gosokkyu

エンド

  • 戦う人間発電所

owatte shimatta


Released via Vol.6 of the book-type iteration of DiscStation98, Imohori is essentially a digital adaptation of the Page One variant of the card game Millionaire/Trump, and was derived directly from a programming exercise assigned to rookie hires. Neither the game itself nor any of the extremely original player-characters have anything to do with Madou, but because they slapped a bunch of Madou characters on the playing cards, the game's trapped in Madou-Puyo IP limbo and hasn't been reissued outside of Madou-specific initiatives.

There's not much to it, not does it offer any real narrative or character content beyond basic win quotes, but there's a rule variant that makes the Draco card OP, so ya gotta respect it.



dog
@dog

As far as the ESA and its members are concerned, video games are just products and their availability is a product decision. There's a reason they release remasters, remakes, and even totally unrelated games with identical titles: they want to replace older products that don't match their current branding and product strategies. They want players playing the new thing that aligns with their marketing priorities. They don't care what it does for games studies, and if anything they'd rather that even people studying games get forced into only paying attention to whatever their current strategy is.



gosokkyu
@gosokkyu

Puyo Puyo series producer Mizuki Hosoyamada and director Harumasa Nakajima spoke to 4gamer about Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop, the new game released exclusively for Apple Arcade—it's not an especially deep interview but there are a couple points worth noting, so lemme run it down:


gosokkyu
@gosokkyu

This article, which includes brief comments from the producer, mostly touches on a lot of the same stuff about overseas expansion, but with the specific angle that Sega credits Apple Arcade as a significant factor in growing the Sonic IP post-movie, and so they're trying to use it to boost Puyo Puyo in the same way... with an addendum from the author that it doesn't seem to be working right now, and that they're going to have to think longer-term if they want to grow the brand without measures like a big movie.

(They also confirm what most had assumed about the subtitle, Puzzle Pop: basically, that the title "Puyo Puyo" isn't especially evocative or communicative to overseas players, and they thought they needed to tack something onto the title in order to help solidify the basic image of the game.)

I'm indifferent to the whole character/story/lore aspect of these games, especially post-Compile, but I know these elements do have a not-insignificant fandom and that Sega IA's missing a trick by not catering to them in more ways—like, sure, they're not going to make a movie or even an anime any time soon, and I get that doing anything at all with a JP-centralised IP is probably easier said than done, but at least let em do webcomics or a throwaway animation they can dump on Youtube or whatever.

They are hosting a "Puyo Rave" livestream in a day or two, so I guess that's somethin', but I don't know if they necessarily want to shine any light on Puzzle Pop's online environment at this particular point in time.



gosokkyu
@gosokkyu

I've never seen nor heard anything about the Toonami anime Ninja Kamui since it was announced, but I've been keeping an eye out for the game adaptation for a minute, for one reason: it's being developed by G.rev, the studio behind the likes of Senko no Ronde, Under Defeat, Border Down and many other arcade-style games, almost all of which have been some variety of STG. (They most recently developed the STG portions of the ADV/STG hybrid Yurukill.)

The initial announcement didn't give anything away in terms of genre or format, so my presumption was that it'd be some sort of Senkoro reskin—their studio's been on the ropes for a minute and their last few works have been heavily derivative of existing games, and they don't have much else to scavenge from that'd make sense for any sort of humanoid character game—but based on what little info's available on these just-published eShop listings, it looks like they're making a conventional side-scrolling action game with some nebulous amount of first-person gimmickry. I don't doubt their ability to make an interesting side-scroller, and the mention of online leaderboards makes me hopeful that they're trying to maintain an arcade-esque focus and haven't been browbeaten into gormless metroidvania territory, but I gotta say, seeing the studio responsible for all the prettiest polygonal STG (not a high bar, mind) reduced to a game that looks the way this one does is kinda deflating.

If you're wondering why some random genre-specialist Japanese studio is even working on an American cartoon game, you can probably chalk that up to the expat JP publisher, Rainmaker Productions: their previous project was the M2-developed Assault Suits Valken reissue/retranslation, and I'm guessing one of the dorks at the publisher simply wanted to throw G.rev a bone.



gosokkyu
@gosokkyu

G.rev gave a little extra info, too:

  • their overall direction for the game was "''00s-era arcade ninja action game", and their chosen genre designation is "2D-style side-scrolling shageki ACT"—they point out that the nuance behind using "shageki" (which translates to "marksmanship") rather than "shooting" should become clear to anyone who plays the game

  • the BGM's by Keishi Yonao, who last worked with G.rev on Strania and whose other works include Mad Stalker and the Asuka 120% series

also worth noting: the show hasn't aired in Japan, so the license is going to have virtually no pull over there...


the-doomed-posts-of-muteKi
@the-doomed-posts-of-muteKi

It's a 2D sidescroller, with a bit of a Rolling Thunder vibe

ROLLING THUNDER???

THAT'S your go-to reference????????

BRUH


gosokkyu
@gosokkyu

that and "looks like it could be pretty fun for Kamui fans" which is the exact sort of non-statement you'd expect from someone who played it for two minutes at a trade show and wasn't being paid enough to formulate a real opinion