Blaz Blue

BlazBlue is a franchise that's only made one retail appearance on Nintendo hardware with Continuum Shift 2, but it's coming back to the 3DS in a more cutesy, download-friendly format. BLAZBLUE -CLONEPHANTASMA- — that's the publisher's use of block capitals, not ours — is arriving on the 3DS eShop in North America in this week's update (21st August) at a price of $5.99 / $6.99CAD.

This seems to be a follow-up to DSiWare title BlayzBloo: Super Melee Action Battle Royale in terms of style, moving away from the fighting game mechanics of the main entries in favour of brawling with multiple enemies with an isometric camera angle. It features "cute versions" of 10 characters from the series, and sounds like it just uses one button for all attacks, though different fighters will pull off different moves. There'll be two modes: a Story mode will follow the ten heroes through a quest and include boss encounters, while the Challenge mode tasks you with pummelling as many enemies as possible. It looks like a pretty decent visual upgrade over the 2010 DSiWare release, though we hope the gameplay isn't as one-note and repetitive as that last-gen effort.

Will any of you in North America be tempted to check this out when it arrives on the eShop this week?

Thanks to Ryan Millar for the tip.

[source twitter.com]