Tag: Japanese Releases - Page 4
My little water demon
In case you don't know what a kappa is (and we certainly didn't until we first heard of this game), know that it is a mischievous water sprite from Japanese mythology prone to eating small children (and cucumbers – hence the "kappa maki" found in Japanese sushi restaurants); now residing on the DSi. A product of...
First Impressions Kai Illust Puzzle Guru Guru Logic
Picross meets ... Quarth?
Nintendo seems to have single-handedly popularised picross on home and console game systems, with only Hudson daring to dabble in the same space. Continuing the tradition they've partnered with D4 Enterprise to bring a new faster-paced game to the DSi which combines traditional Picross with elements of Konami's old...
First Impressions Aa Mujō Setsuna
Lots of flash; not much substance
Nintendo isn't exactly known for publishing shooters, much less shooters of the "bullet hell" variety, but that's exactly what we have here. Developed by Arika and recently shown at the Nintendo Media event in North America as Metal Torrent, Aa Mujō Setsuna is certainly one of the most graphically...
First Impressions Fantasic Cube
Hey, you got your Columns in my Quarth!
Fantasic Cube is very much an old-school puzzle game, but a decent one and more full-featured than most of the puzzlers we've seen lately. There are three single player game modes on offer and two-way multiplayer either locally or over Wi-Fi connection with friends or random strangers. The primary game mode is...
First Impressions Handy Mahjong
Budget majaan on the go
Mahjong (or, as they call it in Japan, "majaan") is incredibly popular in Japan where you can find gambling parlours with fully automated tables shuffling, dealing and stacking tiles for players. It therefore should come as no surprise that there are a few mahjong games available in the Japanese DSiWare shop and...
Nintendo Download 2nd & 3rd March 2010 (Japan)
Another light week for the Wii and the usual assortment for DSi to start the month off
Japan seems to have settled very much into a release schedule like other territories, which will hopefully send some green-eyed monsters off to bed (well, except Virtual Console fans). WiiWare: Aqualiving: Television de Nagameru Sakana Tachi (800pts - Nintendo)...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - March 2010
Even Japan seems to be getting several VC-less weeks from now on.
Things are moderately bad for Virtual Console in Europe and North America at the moment, with each month having several weeks without a new release for the service. But now it's really time to worry - Even Japan seems to be getting several of these now. March only sees three new...
First Impressions G.G. Series Z・ONE
Budget shooting on the go
Genterprise has published a lot of DSiWare in the past year, mostly as part of a budget line called G. G. Series. These are small arcade-style games with a 200 Point price tag which have caught the attention of many who read our weekly Japanese download news because we just aren't seeing this kind of thing elsewhere for...
Nintendo Download 23rd & 24th February 2010 (Japan)
Another light release week, but a surprise VCA release takes us higher
This year Nintendo seems to be taking a more leisurely release pace than its overseas arms. Whilst this can be disappointing for importers, it certainly seems more fair and we have to think that game publishers will be happy to have less competition than in those massive release...
First Impressions Shashin de Kakutō! Photo Fighter X
Two street fighters and a microphone
No doubt many have seen the latest and greatest fighting game on the Wii and thought "me and my mates could do better than that." Well Nintendo must have read your pixie-stick addled thoughts because they went and released a D.I.Y. fighting game for the DSi last December in Japan called Photo Fighter X...
First Impressions Sakutto Hamareru Hori Hori Action Mr. Driller
Portable Driller action is Go!
Namco's Mr. Driller is certainly one of the greatest arcade puzzle franchises ever, and has even surpassed its arcade heritage on home consoles in the the past decade of its existence. Whilst Drill Land remains the franchise pinnacle, subsequent releases on WiiWare and DS have still been fun entries in the s
Nintendo Download 16th & 17th February 2010 (Japan)
Japanese downloads go on a diet
There's still something being offered in each category next week, but this has to be one of the lightest Japanese download weeks we can remember with only four games on offer across both platforms. WiiWare: Diner Dash (1000pts - Hudson) — Hudson is pretty good about doing worldwide releases close together so you...
Dig Dug II: a new action film from Michael Bay
Tom Create are no strangers to the Nintendo download scene having released a WiiWare "card battle" game and three budget DSiWare games last year. Earth Saver was the last DSiWare game from them in 2009: a puzzle game with a play mechanic very much like Namco's Dig Dug II, but a setting like a...
News Marvelous Entertainment Announces World Game Parade
Western indie games heading for the Land of the Rising Sun
Marvelous Entertainment is launching a new "World Game Parade" label for WiiWare in Japan, bringing over indie games from Western developers which might not otherwise have seen the inside of the Japanese Wii Shop. The release dates haven't been announced yet, but the first four...
First Impressions Chōkon Chicken Do Shindan
Test your "Chicken Bird Soul"
The DS has become massively popular in part due to the number of games on it which claim to test players cleverness in some way. These are typically referred to as "brain training" programs and they've clearly been embraced by a large audience of people that enjoy being tested on math skills and such. This...
Nintendo Download 9th & 10th February 2010 (Japan)
A revamped PC Engine game comes to WiiWare, more Mega Man on the VC and a DSiWare gaming assault next week in Japan!
The Wii only has two downloads next Tuesday, but they're both hotly anticipated releases for strategy and retro fans. DSiWare is where the real download action is though, with no less than seven releases - all of which appear to be...
First Impressions Panel Renketsu 3 Minute Rocket
Pipe Mania plus Apollo Space Progam plus Sky TV?
Whilst Nintendo's Intelligent Systems development team might be better known for the Fire Emblem series, on the download front they seem to be cutting loose with a lightgun shooter on WiiWare and now a puzzle game for the DSi. At first glance it looks like the classic puzzler Pipe Mania, but that's...
First Impressions Space Invaders Extreme Z
Space Invaders Extreme 2 comes to DSiWare
Space Invaders is a video game icon: even people who don't play video games are likely to recognise the bitmap images of the Invaders thanks to Taito's persistence in keeping the brand name alive via product licensing, video game sequels and home console ports. The celebration of the 30th anniversary of...
First Impressions Moyasu Puzzle Flametail
One-third of MaBoShi reborn on DSiWare
If you've played 3-in-1 WiiWare game MaBoShi, then you'll recognise Moyasu Puzzle Flametail as the "Square" game -- you know, the one that wasn't played with a single button press? The gameplay in Flametail is largely the same as MaBoShi's Square, but there have been some graphical enhancements and...
Nintendo Download 2nd & 3rd February 2010 (Japan)
WiiWare catch-up, a couple MSX ports and a sprinkling of DSiWare in Japan next week
The slow start to the year continues to be slow, but at least there's some quality releases to be had. WiiWare: Excitebike World Race (1000pts - Nintendo) – Better late than never for this well received update to the Famicom classic. Virtual Console: Quarth (800pts...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - February 2010
Three big-name titles. And one slightly less big.
Things are pretty bleak on the Virtual Console in Europe at the moment, but that isn't stopping Japan from continuing to bring more awesome downloads to the table. It's pretty easy to guess what game is being released to build up hype for Mega Man 10, and Nintendo will be releasing the Super Famicom...
Nintendo Download 26 & 27 January 2010 (Japan)
More Phoenix Wright, more N64, more DSiWare anime photo frames!
It's still a small update, but after a mini-break WiiWare has returned along with the first new N64 game in nearly a year on the Virtual Console. Not to be left out there are five new releases for Japanese DSiWare -- though only two are games; one being a new puzzler from Nintendo...
Nintendo Download 19 & 20 January 2010 (Japan)
Another light week for Japanese downloads.
Nintendo corporate seems to be imitating the European division when it comes to the Wii in Japan with a second week of VC-only downloads: only one title this week for the little white box. The DSi fares a little better with five new releases, some of which are actually games! Virtual Console: Salad no Kuni...
Nintendo Download 12 & 13 January 2010 (Japan)
WiiWare takes a back seat, more MSX and the usual load of DSiWare.
Well, the WiiWare releases have been sparse recently and next week there will be none. Wii owners will at least get a Virtual Console update; though with a couple of Konami shooters that frankly looked better in other incarnations elsewhere, it will be small comfort. The DSi, on the...
Nintendo Download 5th & 6th January 2010 (Japan)
A quiet start to the new year.
The Japanese Wii and DSi shops have seen some massive updates this past year much to the envy of 'net-reading Wii owners in other territories, but Nintendo are taking it easy at home with a mere handful of releases to start 2010. WiiWare: Boku wa Plarail Untenshi (1000pts - Takara Tomy) -- This is an example of a...
News Ultraman Fights his Way onto the Wii
"Here he comes from the sky!" -- Namco Bandai are planning to release a new Ultraman fighting game on the Wii in 2010.
Ultraman is the silver-suited hero who stars in the television program: Ultra Q: Ultraman: Special Effects Fantasy Series, which was a spin-off of the television series Ultra Q. Due to its initial popularity in Japan the show has...
First Impressions Kentōshi Furi Furi Boxing
No robots, but plenty of rock-em, sock-em action!
You might remember a plastic toy called "Rock'em Sock'em Robots" ("Raving Bonkers Fighting Robots" in the UK) in which two robots were fixed on either side of a platform and pressing buttons caused them to punch each other senseless until one of their heads popped up, only to be...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - January 2010
More strong support in the new year.
Japan received a few high-profile Virtual Console games this month, but Nintendo's continuing their strong support in the east straight into next year - The first month will already bring them more great titles. Hudson finally shows some more NES support, while Quest is releasing the N64 sequel to their fantastic...
Another great old-school shooter for WiiWare
Most of you will probably remember Phalanx as a SNES game, however that was just a port of a game that was developed for the Sharp X68000, a home computer sold exclusively in Japan from 1987-1993. The Sharp X68k (as it was commonly known) used hardware similar to arcade systems of the time; as a result it...
News Square Enix to Publish LIT in Japan
Spooky adventure headed to Japan.
No sooner did news of Square Enix publishing LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias in Japan come out that now we have news of yet another title coming to the Japanese WiiWare service courtesy of the RPG giant. WayForward has just announced that Square Enix will be publishing their LIT WiiWare title in Japan under the...
Nintendo Download 22, 24 December 2009 (Japan)
WiiWare catch-up and more MSX games for the Virtual Console.
The Wii gets the lion's share of Japanese downloads next week with four new WiiWare and three new VC titles. DSiWare gets a couple of games and two more Rurubu travel guides to round things out. Note that the DSiWare releases will be on Thursday the 24th rather than Wednesday due to the...
News Square Enix to Publish LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias in Japan
Impressive British downloadable title keeps the attention of the big guns of Japanese RPGs.
The LostWinds WiiWare games from Frontier have gotten loads of praise around the gaming industry and are two of the strongest selling titles on WiiWare. Noteworthy for containing boatloads of character, great design and compelling play mechanics which take...
Nintendo Download 15-16 December 2009 (Japan)
The focus is on DSiWare this week
After bumper crops of WiiWare and Virtual Console titles on the Wii in Japan recently, this week will only see one for each service. The DSiWare service, however, will have a fairly typical seven releases to choose from. WiiWare: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (900pts - Capcom) - Everyone's favourite trial lawyer...
Nintendo Download 8-9 December 2009 (Japan)
Virtual Console and DSiWare hog the spotlight
A second week in a row with a solo WiiWare entry, but a bumper crop of Virtual Console goodness and a hefty helping of DSiWare downloads help make up for it. WiiWareChokkan! Balance Labyrinth (500pts - Gameloft) - Not a new title from Gameloft, but just them publishing Digital Leisure's The Incredible...
First Impressions 530 Eco-Shooter
Recycling - with a vengeance!
Intelligent Systems has a reputation of being one of Nintendo's better first-party development teams, with an impressive resume including the Fire Emblem games, Tetris Attack, the Paper Mario series, the WarioWare games and Super Metroid. Seeing a WiiWare title from them naturally raised our curiosity, and that...
Nintendo Download 1-2 December 2009 (Japan)
A light download selection next week after this week's mega releases.
This week's update was full to bursting, so it's just as well that next week is a little on the light side with only a few downloads for both Wii and DSi. WiiWare: Ponjan (1000pts - Tomy) -- The Wii counterpart to the DSiWare release of the kiddy version of mahjong (real mahjong...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - December 2009
Finishing off the year with some more big-name titles.
Nintendo of Japan just never seems to stop being awesome - They've got another eight VC games planned for release in December, with the large likelihood of Namco Bandai also having some yet to be announced titles in store. Part of the lineup are another Japan-exclusive, Nintendo-developed NES...
Nintendo Download 24-25 November 2009 (Japan)
WiiWare is back and the MSX returns with a vengeance, plus DSiWare and more Namco Arcade games!
Japan gets a lot of downloads ordinarily, but next week must be setting some kind of record - and there's not even a public holiday to account for it! WiiWareOkiraku Kart Wii (500pts - Arc System Works) - You cannot keep the Family down, especially if...
News Phoenix Wright Series Coming To WiiWare
Courtroom drama will adopt an episodic format
The latest issue of Japanese magazine Famitsu has confirmed that Capcom's cult legal video gaming series Phoenix Wright is coming to Nintendo's WiiWare service, with the first instalment hitting the Japanese Wii Store next month. The series, which is known in Japan as "Gyakuten Saiban", has...
Nintendo Download 17-18 November 2009 (Japan)
More Namco arcade games and DSiWare next week.
Another WiiWare holiday and only two Virtual Console releases - both Namco arcade games. Hardly seems possible given the number of announced Virtual Console titles for November yet to be released, unless the 24th is going to break all previous records! Virtual Console Bosconian (800pts Arcade - Namco)...
Nintendo Download 10-11 November 2009 (Japan)
WiiWare takes a holiday, but that's okay because we've got Arcade action and DSiWare!
Well, after this week's Japanese holiday, it looks like we're back to Wii downloads on Tuesdays and DSiWare on Wednesdays for next week. No WiiWare is coming, but that's probably okay after the bumper crop of titles released in October! Virtual ConsoleStreet...
Nintendo Download 04 November 2009 (Japan)
Japan converges the dates and a long lost Virtual Console system returns from the dead!
Owing to a holiday on Tuesday Nintendo are releasing downloads for both Wii and DSi on Wednesday. Only one WiiWare release and two VC releases appear for the Wii, though Virtual Console fans will be excited to see the first NEO GEO game in ages. 4 DSiWare...
News Japanese Virtual Console list - November 2009
The Neo Geo and MSX make their triumphant return to Virtual Console!
Nintendo, Hudson and even Namco all seem to be taking a bit of a step back this month - Not too surprising when there's 2 new Neo Geo and 5 new MSX games after over a year of nothing! And it's not just small titles either - Nintendo's releasing another Fire Emblem, D4 Enterprise is...
First Impressions Shadow Walker (Japan)
Unconventional puzzling for the kiddies.
This game kind of came out of nowhere, but there does seem to be few WiiWare games concerning shadows on the horizon: Nicalis' Night Game and Hudson's Tower of Shadow being the ones that spring immediately to mind. Shadow Walker's story isn't completely clear seeing as it's relayed storybook-style with a lot...
First Impressions Bit.Trip VOID
Could the third time be yet another charm?
Gaijin Games has really earned a place in many a retro-gaming fan's heart with their old, old-school Bit.Trip series on WiiWare. It's one of the shining examples of how good download games can really be: updated Atari 8-bit graphics with jazzed-up special effects and a soundtrack that's enhanced by the...
First Impressions Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth
Worth getting your teeth into?
The Castlevania series of action platformers is widely regarded as containing some of the best games on the Famicom, and indeed home consoles full-stop, with top-notch instalments on Super Famicom, PC Engine, Playstation and handheld platforms to name a few. Needless to say the news that the first GameBoy game was...
Nintendo Download 27-28 October 2009 (Japan)
WiiWare is back with a vengeance and Japan gets its teeth into Castlevania: Rebirth
After a hiatus Japanese download services are back in top form with 4 new WiiWare releases, 4 new VC releases and (only) 3 DSiWare titles - not too shabby! WiiWareSimple Series Vol. 5: The Judo (700pts - D3Publisher) -- A first-person judo game featuring local...
Nintendo Download 20-21 October 2009 (Japan)
WiiWare returns, Dig Dug and more Tower DS!
After a two-week hiatus WiiWare returns, though given we're getting a card game, it's a bit anti-climactic. WiiWareUNO (800pts - Gameloft) -- Gameloft again honours Japan with the first look at a WiiWare title (their last entry, Ghost Mansion Party still hasn't seen release in other territories). Online...
News First Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth Screens Appear
Latest issue of Famitsu provides a closer look at the highly-anticipated dose of retro goodness.
Japanese gaming publication Famitsu has provided the world with a first look at Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth. The screens show the typical Gothic look we've come to love and expect from Konami's vintage series. The game appears to follow the...
Nintendo Download 13-14 October 2009 (Japan)
WiiWare keeps on resting with VC and DSiWare action for Japanese downloaders next week.
Incredibly it appears we're having a second consecutive week with no WiiWare releases in Japan, but with three more VC titles (including a much-loved Kirby release) and five DSiWare releases, it's hard to complain. Virtual ConsoleKirby Super Deluxe (800pts Super...
