XSEED Games has announced an updated version of the 1996 cult horror classic Corpse Party will be released on the Nintendo Switch here in the west on 20th October for $19.99 USD. There'll be a 10% discount at launch.
The Switch version was originally released in Japan earlier this year on 28th February. The original game was previously released on the 3DS in 2016. The game is described as a "battleless RPG" with decision-making and point & click adventure gameplay. Here's a brief rundown of the story:
"A friendship ritual gone awry transports high school student Ayumi Shinozaki and her friends to an alternate reality version of a tragedy-stricken institution that stood on the site of their own school long ago. As the vengeful spirits of elementary school students threaten their lives and their sanity, their only hope of survival–much less escape–is to uncover the chilling details surrounding the murders of those trapped before them."
Below are some screenshots of the PC version of the game (via Steam):
Is this a game you would be interested in checking out on the Nintendo Switch? Comment below.
[source twitter.com, via gematsu.com]
Comments 50
I downloaded it from the Japanese eShop back in February. Strange that it took so long to release everywhere else when it already had English support and everything but better late than never.
Man, this game has been getting re-released and improved since the 90s. It just doesn't die!
Still one of the most weirdly compelling horror games I've ever played. Some of the sequels are mediocre-to-terrible, but this one is still gold.
Be sure to play with headphones. This game famously has had pretty good 3D audio since the PSP remake came out.
Nice! Never finished it on 3DS.
Great, I hoped it might come out here. I can finally start this franchise, too.
I'm hope that it's will be available in Russia... Corpse Party: Blood Drive isn't available in my region, sadly. (
@nhSnork Completely agree. Previously, Corpse Party: Blood Drive wasn't available in all regions. I'm living in Russia and use Russian eShop. Blood Drive unavaible here like some other Japanese games - Mary Skelter, for example.
This game relies more on the sounds rather than the visuals to achieve it's goals. The actors do their jobs real well at selling the deaths and even if the scenes are only accompanied by either a still image or even a blank screen it's the meaty chunky sounds that do all the work in scaring ya.
@ATaco Definitely. This game is almost wholly reliant on really excellent sound design, in conjunction with effective storytelling.
By far the scariest/most disturbing part of the game, in fact, happens while the character you're playing as can't see a thing. The lack of a visual image massively enhances the impact of what you're hearing.
This game got so many enhanced versions over enhanced versions. You are also doing yourself a disservice if you don’t use headphones.
@Ralizah 100% agree. I'm not sure whether you mean the same scene, but there was one which disturbed me (just by sound) that I actually started questioning why I play the game in the first place. (And I originally thought I'm resistant to such things after watching the old Higurashi anime .) That being said, visuals are also surprisingly descriptive/detailed when you take into the account the really low resolution.
Anyway, I finished it (3DS) and I recommend to anyone who likes horrors and is brave enough. Although gameplay is mostly blind search for correct path (order of actions) - I humbly confess that I finished the last chapter with walkthrough after a few fails...
@Relpai Pretty good I must say.. I finished the entire game with walkthrough.. I'm just a casual noobie gamer
Damn thats such an old game , played it back in middle school
Also poor mayu
@Miu Thx, but I don't consider myself skilled gamer, too. I think this game isn't about skill, it's more about persistence and perhaps memory...
I don't mind the exploratory/trial-and-error element to the game, since half the fun of it is the variety of (frequently brutal) bad ends you can get.
@Relpai The ending to chapter 4. It's pretty rough stuff, lol. After finishing it, I sat the game down and didn't come back to it for days. I don't think a game has impacted me the way before or since.
Really good voice acting, sound effects, etc.
@Ralizah wait so…
This isn’t the enhanced 3DS version that released on Switch back in Japan right?
If it isn’t, I will probably still buy it either way
Need Physical release- I got the 3DS but the LE is still sealed with figures. Anyone knows if this will be Physical or just eShop?
@anoyonmus This and the 3DS version are both "enhanced" versions of the PSP remake of the game.
@Ralizah Ah so...
We are getting the better version of the game on Switch and other platforms, right?
So essentially, they are porting the 3DS version to other consoles and PC, right?
@anoyonmus This is the version of the game with the most content to date. As far as I'm aware, the 3DS port didn't have the two additional EX chapters included in this version.
@Ralizah But it is the 3DS version of the game for this particular release, but they added more content for the current platforms, right?
@Ralizah ah so only play the first game and don't play the others?
Got it. I have been waiting for this ever since it got announced for a Japanese re release and I was hoping for a NA release. Now it seems my wishes have come true. Provided that it runs well on Switch ofc. I will be waiting for reviews for this particular port
@Vyacheslav333 yeah, as someone maining a Russian eShop account as well (I hail from Belarus myself), I'm still catching up to everything that proves to be absent there. Especially annoying when you wishlist something on Deku Deals weeks or months in advance only for it to never show up afterwards, to the point where you spend up to a year thinking it just got delayed.😆
Thanks for the heads-up on Blood Drive, I had a similar case here. To the US account wishlist with it, then - at least Switch gives us that option. I've already got the first two Mary Skelter games, 99vidas (available on Russian PS Store but somehow not here) and Nights of Azure 2 (arguably the worst "offender" since Nintendo Russia twitter openly advertised its imminent release once😏). This region doesn't even have Wonderful 101 despite it having been on Russian Wii U eShop before! Globalization my foot.
If not for sharing the account with my 3DS and its regional lock, I'd probably have changed the country settings to the US long ago, but you bet I'm not making a Russian console account ever again.🙄 Sorry for rambling away like that, a bit of a first world sore spot.😅
@anoyonmus Both this and the 3DS version are ports of the PSP remake of the game from more than a decade ago. The UI that was re-designed around two screens in the 3DS version obviously won't be included here, but there's no reason other improvements from the 3DS port wouldn't be included. Additionally, there are apparently additional EX chapters which weren't included in previous versions of the game.
Of the sequels: Book of Shadows is mostly a visual novel spinoff that expands on lore and character relationships from the first game. It works well as a companion piece to the original, so long as you understand it's a visual novel and thus plays differently from the original. The final chapter of it is the prequel to Blood Drive, and it's pretty good. But there's one issue. The third game, Blood Drive, is terrible. I say this as a huge fan of the series who platinumed the game: skip it.
Corpse Party 2 is interesting and takes place in the same universe, but it's as good as the original and, more importantly, is unfinished. Ch. 1 released in 2013, and while that chapter has been re-released and touched up over time, we haven't received any additional chapters since then.
Then you have the... romantic comedy sequel/spin-off visual novel, Sweet Sachiko's Hysteric Birthday Bash. It's basically a comedy sequel to the original game. I like it, but it's probably not what most people are going to want from a sequel, lol, and it appears to have little to no relevance to the larger series, and exists as some weird, self-contained thing.
In short, it's probably best to stick to the first game, yes. Book of Shadows is pretty good as well, but it sequel-baits a trilogy capper that ended up being terrible. If you stick with the first game, you'll have a perfectly satisfying experience, since it was designed to stand on its own.
@Ralizah Thank you. I will pick up the 1st game then
@nhSnork No need to apologize. And about Wonderful 101... In Russia, it's unavaible on Nintendo Switch and PS4. Platinum Games for some unknown reasons decided to make game unavaible for buy on Nintendo Switch and PS4 in Russia. Это было странное решение...
@Vyacheslav333 это точно. But such weird decisions abound in the industry - some legitimately weird, some seeming so to us who lack the full context of the publisher's predicament. And both still admittedly irritating.😄
And it's not just Russia - for instance, some (well, actually MOST) Nintendo mobile games available there are oddly absent from Google Play in Belarus. Go figure. And when we touch the topic of mobile games in general, there have been plenty whose western localisations have been advertised as "worldwide releases"... which would then translate to a literal few countries or just the US. No wonder they've also been shutting down in bafflingly short terms, too.
@Ralizah I thought so and yes, that's the scene which I meant, too. And I fully understand your reaction. I actually wrote an essay (reflection - not sure what's the correct word in English) to my diary about what kind of emotions this part of game triggers and why in order to process the whole experience.
Also thanks for the explanation about other games (to the Anoyonmus), I didn't look at other Corpse Party games, because a) I wanted (needed) to take some break and b) I got feeling that this is that kind of tale, which works perfectly as-is and sequels might ruin the overall feeling of the story.
@nhSnork Да, верно. Also strange, when some games have localization on one platform, but didn't have on another. Mobile port of Steins;Gate, for example. iOS version have English localization, but Android version available only in Japanese language. It's weird and stupid. Same with Shin Megami Tensei II - it was available on iOS with English localization, but Android port was available only in Japan on Japanese language. И... Только мне кажется странным и забавным то, что мы отвечаем друг другу на английском и русском языках? 😄
I've always wanted to give this game a spin despite me being a bit fussy over games purchases in this genre. Never got around to downloading decently reviewes 3DS version.
@Vyacheslav333 Can't you just use a different version of the eShop? The same way people are able to play JP exclusives in the US
I played this game. Scared the bejeebers out of me and had to put it down for a few weeks.
Recommend. Would play again.
@Vyacheslav333 Yeah but the Switch is region free. I have games from Europe and Asia and I live in America. You can import if needed.
@SwitchForce If anything I'd think a physical version would be released at PlayAsia like they're doing with Fatal Frame.
I'll probably bite. I've got a collector's edition for the 3DS unopened. I'll sell it after it's no longer available on the 3DS digitally.
I am super excited for this. One of the few games on 3ds I always wanted but never bought. That physical edition goes for astronomical prices
I always enjoy this game. It's really terrifying with the amazing audio it has.
PSA for Steam users, if you don't have the original Steam release of Corpse Party, and you're the type to complain about it if they take it down, then maybe you should get on that now.
I had this on the 3DS. I never thought I could be so revolted by 16-bit style graphics and anime.
Slight correction, but the original game didn't release on the 3DS, it was a remake of the original and a variation of PSP remake. The versions we got in the west are actually called "Corpse Party: Blood Covered" in Japan while the original game simply called "Corpse Party" was on the PC-98 way back in 1996 - so this game really has some staying power.
I was about to buy it from the Japanese eShop, great timing honestly!
@JustMonika I would love a physical edition of this game! It would be an instant buy for me!
@TheRebornExpert I was legit considering that option until I saw this article and that it is coming to the West and THIS month too. AND next week too!!!
Glad I held off from buying it on the Japanese eshop
@Vyacheslav333 в интернете и не такое бывает.😆 And indeed, with iOS being a different ecosystem, all these licenses and localisations play out annoyingly different between the two mobile platforms as well. The related laws and practices really have yet to adapt to the age we live in.
@Vyacheslav333 @nhSnork Guys it is coming to Russian Eshop, don't you worry.
Actually, does somebody know if it's better to purchase it instantly on release or wait for physical? Been playing PSP & 3DS versions, but still.
@Lord_of_Nothing уже добавил в список желаний! Спасибо за информацию!
@Lord_of_Nothing я не думаю, что игру станут выпускать на картриджах во всех регионах... По крайней мере, в Японии игру на картриджы выпустить могут, я думаю. Но а так, ждать стоит, я думаю. Может, игра будет выпущена на картриджах при помощи Limited Run Games... Но, я думаю, что это уже будет не очень хорошо.
@Lord_of_Nothing yeah, thanks, I've seen it show up recently, too.
@nintendolife where is the review of the Switch version of Corpse Party
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