003 Frog Rider

Late last year we shared the happy news that Bike Rider DX 2:Galaxy is on its way to the West in 2014, with it pedalling onto the Japanese store just before the festive season at the close of 2013. Publisher Spicysoft recently tweeted some loose details suggesting a release window of May for the sequel in North America, so we got in touch with the publisher to clarify on the title's localisation plans.

To begin with the positives, Spicysoft's Rene Paulesich has told us that the company has confirmed its plans for a May release with Nintendo of America, so as long as there are no unforeseen issues with localisation the publisher is confident of that target. There will also be some special content for the Western release, too.

I can also confirm that we are working on a NA exclusive DLC, which will contain a set of extra hard (and some also just weird funny) bonus stages. All other features like the online ranking and one free DLC at the time of release will of course also be available for the NA version.

Of course, all of these references are to North America, and there's some disappointing news for European gamers. Due to "much larger costs that come up with releasing a game in Europe", its release in the region is largely dependent on how well the game performs in North America, though the publisher would "love to release the game in Europe as well". Although both titles have been major successes in the Japanese 3DS eShop, Spicysoft is a small company aware of the large differences in markets and a need to take "small steps".

It seems the process of publishing games in Europe, with ratings and translations likely to be major costs, are an issue for multiple publishers. This isn't really the fault of Nintendo of Europe, and one of few options it has is to perhaps take a role in assisting with publication in the region and even offering financial support, though whether that's feasible or sensible — from a business perspective — is debatable.

In any case, this is certainly some positive news for 3DS gamers in North America. We hope it'll be as good as the first title, and the trailer below will give you a taste of the new ideas and features in this sequel.