Welcome to the second issue of The Obscurer Tribune, where the only thing lower than the price of admission is the number of actual readers.

First on tap today is the recent release of ADK Tamashi for the PS2, a collection of five (mostly ninja-themed) ADK arcade titles from the 90’s – beat-em-up Ninja Combat, overhead action game Ninja Commando, tourney fighters Ninja Master’s and Aggressors of Dark Kombat, and puzzle/shooter Twinkle Star Sprites. The only title of the bunch that I’m personally familiar with is the last one (which is pretty awesome, especially if you have someone to play against), but I figure that fans of some of these rather obscure games might be interested in importing – though I already own TSS on the Saturn, I might spring for it if the price goes down, especially considering that it (along with a bunch of the other PS2 SNK/NeoGeo compilations) are never coming here. Site is here, thanks to Gamengai for the tip-off.

While I’m at it, King of Fighters 2002 Ultimate Match is scheduled for a February 26 release in Japan (we’ll hopefully be getting Ultimate Match ‘98 here in the US shortly before that), while the much-awaited KoF XII is set to hit Nippon’s shelves in April. Hopefully between then and the US release we’ll get word of some secret characters…

In Atlus news…well, the DT front page (specifically Ms. Colette) has already beaten me to mentioning the recently-announced Hammerin’ Hero and The Dark Tower, and I don’t have any more info than they do, so I’ll just redirect you there. I am currently looking into an Atlus issue that I plan on (hopefully) exclusively reporting on soon, though – keep your eyes on this space in the meantime (yeah right). I do already know, however, that if you’re still Persona 4-less, you might want to pick up a copy at GameCrazy if there’s one near you – apparently they’re including the “Visual Data” artbook that was previously pre-order only with all sold copies of the game while supplies last, so call the store and see if they have any left.

In terms of obligatory shooter news, Triangle Service’s compilation Shooting Love 200X is going to be out February 19th, though there’s still no date for Triggerheart Exelica Enhanced or any of the Cave 360 titles. Similarly, doujin Dreamcast side-scroller DUX has been moved back to “early 2009” after being slated for this month. Off to the side, no reports yet of a home port of G. Rev’s recent arcade shooter Mamoru-kun is Cursed!

Finally, Fate – Unlimited Codes, which I mentioned in a previous post, is out, and early impressions are pretty good – has anyone here played it, and is furthermore willing to give the rest of us some firsthand experiences? I’m very tempted to spring for this (though I’ll probably pass on the SP Box, but I just don’t know enough about it…if nothing else, it might make my sad lack of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom easier to bear.

‘Til next time, loyal (and likely lost and/or bored) readers.