds a host of new features including improved graphics and customizable controls designed with Sony's handheld in mind. Aksys has also used this release to remind players to keep an eye out for four upcoming DLC packs for Muramasa Rebirth, though the publisher offers no word on when they might appear. On arrival, these additions should expand the game by a sizable margin as each pack will introduce a new playable character as well as new areas to explore.
PSA: Dragon's Crown cross-play update now on PS3, PS Vita
The cross-play update for Dragon's Crown is live. If you purchased Dragon's Crown on either PS3 or PS Vita, you'll find you can now install the update and play on the other system at no extra cost. Dragon's Crown is a 2D beat-em-up developed by Japanese outfit Vanillaware, the same studio who brought us Muramasa Rebirth. In our review, we said it just might be Vanillaware's best game to date – and "if you're committed to leveling up all six playable classes, you'll be playing Dragon's Crown for a long time to come."
Dragon's Crown gets Vita, PS3 cross-play in Japan [Update: North America too!]
Japanese Vita and PS3 players can now buddy up in Dragon's Crown, after Vanillaware added cross-play between the two platforms. The update looks to be restricted to Japan at the mo, so we've reached out to Atlus to see if it's headed for North America. Cross-play for Dragon's Crown also came to Europe ... except it didn't, really. Just after Atlus' announcement about Japan we received a letter of apology from NIS America, the company that brought the game to PAL regions earlier this month. We'll let the letter do the talking, as written by Marketing Manager Ryan Phillips. "We wanted to let you know that there has been a printing error with the initial run of the PS Vita retail packaging for Dragon's Crown in the European/Australian regions. The back of the packaging indicates that the game supports Cross-platform Play with the PlayStation®3 console. However, this information is incorrect. The game supports cross-save functionality only. We sincerely apologize for any inconveniences this printing error may cause." For the record, NIS America didn't have any news to share with us about European or Australian versions getting the cross-play update. We suspect Atlus' announcement came as something of a surprise. Update: Atlus has confirmed that the update will come to North America as well, clarifying that cross-play compatibility is being added for both cooperative and competitive modes. The publisher said it is "releasing the patch very soon, it's in our offices for testing." Update 2: Sure enough, NIS America get back in touch to let us know the cross-play patch is coming to Europe "in the upcoming months."
Muramasa Rebirth landing in Europe this fall
Muramasa Rebirth will launch this fall in Europe, Aksys Games recently announced. The PlayStation Vita port of Muramasa: The Demon Blade, which first launched in 2009 for Wii, retains the side-scrolling action drawn to life by Vanillaware, the creators of Odin Sphere and Dragon's Crown. Aksys noted that four additional downloadable characters and scenarios will be available for the game, though the DLC has yet to launch in any region, let alone Europe.
Dragon's Crown flies to Europe, Australia in October
The latest NISAmerica newsletter reveals Dragon's Crown is coming to Europe, Australia, and other PAL regions on October 11, and confirms the art book pre-order bonus is available at select retailers. The PS3 and Vita brawler is already out in North America and Japan, getting off to a storming start in the latter after shipping 300,000 copies in its first week. The game proved sovereign with our Danny, too, notching four and a half stars in his review: "Vanillaware breathes new life into a worthwhile but rarely attempted style of gameplay with Dragon's Crown, a brilliantly executed tribute to arcade gaming's past that offers up an endlessly satisfying loop of questing, looting, and character progression."
Dragon's Crown ships 300K across first week in Japan
Dragon's Crown scaled to heights of 300,000 shipments in its first week at retail, a welcome boost for publisher Atlus amid the financial struggles of its parent company. Those figures are restricted to Japanese shipments (including download purchases), and could rise dramatically after Tuesday, August 6, when the PS3 and Vita brawler will be available in North America. At the very least the game proved more than popular with our Danny, who deemed Dragon's Crown to be developer Vanillaware's best effort yet. "While it scales back the complexity that defined Princess Crown and Odin Sphere," said Danny in his four-and-half-stars review, "its focus on deep, varied fighting mechanics make it one of the best beat-em-ups released for any platform in recent years." As for Atlus, it'll wait to see how the situation with parent company Index shakes out. Index is expected to sell its subsidiary options after effectively filing for bankruptcy protection. Atlus has reassured fans that its games, including Dragon's Crown, are "shipping on time."
Dragon's Crown review: King of brawlers
Beat-'em-ups have been through a bit of a rough patch lately. The arcade-style brawler suffered a decline that coincided with the downfall of arcades themselves, and aside from standout efforts like Castle Crashers and Double Dragon Neon, little has been done in recent years to progress or revitalize the genre. Vanillaware breathes new life into a worthwhile but rarely attempted style of gameplay with Dragon's Crown, a brilliantly executed tribute to arcade gaming's past that offers up an endlessly satisfying loop of questing, looting, and character progression. In comparison to its Vanillaware-developed predecessors Odin Sphere and Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Dragon's Crown forgoes in-depth RPG elements in favor of traditional beat-em-up gameplay. Combat in Dragon's Crown is fluid, satisfying, and intense, and represents a major, necessary evolution of the style introduced in Capcom's Dungeons & Dragons series.%Gallery-194927%
The last look at Dragon's Crown before next week's launch
This is it. It's the final pre-launch trailer for Dragon's Crown, the fantastical brawler notorious for all sorts of huge reasons. Dragon's Crown will hit PS3 for $50 and Vita for $40 on August 6, along with DLC that's free for one month after release. Are you brave enough to watch one more video?
Dragon's Crown roaring into Europe
A NIS America newsletter in the Joystiq inbox says the publisher is bringing Vanillaware co-op hack-and-slash Dragon's Crown to Europe, although no further details were noted beyond a fall release window. The Vita and PS3 game, mixing the Muramasa and Odin Sphere studio's hand-painted visuals with a diverse array of brawling heroes, comes to North America on Atlus' shoulders August 6.
Dragon's Crown characters get color, voice, name customization
Dragon's Crown features a bevy of customization options, including changeable character names, outfits and voices, and the ability to switch control from the analog stick to the D-pad. Character names are fully editable, while their outfits feature five color palettes, and the voices can be either English or Japanese. The voice option applies to each character uniquely, and players can mix it up on the battlefield. Dragon's Crown launches on August 6 for PS3 and Vita, shipping with Voice Pack DLC that features different narrator voices for each playable character in the game – Amazon, Dwarf, Elf, Fighter, Sorceress and Wizard. The Voice Pack is free for one month, and $2 after that.%Gallery-193084%
Dragon's Crown Wizard and Amazon trailers feature thunderbolts, lightning
In this latest batch of trailers for Vanillaware's Dragon's Crown, available on PlayStation 3 and Vita August 6, the Wizard and Amazon hero classes show off their respective skeleton-vanquishing abilities, which involve a respectable amount of elemental magic and drill kicks, also respectively.
New Dragon's Crown trailers continue to wreck beasts
These latest Dragon's Crown trailers showcase the various ways in which the Dwarf and Elf characters are equipped to burn pig-men and mess up skeleton junk like nobody's business.
Dragon's Crown introduces the Amazon
Atlus released the sixth character trailer for Dragon's Crown today, and it features the Amazon - remember when you saw that word and thought of female warriors rather than online deals? What this Amazon lacks in outerwear (or anywear), she makes up for with brute strength.
Dragon's Crown pre-orders get this art book
Folks who pre-order Vanillaware and Atlus' forthcoming 2D hack-and-slash game, Dragon's Crown, will also receive a 64-page limited edition art book for their troubles. The paperback tome includes character and environmental artwork by Dragon's Crown designer/artist/Vanillaware president George Kamitani, in addition to pieces by other Japanese video game artists, such as Capcom alumnus Kinu Nishimura and Akira Yasuda. Atlus has also revealed the game's North American box art, which does a good job of obfuscating the art design's more controversial aspects. Dragon's Crown will drop for PlayStation 3 and Vita August 6, at $49.99 and $39.99 respectively.%Gallery-187956%
Dragon's Crown spells out the Wizard
If you've been wondering what Draco Malfoy's been up to since his Hogwarts days, Dragon's Crown has the answer. He's grown his hair out and broadened his repertoire in the upcoming PS3/Vita beat-em-up, but he's clearly gone overboard on the bleach.
Dragon's Crown strings along the Elf
The fourth character trailer for Dragon's Crown showcases the Elf, who looks to have a dynamite range(r) of moves, able to gracefully string together mid-air attacks with kicks, fireballs, and flurries of arrows. Also, was that Medusa with laser eyes?
