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Puchi Puchi Virus may come out in May
We get a feeling of nostalgia from talking about Puchi Puchi Virus. After all, we first encountered the puzzler two years ago, back when Japanese publisher Jaleco was still around. In November 2007, NIS announced plans to localize it with a fun, pop-culture-laden translation. After a few delays, NIS sent out a press release announcing a May release date! The delays have only served to make us ravenously interested in what was once something we casually appreciated (along with its preorder bonus). We've got tons of new screens and character art in our gallery.You can even try Puchi Puchi Virus right now, and maybe even win something for the privilege. The official website features a downloadable demo, which, if you score highly enough, enters you into a drawing for an Enamel Navy DS Lite.%Gallery-27958%
E308: Infected with Puchi Puchi Virus
Puchi Puchi Virus seems to have been hit with a delay. The wacky puzzler, initially set for -- hey, this week -- and later moved to next week, has been bumped to November, according to the information released with the latest set of E3 media. If true, that's a shame, as we've been looking forward to killing viruses in a (probably) easier, more laid-back, and certainly wackier fashion than we're used to in medical settings. Let's hope the new date just happens to be a typo -- we're ready to start connecting some viral dots!%Gallery-27958%[Via press release]
Nippon Ichi duo dated for North America
We learned of Disgaea's delay in the States earlier this month, but for those of you who demand greater specificity in your release dates, Nippon Ichi's most recent financial statement has exact dates in the US and A for both its popular SRPG and reference-dropping puzzler, Puchi Puchi Virus. Apparently, Disgaea will be sending us crazy with its complexity on September 23rd, while the latter will be in U.S. stores from July 22nd. That's really soon and sudden, especially considering how many delays Puchi Puchi has suffered! The question is: did you remember to pick up your free Anti-Virus Stress Reliever? %Gallery-17933%
Puchi Puchi Prinny Prinny preorder preorder
NIS America's online storefront, Rosenqueen, is promising a goofy preorder bonus for anyone who reserves Puchi Puchi Virus, Nippon Ichi's budget puzzler. Customers who pay the $19.99 in advance will receive a squishy, pill-shaped Anti-Virus Stress Reliever, much like the image on the right, except branded with everyone's favorite Disgaea mascots, Prinnies. As far as we know, the actual game doesn't feature any Prinnies, so it seems as if Rosenqueen is looking to move more Puchi Puchi Virus units by attracting Disgaea fans who have to own every piece of the series' merchandise. Then again, we wouldn't put it past Nippon Ichi to pack one of its games with cameos from the developer's other franchises. Rosenqueen plans to only have a thousand of these two-tone capsules, so make sure to preorder soon! Hopefully they made sure not to line up any of the colored halves while packing these, lest they accidentally clear out their entire stock. Gallery: Puchi Puchi Virus [Via CAG] See also: An explosively cute bonus for Disgaea
DS Daily: Calm before the storm
Okay, folks, the next few months are going to be absolutely, 100% crazy hard on our wallets. With some very awesome looking titles coming around the bend in May and beyond, we were wondering how you were preparing yourself? Super Dodgeball Brawlers hits this month, which will be an absolute must-buy for everyone, as well as some other quality titles (Drone Tactics, Puchi Puchi Virus). Still, it's nothing compared with how difficult June will be for our bank account.What're you most looking forward to in the coming months? The summer is going to be great for DS gamers, so what are you waiting on and how excited are you for it?
NIS offers contest to win a game and viral candy
While that may sound disgusting, it's not. In fact, we find this Puchi Puchi Virus candy to be almost as appetizing as the budget priced game due out this summer. Now, though, there's a chance for you to get your hands on both the delicious snack and the game it's themed after. In order to promote their upcoming game, NIS is having two contests, in which the prize is a Puchi Puchi Anti-Virus kit. The kit include anti-virus pills (aka candy), information about Puchi Puchi Virus, and the game itself. The deadline for both contests is May 20th. For one, you must draw your own version of an infected person, name it, and send in the artwork. For the other, you must come up with your own "wacky" virus, name it, and write about what it does.If you're interested in entering, just click the "read" link below for more information. Gallery: Puchi Puchi Virus [Via GamerTell]
A class in Puchi Puchi Virology
We've been interested in Puchi Puchi Virus for about a year because of its art, but throughout that whole year we've failed to learn one important piece of information about the game: how to play the game. It's something with, like, triangles and stuff, right? GamesRadar has posted a preview of the game that covers, in detail, this vital aspect of the game (the entire game). Basically, you tap three same-colored virii to create a triangle around them. Clicking any of the corners of this triangle causes it, and any virii inside the triangle, to disappear. If a virus stays onscreen too long, it turns to stone and can't be used to form a triangle.It's nice to know that there's an interesting puzzle game to go along with the silly pop-culture references.
Puchi Puchi Virus infected with Naruto references
It wasn't enough to play off of the fossilized Chuck Norris meme. NIS America's localization team decided to go pop-culture shopping for the names of the 101 monsters found in Puchi Puchi Virus. Thus, we have "Narucrow" and his rival "Sasukerrot."Spencer at Siliconera identified some more adorable parody names in his playtime, including "Cattie Fisher" (who "was a princess in a galaxy far, far away. Now lives on raw fish") and the mind-bendingly puntastic "Bull Loosely." You unlock character cards for these things after "curing them" with successfully completed puzzles. Even if they're silly (in fact, especially because they're silly, we appreciate overt outside references like these.
Our fate is in the hands of ... Cluck Norris?
And yes, we mean Cluck and not Chuck. (An easy way to tell the difference between them is Cluck's sweet Fu Manchu moustache.)Puchi Puchi Virus, which is set for a May release, is a quirky puzzle game that we were surprised to see localized. We've already deduced that it's one of the five games NIS was referring to earlier, but we didn't expect to see a video so quickly.This "trailer" doesn't really show us what to expect from the game -- only that it's going to be ridiculous. Whether you find yourself looking forward to it or not probably depends on how much silly you like on your DS.Fortunately, for many of us at DS Fanboy, that quota is hardly ever met.
Today's most edible swag: Puchi Puchi Virus candies
If there's one thing we enjoy more than getting free stuff in the mail here at Joystiq, it's getting stuff that is both free and edible, which is why we were only too happy when a package showed up today from NIS America promoting the publisher's upcoming foray into the world of casual gaming with Jaleco's Puchi Puchi Virus. We'll admit we had our misgivings about the change in direction, particularly given the company's traditionally niche role-playing and strategy roots, but if all of their side quests turn out as milk chocolate covered in a thin candy shell, we may well have to revise our stance altogether. Were we not thinking with our stomachs, the notion of consuming food based around a puzzle game with 'virus' in the title could be cause for concern. Also sealed in the box, aptly labeled 'Anti-Virus Kit,' is the game as well, so expect impressions soon -- assuming the candies themselves do not do us in.%Gallery-16732%
NIS targets casual audience with obscure puzzle game
We remarked on Puchi Puchi Virus's vivid 2D art when we saw the first screens in March, but we never thought we'd saw the game again. It was just another low-profile Japanese puzzle game. But Nippon Ichi has surprised us by announcing that they're localizing Puchi Puchi Virus for a U.S. release in February. The press release mentions a website, but that site has yet to go up.Since NIS's usual fare has very little casual appeal (and by 'casual' we mean 'people who have less than 15 hours a day to spend playing games), they have decided to bring out a nice, light puzzle game as their first DS release. Of course, they're still being true to themselves-- it's just about the most random Japanese game they could find.
NIS goes casual for the Nintendo DS
Our first thought when told of a new game from console strategy stalwart NIS America, the North American arm of Japan's Nippon Ichi, was of another fun yet grueling turn-based grind fest along the lines of Disgaea or Phantom Brave. Knowing that it's for the Nintendo DS only got us more excited, as we've been pining for one of these games to make the leap to Nintendo's touchable handheld for some time. Unfortunately, our hopes – and hearts – were broken when we ultimately learned that NIS's latest localization effort is a casual puzzler from Jaleco called Puchi Puchi Virus. As the company's initial venture into the world of puzzle games, NIS notes that it is careful to distinguish its game from traditional block droppers and other "ordinary puzzle games," and describes Puchi Puchi Virus as having "a more intuitive system of object linkage." In this game, the object is to link together icons in triangular patterns in order to erase them and ultimately clear the screen, while simultaneously working to satisfy each stage's different victory conditions. In addition, this game looks to be the first of several casual games undertaken by the publisher, as NIS has also unveiled a cute, wing-laden version of its logo to symbolize this new push to court the ever-popular casual crowd. This is fine. We can share you, NIS. But make no mistake if you begin to hang out too much with your new casual friends, and leave strategy enthusiasts sitting alone at the table staring at a cold dinner night after night, we're calling for an intervention.
