Note: Several RPGs mentioned on this page were recently showcased at a 3DS RPG Presentation held by Nintendo in North America, so you might want to check this section of the weekly Nintendo News post for more information on that.
Final Fantasy Explorers
Square Enix recently released yet another Final Fantasy Explorers infographic detailing the available Trance Mode characters. In the game, players can call upon the power of legendary Final Fantasy characters and use their ultimate attacks, while in battle. These characters are unlocked by completeing rare quests for the local town moogles that reward you with special character magicites, which you can equip at the town’s central crystal.
A new Final Fantasy Explorers trailer was also made available, letting us take a look at Trance Mode in action, along with some battle gameplay, characters and summons. You can watch it below:
Moreover, some new footage from the English version of Final Fantasy Explorers has started to surface, thanks to GameXplain and NintendoWorldReport who attended the aforemenioned 3DS RPG Presentation. Check it out in the videos below:
Bravely Second: End Layer
During the 3DS RPG Presentation held by Nintendo it was announced that Bravely Second: End Layer will be reaching North American shores on April 15th.
This also includes a special Collector’s Edition similar to the European one but without an Agnès Oblige figure. It does contain the same 250-page art book and ten-song soundtrack, plus the game. You can take a look at its contents in the image that follows.
Moreover, a Bravely Second demo was announced for North America. It will be a 10-hour demo in which bonuses will carry over to the full game, just like in the one previously announced for Europe.
You can also find the new story trailer and a batch of screenshots below:
Dragon Quest 7: Fragments of the Forgotten Past
Yet another Square Enix game was featured during the 3DS RPG Presentation in the form of Dragon Quest 7: Fragments of the Forgotten Past.
According to Nintendo, Dragon Quest VII is “basically a brand new game” on the 3DS, since it will feature entirely new writing for its western release. Moreover, Random encounters have been removed from the game and you’ll now see enemies on the map. A story summary feature and a StreetPass feature that lets you gain tablets will also be included. It was also mentioned by the presenter that Dragon Quest VIII will have a top-notch localization.
Below, you can find a new batch of screenshots released after the presentation.
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3
Meanwhile, in Japan, Square Enix has released a new bunch of details and screenshots for Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 pertaining to customization elements and new monsters and characters.
Here’s a roundup of the new details:
Customize Your Hero
– You can change the appearance of the protagonist due to a special skill learned during the adventure, which allows you to change your look from what you decided at the beginning of the story;
– Consider your own color coordination and become a “Fashion Master”;
– You can Change the color of your hair, scarf, pants, gloves and boots;
– There are 12 colors for each section, and these are also reflected in story scenes, as well as in the character artwork in the menu screen.
Customize Your Monsters
– Monster have a new “paint synthesis” element that is available through the game’s synthesis system;
– It lets you change the color of a monster’s body and clothing without changing its stats and skills;
– “Color Fondue” monsters are the key to paint synthesis;
– The Color Fondue monster White will tell you about his brothers who were captured by mysterious monsters, and as you come across the six brothers on your journey, you’ll be able to perform paint synthesis thanks to them;
– Your monster’s color will vary based on the Color Fondue you synthesize it with.
New Monsters
– King Healslime: A Healslime king;
– Regiaccel: A monster able to transform into a motorcycle.
New Characters
– The hero who lost his memory will learn the truth about himself and about Break World through encounters with several characters;
– King: King of the Nochora race. Once had a human companion, and so he provides the hero with support through various means;
– Caring Old Woman: a caring old woman with a bad mouth. Seems to have been an acquaintance of the hero before he lost his memory, and has great expectations of his power;
– Mysterious Girl: guides the hero and leads him on an adventure. She is waiting for the hero to become familiar with the world and significantly grow, but…;
– Dark Master: a self-described human “Hunter” and monster master dressed in black clothing. He is accompanied by a monster that has awakened a violent power, and stands before the protagonist.
You can find all the new screenshots in the gallery below:
Ace Attorney 6
The latest issue of Nintendo Dream features Ace Attorney 6 on some of its pages and, thanks to Court Records, some of this new information related to the development of the game has been revealed.
Here’s a roudup of the details:
– FUSE Takuro is the official art director for this game;
– YAMAZAKI was “scenario director” for Ace Attorney 5, which meant he could focus on the story, but he is now the “normal” director of the game, making him the person responsible for all that’s going on on the development floor;
– FUSE was AA5’s art director, but this time he’s both the art director and co-director of the game;
– YAMAZAKI now sets out the larger creative course for the game, while FUSE makes the calls on the level beneath that;
– The game is currently in a playable state, but because many players said AA5 was to easy, the team is carefully checking how they present hints to the player;
– Because people thought the Spirit Vision system in the TGS 2015 demo was difficult, they’ve tweaked it;
– The 3D models of characters who appeared in previous games, like Phoenix and Apollo, have all been remade.
Project X Zone 2
The Project X Zone 2 demo is already out in the European 3DS eShop and is soon releasing in North America too, so we now have some footage from it you can watch below.
Dragon Ball: Project Fusion
The latest issue of V Jump has revealed that a brand new Dragon Ball game for 3DS known as “Dragon Ball: Project Fusion” is being made by Ganbarion, and published by Bandai Namco in Japan at a later date in 2016.
Acording to the magazine it’s an all-new experience in the RPG genre with the theme of infinite possibilities. It’s also teased in the page that you can not only fuse various Dragon Ball characters but also cities, islands and buildings.
Moreover, a manga adaptation based on Dragon Ball: Project Fusion is debuting in Shueisha’s Saikyō Jump magazine this year. Fans of the series will even be able to participate in a contest where they can send in character designs that combine two Dragon Ball characters as if they had performed a fusion, and the winning design, chosen by the manga writer, will appear in both the game and the manga.
The teaser site for the game is also open and can be found here.
Below, you can also find the relevant V Jump magazine scans:
Doraemon: Nobita and the Birth of Japan
FuRyu has released a new trailer and commercial for Doraemon: Nobita and the Birth of Japan. Check them out below:
SEGA 3D Classics Collection
It was recently announced that SEGA 3D Classics Collection is being released in North America on April 26. The game collection will be distributed in both physical and digital format, with pricing set at $29.99 / CA$44.99.
Nine classic SEGA games are included in SEGA 3D Classics Collection. Here’s an official overview of all of them:
Because it’s a collection, the most prudent thing to do would be to list the games included, starting with the titles never-before-released outside of Japan first:
- Power Drift – This sprite-based circuit racer puts you head to head against other AI racers in a twisting, turning, jumping, looping race to the finish.
- Puyo Puyo 2 – This head-to-head competitive puzzle game is simple to learn, hard to master, and compellingly addictive. Compete against the AI or friends in local multiplayer. Note: because of the quirks of trying to localize a game hard-coded in Japanese, the game has been left entirely in its original language. English instructions are available in the included digital manual.
Next, we have a pair of rarities not released on the 3DS before – true collectibles for the Master System enthusiast:
- Maze Walker – Originally designed for the SegaScope 3-D glasses on the Sega Master System, Maze Walker comes to life on the 3DS, faithfully reproducing the sense of depth as players try to escape the mysterious, twisting maze filled with unknown dangers. Originally released as Maze Hunter for the Master System in the West.
- Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa – The sentient space ship Opa-Opa is back to defend its bases from evil (but cute!) invaders in the classic scrolling shooter. For SEGA history buffs, this version ofFantasy Zone II is the original Master System version.
And for the previously released titles:
- Fantasy Zone II W –Fantasy Zone II W, which was originally created for the Master System, is the version of Fantasy Zone II upgraded to the graphical capabilities of the System- 16 arcade board with added 3D effects. You can enjoy it in 2 game modes with different rules.
- Sonic The Hedgehog – The evil scientist, Dr. Eggman (aka Dr. Robotnik), has snatched the animals of South Island, turning them into robot slaves. Only the famed blue blur can defeat Dr. Eggman and rescue the animals from his vile clutches in the game that started it all for the fastest hedgehog – Sonic!
- Thunder Blade – In Thunder Blade, players control a helicopter and use guns and missiles to destroy enemy vehicles while flying between buildings, through caves, and into enemy bases. The re-mastered version boasts stereoscopic 3D visuals and adds a host of new features.
- Galaxy Force II – As the star pilot of the Space Federation, it’s up to you to strap yourself into your TRY-X fighter and turn the tables on the invade forces of Halcyon and the Fourth Empire in this 3D shoot ’em up. This remastered version has upgraded graphics with double the resolution of the original for a more pleasing aesthetic.
- Altered Beast – Summoned from the dead by Zeus, players in Altered Beast must shape shift into various beasts and fight off hordes of demons to rescue the captured Athena from the clutches of Neff. Offers local co-op multiplayer.
You can also find a batch of screenshots in the gallery below.
Shin Megami Tensei IV Final
With the upcoming release of Shin Megami Tensei IV Final in Japan, Atlus released two new commercials for the game and kicked off a new mythology mini video series, with the first one being about Daguza. You can watch them below:
https://youtu.be/_C7gVwbmUa4
Yo-kai Watch
VIZ Media has announced that the Yo-kai Watch anime will soon air in over 100 territories (in Europe and Africa), including the UK.
Broadcasts will begin sometime this spring “on popular kids’ channels”. Specifics about where the anime will air will be shared soon.
VIZ Media also said today that the Yo-kai Watch anime had a “successful run” in the United States.
Hopefully, this means that Europe will soon be getting the game, probably some time around Spring time.
Zero Time Dilemma
Thanks to Aksys Games, we now have two new pieces of character artwork for Zero Time Dilemma, in addition to some photos of the new watch for the game. Take a look at them in the gallery below.
Story of Seasons: Cherished Friends of Three Towns
Marvelous has released a batch of screenshots and artwork for the upcoming 3DS game Story of Seasons: Cherished Friends of Three Towns. Take a look at them in the gallery below:
Harvest Moon: Seeds of Memories
Natsume recently published another Dev Diary video for Harvest Moon: Seeds of Memories on mobile, which you can see below. Still no word on the Wii U version yet, so take a look at it just to get an idea of what we will probably get.
Puzzle & Dragons X
GungHo Online Entertainment has recently published a new round of details, screenshots and artwork for Puzzle & Dragons X. You can find some details and gameplay footage below, thanks to Siliconera:
– The puzzle system is the same as Puzzle & Dragons Z;
– However, the game system and characters are new;
– There are more RPG elements where you walk around and explore dungeons, which have random encounters;
– The protagonist will fight alongside the monsters for the puzzle battles, which is another difference from the previous game;
– You can switch to the “Capture Board” during battle in order to acquire material for your “Soul Armor” by defeating enemies after filling up a monster’s “Capture Gauge”;
– Soul Armors are equipment with the allied monsters’ power in it that can be equipped by the protagonist;
– Soul Armors can change the protagonist’s appearance and also have their own Leader Skills;
– Soul Armors are made with different materials, at the “Soul Armor Store” existent in town;
– The protagonist’s partner, Tamazo, will help out throughout the adventure;
– Tamazo has the power to transform into other monsters and use their abilities.
You can find the gameplay footage by GungHo where this information was shared below, followed by a batch of screenshots from the game.
LEGO Dimensions
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is bringing out five LEGO Dimensions expansion packs based on Ghostbusters, DC Comics, Doctor Who, Back to the Future and LEGO Ninjago. The Ghostbusters pack is already out, so you can find the new trailer and some footage from it below.
LEGO Marvel’s Avengers
Some handheld versions of past entries in the LEGO series of games have been a bit compromised because Warner Bros. and TT Games usually deliver a different experience which doesn’t really match the console versions. However, with LEGO Marvel’s Avengers the team has managed to include “a full free-roaming open world hub city” to correct this problem.
Director Steve Thornton wrote in a LEGO.com blog post:
“I’m incredibly pleased to announce that for the first time ever, we have a full free-roaming open world hub city on handheld; a full 1:1 scale rendition of the console Manhattan city hub is playable on both Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita, with no breaks, cuts or loading screens. Although capturing the console scale was important to us, we knew we couldn’t sacrifice life or activity, so the handheld city is also fully populated with traffic and pedestrian systems, props and Free Play content. In fact, there are over 100 Free Play objects in the city, connected to 15 handheld exclusive ‘hub challenges’
Listening to fans, we also know that although gamers value exclusive content, they also want the console and handheld experiences to become ever closer and offer the same feel and features. On this project we’ve worked closer with the console team than ever before, to ensure that the core features that define the LEGO Marvel’s Avengers experience are fully present on handheld. Many of these are traversal mechanics for blasting, boosting and leaping your way through the open world hub, including not only the Iron Man flight system and Quicksilver super speed, but the awesome Hyper Jump and Super Climb mechanics that bigger characters like Hulk can use to charge jump through the streets and smash up the side of skyscrapers. We spent a long time tweaking and balancing these mechanics to ensure they had the right weight and responsiveness, and they feel genuinely great to use.
As well as the characters traversal mechanics, we also have a full vehicle driving system, and players will be able to grab any vehicle they see on the street (you’re on important world-saving heroic business after all) but also use the vehicle spawn anywhere button to drop a car, bike, truck or tank on the nearest street, or find helipads on nearby rooftops to spawn copters, chariots and jets. New vehicles to spawn will be unlocked by completing story levels and challenges, many of which have special weapons and abilities, such as a nitrous boost.
But the Manhattan hub isn’t only used for Free Play. During the main game, the hub is used as a way to connect the ongoing storyline of the MCU levels with exclusive hub missions. Covering the behind-the-scenes moments that didn’t make it on screen in the movies, the hub missions are designed to feel like playable deleted scenes from the MCU. For example, an early mission covers Nick Fury being called to the P.E.G.A.S.U.S. base where the Tesseract is behaving strangely, covering his rendezvous at a hidden SHIELD base in Manhattan, and a drive in his decked out SHIELD SUV from Winter Soldier. Another covers Maria Hill rallying the SHIELD agents who retired after the HYDRA scandal back to action, so that they can pilot the mothballed Helicarrier to Sokovia. But as ever, we have injected a dose of LEGO fun, with Nick Fury having to help Agent Sitwell choose a wig for a date before he can borrow the base access chair, and Maria Hill disappointed to discover that if she’s going to get the old band back together, she’ll need to shake the ex-agents out of their newly found mundane jobs.
I could go on forever about the hub content, but I don’t want to spoil all the surprises in store. As I said at the start of this post, I’m incredibly impressed by what the team has accomplished this time. The design and art teams went above and beyond, pushing for a bigger and better city for players to explore, and somehow the tech and code teams squeezed it down onto the handheld screen with no cuts, breaks, bad lag or loading screens. LEGO Marvel’s Avengers is out on both console and handheld platforms on January 26th.”.
You can find the full blog post here, outlining some of the handheld exclusive hub challenges.
Minecraft: Wii U Edition
Like previously done for other versions of Minecraft, 4J Studios has submitted a bug fix update for the Wii U version to Nintendo that is now in final testing.
Here are the patch notes:
– Fix for a problem with the analog sticks when using 3rd party Pro controllers.
– Fix for a crash after playing for an extensive time.
– Fix for a hang when losing internet connection while in an online game.
– Fix for a graphical issue when looking through opaque colored Glass Blocks.
– Fix to enable Game Chat through the gamepad even if it isn’t being used by one of the active players.
– Fix for an issue when disabling the Game Chat option while in an online game.
– Fix for an issue with the Game Chat option in splitscreen.
– Fix for an issue with input when a splitscreen player is using the system keyboard.
– Fix for an issue when copying saves with no space available.
– Fix for issues when the user deletes one of the Favorite Mii characters.
– Display Japanese names for DLC in the in-game shop in Japan, rather than English names.
– Fix for a graphical corruption issue in the in-game Skin Selector menu.
– Fix for an issue with the flowing water texture in the Festive Mash-up Pack.
– Fixed issue with the left stick input while in Edit Layer and Add Layer in the Superflat World creation menu.
– Corrected some text in the eManual.
4J also told one fan on Twitter today that the team is “working on bringing the Wii U Edition up to 1.8.8 functionality now”.
Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament Virtual Console Trailer
Below you can find a trailer for the Virtual Console version of Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament which recently released in Japan.