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Month in Japan – September ’14

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The summer holidays are over, and so technically is the summer itself, but fun in the sun continues across Japan this month.

September is the month of Sports Days, of traditional Japanese games such as kiba-sen and kumi-taiso, and so far the weather has held out for it. But clouds are on the horizon, and soon the blustery season of autumn will be upon us. Still, the Japanese enjoy the season while they can, and from now until early next year there will be at least one public holiday a month to keep the stress at bay. For example, this month we have the Autumnal Equinox and Respect for the Aged Day. It’s little wonder that the end of summer has proven to be a busy time for video games, as the kids have so much extra time to play them. Super Smash Bros. on 3DS captured everyone’s attention, with close to a million sales over the opening weekend, and we can expect a huge array of others over the coming months.

Elementary

One such game that has peeked out of the woodwork is the first new Phoenix Wright mystery game on 3DS. Rather than the titular, spiky-haired defence attorney, Dai-Gyakuten Saiban will feature Ryuunosuke Naruhodou, Phoenix’s Meiji-era ancestor, in late-1800s-themed court cases. Capcom have promised a very different storytelling style to the modern day setting we have seen before. One big change will be the transition from static-image dialogue scenes to full 3D, which they hope will help bring the game alive. But the directors of the game are more excited about a certain story arc within the game, which they talked about earlier this month.

Over the course of the game, Ryuunosuke and his assistant Susato will find themselves travelling to London, and joining forces with a famous ace detective. Sherlock Holmes will feature in a couple of cases featured in the game, along with his own assistant Airi Watson, who is a girl. Apparently that’s one of the requirements of being a protagonist’s assistant, and to hell with staying true to source material! Game progression in the London cases will be in a similar vein to the earlier Phoenix Wright vs. Professor Layton, in which the antisocial Holmes will deal with the detective work and law-trained Ryuunosuke will then put the evidence to good use.

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Indeed, both producer Shintarou Kojima and director Shu Takumi told interviewers that the Holmes mysteries made a big impact on their childhoods, and probably helped inspire the form of the Phoenix Wright series today. Kojima told the press that he was very excited to be working with such a famous character, and hoped the folks at home liked his interpretation of the famed detective. Dai-Gyakuten Saiban: Naruhodou Ryuunosuke no Bouken, is set for a release on 3DS next year.

Something old, something new…

But much of the news this month came from the end of September, and the massive electronic entertainment funhouse of the Tokyo Game Show. TGS ran for four days, from Thursday 18th to Sunday 21st, and was practically bursting at the seams with new release information and reasons to get excited about beloved franchises. Many game producers were on hand to show off their latest creations, but a few stood just a little taller than their peers.

It was a busy four days, for example, for Square Enix, creators of the famed Final Fantasy series. Quite unsurprisingly, one of Square’s big announcements this year was of a high-definition remake of an existing game, this time PSP hit Final Fantasy Type-Zero. Zero HD will be coming to both PS4 and Xbox One on March 19th, for the price of 6800 yen (about forty-five quid). The team behind the remake were eager to point out that there’s more to this rerelease than a fresh, shiny coat of HD paint. The same team has been working on the upcoming Final Fantasy XV (see below) and have been using some of those same graphical techniques for Zero HD. They can promise more realistic lighting than the PSP was capable of offering, in addition to overhauled camera movement controls which had been a big complaint in the game’s original release.

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For those wanting something (slightly) newer, the team also announced a handheld edition of the popular smartphone social game set in the same universe, Final Fantasy Agito, coming out on Vita in the near future. They explained that, though Agito ended up as a free game for phones, it had always been their intention to bring it to handhelds eventually. Final Fantasy Agito Plus will be out January 15th.

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But the biggest reactions came from news surrounding the next console instalment of the Final Fantasy franchise, XV. Now a very long time coming, XV will soon be available to test out in the form of a free downloadable demo on PS4, subtitled Episode Duscae. (‘Duscae’ is the name of the region where the game takes place.) The demo will feature about an hour of gameplay, Square told the press at TGS, which will show off both some of the open world aspects that are a first to Final Fantasy, and also a dungeon to try out the new combat mechanics. When asked about the presence of a boss battle, director Nomura said that there would actually be something ‘even cooler’. He also said that the dream behind XV was to recreate Final Fantasy above all the traditional formula and tropes associated with the series so far.

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…something borrowed…

More news from Square Enix surrounded the next Dragon Quest Heroes game. The Heroes subtitle has tended to feature games that try to change the standard turn-based battle antics of the core Dragon Quest universe, and this time around Square are certainly trying something new. Dragon Quest Heroes: Anryuu to Sekaiju no Shiro (‘the dark dragon and the castle of the world-tree’) is set to be a flashy action RPG in the sort of frantic, one-against-horde style as Zelda Musou or Dynasty Warriors. So far, four playable characters have been detailed, though others will no doubt be added in the future. The virtuous Akto, fearless Meiya, noble Dilk and gadgeteer Julietta will also be playable as a co-operative four-player experience, though how the players work together is still unknown.

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…something weird

Never to be outdone, TGS was also a busy place for the eccentric Atlus, creators of psycho-analytic role-playing series Megami Tensei. Following on from the success of Persona 4 and all its runty little spinoffs (Arena, Golden, Q etc.), Atlus added more fuel to the fire this month with a very surreal video showcasing something called Persona 4: Dancing All Night. The video features characters from the game, originally a PS2 release, dancing away in front of a colourful, disco-esque background. Will this be a dancing game, then? No word from Atlus as of yet.

Also on the cards (and also the offspring of the ancient Megami Tensei) is a new game in the handheld Devil Survivor series. The original Devil Survivor on DS followed part of the story for Shin Megami Tensei on the Super Nintendo, in which a group of teenagers find themselves trapped in a monster-infested Shinjuku as time ticks down before the city gets nuked by an over-zealous government. The game used time management and monster collecting to create a tense blend of RPG elements. This month, Atlus released the first information surrounding Devil Survivor 2: Break Record for 3DS. The game will feature an attractive new visual style and some dramatic story-telling sequences, though nothing has been said about the gameplay just yet. Some of the old characters appear to be making an appearance, as well as the ticking time-bomb motif.

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Lastly, there was also news from Atlus about the next New Etrian Odyssey title for 3DS, Knights of Fafnir. Fafnir appears to be playing it safe, with more of the same to keep long-time fans happy. Early details state that players will have thirteen classes from which to build their party of dungeoneers, a higher cap for skill levels, and over five hundred enemies to be collected in a new ‘grimoire system’.

Best in show

And now, winding down, this month’s charts held few surprises. Nintendo’s crossover action fighter Super Smash Bros. 3DS hit top position this month with staggering opening sales. Next on the list is Destiny on the PS4 (the PS3 edition landing a humble 4th). The gorgeous shooter performed well in the Japanese market this month, despite being a western title, perhaps owing to a lacking PS4 catalogue. Third place went to the tenacious Youkai Watch 2 on 3DS, which continues to sell well as a part of a flourishing franchise.

Next month’s big release will be the latest version of Nintendo’s double-screen handheld, the New 3DS. The handheld will feature new buttons for new ways to play, and a camera that tracks your face for seamless 3D. The N3DS is coming alongside Monster Hunter 4G on October 11th, which is as always picking up a lot of hype. PS4’s PsychoBreak (or The Evil Within out in the west) comes out a little later.

Until then, sayonara.

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