Tag: Japanese Releases - Page 3
First Impressions G.G. Series Z・ONE 2
More budget side-scrolling shooting for your Japanese DSi
You might think with the release of the G.G. Series Collection+, Genterprise and Suzak would be done releasing budget games for the DSi. After all, the collection includes all the G.G. Series DSiWare releases to-date, plus another 15 games never released to the DSi Shop, but apparently it's...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - July 2010
A fresh breath of life for Japan
The Virtual Console seems to have been winding down in its amount of releases worldwide as of late, but Japan seems to be the first region to stop that nonsense - Next month they'll bet getting six new retro games. A whole four of them are for the Neo Geo, but it's still nice to see the VC is not quite ready to die...
Nintendo Download 29th & 30th June 2010 (Japan)
WiiWare returns, Meta Fighting on the VC; X Returns and other stuff on DSi.
WiiWare: Boku mo Sekai o Sukuitai (1000pts - Poisoft) – If we're understanding Poisoft's website and the description on the Nintendo WiiWare page this is a combination of a sim and an RPG where players get to create multiple elves, dwarves, etc. with stats and skill trees...
Nintendo Download 22nd & 23rd June 2010 (Japan)
The WiiWare drought continues; VC and DSiWare releases only this week
The Japanese WiiWare scene has been pretty quiet over the last month or so with only a couple of titles from Squaresoft. Given the past schedule with one release minimum per week, it does seem to imply a slowdown in development; whether or not that will be the case in other...
Nintendo Download 15th and 16th June 2010 (Japan)
Not much during the week of E3
We got so mixed up in the goings-on at E3, that we almost forgot to update you with what was released on the Japanese download services earlier this week. Relax, there's no need to get too jealous this time - Most of the stuff is extremely unlikely to see a release elsewhere. And with what Nintendo of Europe has in...
Nintendo Download 8th & 9th June 2010 (Japan)
WiiWare returns, yet another Neo Geo fighting game, DSi baseball and Ferraris next week in Japan
WiiWare: Kuma Nage ・Puzzle Hen: Piina no Suki na Akai Candy & Kuma Nage ・Puzzle Hen: Kiina no Kirai na Aoi Hōseki (1000pts - Square-Enix) -- Two related games which seem to be set in some kind of storybook world. From the description it's hard...
Nintendo Download 1st & 2nd June 2010 (Japan)
Download drought for Japan next week
It's hard to remember a week like this in the Japanese download scene, much less a second consecutive week without a WiiWare release, but here we are. To top it off there's only one DSiWare game and it's the third in a series we had two of last week. On the bright side there's a Virtual Console release for the...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - June 2010
More Neo Geo support
There's not much of note for Japan next month on the Virtual Console. Nintendo's only title is a Super Famicom game we'll likely never get. Aside from that, there's just two NES and Neo Geo games to pick from. The full list for June is as follows: Famicom: Meta Fight (The original Japanese version of Blaster Master. The...
Nintendo Download 25th & 26th May 2010 (Japan)
Virtual Console for Wii; board games, soccer and language practice for DSi, next week in Japan
The lack of any updates for the Wii last Tuesday in the absence of any public holiday was a bit ominous and this week's WiiWare-less update makes us wonder if this means that developers are turning away from Nintendo's service in its home country – or it...
Nintendo Download 19th May 2010 (Japan)
Earth Saving, Sengoku strategy and Kanji training on DSi next week in Japan
Although we're unaware of any holidays in Japan this week, it appears the Wii is taking a download break. The DSi is still getting a few titles on Wednesday, so importers still have something new to look forward to. DSiWare: Earth Saver Plus: Inseki Bakuha Daisakusen (500...
News Necromancer 2 Lurches onto DSiWare in Japan Next Month
Western release currently uncertain
Hudson Soft's Necromancer probably isn't on your list of Top Ten Games for a DSiWare Revival. Released on the TurboGrafx-16 over twenty years ago, it's a decent RPG that received a sequel for mobile devices last year. Guess which version DSiWare is receiving? Titled Necromancer: Nightmare Reborn, it's a beefed-up...
First Impressions Illust Logic
Downloadable picross? Yes, please!
Although video game versions of nonograms (better known to Nintendo gamers as Picross) were originally controlled with a D-Pad and buttons like any other game, it's clearly a genre that benefits massively from the touchscreen interface of Nintendo's DS family of handhelds. No surprise then that Hudson has seen fit...
Nintendo Download 11th and 12th May (Japan)
Catch-up week for Japan
After the Golden Week break it looks like Nintendo is mostly offering up titles that we've already seen elsewhere around the world. WiiWare: Sekai no Omoshiro Party Game 2 (500pts - Sims Co., ltd.) – The sequel to last month's Fun World Party Game offering five new games in five new countries: bullfighting in Spain,...
First Impressions 10 Second Run
Running on the run
Whilst the Japanese DSi Shop features some fairly robust gaming experiences it has to be said that there's a place for quick games that can be played in a few seconds. G-Mode's 10 Second Run is a perfect example, essentially a collection of dozens of short platforming levels for when you need a quick bit of running and jumping on...
First Impressions Fall in the Dark
Fail in the Dark
Fall in the Dark looks pretty good on paper: take an adventurer and guide him through a series of levels in six different worlds with gameplay that's a mix of Toki Tori and Montezuma's Revenge: difficult puzzling combined with 8-bit visuals and gameplay could be good, right? Well it would be except for some rather bizarre level...
First Impressions at Enter! Block Kuzushi
Brick-breaking fun on the go
Tasuke seems to have been putting out a lot of board game titles recently, which all seem to be broken out from a retail release called Table Game Spirits: Victory; which is itself an enhanced version of Table Game Spirits. Both of them are Japanese DS cart releases that collect various Japanese board games including...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - May 2010
A mere three games for Japan next month
Things can be quite odd sometimes. A while back, when North America and Europe were getting several weeks without any Virtual Console games at all, Japan was still getting one or more per week. Now it seems like the roles have been reversed, because while North America and Europe are now getting one each week...
Nintendo Download 27 & 28 April (Japan)
World Game Parade comes to a close, bountiful VC and lots of DSiWare, next week in Japan
WiiWare: Katamuki Spirits (500pts - Marvelous) – Whilst it may have a fancier sounding name, this is of course DK Games' Equilibrio re-badged as the final entry in Marvelous Entertainment's World Game Parade. We certainly thought it was a fun marble rolling...
First Impressions Aa! Nikaku Dori
More fun with mahjong tiles
Despite releasing versions of Shanghai on both Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance in Japan (not to mention Wii and WiiWare versions), Sunsoft have elected not to favour Nintendo's current generation of handheld with the classic match-two puzzle game which they seem to have a monopoly on in the Land of the Rising Sun...
First Impressions Katamuku + Action: Katamuction
More camera-motion mini-game madness
It seems a number of developers have been taken with the idea of using the DSi's cameras to simulate motion-based gameplay, but unfortunately many of these games end up feeling like gimmicky tech-demos more than actually fun games. HI Games & Publishing's latest attempt makes for an uneven experience with one...
Dogfight motion demo a go-go
Though the DSi has no native motion-sensing capabilities, it hasn't stopped developers from trying to use the system's built-in cameras to approximate the tilt-sensors of the iPhone. As expected however, cameras are not motion sensors and although the latest effort from Genki Mobile includes a fair collection of...
Nintendo Download 20th & 21st April (Japan)
Ivy the Kiwi makes a multi-platform assault
After last week's slim pickings this week actually provides some choice on both Wii and DSi on the download front, including the first free app from Nintendo on the DSi since the Wii no Ma media viewer was released last May. Better still all of these are brand-new releases, without a catch-up title in...
First Impressions G.G. Series Exciting River
Burt Reynolds not included
Whilst a game based on Deliverance probably would be very cool, Exciting River is about kayaking to a goal in the quickest time possible, rather than surviving a weekend river-rafting amongst crazed banjo-duelling hillbillies out for blood. Still, exciting it is thanks to good controls and fast-paced gameplay. There are a...
First Impressions G.G. Series Throw Out
Fancy a game of 4-on-4 Cyberball?
Although "proper" sports video games have been more successful at home and in the arcades, there's something to be said for the made up ones that have less focus on player stats and more on just playing the game. Suzak's Throw Out, a more recent entry in the G.G. Series of budget arcade-style games, is...
First Impressions G.G Series: Drift Circuit
Drift on outta here
Nothing is perfect, not even the G.G. Series. We figured there had to be at least one dud in this assortment of budget-priced slices of arcade fun and this is definitely it. From the screenshots you'd think you're going to be playing a fun overhead racer like Moto Roader or Super Sprint – a notion reinforced by the fact that...
First Impressions G.G. Series Dark Spirits
Side-scrolling bullet hell magic
One good thing about the Japanese DSi Shop for retro-gaming fans is the availability of old-school sprite-based shooters, with several decent ones to choose from. The G.G. Series already has a few among its number, but they're all different enough that it cannot hurt to add another one: enter Dark Spirts, of the...
First Impressions G.G. Series Shinobi Karakuri-Den
Mappy Ninja Gaiden
Ninja have been a fixture of video games for a long time, so it's only fitting that Suzak have created a game for the G.G. Series featuring one that bears more than a passing resemblance to Ryu from Ninja Gaiden. Though his inspiration may run around beating up street toughs, the hero of Shinobi Karakuri-Den bounces around like a...
First Impressions G.G. Series Black × Block
For fans of mind-bending only
Most of the G.G. Series previewed to-date have been pretty accessible puzzlers or arcade style games from various genres, but here's the first one that's probably only going to be a hit with a small audience due to the nature and level of the challenge on offer. The gameplay is essentially similar to Toki Tori and...
First Impressions G.G Series: Tetsubou
Arcade gymnastics
You have to give credit to developer Suzak for the work it's done with the G.G. Series. Whilst most of the games are interesting takes on traditional genres, it also likes to throw out the occasional brand-new concept, like Tetsubou: a game which could be best termed a "gymnastic puzzler." Players are presented with a...
First Impressions G.G. Series Conveyor Kombō
A refreshingly novel take on the "match three" puzzler
There have been many variations on the "match three" puzzle game, often involving adding another item to complete a matching set, but it's rare to see a truly new and novel mechanic used in what has become something of a cliched puzzle game style. For this reason G.G. Series Conveyor...
First Impressions 200V Challenge Spirits Mahjong
Challenging mahjong battles at a budget price
Mahjong games have existed on Japanese consoles almost since the first machines were rolled out, and over time certain standards have emerged, to such an extent that having experience with one mahjong game will lead you to expect certain conventions in another. Part of the attraction of Tasuke's 200V...
Nintendo Download 13th & 14th April 2010 (Japan)
Scribbling and monster fish for Wii, with a bit of zookeeping for the DSi next week in Japan
Japan's release schedule this year has calmed quite a bit from the dozen-plus release weeks seen last year, but even so next week is more akin to some of the droughts seen in Europe and North America in the past with only three downloads across both Wii and...
Carrying the standard for a forgotten genre
Back in the early 80s the "maze" game was a popular genre both in arcades and on home consoles, featuring a fixed screen and expected mechanics of navigating a character around hazards whilst collecting objects. Once platforming and adventure games took off, the maze game all but vanished; even...
Nintendo Download 6th & 7th April 2010 (Japan)
Plant barbering, plane piloting, kanji, colouring and adventuring next week in Japan
Next week is pretty much a catch-up week for Japanese Wii and DSi owners, with only a couple of brand-new titles for DSi, neither one of which is a game. WiiWare: Bonsai Barber (800pts - Nintendo) – It's hard to believe this plant-barbering simulator hasn't...
First Impressions Sora o Kakeru Shōjyo Shooting
Pretty girls and shooting action: a recipe for success
If you weren't already jealous of the number of old-fashioned shooting games available in the Japanese DSi Shop thanks to the G.G. Series, now you have another one courtesy of I.T.L. Roughly translated as Shooting Space Girls, this is a side-scroller with a difference, though what that...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - April 2010
Great games all around.
It is once again the final Friday of the month, and that means Nintendo has revealed their plans for Japan's Virtual Console this coming month. It looked like there were no more games remaining for the final update this month (Next week), but Konami has generously provided two more MSX games just for it. Next month sees two...
First Impressions G.G. Series Drilling Attack
Not a mad dentist, just more arcade fun!
It's not hard to see why we keep on downloading G.G. Series games to preview because as many as there are, they all seem to have been made by people who care about delivering a quality slice of simple gaming fun. That they're only 200 Points each is just icing on the electron cake of arcade goodness. Drilling...
First Impressions G.G Series: D-Tank
Tank-tastic arcade fun!
Tanks feature in some of the earliest arcade games, from vector graphics classics like Battle Zone and Armor Attack to "newer" sprite-based games like Vindicators and Tank Force. As with the latter D-Tank sees players controlling a tank and trying to defend a base from attack by incoming waves of enemy tanks: a...
First Impressions G.G. Series Assault Buster
Arcade action the G.G. Series way
The G.G. Series of games in the Japanese DSi Shop really are a little slice of arcade heaven. Not just because they offer some good old-fashioned fun, but because they're such well-crafted titles generally. Assault Buster is certainly one to put into the "pretty good" column, offering an interesting...
Nintendo Download 23rd & 24th March 2010 (Japan)
Frogs, romantic sagas, galactic brawling, shogi, mahjong, monsters and prison breaks next week in Japan
WiiWare: Frogger Returns (500pts – Konami) – A Japanese catch-up title that's been out for a few months in North America and just last month in Europe. We thought it was good fun and a nice return to form for a franchise that has spent a lot...
News 3D Motion Gaming Debuts on the DSi
Breaking new ground with the DSi camera
Although rumours abound of a motion-enabled successor to the DS being readied for unveiling in the near future, it seems some developers just couldn't wait and decided to attempt the same kind of game mechanics afforded by accelerometers utilising the second camera present on the DSi. The system is known as...
First Impressions Uchimakure! Touchpen Wars
A touching game of combat
Tom Create's follow-up to the cheap-and-cheerful space-based take on Dig Dug II is Touchpen Wars, an arcade-style shooter that's also offered at the budget price of 200 Points. Don't be fooled by the title – it's not a game laden with sentiment, but uses flicks and taps of the stylus to launch projectiles from gun...
First Impressions G.G. Series Vertex
More budget puzzling fun from Suzak
Vertex is another take on the puzzle genre in the G.G. Series and like Energy Chain it's a competent and fairly original concept, but not necessarily an addictive one. Players move a small glowing green dot at the bottom which is projecting a guide line to the top of the screen. The object is to press buttons to...
Nintendo Download 16 & 17 March 2010 (Japan)
Racing punch-up, Zombie Wonderland and karate
The Virtual Console Arcade gets a surprise release (always nice) and there's a couple of interesting WiiWare games to tide over Wii owners; add in some intesting titles on the DSi and you get a pretty good week for Nintendo downloading overall. WiiWare: Pokosuka Racing (500pts - Recom) – At first we...
First Impressions Are? DS ga Sakasa Desu Kedo. Sakasa Drops
A refreshing spin on the classic Tetris concept
Sakasa Drops is the second DSiWare effort from Tecmo and like Gyaku Shooting is played holding your DSi upside down with the touchscreen up top. It's a novel gimmick that literally conveys the fact that the tables are being turned on some familiar gameplay. This game most strongly echoes the classic...
First Impressions Are? DS ga Sakasa Desu Kedo. Gyaku Shooting
It's Star Force in a world gone mad!
Tecmo have finally dipped their toes in the DSiWare water with a couple of games that have the novel feature of being played holding your DSi upside-down with the touchscreen at the top. This first one is based upon the classic Tekhan vertical shooter Star Force, which was one of the Virtual Console Arcade launch...
First Impressions G.G. Series Energy Chain
Budget puzzling from the budget DSiWare machine
We have to figure that Suzak is porting games they originally developed for mobile phones for the G.G. Series, because it just doesn't seem possible that they could have made so many games in so short a span of time and actually had this many of them turn out to be worthwhile. Energy Chain is a puzzle...
First Impressions G.G. Series Chō Hero Ōga
"There's a super-man coming, there's a super-man coming..."
This entry in the G.G. Series is a nice little brawler with a superhero theme. As with other games in the series, there's no menu options to worry about, game modes or story: instead you just use the D-Pad and a couple of buttons to pound on some costumed freaks until they get the better of...
Nintendo Download 9th & 10th March 2010 (Japan)
Capcom and Nichibutsu classics on Wii, Gameloft, G.G. Series and Kanji Training on DSi
DSiWare doesn't hold any surprises, but it's nice to see more VCA releases and of course Capcom fueling the retro-fires. WiiWare: Rockman 10 (1000pts - Capcom) — By now we hope everyone knows this is what we know as Mega Man 10 outside of Japan. We though it was...
First Impressions G.G. Series Wonder Land
Alice in bullet-hell land
Genterprise has published a steady string of G.G. Series games for DSiWare, delivering some much needed arcade-style gaming at a budget price with the majority of games coming from development studio Suzak. Wonder Land is a bullet hell shooter based upon Alice in Wonderland – not exactly a logical pairing, but certainly...