SaGa_K

@rjejr How is it a "shameless rip-off" and how many such "rip-offs" surpass their predecessor? If solely for the fact it's a monster-battling game, then Pokemon is a "shameless rip-off" of the Megami Tensei series, which had players recruiting and battling with teams of various monsters and demons prior to the Pokemon franchise. Or the Dragon Quest series, which also had a catch-and-battle system well before Pokemon came to be.

I guess you're not familiar with Japanese culture. Yokai have been a part of Japanese culture for centuries, and it's these unique mythological ghosts and monsters from which the Pokemon franchise drew inspiration. But while Pokemon only nods toward yokai, Yokai Watch fully embraces them, uniting the Yokai Watch franchise to a timeless facet of their culture. You can show a 90-year-old Japanese man the Yokai Watch monsters and he's likely to recognize many of them without ever having heard of the game or show. Show the same old man some Pokemon and he'll likely only be able to identify Pikachu.

Yokai Watch not only capitalizes on Japan's love of collecting and turn-based RPGs, but also taps into a previously underutilized source recognized by everyone from a little kid to a great grandpa.

But this same aspect that resonates strongly in Japan falls flat in the West, due to lack of any cultural links. It might achieve moderate success, but won't blow Pokemon out of the water like it does in Japan. Broadcasting the show on Disney XD isn't gonna do them any favors either. That channel isn't available to a lot of people so they're excluding a substantial amount of potential viewers.

@Spoony_Tech If you wear pants that're actually in style this decade, it's physically impossible to fit an XL in those pockets. That's the case for a large number of 3DS players, who're teens. Even a standard 3DS is a really tight squeeze.
Myself, I've got some pretty outdated jeans with giant pockets, and my XL only barely fits in there. When I take it out I have to be extremely careful or the cartridge will eject on the way out (that's why Japan has those cartridge slot guards).
If I wear any of my more fashionable pants I have to also wear a coat or bring something extra to carry my XL. So yeah. The size of the XL sometimes dictates what clothes/accessories I'll wear for the day.
So I totally get what ravens326 is on about. He probably wears contemporary fashion so he doesn't have bucket-sized pockets.

I didn't expect it so soon, anyway. The Steam Powered Giraffe collaboration was only announced in November. At that time the soundtrack was only just beginning to be produced by SPG, while the band is still touring and working on their 4th album release this year. A half year wouldn't have been enough time for the whole soundtrack.
I&F most likely knew they wouldn't be making their Spring 15 window or they wouldn't have brought in SPG so late in the development cycle. Also we would've seen way more screenshots and heard a lot more about gameplay by now if it had been on schedule for Spring.
So yeah, not surprised. Can't wait till it comes out, but I'm sure the extended wait will yield a crapton of features that we wouldn't have gotten if it came out in Spring.

Hmm, what should I do, spend upwards of $250 to import a Japanese 3DS and ONE game, or $70 for a flash card that lets me play from any region? I don't have money to burn, so of course I would choose a flash card if I wanted to play Japanese games.
Nintendo needs to wake up and do away with their draconian region-locking nonsense.

"And now we have clear differentiation between those three systems."
This is the dumbest excuse EVER. How is the New 3DS XL more differentiated from the 3DS XL in comparison to the standard New 3DS?
The New 3DS XL has extra buttons. That's all the uninformed consumer would notice that differentiates the New XL from the old ones when they see the new ones on store shelves for the first time. The standard New 3DS is WAY more unique than ANY previous model due to the face plates. No other 3DS model has anything remotely similar to that feature.
This guy is shoveling out BS by the truckload.

@Samuel-Flutter
It's still not possible to transfer gen 1/2 to 3. This guy just thought up a complicated and unnecessary way to trade among gen 1 games. :/

Yeah this looks seriously awesome. I hope it turns out as planned.

If you've never had this problem then you probably don't carry your 3DS in your pocket much. I've had this happen a few times when taking my 3DS out of my pocket. I'd like one of these so I know for certain it'll never happen again.

Another American here that wants the standard N3DS. I really can't justify buying another 3DS unless it comes with lot of new features, and the kisekae plates are a real must-have for me.

Forget these themes, there's already loads of even better themes that have been available in Japan for months that we're apparently NEVER getting.

I assume when he references Micro Machines he's talking about the game on NES? That game was epic for its time. Hell, it's still an amazing game today. Those overhead shots of The Next Penelope definitely remind me of the Micro Machines game.

@Mus1cLov3r "JUMP collaborations? As in.... anime?!"
Yes.

Anyone else notice how much of the in-game footage was from a heavily hacked game? All shiny and level 100. Could've at least turned the shiny code off.

Where's our Slowpoke theme and all the other ones ONLY Japan got? That's really screwed up, Nintendo.

@Prof_Clayton Definitely. They've yet to show a trailer with actual gameplay footage.
That plus how little in-game screenshots there are, and their relative silence about gameplay, are not good signs about the game's quality. The severe lack of info on gameplay, with just weeks until its release, suggests there's not much going on beyond the game's concept.

Well, then... Steam Powered Giraffe just got a new fan.

WTF at that banner! You guys just ripped some fanart off Google images that's full of characters that aren't even the game.
http://i.imgur.com/bbGgJgd.jpg
Really, guys? I thought Nintendolife was legit.
And here I got all excited thinking Maya and Tatsuya are in the game, only to find out that Nintendolife ripped off the banner from some Reddit user.

Are the Kawaii themes supposed to be playing one of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's songs? I don't recognize it as any of her songs, not even the one she did for the New 3DS commercials.

Is there anything to do post-game? I really want a game like this, but I'd like there to be something to do when I've finished all the levels like a free/random mode or whatever.

@darthllama Not if you're buying both OR and AS and preordered them. Toys R Us is also giving free Mega Charizard plushes ($23 value) to people that preordered both.

Toys R Us CLEARLY won the preorder game with ORAS. We already preordered there for the free large plush, but now my wife's copy of the game will only be $24 instead of $40. It's like Toys R Us is just stuffing money in our pockets. If we had kept our preorders at Gamestop we'd have paid $80 plus tax and all they would've given us as a bonus was yet another poster.

I'd be more inclined to believe this if Vita had more than 2 games worth playing.

@Arm Hell yes!

Problem: Japan already got Krile DLC and SE has said they're not releasing her overseas. So our chances of getting Bravely Default DLC outside of Japan are somewhat in jeopardy since for some reason SE hates making money off us. There's no logical reason not to localize the Krile DLC, the cost is infinitesimal so they only stand to profit even if the number of purchasers is very small.

Also, in the last batch of DLC for NA, they stated it was the "last" DLC batch for the region. This is not healthy. SE has been taking the "JP only" route for a while now for too many things and it makes absolutely no sense. This is why their profits are suffering so much.

This sounds awesome; even though I don't get to travel I still meet people from around the world whenever I'm in a major US city. I carry my 3DS all the time so adding this app could potentially be a life-saver.

@TheWPCTraveler It's not, it's designed to resemble one. Kinda like Black Sigil on DS. Pier Solar was actually made for Sega CD... but in 2010.

I'm disappointed this game isn't coming to 3DS. It's coming out on practically everything BUT 3DS.

"In Arcade mode you initially play as Momotaro, a chap with questionable fashion choices, no backstory, and a personality comparable to wallpaper paste."

That sounds a bit culturally ignorant.

This game was made for Japan. They're as familiar with the story of Momotaro over there as we are with "The Wizard of Oz" or "Alice in Wonderland," so no backstory is necessary from their perspective.

It's probably their most famous fairy tale, and Momotaro is definitely their most recognizable fairy tale hero. All he needs is his name, a topknot hairdo, and something peach-related and they're like, "Yep, that's him." They already know he was born from a peach, has animals for friends, and fights an army of oni.

Edit: Actually I was wrong on one thing. Akaoni Studio is actually a Spanish studio that publishes in Japan. No surprise they're popular there given the high focus on Japanese-themed content in their games (btw their name is Japanese for Red Ogre).

I'd be interested if there's still something to do when you're done with all the levels. Like a random mode similar to what Dairojo! has.

This is exactly why I won't be buying Persona Q for $50 when it comes out. If I wait a couple months it'll be $20 on eShop.

@crimsontadpoles It'd be a good idea to play any version of Persona 3 and 4 first before you get this. Gameplay-wise, Persona Q doesn't have anything in common with them. But story-wise, you'll be missing out on a lot since most of these characters were thoroughly developed in their source games, but won't be fleshed out much here.

This is kind of a fanservice game in that regard. It's a crossover between 3 and 4 which brings all of those characters together, and that's a large source of its appeal. So without that familiarity with the characters, this is pretty much just an Etrian Odyssey game in a paranormal modern setting.

@SanderEvers I was thinking the same thing, you're most likely right. It's clear now they intend to release a Z version. When that happens, XY will officially be obsolete.

@SMEXIZELDAMAN You must not be very familiar with Japanese culture. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu is a leading icon of Harajuku fashion. Harajuku is the center of all that is hip, trendy, and fashionable in Japan. Nintendo was wise to capitalize on the following she has, since anything she designs or gives her stamp of approval is sure to sell like hotcakes. Even overseas, there's already an audience clamoring for her work.

Wait, did Kyary Pamyu-Pamyu actually design the Kawaii line of faceplates? If so that's freakin' awesome as hell. (All of my yes. All of it.)

@PHDragoon No, that store is violating corporate policy. You should complain to a corporate office in Canada. The codes are provided for FREE as part of an agreement between Nintendo and EBGames/Gamestop, and you are NOT required to purchase or pre-order anything to get them.

They're allowed to ask you to pre-order ORAS, which is the entire reason Nintendo holds these events at Gamestop/EB, but forcing you to pre-order to get something they're supposed to give out for free is a violation of their agreement with Nintendo. You can also complain to Nintendo and report the store in violation.

I'm usually awake when this show's on, so I can offer some sort of explanation as to why the Tenkai Knights have to be controlled by these kids.

Apparently the Tenkai Knights vanished after the last time they beat the Big Bad--a slightly scarier-looking robot called Vilius (his name sounds kinda evil, and he has a red/black color scheme, so you know he's evil).

After that the crappy redshirt robots held down the fort, thinking they'd won everlasting peace or whatever, but then the Big Bad spontaneously appeared again. And conveniently, this was around the same time these kids stumbled into a strange old man's antique shop and for whatever reason followed him into the back room where he showed them a new world. Interpret that sentence as you like.

So these kids became the new Tenkai Knights, replacing the ones that vanished. It seems implied that the Tenkai Knights always have been, and always will be, avatars controlled by tween kids. The stranger-danger old man was probably also a Tenkai Knight at some point or other. It's not clarified much on the show from what I've seen, so either they're holding back the info till later, or they expect the audience to figure it out on their own.

It's kinda like Power Rangers and other franchises, where they just have heroes in color-coded suits inhabited by teens who're easily replaced since there are always impressionable kids willing to fight evil robots. But unlike Power Rangers or Voltron or whatever, the Tenkai Knights aren't fighting to save Earth. They're doing it to save some planet full of robots they suddenly care a LOT about when they find out it exists.

The whole point is just to sell toys. Hey kids, YOU can be a legendary Tenkai Knight and save the world! For $9.99 a pop.

@AyeHaley Chopper from the anime One Piece also has a MH4 skin.

I really want to be optimistic about this one, but Collavier Corporation doesn't have a stellar track record at this point.

@Dipper723
"It's a Square Enix game on a Nintendo console, they never come to the west uless Nintendo themselves localizes it"
Uh, wut? This is the wrongest statement ever. Square-Enix chooses whether or not to localize, not Nintendo. It's on them to bring it to the west.

On 3DS Square-Enix has given us Theatrhythm, Kingdom Hearts DDD, Heroes of Ruin, Bravely Default, Theatrhythm: CC, and we're getting Bravely Second. So far we just missed out on Dragon Quest. Not to mention the scores of games they localized on DS.

We're getting this. The only game with Final Fantasy in the title that we didn't get (in recent history) was Type 0, and they're releasing that over here now, too.

"Turtles, Sagas, Painting and MIGHTY FINAL FIGHT!"
I was severely disappointed to discover the aforementioned turtles were not the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle games on NES.

@Genesaur Parents are highly likely to be fooled if they do read this, though. Those shopping at Sears for video games, especially.

I used to work in retail, selling games, and a surprising amount of the parents I helped were extremely ignorant about how anything worked. Many will read this description to learn what the 3DS does, since they have no clue. They'd believe every word of it, and later complain when they can't figure out how to run the 3DS's GPS or get it to play all their old Wii games.

I suppose that goes for anybody who's technologically ignorant. They have such a vague understanding that it's practically magical to them. They trust companies to provide accurate info, since they can't unravel those mysteries on their own.

Uh... you guys do realize that Chopper from One Piece is in MH4, right?
Nintendo characters should be the least of your worries.