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Nintendo sends glorious papercraft with Glory of Heracles
Nintendo got Paon's Glory of Heracles into my house the same way the Greeks got soldiers into Troy: with a Trojan Horse. Although this horse was in a box, so the elaborate ruse really didn't play into my acceptance of the item. And thankfully, the cartridge didn't murder me after emerging. As has become the company's custom of late, Nintendo cutely packaged its review copy of Glory of Heracles with the cartridge hidden away inside the papercraft horse. Along with the horse and the empty game case, Nintendo sent a scroll -- a letter from the immortal Greek demigod himself, exhorting us to retrieve the cartridge and help him regain his memories. Embark upon a grand looking-at-pictures adventure in our gallery. Does anyone else find it hilarious and kind of adorable to imagine Nintendo PR staff carefully cutting, folding and gluing a bunch of papercraft horses? %Gallery-83133%
Bask in the Glory of Heracles this January
We'd understand if you've forgotten about Glory of Heracles: Nintendo hasn't mentioned the Paon-developed RPG since surreptitiously adding it to its E3 release list. Nintendo just announced that the DS game will arrive in North America on January 18.This will be the first game in the series to be released outside of Japan, and the first to be made without Data East (from which the staff of developer Paon originates). It's an RPG set in a (more) fictionalized version of the Greek mythological tradition, with a plot written by Final Fantasy's Kazushige Nojima. Now if Nintendo would fill us in on some more of its E3 question marks, like Line Attack Heroes and the amazing WarioWare DIY, that would be, well, glorious.%Gallery-65416%
Animated Intro of Herakles
Herakles no Eikou (Glory of Herakles/Hercules) comes out in Japan on the 22nd, and Nintendo and Paon are taking the traditional RPG-promotion tactic of displaying some gorgeous cinematics. We tend to enjoy the anime-style promo scenes more than the high-res CG stuff that Square Enix tends to use, so we were very pleased to watch the animated half of this trailer, which we suspect is the opening scene of the game. It's enjoyable both on its own and as a look at a parallel universe in which Greek mythology developed in Japan.Though it's an obvious step down in visual fidelity from the high-quality animation, the gameplay footage that follows looks pretty spectacular as well, and enough of the feeling carries over from the intro to temporarily convince us that RPGs can be exciting. We'd love for this to be the first Herakles no Eikou game to escape Japan.
Caught on video: Glory of Heracles is an RPG
In case you weren't one hundred percent convinced that Paon's Herakles no Eikou: Tamashii no Shoumei was an RPG, despite the amnesiac hero and the fact that it's an RPG series, the two videos of the game's battles, posted on the official website, should convince you that they are about as RP as a G can be.Seriously: the camera swirls around as a hero summons meteors from the sky, which then drop on a group of wolf monsters who stand still in a rectangular formation as they are hit. That is textbook. Paon's choice of platform also makes its influence felt, as this attack is powered up by sliding icons into areas of the touchscreen.[Via NeoGAF]
Glorious Website of Herakles
The official website for Paon's refresh of the Herakles no Eikou (Glory of Heracles) series has opened up, offering a few tiny new screens and character art. The storyline has been revealed to involve that old RPG standard, the teenage hero who washes up with amnesia and then goes on a quest to regain his memories. The twist is that he treks to Olympus instead of a generic fantasy setting, and that it's possible that he is Herakles himself. He is joined by a girl named Locos and a traveler named Shukion who has his own reasons for joining the party.Okay, it's your basic RPG stuff -- the mysterious hero and the mysterious anti-hero. But it looks great, has a unique setting, and is being backed by Nintendo. Plus, stylus control seems to be optional! [Via Inside-Games]
English of the Judo chop
If we lived in Japan and needed to learn English, English of the Dead would clearly be our choice of software. Yet, we're not saying that Paon doesn't have a fun idea for their English training game, too. New Horizon English Training Course DS might not have zombies, but it does have Judo.As you may have guessed, the way in which this title handles its English quizzes is through sports minigames. It's unclear how exactly the Judo game works, but there's also a marathon event (during which players must write out the correct letters quickly in order to run fast), and a weight training game (which has players identify whether or not a translation is correct). Of course, in our hearts, zombies still win -- every time.[Via Siliconera]
Obscure Nintendo RPG reborn as another obscure RPG
A few screenshots of Nintendo's Eternal Chronicle sneaked into the release list from Nintendo of Japan's October conference, and then it was never heard from again. The RPG has resurfaced now, as a sequel to a franchise that was never released over here: Herakles no Eikou (Glory of Heracles). With original publisher Data East dead, the rights to the Greek-mythology RPG series have been grabbed up by Paon, developers of Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast on Wii.The conversion is the second step in a minor resurgence for the franchise -- Herakles no Eikou IV for the Super Famicom was announced for Virtual Console release this month.
Donkey Kong: King of Savings
Burabura Donkey, or DK: King of Swing as we know it in the states, puts you on a quest to recover 24 stolen medals and prove yourself as the Jungle Hero. Swinging the gorilla from peg to peg is managed with your handheld's L and R buttons, while jumping can be accomplished by hitting the two shoulder buttons at the same time. Its mechanics are simple, and many feel that the graphics are a step back from the Donkey Kong Country series, but it can still be pretty fun if you're looking for something different in an action game. Import shop Play Asia will be selling Japanese copies of the Paon-developed GBA title for $10.90 for the next three days, so if you still haven't tried out DK: King of Swing, here's your chance!
Bongos replaced with carpal tunnel in DK Jet preview
The game looks okay, and despite reservations, we're open to the idea ... but the video preview of DK Jet at Jeux France makes us wince in anticipated wrist pain. There's a whole lotta shakin' goin' on there, and we're not sure that's really a good thing. Bongos, at least, were a little easier on the arms. However -- the good folks at Jeux France do make the point that maximum shaking motion is only necessary to gain max speed at the beginning of a race, and if you're stopped or slowed by obstacles during the race. Once you've achieved maximum speed, with no interference, you have only to concentrate on the rest.The long preview offers a nice walkthrough of the menus and gameplay (albeit in French; where's My French Coach when we need it?), and the game itself looks good. We'll just have to give the controls a try for ourselves at some point to see just how intense they really are. Also, we really need to steal that plush Donkey Kong featured in the video.
Completely unexciting DK Jet videos
We're still not clear on whether or not DK Jet will allow players to use their bongo peripherals, but even that might not be enough to save what looks like a half-hearted effort from developer Paon. The former GameCube title's official site has several videos illustrating its new control scheme with the Wii remote and nunchuck -- drum both to tear through the course at breakneck speeds of 30 mph, waggle with only one hand to veer right into a wall, and put them back down when you decide to play Mario Kart DS instead!There are a lot of movies and sections at the site that haven't been revealed yet, so there's still plenty of opportunities for DK Jet to impress us before its June 28th release in Japan. If you listen to the ridiculous noises Donkey Kong makes with every jump, however, it sounds like the depressed groan of a gorilla who just wants to go home. Throw a barrel past the post break for one of the demonstration clips we grabbed.
DK Bongo Blast fires off the screens
These new screenshots of Nintendo's Gamecube-turned-Wii racer haven't completely alleviated our fears over its new control setup, but we're excited to see that animal-riding has been included! With the game's Japanese release date (6/28) only a few weeks away, we can look forward to seeing a lot more revealing previews and gameplay videos soon. Head past the post break for rhino-riding images from DK Bongo Blast.
DK Bongo Blast's bothersome controls
It was obvious that Donkey Kong Bongo Blast would abandon the bongo peripheral when it migrated from the GameCube to the Wii, but details on how the racing game will use the Wii remote weren't revealed until late last week. Players will shake their remotes and nunchucks at the same time to accelerate, rattle one of the controllers when steering to the left or right, and lift both pieces to jump. This modified control setup makes a lot of sense, but does it sound fun? In our opinion, this seems like it would have been better left on the GameCube. It'd be appreciated if developer Paon would give us the choice to use our old bongos, but with no mention of the option yet for the, it's doubtful.
