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Explore the latest Pokemon Mystery Dungeon this October
by JC Fletcher 
{ Jul 29th 2009 at 12:44PM } 
Explorers of Sky is an updated version of Explorers of Time and Darkness, with new starter critters and new "Special Episode" missions that reveal more about the Pokémon characters in the game. Explorers of Sky also includes new wireless features, including the ability to share a "demo dungeon" and trade items locally.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon for WiiWare: first trailer and details
by JC Fletcher { Jul 15th 2009 at 5:00PM } 
The three games (Advance! Fire Adventure Team, Go! Storm Adventure Team, and Aim! Light Adventure Team!) each feature a different set of starting Pokemans. And in this game, your team can cooperate even more than in other Pokemon games, by piling up and attacking enemies simultaneously. The WiiWare game also features the "rescue" ability found in recent Shiren the Wanderer games, in which friends can revive your team over the Wi-Fi Connection.
After the break, we've embedded a trailer that details these features -- and shows off the adorable little Pokemon.
[Thanks, Alilatias]
Hands-on: Shiren the Wanderer (Wii)
by JC Fletcher { Jun 8th 2009 at 10:30AM }
The few new features in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky
by JC Fletcher { Feb 16th 2009 at 9:00AM }
The official site for Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky now features new screenshots and info for Chunsoft's latest roguelike, which is a slightly updated version of Explorers of Time/Darkness. It's the Mystery Dungeon equivalent of Pokémon Platinum, basically -- same game, with a few new Pokemans and new quests. Thanks to the Pokemaniacs at serebii.net who immediately got to translatin', we can all read about the added content.The critters featured in Platinum will show up in Explorers of the Sky, including Shaymin and the new, wormy Origin Forme of Giratina. At least two new sidequests will be available, which help fill in the game's story. "Genius Igglybuff" stars the leader of the Wigglytuff Guild (in his past as an Igglybuff, and man is this getting weird to write) on an adventure with a Smoochum, a Wooper, and a Budew; "In the Dark Future" follows the game's ending, which means that we probably shouldn't talk too much about it, in the interest of keeping spoilers locked safely away in a Pokéball.
[Via Serebii]
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explore Clearer Screens
by Chris Greenhough { Jan 15th 2009 at 5:30PM }
Nintendo has started distributing media for Chunsoft's Pokémon Mystery Dungeon threequel, Explorers of the Sky, starting with clearer versions of the screens that debuted in those CoroCoro scans.To the amazement of nobody, it looks exactly the same as the first two. This was as inevitable as the game itself existing, but hey, you know you'll still be buying it once the localized version is announced. And at least now we get a less blurry look at some of the new starter monsters, such as Riolu and Vulpix. Hit up our gallery for the rest.
Pokemon to Explore the Sky in new Mystery Dungeon
by Chris Greenhough { Jan 13th 2009 at 12:00PM }
The latest edition of CoroCoro is off the presses, and look: new Pokémans!
Okay, well maybe "new" is stretching it. The game you see above is Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky, a sequel to last year's respectable Explorers of Time/Explorers of Darkness duo. The screens in the scans posted by Gamekyo are teensy, so we're not sure you'll get much out of those, but there is confirmation on the five starter Pokémon: Vulpix, Riolu, Eevee, Shinx, and Phanpy.
CoroCoro states that Japan will get its hands on the Chunsoft-developed roguelike this spring. While we cross everything for a 2009 release in the west, hit up Gamekyo for the full scans, including some cute Pokémon art.
For Famitsu, 428 equals 40
by Chris Greenhough { Nov 26th 2008 at 7:10PM }
The Famitsu 40/40 has lost some of its lustre in recent times. Since 1998, the magazine has awarded nine perfect scores, but three have come in 2008, including one for Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
However, even we found the latest game to receive the honor surprising. 428: The World Doesn't Change Even So is a "visual novel," a graphical text adventure from roguelike kings Chunsoft that keeps player interaction to a minimum. In other words, it's very unlike any other game to receive a flawless Famitsu grade. In fact, it's unlike most other games, period.
We haven't posted a great deal about 428. That's not because we don't find it interesting -- we definitely do. It's because, as Alisha has noted, a game of its ilk is almost entirely impenetrable to our western eyes. Suffice to say, it has now been instantly promoted from "intriguing curio" to "must-own import." Not that a release outside Japan will ever happen.
Gallery: 428
Monster Hunter 3, two Sega games honored by TGS organizers
by JC Fletcher { Oct 15th 2008 at 11:45AM }
Of course Capcom's Monster Hunter 3 got a nod; nothing short of not calling it Monster Hunter 3 will keep this from being a ridiculous hit in Japan, and that held true at TGS as well, with the game commanding ridiculous lines. But the two other Wii winners may be more of a surprise: Chunsoft's Sega-published visual novel 428: The World Doesn't Change Even So, and Prope's experimental Let's Tap. Sega must be very happy right about now!
For the sake of Nintendo fandom, we'll include the DS winners here as well: the Phoenix Wright spinoff Gyakuten Kenji and Dragon Quest IX, which wasn't even playable.
Gallery: 428
[Via Kotaku]
Promotional Consideration: Wagon Wheels' March
by Eric Caoili { Jul 27th 2008 at 3:30PM }
It seems as if it wasn't that long ago when rumors of Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen coming stateside first appeared, querying our next command. But here we are, less than two months away from the 3D remake's September 16 release, and Square Enix already has its marketing engine for the game running. The publisher has certainly done its part to push summer along by keeping the past couple of months busy with quality releases.
This week's edition of Promotional Consideration pulls out a page from the latest issue of Nintendo Power to bring you Square Enix's new DQIV ad. Join us past the post break!
See also: A Dragon Quest IV comic strip draws near! Command?
Gallery: Dragon Quest IV
Not quite 428 screens, but a few
by Alisha Karabinus { Jul 9th 2008 at 4:15PM }
Y'know, if we could. Instead, we'll just have to sift through the images and try to reconstruct the surreal story they paint. And we'll have to be happy with that, since the chances that we'll see an English version are somewhere between negative 15% and a cold day in hell. Too bad -- we really wanted to know what was going on here.
Gallery: 428
[Via GoNintendo]
Here comes the Heavenly Bride, all dressed in a DQV promotional trailer
by Eric Caoili { Jun 28th 2008 at 8:00PM }
Though Dragon Quest IV hasn't even washed up onto U.S. shores yet (look for it in September), Japan is gearing up for Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride's release on July 17th with a new trailer.
We can't complain too much about the wait, however, as publisher Square Enix has already announced that it will be bringing its DQV and DQVI (both originally released for the Super Famicom) remakes to the states eventually, having kept the two games in Japan for over 15 years. Comparatively speaking, a one- or two-year wait for DQV DS isn't that long!
Gallery: Dragon Quest V
[Via NeoGAF]
New Shiren 2 screens are all that and a bag of Shiren chips
by Eric Caoili { Jun 25th 2008 at 11:00PM }
We couldn't decide which was more awesome -- these new screenshots for Shiren the Wanderer DS 2: Demon Castle in the Desert, or the fact that Chunsoft went out of its way in 2001 to promote the original Game Boy Color title, Shiren the Wanderer GB2, with bags of steak-flavored chips (In case you're late to the party, STW DS 2 is a roguelike remake of STW GB2).
So, we went ahead and featured both the crisps and an image of Shiren's long-lost and perpetually hungry brother, Pekeji, in our article image. Hopefuly, publisher Sega will have a similar potato chip promotion with STW DS 2! Even better, maybe they'll eventually localize the chips along with the game?
See also: Shiren GB2, Shiren DS 2 compared
[via Inside Games]
Imabikisou's screenshots are slowly creeping up behind you
by Eric Caoili { Jun 25th 2008 at 12:30PM }
By themselves, these Imabikisou: Kaimei Hen screens barely register on the "scary scale" -- a highly advanced, experimental fear-measuring instrument that we purchased through eBay. When sorted into a collection, however, such as our massive gallery below, the images begin to grow a feeling of unease in your stomach as you peruse each shot.
Maybe it's the fact that none of the characters' faces are ever completely shown? Or perhaps it's the ambiguous, likely supernatural conflict that presumably connects all the images? We just hope that Sega decides to eventually bring this Chunsoft-developed visual novel, a port of a PlayStation 3 title (with two new chapters), to the States! Lock your doors, pull your curtains shut, and peek past the break for a creepy Imabikisou trailer.
Gallery: Imabikisou: Kaimei Hen
Price Drop: Shiren the Bargainer
by Eric Caoili { Jun 13th 2008 at 10:15AM }
If our constant championing of the genre has you ready and willing to try out a roguelike as soon as a cheap one comes along, then here's that discount dungeon crawl you've been waiting for!In what looks to be a permanent price drop, retailers such as Amazon and GameStop have marked down their copies of Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer to $19.99, in-store and and online. Now you don't have to feel guilty about spending money on such a throwback game (with throwback graphics to match).
If you won't buy it for the fun of the game, buy it so that Sega will bring its sequel to the states!
Gallery: Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer
[Via NeoGAF]
Shiren GB2, Shiren DS 2 compared
by Eric Caoili { Jun 9th 2008 at 11:00PM }
No more than a week after Shiren 3 for the Wii shipped in Japan, Chunsoft already has a teaser site and screenshots out for its next Shiren the Wanderer game for the Nintendo DS -- Fushigi no Dungeon: Furai no Shiren DS 2: Sabaku no Majou (Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer DS 2: Demon Castle in the Desert). It's a long title!
Seeing that this roguelike is a remake of a Game Boy Color title, we thought that this batch of new images would make for a great opportunity to compare the updated game's visuals to the original's. While we expected Shiren DS 2 to look pretty much exactly like the first Shiren DS game released in March, we're surprised by how similar Shiren DS 2 and Shiren GB2 (GBC) look based on the shots released so far.
Jump into our comparison gallery to see what we mean!
Gallery: Shiren GB2 vs Shiren DS 2
[Via Famitsu]
