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Shiren the Wanderer: a primer

by JC Fletcher { Jan 27th 2010 at 6:45PM }

While previous Shiren the Wanderer video releases from Atlus have focused on the story, this walkthrough spends more time discussing the basic gameplay of the roguelike -- perfect for those of you who have no idea what we're talking about when we refer to Shiren as a "roguelike" game.

Atlus project lead Scott Strichart also introduces the new difficulty settings -- easy mode allows you to keep your items and levels after dying! -- and the methods of control for AI partners, ranging from fully automated to fully player-controlled. Atlus calls this video a "walkthrough," but it's really more of an overview. In any case, might as well start studying up now in preparation for the February 9 release.

Puppets promote Shiren the Wanderer 4 in Japan

by JC Fletcher { Jan 26th 2010 at 1:45PM }

Shiren the Wanderer 3 hits North America on February 9, but Chunsoft and publisher Spike are already preparing to release Shiren the Wanderer 4 in Japan. There, the roguelike dungeon crawler is a big enough deal to warrant television advertising! And that's a good thing, because these TV ads for Shiren 4 (after the break) are absolutely wonderful, featuring puppets(!) of Shiren, Koppa, and monsters in the new tropical island setting.

Of course, if you were to go into this game based on the sunny commercials, you might be a bit surprised when you're murdered repeatedly by monsters, losing all items and progress each time. We hope someone gets the idea to sell Shiren puppets.

[Via GoNintendo]

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The key to Shiren the Wanderer's story

by JC Fletcher { Nov 25th 2009 at 3:46PM }

A beautiful, atmospheric trailer (after the break) introduces us to the story of the new Shiren the Wanderer ... such as it is. Basically, Shiren's master, knowing that Shiren likes dungeons, gives him the key to the Karakuri Mansion, which is a big dungeon. There's more, like a cursed princess and some time travel stuff, but the essence is that Shiren goes into another dungeon. It's rather lucky for us that Shiren's wanderings are so often directed toward dungeons and dungeon-type environments.

Atlus also highlights Shiren's pal Koppa in the trailer, allowing us to hope that the company will choose to bundle the game with Sega's Koppa Wiimote stand.

Gallery: Shiren the Wanderer (Wii)

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Shiren the Wanderer turns up in February minus online features

by JC Fletcher { Nov 19th 2009 at 6:45PM }

Atlus announced a North American localization of Sega and Chunsoft's Shiren the Wanderer at E3, and hasn't said much about it until now. The company just dated the game for February 9 and released a bunch of screens & art for the punishing roguelike, along with a bit of sad news regarding the online connectivity.

"Despite our best efforts, the North American version of Shiren will not include the Rescue, Versus, or Item Transfer online features," Atlus's Aram Jabbari said in the announcement. "However, the downloadable dungeon content from the Japanese version will be included on the disc." Jabbari said that Atlus felt compelled to alert fans because "the absence of these features may influence some fans' decision to purchase the game."

The most identifiable feature of any Shiren game -- repeated, unavoidable death -- should remain intact.

Gallery: Shiren the Wanderer (Wii)

Explore the latest Pokemon Mystery Dungeon this October

by JC Fletcher { Jul 29th 2009 at 12:44PM }

Pokémon addicts starting to get antsy about when they'll be able to satisfy their pathological need to purchase new Pokémon games just need to hold out for a few more months. Nintendo has announced an October 12 release date for the latest in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, Explorers of Sky, in North America.

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.

Gallery: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky (DS)

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon for WiiWare: first trailer and details

by JC Fletcher { Jul 15th 2009 at 5:00PM }

Surprise! The WiiWare Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, first revealed in a McDonalds-distribted flyer, are real, and are headed for Japan on August 4. Players will be able to share save data throughout all three games, so they can level up a persistent team.

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]

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Hands-on: Shiren the Wanderer (Wii)

by JC Fletcher { Jun 8th 2009 at 10:30AM }

We read Atlus's late night press release announcing plans to localize Sega's Shiren the Wanderer 3 with utter shock. We had long since resigned ourselves to never seeing the console 3D version of Chunsoft's roguelike, and we were afraid that we had merely dreamed that Atlus had picked it up with plans to release it in 2010. But, sure enough, the game was available for play in Atlus's booth, and we were pleased to have the opportunity to check it out. Full disclosure: we didn't die in our play session, which should give fans of Shiren on the DS a rough idea of how long we were able to play.

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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.

Gallery: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky

[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.

Gallery: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky

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 }

CESA announced their list of the best games of TGS 2008, known as the "Future" category of their Japan Game Awards. Of the twelve games given the award (in no specific order), three are on Wii.

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

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Not quite 428 screens, but a few

by Alisha Karabinus { Jul 9th 2008 at 4:15PM }

Titles like 428 -- a clear member of the outstretched-hand club, even if it's not box art -- make us wish we had a Japanese Wii. Also, that we could understand Japanese. That's probably pretty important when it comes to Sound Novels, and from these shots from the suspenseful 428: The World Doesn't Change Even So, the story looks like it might be worth following.

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!