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Super Dodgeball mini-clips: 'Cor blimey, guvna!'
Like the blinking dodgeball traveling two miles per hour in this short clip, Super Dodgeball Brawlers' release this coming spring continues its slow approach. Before you know it, the game will crash right into your face, leaving an imprint of your surprised expression on its box before sending you flying out of the arena.Aksys has eight new videos in its latest Super Dodgeball Brawlers update, this time demonstrating the "super throws" from the "super tossers" of Team England. Once again, the clips are soundless and, in our opinion, not too exciting, but we'll take what we can get; we're just happy that the game is being localized at all!
Hide behind a big kid: Super Dodgeball Brawlers official site
What better way to ring in the new year than with Super Dodgeball Brawlers? Japanese publisher Arc System Works has set up an official site for the Kunio-kun game for its release in Japan this February 21st, providing the requisite wallpapers and tiny screenshots.Other than that, you won't find much media that we haven't already foisted upon you, but there are some interesting remarks about its "Create a Dream Team" mode and using punch or kick attacks during a regular match. The site also mentions the burst gauge, a new feature with which your team can charge up and execute special moves capable of changing the tide of the game!
Super Dodgeball mini-clips: 'USA! USA!'
"Pow! Right in the kisser!"Aksys Games has put out another round of Super Dodgeball Brawlers videos, this time showcasing the special throws available with Team USA's roster (last week's clips were from the Nekketsu Highschool team). Once again, the movies are extremely short and without sound, but you still get to see some dudes get their blocks knocked off, thrown off the screen and across town from the force of a connected power shot.Super Dodgeball Brawlers is scheduled to smack North America in the back of its head this Spring 2008 (without online support, unfortunately). The next set of videos Aksys plans to release will feature Team England and arrive on January 4th. Head past the break for the rest of this week's seconds-long clips -- you might want to take your glasses off first, though.
Castle of Shikigami III shoots up Wii next spring
Once upon a time sprite-based shoot-em-ups, or shmups as the kids would say, were all the rage, casting players in the role of spaceships, witches on broomsticks, and even penguins as they blasted away at anything that moved while deftly avoiding a seemingly nonstop stream of bullets. It was a simpler time, and while the industry has long since moved on, those of us with an eye for nostalgia and one foot firmly rooted in the past can jump in excitement at publisher Aksys' plans to bring Castle of Shikigami III, a vertical 'bullet hell'-style shmup to the Wii this coming spring 2008. Thankfully checking motion sensitivity at the door, the game follows 2004's Castle Shikigami 2 and its hilariously covered prequel Mobile Light Force 2, both of which made it to these shores care of indie pub XS Games. While both of those titles were released at a budget price point, its unclear if Aksys will follow this tradition. What we do know is that Castle of Shikigami III will feature two player co-op and 10 selectable characters, making this certainly one to watch for those of us who refuse to grow up and recognize the polygons as our lords and masters.
Super Dodgeball mini-clips: 'Lightning Bolt! Lightning Bolt!'
We ran here with a quickness unforeseen to deliver these Super Dodgeball Brawlers videos to you, jumping over the chalked line and spiking these clips with all our might right into your face. Sure, they're each only a few seconds long, demonstrating some of the special shots in place of an actual match, but beggars can't be choosers, and, like TLC, we ain't too proud to beg, especially when it's for our first look at one of 2008's most anticipated games in motion.If you haven't marked it on your calendar yet, Aksys Games plans to bring the Kunio-kun title to the states next spring, so go ahead and draw smiley faces across that entire season. Guard your grill and zig-zag past the post break for seven more of these short, soundless videos from Super Dodgeball Brawlers.
Aksys shooting Castle of Shikigami III at the U.S.
Aksys Games announced today that they will localize Alfa System's vertical shooter Shikigami no Shiro III as Castle of Shikigami III. The game, featuring 10 characters (who fly around and shoot magical bullet things) will be released in the spring of 2008. It seems that only the Wii version is being localized, and not the Xbox 360 version.We're a little surprised to see a 2D shooter being released in the U.S. outside of the Virtual Console (which is shmupland). But we shouldn't be -- it was published in Japan by Arc System Works, and Aksys seems to have swept up all of their Nintendo content for localization. Just to be clear, we are thrilled about that. Check out the press release after the break and enjoy our gallery of brightly-colored, confusing screens!
Super Dodgeball Brawlers: the first American Kunio game
When Siliconera's Spencer Yip interviewed Aksys's Gail Salamanca about Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles, he also submitted a battery of questions about Super Dodgeball Brawlers, many of which were submitted by readers. One reader asked if Aksys would keep the Kunio series characters for the game, rather than making them more generic and American. Salamanca responded with "Yes, we will be keeping the Kunio names for the US version."This may only be significant to us and to the person asking the question (who was, we admit, also us), but that means that Super Dodgeball Brawlers will be the first Kunio game in the U.S. Renegade, River City Ransom, Crash 'n the Boys Street Challenge, Super Spike V'Ball, Nintendo World Cup, and every previous version of Super Dodge Ball were all part of the Kunio-kun series from Technos, starring two rude high-school kids named Kunio and Riki. And without exception, the original characters were excised from the localization.Another reader asked if more Kunio games were upcoming, and Salamanca replied "We hope so." Not much news there, but if Aksys wants to continue publishing upcoming Kunio games, we're happy to hear it. What a great day for Technos nerds.
Aksys hopes to make visual novels big with Jake Hunter
Aksys, who has already earned a place at the top of our Christmas list for localizing Super Dodgeball Brawlers, is also taking on the heroic task of localizing, for the first time, a Detective Saburo Jinguuji game. Aksys's Gail Salamanca spoke to Siliconera about the decision.Unsurprisingly, when Jinguuji steps into his American persona, the world around him will be more Westernized, as well. Similarly to how Capcom has approached the Phoenix Wright series despite the whole Fey family being clearly Japanese and part of the game clearly taking place in Japan, Salamanca said that Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles will take place in America: "Yes, we took the Anywhere, USA approach when it came time to localize the game."If Jake Hunter does well, which it may in a post-Wright America, Aksys is hoping to bring over more visual novel games. "We're hoping Jake Hunter is the first in a long list of digital novel style games." Although, to be honest, we think their decision to localize this is based less on genuine interest in the game and more on taking whatever they could get from Arc System Works.
Petit Copter flying over the Pacific
Aksys appears to be the default U.S. publisher for Arc System Works's Japanese releases. In addition to the wonderful DS games they're localizing, they have picked up Sonic Powered's mini-flight sim, Petit Copter. The American release will be titled MiniCopter: Adventure Flight. This is the first American release for a game in the Petit Copter series, which has entries on the PS2, Xbox and other systems.Now that we know we'll get to play it, we're somewhat more interested in the title than before. The graphics are pretty rough, yes, but flying around in an oversized world, manipulating objects and carrying out objectives with air missiles and suction cups at least sounds unique. Of course, we'll be a lot more "somewhat more interested" in a budget-priced MiniCopter.
Hardboiled detective title coming to the US after all
Aksys Games is quickly becoming our favorite publisher of niche DS titles. Just last month, the small studio announced that it would localize Super Dodgeball Brawlers, blowing kisses in our direction. Then earlier today, Aksys revealed its plans to rebrand Tantei Jinguji Saburo (Detective Saburo Jinguji) as Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles and bring the adventure title to North America next spring. Despite having appeared on a variety of consoles since his debut on the Famicom Disk System 20 years ago, this will be the gumshoe's first visit to the states.Like with the Phoenix Wright series, you'll progress through the noir-ish plots with menu-based interrogations and clues you've found during your investigations. With Jake Hunter, however, you'll solve your cases with a Guile-styled haircut and a bebop jazz soundtrack. How wicked is that? We're not sure yet whether or not Aksys Games will leave in the Shinjuku setting and chain-smoking scenes, but we do know that Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles will be budget-priced at $19.99. Hit the gallery for five screenshots from the Japanese release.%Gallery-9685%
Spring 2008: American balls get dodged
We don't know how today could get any better, unless we suddenly found a copy of Contra 4 in our Boo Berry (checking ... nope). Siliconera just reported that Aksys Games (also known as heroes of game publishing) will be bringing Chou Nekketsu Koukou Kunio-Kun Dodge Ball Bu to the U.S. under the excellent name of Super Dodgeball Brawlers. Because they play dodge ball, and also get into fights.Even if you don't like Super Dodge Ball, buy it. Buy a couple of copies so Million gets the idea that they need to continue making more new Kunio games. In the meantime, we're going to start ordering decorations and (of course) dodge balls for the Super Dodgeball Brawlers welcoming party. Spring 2008 is just around the corner!
Metareview: Hoshigami Remix
Hoshigami Remix may look a little bit like Final Fantasy Tactics, but apparently that's the bitter end of all similarity. The best thing we can say here is that the reviews are packed with hilarity. The bad reviews say good things, and the good reviews seem delivered with disdain. It's like everyone signed a pact to be as confusing as possible!But when it comes to the scores, we're disappointed -- a less-than-good SRPG on the DS just seems like a waste, considering the platform is so well-suited to the game type. Some of you reported difficulty finding Hoshigami Remix in stores this week -- and upon reflection, that may not be such a bad thing.RPGFan -- 70%: "I did not enjoy playing Hoshigami: Remix. I did not find it fun. I found it irritating, monotonous, and cruel. There is a dedicated fanbase for this game, however, and if you're one of them, you will love the port. Also, if you play on Easy mode, none of the enemies can use Coinfeigms making most of the game a joke. I played on Normal and found the difficulty to be very uneven. Overall, you'll need to figure out for yourself whether or not you are the type of person who would enjoy Hoshigami: Remix. Most likely, however, you're not."Games Radar -- 40%: "Almost all of these annoyances were present in the original Hoshigami, which is perhaps the most aggravating part of Remix. Despite all of the criticism levied against the original, the remake team failed to fix what needed to be repaired most. That's not to say there aren't any gameplay improvements - revival magic, once rare in the original, is available right off the bat, the stylus-controlled interface is quite intuitive, and you're allowed to save far more frequently (though there still isn't an in-battle quicksave feature). But in the end, these miniscule improvements tacked onto a broken game are like repairing a wrecked car with duct tape."1UP -- 55%: "Basically, if you approach the game the wrong way, the newly tweaked difficulty will become a moot point by the time you get halfway through the game. Unfortunately, though, concentrating early on building your magical skills (which is really the best way to go) makes the first half of the game that much easier. Too easy, really. You'll be able to perform spells that your enemies just can't handle at that point in the game, thus wiping out entire armies in the blink of an eye. With all that being said, Hoshigami Remix is a satisfying role-playing experience, as long as you know what you're getting yourself into. Hardcore players may actually lament the slight ease in difficulty and the fact that the game doesn't give them the character development freedom it really should. But as far as portable RPGs go, you could do a lot worse than Hoshigami."
Guilty Gear waggles into the US, leaving glitches in Japan
Aksys Games, publishers of Hoshigami Remix on the DS, have announced that they're localizing Guilty Gear XX Accent Core, the fifth revision of the third entry in Arc System Works' totally metal 2D fighting series. The new version includes 2 new characters, A.B.A. and Holy Order Sol. Aksys claims that A.B.A. has "never been seen outside of Japan," a claim that is only true if nobody bought Guilty Gear Isuka. In addition, Siliconera found a post on Aksys's official forums stating that they'll be fixing the bugs that were prevalent in the Japanese PS2 release. We consider "not being broken" a significant gameplay feature.Finally, in a decisive victory for Internet linguists everywhere, the official press release advertises, in addition to Gamecube controller and Classic Controller play, "Waggle controls exclusive to the Wii!" It's, like, an official term now.
Check out Hoshigami Remix
The English version of Hoshigami Remix is well on the way to completion, as these new screens show.The game's battle screens are looking very much like Final Fantasy Tactics, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The three difficulty settings should help out players who are new to the whole tactical RPG scene, whilst keeping veteran players happy.We're promised around 50 hours of gameplay, with branching storylines and multiple endings to find. You'll also be able to trade items with your friends over wi-fi. Head past the break for the screens.
