Interview: Brian Gray on localizing Gotta Protectors

Brian Gray is a veteran of the localization industry, working on big franchises such as Kingdom Hearts and Fire Emblem, cult favorites like The World Ends with You and Jeanne d’Arc and recent releases like Xenoblade Chronicles X and Azure Striker Gunvolt. We talked with him about his latest project: Gotta Protectors, a 3DS eShop release from composer Yuzo Koshiro’s studio, Ancient.

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Interview: Date A Live’s localization involved keeping the anime adaptation in mind

It is a good time for visual novel fans. Titles that previously remained exclusive to Japan have been venturing outside of the borders. This means older games that are quite notable and well-received are getting a new shot at a wider audience through ports and remakes. Date A Live is one such series. People worldwide will get to know more about Spirits with Date A Live Rio Reincarnation, thanks to Idea Factory International.

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Interview: Kadokawa’s Yuki Watanabe on building RPG Maker MV for consoles

The console editions of RPG Maker MV are headed Westward in February 2019, but they’re making their Japanese debut this week! We asked Yuki Watanabe, a Kadokawa veteran and the director of this console release, about what we should expect from this new version of the game.

Michibiku: What is the driving force behind the development of RPG Maker MV? What are you trying to deliver to players that previous games haven’t done, or haven’t done as well as you’d like?
Yuki Watanabe, Director, RPG Maker MV: This is actually the first time we have ported a PC version to console. Usually, the console version is different, because we have to pay attention to memory and things like that, but this time, we could bring nearly the full PC experience to everyone.

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Interview: Making Super Neptunia RPG with Artisan Studios’ Mario Rizzo

It’s rare to see a game collaboration between teams in Japan and the West, but it does occasionally happen! We got to pose some questions to Mario Rizzo, co-founder and CEO of Artisan Studios, the team developing one such project: Super Neptunia RPG. Read on to learn more about what it’s like for the globetrotting team to work with Compile Heart and what to expect from the release.

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Interview: SNK Heroines’ Yasuyuki Oda and Kaito Soranaka on the game’s goals and influences

SNK’s next fighting game release, SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, is releasing later this year and headed West courtesy of NIS America. We were able to ask some questions to the project’s leads about what they’re hoping to accomplish and how the game will differ from a standard King of Fighters.

Michibiku: SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy seems to follow in the footsteps of cult classic Neo Geo Pocket Color release Gals’ Fighters. Was this intentional? Will we see references to Gals’ Fighters in the new game?

Yasuyuki Oda, producer: The story is not necessarily directly connected, but the concept is quite similar. It’s a new title, but it’s unmistakably a spiritual successor.

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Interview: Tim Trzepacz on Princess Maker 2 and the struggles of 1990s game localization

Tim Trzepacz has been involved in the video games industry since MicroProse’s Sega Genesis version of Pirates! Gold was released in 1993. He’s worked on games like Ratchet and Clank, James Bond 007: From Russia with Love, Magic Knight Rayearth, Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, Silent Hill: Origins and Silhouette Mirage. We talked to him about Princess Maker 2, which his company SoftEgg attempted to release outside of Japan between 1995 and 2002.

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