Tag: Japan - Page 54
Video SEGA's 3D Classics Collection Now Available In Japan, Looks Delightful
Includes an array of retro experiences
While 3DS owners in the West are still anticipating the release of the second batch of SEGA 3D Classics on the eShop in 2015, Japan is already being treated to a boxed collection of the series, including 6 of the 12 games currently ported, enhanced and released by developer M2. Announced in September as Sega...
Matters Of Import Collectible Badge Centre Brings A Personal Touch To 3DS Customisation
Gotta catch 'em all, quite literally
Nintendo is in something of a quandary at the moment. Their handheld business is obviously doing very well, but at the same time the company can’t help but glance over at the millions made from cheap smartphone apps and their "free" alternatives and long for a slice of that lucrative revenue stream. So, with...
Matters Of Import Final Fantasy Explorers Fights For Capcom's Crown
The Diet Coke of Monster Hunter
We’ve finally got around to try out the "Lite" version of Square Enix’s new team-based action RPG Final Fantasy Explorers; a playable taste of the early stages that allows adventurers to transfer certain parts of their save to the real thing when it releases in Japan today. Anyone who’s played Monster Hunter or...
News Fan Takes amiibo on Lighthearted Journey to their Homeland
A Christmas endeavour
Nintendo's got its audience over a barrel with its range of amiibo toys, and it seems that their charms have taken over certain fans' hearts, however most people don't take this appreciation to the lengths that one fan has. A Facebook page has recently appear that documents the adventures of Pikachu, Fox, and Mario in their...
News Please Sega, All We Want For Christmas Are These Amazing New 3DS Themes In The West
Variants on a theme
Ever since Nintendo introduced 3DS themes with a recent system update, we've seen a steady stream of cool backgrounds on our beloved handhelds. However, as if often the case, our Japanese friends are getting a superior offerings. There are already plenty of amazing themes available in that part of the world, and Sega has just...
News Yo-Kai Watch: Shin'uchi Storms to Japanese Chart Summit as 3DS and Wii U Sales Increase
Reports of Level-5 executives rolling in bundles of cash are unconfirmed
Yo-Kai Watch is a phenomenon in Japan — we're still waiting for it to come to the West — and has once again achieved truly impressive sales at launch, while Nintendo can enjoy some strong hardware sales in this week's Media Create Charts. Kicking off with the software top...
Video Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy Plus Shows Off Its amiibo Fighters
New trailer shows off Nintendo-themed liveries
Bandai Namco has released a trailer for its forthcoming update of the 3DS title Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy. Going by the name Ace Combat 3D: Cross Rumble Plus in Japan, the title is one of the first 3DS releases to include support for the newly-released amiibo range of interactive toys. Tapping...
First Impressions Bravely Second's Demo Comes Out Fighting
Watch the first 30 minutes right here
About a year ago we gave the original Bravely Default a whopping 9/10 in our review, so it was with some excitement that we battled through numerous eShop error messages for hours on end, desperate to get our grubby mitts on the Japanese Bravely Second demo that released recently. So how does Bravely Second...
News 3DS Brawler One Piece: Super Grand Battle! X Is Getting amiibo Support
Unlocks new costumes for the fighters
It has been revealed that Namco Bandai is bringing amiibo support to its 3DS title One Piece: Super Grand Battle! X. This is the second Namco Bandai title to showcase connectivity with Nintendo's new "toys to life" range, with Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy Plus already confirmed. The scan shown below —...
Luigi and co. clean up
Last Friday Super Smash Bros. for Wii U was finally released in Japan, and to no surprise it's taken the top spot in this week's Japanese charts courtesy of Media Create. Although the numbers aren't as grand as for the launch of the 3DS version, there are only around two million Wii U owners in Japan, meaning that ten percent...
News Nintendo Celebrates Landmark of Record Sales Success for Million-Selling 3DS Games
Four games have sold 2 million copies in the last 5 months in Japan
While hardware results have slowed due to a certain level of critical mass, the 3DS remains a major success story in Japan, in particular. Along with the release of the New Nintendo 3DS — which is helping the portable maintain its dominance in the hardware charts for the country...
News The Next Theatrhythm Game Is All About Dragon Quest, And It's Coming To The 3DS In 2015
Japanese launch happening in March
Square Enix's Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy games have been a commercial and critical success for the company, taking the legendary tunes heard in the million-selling series and placing them in an incredibly compelling rhythm action context. Given that Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call has pretty much mined the...
News The Latest 3DS Home Themes in Japan Have Monsters, Cute Cats and Festive Cheer
Ticking all the boxes
While we're seeing plenty of 3DS HOME Themes make their way to the West, our curiosity with Japanese culture means that we can't help but be intrigued by themes released in Japan; it also helps that Nintendo regularly releases charming videos showing them off. The most recent batch of ten videos from Nintendo caught our eye,...
News This Ancient Promotional Calendar Is Filled With Rich Nintendo History
Could this be one of the oldest pieces of Nintendo merch ever?
Nintendo’s beginnings started out in Japan in late 1889 when the company produced a playing card game known as Hanafuda. Since then, the Big N has dabbled in all forms of entertainment including video games, bowling alleys and even love hotels. With such a rich history, it comes as no...
News Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire and New 3DS Lead in Japan, With Wii U Sales Improving
Etrian Odyssey Untold 2 enters charts at number three
As we rattle towards the festive season and retail sales spike, Nintendo is no doubt hoping for strong sales around the world to move towards its targets and overall profitability. While the peak season has arrived in the West — with Black Friday, for example — the biggest sales boosts in...
Video Nintendo Shows Off a Series of New Third-Party 3DS HOME Themes in Japan
Tales of the Abyss! Puyo-Puyo! Stuff you might not recognise!
When Nintendo introduced 3DS HOME Themes earlier this year it was fairly reasonable to wonder whether it would be a rather limited initiative, with a small range of first-party themes that would gradually lose momentum. That's not the case so far, however, with new designs arriving most...
News Latest Sales Data For Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Finds Fans Are Growing Older
Super Smash Bros. players are also getting on
Since its inception, Pokémon has been commonly associated with a young audience. Whilst this connection remains intact, the latest data from Japanese sales tracker Media Create reveals the primary purchasers of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire in Japan on release were not necessarily children or...
News Nintendo's Official Japanese Site Suggests Discontinuation of Certain 3DS Units
Disappointment XL
Nintendo's official Japanese website has begun displaying a notice above some of its 3DS models that speaks doom for some of the variants. The message translates to: Production is slated to end shortly It seems Nintendo is really trying to push the New 3DS into the hands of the Japanese public, and by reducing the number of...
News Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Storm Japanese Charts, New 3DS Sales Climb in Unison
There's 1,500,000 or more to see
Not content with securing first place in the Japanese sales charts, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire also managed to secure second place as well with the Double Pack variation. This amounts to over 1,500,000 physical sales for the monster-catching experience in its first week of sales, an astounding feat which...
News 1.5 Million Copies Of Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Sold In Japan Within Three Days
Gotta sell 'em all!
With Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire being two of the most anticipated 3DS releases of 2014 – as well as one of the most requested remakes from the Pokémon line – it comes as no surprise that over 1.5 million copies of the latest entries in the series have been sold in Japan within the first three days of its...
Video New Rodea the Sky Soldier Footage Shows Off Progress
Looks like a modest upscale from the Wii version
For quite a while Rodea the Sky Soldier seemed destined to remain in publishing purgatory, with original developer Prope and project lead Yuji Naka declaring the Wii version finished and simply awaiting release, while the 3DS iteration was mostly ready. Whatever happened behind the scenes, publisher...
News Atlus Confirms Etrian Odyssey X Mystery Dungeon and Reveals Etrian Odyssey V Teaser
Buckle up, RPG fans
The 3DS has already established itself as a terrific console for fans of RPGs, particularly those developed in Japan. Atlus are the main contributors to that, of course, not only producing excellent titles but also localising them to North America and — gradually — Europe. Those that enjoy this output have some good news to...
News The 3DS Proves to Be a Popular Music Player in Japan
Exposed shoulder buttons not an issue
Contrary to the West, Japan has an app that allows 3DS owners to download and listen to music, and despite the prominence of smaller and more dedicated media devices, many Japanese gamers are taking full advantage of the system. Recently hitting 3 million downloads, RecoChoku is the app in question. The site...
News Lucina from Fire Emblem: Awakening Gets Immortalised in Figurine Form
Showing off her figure
Good Smile Company have plenty to smile about after unveiling a fully painted version of Lucina from their figma range. This figurine is superbly detailed, and if you can see past some obvious fragility this model shows off everything that's great about the Fire Emblem: Awakening character's design. Looking appropriately...
News Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Thrown off its Perch by Call of Duty, Wii U Sales Spike Upwards
Captain Toad makes a stand in Japan
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate has finally been knocked from first place in the Japanese charts in the wake of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Sony must be fairly pleased with their success this week, but we wouldn't be at all surprised to see Monster Hunter right back up at the top next week once the hype has died...
News Keep All Your Treasured amiibo Figures Safe With Hori's Special Carry Case
This is my bag, baby
Choosing which amiibo you're going to buy when they hit store shelves is just one part of the problem — you've then got to figure out where you're going to store them when you're out and about. Thankfully, Hori has this all sorted out. Available from December 6th, this handy carry bag from Play-Asia costs $17 / £11 and will...
Video Feast Your Eyes On Etrian Odyssey Untold II's Lush Opening Cinematic
And then cross your fingers for a western release
Etrian Odyssey Untold II hits Japanese stores on the 27th of this very month, and in order to build some hype in its homeland publisher Atlus has made the opening cinematic public. It's the next instalment in a series which has been active since the days of the Nintendo DS and follows on from the...
News Japanese Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call DLC To Include Bravely Default Tunes
Bravely soldiering on
Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call's track list and DLC offerings are an already impressive offering, encompassing titles like the iconic SNES classic Final Fantasy VI to experimental GameCube spinoff Crystal Chronicles, but next week in Japan the game branches out into new territory, as four tracks from
Wii U awaits new releases, still
It's Media Create charts time for Japan, once again, and this week brings more steady reassurance for Nintendo in the portable space, if not necessarily for Wii U. This is also a relatively quiet spell ahead of the Holiday season in Japan, so familiar names continue to make their presence felt. At the top, still, is...
News 3DS Version Of Petit Computer Hits Japan November 19th, Global Programming Contest Announced
No date for the western release as yet
Programming tool Petit Computer — known in Japan as SmileBASIC — is getting a new 3DS version in Japan this month. Developer SmileBoom Co.Ltd confirmed the release today, and also announced that the third programming contest will be held in conjunction with the Japanese launch. Although this contest will...
News Rodea the Sky Soldier Now Flying Into a Spring 2015 Release in Japan, for Wii U and 3DS
Wii version dropped, unsurprisingly
Rodea the Sky Soldier has had a troubled history. When originally announced for Wii and 3DS this flying action title certainly caught the eye, with the development team at Prope being led by the highly regarded Yuji Naka, one of the creators of Sonic the Hedgehog. It then seemed to enter the publishing void,...
News Bandai Namco Announces Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy Plus For 3DS
Will include amiibo support
Rookie pilots – at least in Japan – will soon be able to take to the skies once again, with Bandai Namco earlier this week announcing Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy Plus for 3DS in the latest issue of Famitsu magazine. This new entry in the series is essentially an enhanced version of the 2012 3DS title, Ace...
News Genyo Takeda Discusses Nintendo's Hardware Future
"We have been making progress"
In Nintendo's recent investor Q&A, Genyo Takeda described the possible directions Nintendo is considering for its future hardware: The integration of architecture is our fundamental policy, and we have been making progress. Now that our new hardware systems are on the market, I would need to comment in terms of...
News Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Sells 2 Million Physical Copies, New 3DS Sales Begin to Slow
A fairly uneventful week otherwise
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate has managed to reach over 2 million physical sales in Japan, and continues to dominate the competition. Keeping things healthy for the 3DS, Yokai Watch 2 comes in at second just ahead of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS by less than a hundred copies. The popularity of Yokai Watch 2 is...
Video Watch 10 Minutes Of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker For Wii U In This Japanese Commercial
More commericals inside
Following news of a delayed European release, and the inclusion of Toadette, there have been few developments leading into the release of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker for Wii U. So, to make the wait slightly less painful, Nintendo has updated its Japanese
News Luigi's Mansion Arcade May Potentially Be a Thing in Japan
Can you survive the night?
Arcade machines are a medium that has waned in the West over the past few decades, but it's still an important part of Japanese gaming. An eagle-eyed Japanese blogger spied an interesting poster advertising an arcade machine that seems to be heavily based on the second entry in the Luigi's Mansion series, with the...
News Region-Locking May Be a Thing of the Past Soon According to Nintendo
Unlocking business benefits
During the Q&A session which followed the Nintendo of Japan's investor briefing last week, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata indicated that Nintendo are reconsidering the unpopular policy of region locking on its consoles. An unofficial translation made by the ever-reliable Cheesemeister on NeoGAF turned up the...
News Nintendo Boasts New 3DS is its Best-Selling Remodelled Handheld System to Date
Grossly outselling its predecessors
Nintendo has announced that the New Nintendo 3DS and its bigger brother the New Nintendo 3DS LL have been privy to a success more uproarious than expected. In its latest financial report, Nintendo has claimed that over 400,000 New 3DS units have been sold in the mere three weeks that it has been available in...
News Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Rushes Towards 2 Million Sales, New 3DS Continues to Sell Well
A monster success in sight
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is utterly thwarting its competition with nearly 2 million physical copies sold, even with new Sony-system titles being released thick and fast such as the acclaimed The Evil Within. Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS drops down a good number of places, but this is largely due to the fact that...
Video Let's Celebrate The Game Boy That The West Never Got
Shedding some light on a handheld classic
Nintendo's Game Boy range was massively successful all over the world — heck, even Kurt Cobain had one — but not every variant of the system made it out of Japan. Just before the launch of the Game Boy Color, Nintendo produced a revised backlit version of the original monochrome system which was...
Huntin' and relaxin'
It seems Capcom's latest entry in the Monster Hunter series has proved its worth even further in Japan by outselling Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS not only this week, but in lifetime physical sales. Smash Bros. has still done well, placing it behind Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate but in front of everything else. Unfortunately...
A very healthy week for the 3DS
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate — known as Monster Hunter 4G in Japan — has utterly decimated the competition in its launch week, selling nearly 1,500,000 physical copies, but Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS still stands up as a strong contender in second place. Yokai Watch 2 also makes its way back up the charts as the...
News Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Ships Over Two Million Units in Just Five Days
Monstrous success
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate arrived in Japan — where's it's known as Monster Hunter 4G — on 11th October, alongside the New Nintendo 3DS models. An expansion of the original Monster Hunter 4, it looks set to recreate the success of that release. Capcom has issued a press release outlining the early progress of the new title,...
News New Nintendo 3DS LL Outsells Standard Model By Almost Three To One In Japan
Despite those oh-so-gorgeous Kisekae plates
The New 3DS and New 3DS LL (XL to us westerners) launched in Japan at the end of last week, and with the standard model offering the ability to fit new front and back plates, many predicted that shoppers would pick customisation over screen size this time around. However, according to figures published by...
Hardware Review The New Nintendo 3DS Is The Best Yet
We go hands-on with the Japanese model
Nintendo has a history of iterating and improving the various handheld consoles it has produced over the past few decades. The original monochrome Game Boy started this trend of gradual enhancement — with the Game Boy Pocket and Game Boy Light offering tangible advantages over the 1989 original — and since...
News Capcom Won't Greenlight Sequels If A Game Doesn't Sell Over Two Million Copies
No plans for future Darkstalkers games, either
Capcom's Yoshinori Ono has revealed that the company is chasing big sales right now, and that sequels won't be given the go ahead unless the previous title cleared two million units sold. The comment was made in an interview with Famitsu, where Ono also said that there would be no future Darkstalkers...
News Super Smash Bros. Takes the Lead in Japan Once Again, 3DS Sales Dip Further
But we're not worried
Once again Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS has obliterated the competition and sold over 100,000 units in the past week in Japan. This coupled with the recent announcement of 2.8 million copes sold worldwide is a very sturdy figure to be leaning upon. The PS3's new entry in the Kingdom Hearts series couldn't beat the bea
News Square Enix's Latest 3DS RPG Final Fantasy Explorers Won't Support Stereoscopic 3D
Still likes the Circle Pad Pro, though
If you're one of those people who likes to move that 3D slider up to "max" then you might want to stop reading now. Square Enix has confirmed that its upcoming Nintendo 3DS title Final Fantasy Exporers will not feature stereoscopic 3D graphics output. It's not all bad news, though — Final Fantasy Explorers...
News Japan Is Getting A Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Nintendo Direct This Week
What's that coming over the hill?
As we all know, Japan is pretty bonkers about Monster Hunter. The series is one of the country's most popular video game franchises, and after the amazing commercial success of Monster Hunter 4 on the 3DS, Japanese fans are getting an improved version in the form of Monster Hunter 4G (known as Monster Hunter 4...
News The Studio Behind Sega's Wonder Boy Series Might Be Going Bankrupt
Not so wonderful
Japanese veteran Westone Bit Entertainment is apparently on the verge of going bankrupt, according to Game Watch Impress. Westone is best know for producing Wonder Boy, a title which would spawn the Monster World series and would be re-tooled to create Hudson's Adventure Island franchise. The Tokyo District Court is currently...
