Welcome back to The Obscurer Tribune, where everything is “below the fold.”

This issue you’ll notice that I’ve tweaked the layout a little further – I’ve split the previous “Others” section into “Role-Playing-ish” (since I tend to cover a lot of RPG, Strategy, and other sorts of “squishy anime sprite” kinds of games) and “Miscellaneous,” to minimize one part of each issue stretching out TOO long without a banner image to break it up a little. Hopefully this will improve the reading experience, if only minimally.

Now that I’ve ensured that your head won’t explode in utter confusion and disbelief at the aforementioned formatting shuffle (you’re welcome, btw), on to the news items -

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First and foremost, Gamestop has opened up preorders for Raiden IV. Moreover, it looks like there’s a bit of a trade-off at work here – while Raiden Fighters Aces only retailed for 20 bucks, it didn’t include the replay DVD that came with the Japanese release. Raiden IV, on the other hand, retails for 40 dollars, but preorderers receive a soundtrack (which came with the Japanese original) as well as a PDF artbook – not a bad deal at all. I’ll certainly be reserving myself a copy.

Recently the freeware shooter Genetos was highlighted by a fellow c-blogger – in case you hadn’t heard of it, the game’s stages are based upon different “eras” of shooting games, i.e. the first level plays like Space Invaders, the second closer to Galaga, then things get more similar to Star Soldier, and so on. Currently the game is still a work in progress - as luck would have it, though, the creator just announced that the finished version is on its way, and put up a trailer here. Shmup fans, keep an eye on this one!

Unfortunately we never got the excellent Fantasy Zone Complete Collection here in the West, but at least Fantasy Zone II is among the newest batch of Virtual Console titles out. If you’ve never played Fantasy Zone before, think Defender with a weapon shop and “cute-em-up” visual stylings – HG101 has a nice series summary for your perusal.

Not a “pure” shooter, but close enough – fans of Astro Boy: The Omega Factor on GBA ought to be interested in this preview of the upcoming Wii Astro Boy game, which looks to play somewhere along the same lines. And yeah, the Butt Guns are apparently still in there, so you can save yourselves that question.

This one’s more of a (slightly) interactive commentary on the business practices of modern gaming than an actual shooter, but if you’ve got a half-hour or so to spare you still might want to check out Upgrade Complete.

In a bit of only marginally-related but highly surreal news, apparently someone’s picked up the rights to the ye old Asteroids license…and want to make a movie out of it. All that’s needed to complete this cycle is somehow getting Bruce Willis involved… (DToid coverage here.)




Thanks to Chuchoyei for drawing my attention to this in the comments from last issue – while you probably already know that the upcoming downloadable release of Marvel vs Capcom 2 is coming a bit later than expected, if you don’t already own one of the hard-copy versions you should be able to snag King of Fighters ’98 Ultimate Match on XBLA. (DToid coverage here) – also, in case you missed it, my thoughts on the PS2 version are here). Unfortunately, as has been noted both elsewhere and locally, SNK didn’t even bother to do a full text translation (though the game itself apparently plays okay), so caveat emptor.

A lot of you have probably already seen DToid’s mention of BlazBlue’s DLC on the front page – as our site’s poet laureate would have it, said content “sucks crocodile nuts.” Thoroughly unpleasant mental imagery notwithstanding, it is kind of hard to disagree with the overall sentiment – at the same time, I’m also somewhat relieved that you’re not required to download anything for “the full experience” (i.e. characters that can only be bought…I’m still predicting that KoF XII will do this with Mai Shiranui) and for anyone willing to put some time into the game the DLC can be pretty much completely ignored. That said, do you think anyone who’d buy BlazBlue in the first place (or heck, even knows the game exists) would be the type to take advantage of this sort of thing, or would they avoid it, if only out of fear that their friends would draw and quarter him if they ever found out?

You might have already heard that Capcom (along with everyone else) is at Anime Expo (booth 437/439), and that it’s carting along Tatsunoko vs Capcom with it – in case you can’t make it, though (and even if you can), there are a few screenshots to savor in here.

Fans of Arcana Heart ought to be particularly interested in Vanguard Princess, a freeware all-female fighting game apparently by a former Capcom developer – I can’t figure out too much from the clip off the cuff, but it does look like you’re able to call in a partner from the background to help you out. I’m sure that most of you (like me) are currently busy with BlazBlue, but if anyone decides to give this one a try, let me/us know how it is! Provided you can figure out all the Japanese and such.

I thought that this had to be a joke when I first glimpsed it on the front page, but apparently, for whatever reason, someone’s putting out an arcade fighting game using digitized actors (a la the old Mortal Kombat games, and even more notably their even lousier ripoffs), and they’re calling it Dark Presence. Supposedly there are a whole lot of animations and such going into this thing, but either way I really hope the developers know how to play up the cheese factor…and honestly, I’m still not 100 percent convinced that this is a real project, especially since the site claims that a sequel is already in the works. Guess we’ll have to wait and see…

Finally, while this isn’t really fighting game news, per se, if nothing else it (possibly) goes to show that the ol’ 2D fighter is indeed making a comeback, not only in terms of actual titles released, but within the public consciousness. Definitely gives new meaning to the phrase “shop till you drop” (booo, hisss). (DToid coverage here.) On that note, anyone seen the New York Daily News’ cover lately?




I’m a little late on this item, since I got wind of this JUST after posting the previous Tribune, but anyway, NISA’s RosenQueen store has put Phantom Brave: We Meet Again up for preorder, and moreover is including a 10-track music CD with the first 500 copies sold there (again, sorry I’m late with this, hopefully there are a few copies left for anyone interested).

More slightly unspecific release dates ahoy – Infinite Space for the DS has been slated for Spring 2010, so at least we’ve got something resembling a timeframe for this one. I’m personally more eager for Sands of Destruction off the cuff, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised before, so I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled. (DToid coverage, and a movie, here.)

At this link you can find a bit more info and some screenshots for The Last Rebellion, which is now being announced as ready for Japanese release before the end of the year – still no word on when a localized version might be set to go.

I mentioned last issue that NIS would be appearing at Anime Expo, but since then I’ve learned that they’ll be hosting a discussion panel on the last day, July 5th, in room LP3 from 2 to 2:50 in the afternoon. RosenQueen’s news letter also included previews of a few new bits of merchandise, including Prinny fans and a trading card game, though you can pre-order this Pram figure right now.

Moreover, Atlus has also released some information regarding their own appearance at Anime Expo – the main offering on hand is Demon’s Souls, which will be discussed in a panel on the 4th at 4PM, at location LB2 (no idea what it means, hopefully you do). The game’s director will be video-interviewed, and the producer will not only be present, but you’ll have a chance to win a framed art print with his signature on it. If you miss out on that, he’ll be back at Atlus’s booth (#1001) the next day to sign posters from 11 AM until supplies run out. Hopefully a few of you will make it, as I’m eager to hear all about it! (DToid coverage here.)

The pachinko machines continue their march to take over the world (or at least Japan) – their latest conquest strikes me particularly hard, as they’ve just released a machine based on one of my favorite games, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. Et tu, Hitoshura? The saddest part of it all is that, since this thing still technically has something to do with Nocturne, I can’t hate it. Much. (DToid coverage here.)




Unless my reading of the main idea here is WAY off (which it may well be), it looks like Europe will also be getting Fragile on the Wii early next year, courtesy of Namco Bandai. A quick bit of Babelfishing confirms that the title will “unload well”, which I assume is close enough to meaning “release” – most any other potential interpretation is a bit disturbing. Hopefully some confirmation in English is on the- oh, that’s convenient. Dtoid mentions it here, so it looks like it’s a done deal. Europeans, rejoice! Also, wherever you’re from, click here for a write-up on the game’s exploration aspects.

There were rumblings a short while back that US buyers who preorder Muramasa: The Demon Blade might be getting the lovely wall-scroll that Japanese consumers are currently hugging close to themselves – guess what, it’s official! Looks like somebody’s after Atlus for the “spoils” crown, and the ensuing battle can only be good for me…er, Us, The Gamers, as a united, totally-not-blindly-self-interested community. Yeah, that’s it. Also, there are rumors about that Muramasa and some of Marvelous’ other Wii-exclusive games might not be exclusives for long – hopefully more exposure is indeed on the way. (DToid coverage here.)

If you’re looking for a little more preliminary info on Trauma Team, an interview with Atlus on the subject is found here. A handful of interesting bits scattered therein, give it a read.

I’ve been hoping in vain for a localization announcement for Magic/Monopoly hybrid Culdcept DS, but so far have been (predictably) disappointed – it would seem, however, that some fellow fans have got my back, and are working on a translation of the game. Things look to be at something of a standstill at present, unfortunately, but it’s still better than nothing…I still grumble that Culdcept Saga on the 360 didn’t sell as well as it should have, though.

If you’ve been waiting for some semi-concrete release info on indie puzzle/platformer Fez, wait no longer – the game will be releasing on XBLA, and will be ready, hopefully, sometime early next year. Little has appeared so far that’s threatened to compete with Braid when it comes to platformer-ish gameplay on Live Arcade – hopefully this’ll result in some legitimate competition on that front. (DToid coverage here.

This could have appeared under either the “fighters” or “shooters” section, but I decided to just stick it here – one of the PSP Capcom Classics collections is coming to PSN soon, including a handful of, well, fighters and shooters, among other things. Apparently Power Stone and Street Fighter Alpha 3 are on the way too…now what about a d-pad you can actually play them on (yeah, I’m still harping about that)?

Another bit of good news for fighter/shooter fans, at least those in the UK – Insert Coin ‘09 is happening later this month, at the Northampton Saints Conference Center. Any of our cross-Atlantic friends planning on attending?

Mario’s certainly not obscure, but I still want to share some preview footage of homebrew effort Super Mario Omega, which looks to play like the later 2D platformers (most notably my personal favorite, Super Mario World), but also uses set pieces from a whole bunch of other series to make things a bit more interesting. Elsewhere in the c-blogs, a fellow DToider also happened to mention Mario Adventure, another Mario homebrew worth checking out.

Time for the requisite online silliness – while it’s perhaps a bit too “hammer over the head” in style, I was still amused by this.

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Is it just me, or is the so-called “mini mix” getting gradually longer? It really is a freakin’ disease on my part…in any case, that’s all for this issue, so thanks for reading and keep gaming obscurely.