It is just a 3DS-filled week here on SuperPhillip Central, isn't it? We continue the entertainment with a new customization-centric trailer for Heroes of Ruin, a loot RPG from n-Space and Square Enix. The only thing I do not like about the trailer is the slow motion to hide the slowdown the game has. There is no word on when Heroes of Ruin will storm the Nintendo 3DS with its online multiplayer gameplay.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Localizations, Please! Nintendo 3DS Edition
In the past I have called for several games to get localized here in North America, and some have, and some have not. Today I have five more games that I would like to see come to the Pacific and Atlantic shores of the continent. This go around, we are examining five Nintendo 3DS titles that are stuck outside of my homeland.
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
With gameplay akin to Elite Beat Agents and Ouendan (for all my Japanese readers-- domo arigato for reading, friends!), Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is like a "best of" the series with all thirteen mainline games being represented with characters, bosses, and of course, songs. There are over fifty themes to be had to begin with, and Square Enix is selling downloadable content in the form of new songs on a semi-weekly basis in Japan. I am a pushover for Final Fantasy music, so if and when this game comes to the West, I will definitely be putting my money and my poor sense of rhythm where my mouth is and picking up a copy.
Bravely Default: Flying Fairy
Bravely Default: Flying Fairy is an RPG for the Nintendo 3DS. Seeing as the system is presently starving for games in that genre, this can only be a good thing. Flying Fairy features incredible visuals that remind me of Square Enix's own Final Fantasy: Four Heroes of Light which appeared on the Nintendo DS, though it is a different developer working on the game. We might know that augmented reality plays a part of the game, but we know nothing about the combat system, nor do we know whether or not the game will arrive in the West. It seems like a shoo in for localization, but Japan can keep the bizarre name.
Monster Hunter Tri G
My first foray into the Monster Hunter series was probably the game that most newbies to the franchise were first introduced to savage beast slaying, Monster Hunter Tri on Wii. The game sold extraordinarily beyond expectations for Nintendo and Capcom, selling better than any previous console Monster Hunter, so a localization seems like destiny. Would the game get added online, something that is crucial for a lot of games these days to succeed? A single player Monster Hunter I do not figure would appeal much to most gamers. Most want to play with their friends, so if the title does sweep our shores, hopefully it will have some marvelous multiplayer.
Fire Emblem: Awakening
Already confirmed to be coming to Europe, Fire Emblem: Awakening sports gorgeous in-game graphics as well as stylistic cutscenes to advance the story of war and attrition. Awakening will be the first Nintendo-developed title to contain DLC. It is also the first game in the series outside of Japan to allow players to create their own character to saunter onto the battlefield and take down enemies with. No release date or plans for localization have been mentioned by Nintendo of America, but it is likely that we will find out about the title's future in North America come E3.
Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle
A launch title for the Nintendo 3DS in Japan, Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle is the fifth installment of this popular puzzle franchise. You can be rest assured that there will be plenty of brain teasers placed within the game card and a mysterious adventure to follow. Instead of hand-drawn characters, Professor Layton, Luke, and the gang are now fully functioning 3D polygonal models. Now, Mask of Miracle released in Japan before the West even got The Last Specter, so it seems apparent that the game will be coming to our side of the world soon. At last year's E3 the game was in playable form and was in English. If that isn't a good sign, I don't know what is.
These are but a small sampling of the titles left in Japan or out of North America. Which non-localized games would you like to see hit your homeland? They do not have to be 3DS exclusive either. Let me know in the comments section.
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
With gameplay akin to Elite Beat Agents and Ouendan (for all my Japanese readers-- domo arigato for reading, friends!), Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is like a "best of" the series with all thirteen mainline games being represented with characters, bosses, and of course, songs. There are over fifty themes to be had to begin with, and Square Enix is selling downloadable content in the form of new songs on a semi-weekly basis in Japan. I am a pushover for Final Fantasy music, so if and when this game comes to the West, I will definitely be putting my money and my poor sense of rhythm where my mouth is and picking up a copy.
Bravely Default: Flying Fairy
Bravely Default: Flying Fairy is an RPG for the Nintendo 3DS. Seeing as the system is presently starving for games in that genre, this can only be a good thing. Flying Fairy features incredible visuals that remind me of Square Enix's own Final Fantasy: Four Heroes of Light which appeared on the Nintendo DS, though it is a different developer working on the game. We might know that augmented reality plays a part of the game, but we know nothing about the combat system, nor do we know whether or not the game will arrive in the West. It seems like a shoo in for localization, but Japan can keep the bizarre name.
Monster Hunter Tri G
My first foray into the Monster Hunter series was probably the game that most newbies to the franchise were first introduced to savage beast slaying, Monster Hunter Tri on Wii. The game sold extraordinarily beyond expectations for Nintendo and Capcom, selling better than any previous console Monster Hunter, so a localization seems like destiny. Would the game get added online, something that is crucial for a lot of games these days to succeed? A single player Monster Hunter I do not figure would appeal much to most gamers. Most want to play with their friends, so if the title does sweep our shores, hopefully it will have some marvelous multiplayer.
Fire Emblem: Awakening
Already confirmed to be coming to Europe, Fire Emblem: Awakening sports gorgeous in-game graphics as well as stylistic cutscenes to advance the story of war and attrition. Awakening will be the first Nintendo-developed title to contain DLC. It is also the first game in the series outside of Japan to allow players to create their own character to saunter onto the battlefield and take down enemies with. No release date or plans for localization have been mentioned by Nintendo of America, but it is likely that we will find out about the title's future in North America come E3.
Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle
A launch title for the Nintendo 3DS in Japan, Professor Layton and the Mask of Miracle is the fifth installment of this popular puzzle franchise. You can be rest assured that there will be plenty of brain teasers placed within the game card and a mysterious adventure to follow. Instead of hand-drawn characters, Professor Layton, Luke, and the gang are now fully functioning 3D polygonal models. Now, Mask of Miracle released in Japan before the West even got The Last Specter, so it seems apparent that the game will be coming to our side of the world soon. At last year's E3 the game was in playable form and was in English. If that isn't a good sign, I don't know what is.
===
These are but a small sampling of the titles left in Japan or out of North America. Which non-localized games would you like to see hit your homeland? They do not have to be 3DS exclusive either. Let me know in the comments section.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Fire Emblem: Awakening (3DS) Overview Trailer
Due out April 19th in Japan, Fire Emblem: Awakening is the newest entry in this strategic RPG series. This overview trailer deals with nearly all of the facets of the game that fans could clamor for. Now all we need is a North American localization as Nintendo of Europe has already confirmed that they will be bringing the game over. Do you have an invested interest in this newest chapter of Fire Emblem?
Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! (3DSWare) Review
We are close to the 300th review of SuperPhillip Central! Let's do a new but short review. The game itself is short but at five dollars, you get what you pay for. It's Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! for 3DSWare. Let's see just how "Fun! Fun!" the game truly is.
Back on the tail end of 2008, the small German team Shin'en developed and released Fun! Fun! Minigolf to mediocre reviews and middling sales despite the game's incredible visuals for a WiiWare title. Nearly four years later, Shin'en strikes back and returns to the tee with Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! on the 3DS system's eShop. Unfortunately, the team misfires their shot once again and hits it out-of-bounds.
Starting off with Shin'en's newest downloadable game, you choose from one of three save slots, create a custom golfer from a disappointingly small sample of shirts, pants, and shoes, and you are then whisked off to to main menu. Here you can enter Cup mode where you play through a 9-hole affair in America, the first and only cup unlocked at the beginning of the game. As you earn coins from sinking putts, you can go to the Shop which houses a profusion of products to purchase such as the ability to play as a Mii character (totally disturbing), the opportunity to try out the Asian and European 9-hole courses, the chance to try out the Trick Shot courses, and aesthetic changes like new putters and sound effects for the game.
Despite saying that the game has 81 holes, the majority of them are just the same starting 27 holes remixed with new and different obstacles and hazard placement. The American Cup is the easiest of the three main courses with the European Cup housing the hardest holes.
Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! can either be played with touch controls or with the Circle Pad and buttons. I found that trying to aim with the touch screen (performed by touching an outer circle to point your ball where you hope to shoot it) made for an effort in frustration. It is next to impossible to get the line of where the ball will be hit to a satisfactory place as the moving speed is so swift. The Circle Pad is your best bet, allowing greater precision and slower movement. Whether you use touch or a button, a strength gauge (as seen in most arcade golf games) measures how hard you plan on hitting the golf ball. A small white dot then sways from left to right over your ball with the goal being to press the button when the dot is directly on top to hit the golf ball perfectly straight. The analog controls work well enough for the game. I would advise against using the touch screen as it is not always 100% effective.
By far the most annoying feature of Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH!-- and one that plagued the original WiiWare game-- is the out-of-bounds rule. The game has an area on each hole that is designated as in-bounds, so if your ball winds up anywhere outside this zone, your ball is out-of-bounds and you must start again at the tee. This means that if your shot is not perfect, you will be forced to shoot from the tee over and over... and over... and over (and over). This is not how minigolf works. Maybe in Germany this is how people play it (I sincerely doubt that), but all it does is cause the game to be artificially more difficult than it should be. There is nothing more infuriating in this game than hitting the ball less than an inch out of the designated in-bounds area only for your shot to be disqualified as it is barely out of the zone. At least you are not penalized an extra stroke each time you are out-of-bounds. Regardless, you need putting perfection to clear each hole.
Further damning this otherwise fun! fun! game is that gaining every thing that is to be bought from the in-game store only takes but 3-5 hours of time. That's all. There is also no multiplayer so speak of-- no online, no local, no nothing. Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! is meant to be a single player experience, and it isn't even a very enticing one at that.
Even for the small studio that they are, the fine folks at Shin'en are masters of taking a platform and pushing all the polygons out of it that they can. Their sweat and know-how with Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! is no exception. The backgrounds are lively and full of interesting geometry, the lighting is very well done, and the game runs at a silky-smooth frame-rate. The music is appropriate for the game-- a light affair-- and the female voice that sports calls of par, birdie, eagle, bogey, and any other golf score you can muster is pleasant and almost soothing. At least Shin'en got the presentation right with their game.
Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! is a game that does not realize its full potential. The lack of any form of multiplayer stings quite a bit, but the small playtime it takes to achieve every task, buy every item in the Shop, and ace every hole and the asinine out-of-bounds rule that makes for an irritating and short-lived experience. As the cheapest 3DSWare game on the eShop service currently, you won't get burned badly if you decide to download this game and dislike it. Perhaps you won't mind the bizarre rules and will have Fun! Fun! For everyone else, I actually recommend Let's Golf 3D. At least that title reminds me of a good game.
[SuperPhillip Says: 4.75/10]
Skunked It Over Par.
Back on the tail end of 2008, the small German team Shin'en developed and released Fun! Fun! Minigolf to mediocre reviews and middling sales despite the game's incredible visuals for a WiiWare title. Nearly four years later, Shin'en strikes back and returns to the tee with Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! on the 3DS system's eShop. Unfortunately, the team misfires their shot once again and hits it out-of-bounds.
Starting off with Shin'en's newest downloadable game, you choose from one of three save slots, create a custom golfer from a disappointingly small sample of shirts, pants, and shoes, and you are then whisked off to to main menu. Here you can enter Cup mode where you play through a 9-hole affair in America, the first and only cup unlocked at the beginning of the game. As you earn coins from sinking putts, you can go to the Shop which houses a profusion of products to purchase such as the ability to play as a Mii character (totally disturbing), the opportunity to try out the Asian and European 9-hole courses, the chance to try out the Trick Shot courses, and aesthetic changes like new putters and sound effects for the game.
Despite saying that the game has 81 holes, the majority of them are just the same starting 27 holes remixed with new and different obstacles and hazard placement. The American Cup is the easiest of the three main courses with the European Cup housing the hardest holes.
To say the avatar you play as is
creepy would be an understatement.
creepy would be an understatement.
Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! can either be played with touch controls or with the Circle Pad and buttons. I found that trying to aim with the touch screen (performed by touching an outer circle to point your ball where you hope to shoot it) made for an effort in frustration. It is next to impossible to get the line of where the ball will be hit to a satisfactory place as the moving speed is so swift. The Circle Pad is your best bet, allowing greater precision and slower movement. Whether you use touch or a button, a strength gauge (as seen in most arcade golf games) measures how hard you plan on hitting the golf ball. A small white dot then sways from left to right over your ball with the goal being to press the button when the dot is directly on top to hit the golf ball perfectly straight. The analog controls work well enough for the game. I would advise against using the touch screen as it is not always 100% effective.
By far the most annoying feature of Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH!-- and one that plagued the original WiiWare game-- is the out-of-bounds rule. The game has an area on each hole that is designated as in-bounds, so if your ball winds up anywhere outside this zone, your ball is out-of-bounds and you must start again at the tee. This means that if your shot is not perfect, you will be forced to shoot from the tee over and over... and over... and over (and over). This is not how minigolf works. Maybe in Germany this is how people play it (I sincerely doubt that), but all it does is cause the game to be artificially more difficult than it should be. There is nothing more infuriating in this game than hitting the ball less than an inch out of the designated in-bounds area only for your shot to be disqualified as it is barely out of the zone. At least you are not penalized an extra stroke each time you are out-of-bounds. Regardless, you need putting perfection to clear each hole.
The backgrounds are characteristically wonderful--
a staple of Shin'en's technical prowess.
a staple of Shin'en's technical prowess.
Further damning this otherwise fun! fun! game is that gaining every thing that is to be bought from the in-game store only takes but 3-5 hours of time. That's all. There is also no multiplayer so speak of-- no online, no local, no nothing. Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! is meant to be a single player experience, and it isn't even a very enticing one at that.
Even for the small studio that they are, the fine folks at Shin'en are masters of taking a platform and pushing all the polygons out of it that they can. Their sweat and know-how with Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! is no exception. The backgrounds are lively and full of interesting geometry, the lighting is very well done, and the game runs at a silky-smooth frame-rate. The music is appropriate for the game-- a light affair-- and the female voice that sports calls of par, birdie, eagle, bogey, and any other golf score you can muster is pleasant and almost soothing. At least Shin'en got the presentation right with their game.
Line up your shot and hope it stays in-bounds!
Fun! Fun! Minigolf TOUCH! is a game that does not realize its full potential. The lack of any form of multiplayer stings quite a bit, but the small playtime it takes to achieve every task, buy every item in the Shop, and ace every hole and the asinine out-of-bounds rule that makes for an irritating and short-lived experience. As the cheapest 3DSWare game on the eShop service currently, you won't get burned badly if you decide to download this game and dislike it. Perhaps you won't mind the bizarre rules and will have Fun! Fun! For everyone else, I actually recommend Let's Golf 3D. At least that title reminds me of a good game.
[SuperPhillip Says: 4.75/10]
Monday, March 12, 2012
SuperPhillip's Favorite VGMs - Party Hearty Edition
Mario Party 9 launched in North America yesterday, and Wii owners across the continent have been sinking their collective teeth into it. The VGMs cannot help but celebrate, too. You know the drill: five themes from video games of the past for your listening enjoyment. We have music from Halo 3, LocoRoco 2, and Mario Party 9, for starters. As Mario would say, "Here we go!"
v61. Halo 3 (360) - The Covenant (One Final Effort)
Martin O'Donnell composes this theme for the last mission of Halo 3. It begins with a soft piano melody and soothing strings before kicking it into a higher gear with percussive elements and a higher tempo. Halo 3 was quite fun playing the campaign mode with three other players on the most challenging difficulty setting. Blowing away grunts, finding secret skulls, and riding around a Warthog through a dusty desert were all some of the pastimes of one Master Chief.
v62. Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy (3DS) - Fighter's Honor (Flying Remix)
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy soared onto the Nintendo 3DS with little in the way of fanfare. That is a shame, too, as it is significantly better than the HD Ace Combat: Assault Horizon game. This song, Fighter's Honor (Flying Remix), is the best theme from the game. Composed by the man behind the Gods Eater Burst (PSP) soundtrack, the song sports a catchy set of symphonic strings, deep chorus vocals, and bold brass. It is the perfect theme to find your second wind and blast down some Rebel scum.
v63. Mega Man ZX (DS) - Misty Rain
This version of Misty Rain comes from the arranged Mega Man ZX soundtrack. The tune itself is a haunting piece heightened by the eerie female vocals. Then you have an electric guitar providing accompaniment and the piano providing the beginning melody. Mega Man ZX was a new franchise for the Mega Man series. It was like Mega Man Zero except it had a Metroid-like map to venture through. The map system in the game was quite confusing which didn't do the player any favors. Thankfully, Mega Man ZX Advent fixed this problem.
v64. LocoRoco 2 (PSP) - buibui
Full of nonsensical hoots and hollers, buibui is the theme of the BuiBui Fort levels in LocoRoco 2, an overlooked and under-appreciated PlayStation Portable game. Kemmei Adachi and Nobuyuki Shimizu combined their compositional efforts to create this fiesta-inspired song. Though those players who have trekked inside the BuiBui Fort levels know that those challenging propositions are anything but fiestas. Stay tuned for future installments of my VGMs for more LocoRoco goodness.
v65. Mario Party 9 (Wii) - Toad Road
A mellow melody seems perfect for the opening board of the recently released Mario Party 9. The catchy vibraphone-sounding synth is quite catchy as you roll a die and join three other players on this relatively hazard-free board. Mario Party 9 introduces a new formula to this longtime stale series. Now four opponents ride in the same vehicle. This brings up a whole slew of new strategies to try out. With 80 new mini-games and six other boards, the party doesn't stop until you say so.
We have partied til we can no longer party anymore. While these five themes are finito, I will have five more tunes from video games in the next installment of the VGMs. Tomorrow the first of March will be posted, so please look forward to that. Until then, have a great Monday, all.
v61. Halo 3 (360) - The Covenant (One Final Effort)
Martin O'Donnell composes this theme for the last mission of Halo 3. It begins with a soft piano melody and soothing strings before kicking it into a higher gear with percussive elements and a higher tempo. Halo 3 was quite fun playing the campaign mode with three other players on the most challenging difficulty setting. Blowing away grunts, finding secret skulls, and riding around a Warthog through a dusty desert were all some of the pastimes of one Master Chief.
v62. Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy (3DS) - Fighter's Honor (Flying Remix)
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy soared onto the Nintendo 3DS with little in the way of fanfare. That is a shame, too, as it is significantly better than the HD Ace Combat: Assault Horizon game. This song, Fighter's Honor (Flying Remix), is the best theme from the game. Composed by the man behind the Gods Eater Burst (PSP) soundtrack, the song sports a catchy set of symphonic strings, deep chorus vocals, and bold brass. It is the perfect theme to find your second wind and blast down some Rebel scum.
v63. Mega Man ZX (DS) - Misty Rain
This version of Misty Rain comes from the arranged Mega Man ZX soundtrack. The tune itself is a haunting piece heightened by the eerie female vocals. Then you have an electric guitar providing accompaniment and the piano providing the beginning melody. Mega Man ZX was a new franchise for the Mega Man series. It was like Mega Man Zero except it had a Metroid-like map to venture through. The map system in the game was quite confusing which didn't do the player any favors. Thankfully, Mega Man ZX Advent fixed this problem.
v64. LocoRoco 2 (PSP) - buibui
Full of nonsensical hoots and hollers, buibui is the theme of the BuiBui Fort levels in LocoRoco 2, an overlooked and under-appreciated PlayStation Portable game. Kemmei Adachi and Nobuyuki Shimizu combined their compositional efforts to create this fiesta-inspired song. Though those players who have trekked inside the BuiBui Fort levels know that those challenging propositions are anything but fiestas. Stay tuned for future installments of my VGMs for more LocoRoco goodness.
v65. Mario Party 9 (Wii) - Toad Road
A mellow melody seems perfect for the opening board of the recently released Mario Party 9. The catchy vibraphone-sounding synth is quite catchy as you roll a die and join three other players on this relatively hazard-free board. Mario Party 9 introduces a new formula to this longtime stale series. Now four opponents ride in the same vehicle. This brings up a whole slew of new strategies to try out. With 80 new mini-games and six other boards, the party doesn't stop until you say so.
===
We have partied til we can no longer party anymore. While these five themes are finito, I will have five more tunes from video games in the next installment of the VGMs. Tomorrow the first of March will be posted, so please look forward to that. Until then, have a great Monday, all.
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