When Atlus released Persona 3, it hit upon a formula that resonated with people. Players were doing the typical “save the world” thing, but in a modern environment that required them to also interact with other people and maintain something of a normal life when they weren’t involved in dungeon-crawling and life-or-death battles. In the years since, we’ve seen multiple games that attempt to capture the magic of the Persona series.
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Listen: probably don’t import a Wii U. Unlike most consoles we cover, there’s not a huge depth of Japan-only titles to explore, and it looks like its days of getting releases in general are over. Still, we’re the crazy people who import one anyway, and if you’re like us, you might as well check out our sage advice. Onward!
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For many people, Puyo Puyo Tetris is an introduction to the Puyo Puyo series. As incredible as it is, there have not been that many installments released outside of Japan. Most entries remain trapped overseas, especially ones where the Puyo Puyo heroines and heroes feature prominently. You would think this would be detrimental to Puyo Puyo Tetris‘ campaign. Instead, Sega seized the opportunity to present a goofy and welcoming story for everyone to enjoy.
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When you think of Nintendo games, certain things come to mind. No matter what the genre or franchise certain things stand out. Games tend to be family-friendly, even when they involve serious concepts like bounty hunting and war. Many times, they explore gameplay concepts that aren’t often explored in games. They have a colorful and definitive style, keeping them from looking like other games on the shelf. They’ll also have hidden depths to them. Splatoon is a masterpiece that ticks all of these boxes.
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The Wii U is a system that will hopefully be remembered for a some great first-party games that were willing to take conventional ideas and add a little something special that makes them shine. After all, Nintendo is known for being rather rigorous when it comes to its official games. Especially when you think about the RPGs that were part of its library.
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“Inspired by a true story” are the five words that can both inspire delight and strike fear in the hearts of anyone looking for something spooking to enjoy. Koei Tecmo has been using that approach to help sell the Fatal Frame series for years. By offering fictional locations, rituals and situations inspired by Japanese folklore and history, the company has provided people with a shooter that involves defeating ghosts with cameras to survive otherworldly encounters. Join us as we go through the catalog of Fatal Frame games.
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Paper Mario: Color Splash releases today, though some of you may have been playing it for some time, and once again the issue arises: why isn’t Color Splash a proper RPG like its non-Sticker Star predecessors? It’s not an invalid question — it can be a perfectly good game for what it is, but it’s hard to play those first two games and not want more of that — but the root problem is larger than that:
Nintendo thinks people won’t buy RPGs or strategy games unless they’re tricked.
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In most Pokémon games, we’re meant to see the creatures we can collect as tools. While some element of research is tacked on to our expeditions, due to a lofty goal of completing a Pokedex, that’s something that happens in the background as we play. It’s coincidental; our real focus lies elsewhere. Pokémon Snap is the only entry in the series focused on entirely on researching the critters, allowing us to actually learn about these beasts by viewing them in their natural habitat.
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Shigeru Miyamoto is an amazing, wonderful, talented genius who appears to want to make people happy with all of his creations. Except Devil World, because Devil World is the most terrifying thing ever. If you haven’t heard of that, then hello fellow US citizens! This Pac-Man-like was only released in Japan and Europe, which means only people in those regions were able to play one of the most terrifying dot-collecting games in existence.
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