Publishers in South Korea are pulling out all the stops to make sure gamers pick up their launch titles when the Wii officially debuts in the country on April 26. Though these aren't as glamorous (or as scandalous) as the Zack & Wiki pearl necklaces, Tecmo is giving away free shirts featuring characters Kooh and Arin with preorders for Swing Golf Pangya 2nd Shot.
Interestingly, the golf title will be released in Korea four months after the game arrived in the states, despite being a console spin-off of a Korean MMO. At least they'll get free shirts to make up for the delay! And they're still getting it before Europe (July 4th)!
Manga-fied golf title Super Swing Golf (or, as U.S. readers may know it, Super Swing Golf: Season 2) will be appearing in terminally neglected Europe this June 27th, courtesy of Rising Star Games.
As most Americans may well have already played/completed/traded in/completely forgotten about Tecmo's criminally under-rated golf game (it launched stateside back in December), it probably won't hurt to remind you that there's plenty of mascotcameo goodness, and quite a lot of a very serious sport not being taken seriously in the slightest. Which is for the best, really.
Well, the Virtual Console releases have hit our inbox and we're pleased to see two fan-favorites hitting the download circuit. With one of the most beloved RPG franchises depositing an installment, as well as the third title in the Ninja Gaiden releasing, we're sure going to enjoy giving these a play later on.
This week's Virtual Console releases are:
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom (NES, 1 player, 500 Wii Points)
Phantasy Star II (Sega Genesis, 1 player, 800 Wii Points)
As always, be sure to stop back later for our video wrap-up of this week's content.
Months after announcing a new installment to its survival-horror/photography game, Tecmo unveiled a two-minute CG trailer for Fatal Frame IV(Rei: Tsukihami no Kame) and discussed a few specifics behind the spooky title. The video hasn't yet been released, but you can peek at screen grabs from the movie in the gallery below.
According to series producer Keisuke Kikuchi, the game's "image color" will be yellow, and the words "memory," "moon," and "mask" will be recurring themes. That's not much to go on, but we still have months before Fatal Frame IV's expected summer release in Japan.
Tecmo has teamed up with studio Grasshopper Manufacture (No More Heroes, Killer 7) for Fatal Frame IV's development, bringing in Goichi Suda (!) to help direct the game along with Makoto Shibata. Surprisingly, Nintendo will handle production, publishing, and promotion. What an interesting mix!
The year is almost over, and we could probably debate for hours about which games were the best, but in the end, money talks. So, how did Wii games actually sell in 2007? A kind NeoGAFfer compiled a list that shows how much each Wii game sold this year in Japan, based on Media Create figures up until December 2nd.
It's also important, though, to consider how Wii game publishers did this year in Japan (check the stats in the image above). Nintendo certainly had a great year, with over 8 million sales for 17 games. Square Enix also did pretty well for itself with Dragon Quest Swords (the only game released by the company for the Wii before the December 2nd window). As for the other third parties, however, the median game sales seem somewhat poor. Yet, considering the amount of shovelware released this year, it's hard to say that some of them didn't deserve it. Check the list of game sales here to decide for yourselves. You may notice one major disappointment (yes, we're talking about Zack and Wiki) or two, but how many other third-party games, in your opinion, really deserved to sell better than they did?
Well then, unless you are a fan of games from Destineer, it looks like there isn't much up for offer this week. Sure, some of you had your interests piqued when you saw your first chunk of gameplay in action. But, was it enough for you to want to pick it up?
This week's retail releases are:
Super Swing Golf Season 2
Showtime Boxing
Kawasaki Quad Bikes
Indy 500 Legends
Mythmakers: Orbs of Doom
Kidz Sports: Basketball
Plan on picking any of these games up? Or, are you just going to wait until next week when NiGHTS releases?
Most Japanese teaser trailers and advertisements for games are a little weird, but we never knew the struggle on the links could be so epic. Battles are waged and balls are struck in such an unrealistic manner that would make even Happy Gilmore say "that's just too much." But, it's a video game, so things don't have to be ultra-realistic
What do you all think? Is the game looking like fun, or do you not go in for golf games, no matter how different they are from the traditional sport?
When we wrote about the adorable Tecmo Bowl-inspired costume in Swing Golf Pangya 2nd Shot!, we mentioned a couple of other Tecmo game characters we would like to see playing cutesy golf, making sure to name the most ridiculous-looking Tecmo characters we could think of at the time. Specifically, we said "We're looking forward to future Rygar and (especially) Mighty Bomb Jack costumes, ourselves."
The official Swing Golf Pangya 2nd Shot! homepage was just updated with a bunch of new Tecmo-related costumes, and who do we see? It's Mighty Bomb Jack! And Rygar! True, it's the "new look" Rygar from the Wii port, and not real Rygar, but close enough for us to feel completely responsible for this development.
The game also features character designs from Tokobot, Ninja Gaiden, and Solomon's Key, all of which are adorable. But we have to test our theory that Tecmo grants our wishes: This game would be awesome if you could play as a Tecmo Stacker.
The first Swing Golf Pangya (as Super Swing Golfwas known in Japan) featured costumes that made your golfer look like Tecmo characters Kasumi or Ayane from the Dead or Alive series, or Ryu Hayabusa from both DOA and his own Ninja Gaiden series. For the sequel, Tecmo apparently wanted to make available the most Tecmo-y costume possible, and chose a recognizable uniform from a game that is not only well-known and well-regarded, but has Tecmo in the title. And, since it would be extraordinarily hard to swing a club dressed up like a Tecmo Stacker, they chose Tecmo Bowl.
We're looking forward to future Rygar and (especially) Mighty Bomb Jack costumes, ourselves. There'd be no question about whether or not we'd be interested in a game that let you play golf in red tights and a horned helmet.
Tecmo is bringing the next Fatal Frame title to the Wii, and they're recruiting Team Awesome-Crazy at Grasshopper Manufacture on board to handle the details. Clearly, this eclipses all the other news that's come out of this year's Tokyo Game Show. That's it. There's no topping it.
Okay, maybe we're biased here, but Fatal Frame represents some of the best in horror gaming. While the photography-centric series lacks the action some prefer in survival horror games, Fatal Frame has always offered a gorgeous, spooky, thoughtful experience that blends horror and adventure. Combine that with the twisted sense of surrealism Grasshopper can bring to the table, and Fatal Frame IV is set to be an amazing title.
There may be brutally difficult action in the future for the Wii. Joystiq's Kevin Kelly recently interviewed Team Ninja's outspoken leader, Tomonobu Itagaki about his recent games and future plans. Kelly asked about the possibility of a Wii game now that Team Ninja's got a DS game in the works, and Itagaki revealed that his decision to make Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword was based on input from an exclusive focus group: his own children.
"We're doing a lot of research, that's about all I can say right now. Although, to add on that note, my kids have been saying they want a game for the Wii. To tell you the truth, Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword, that's because my kids were asking for one of my titles to be on the DS."
We already know that Itagaki's been thinking about Wii games, as has Ninja Gaiden Sigma'sYusuke Hayashi, so this is just further reinforcement of the possibility. Itagaki's kids must have some skillz if Ninja Gaiden games are being designed for them. The good news is that, if Team Ninja is designing what appears to be a real action game in response to these kids, there's a good chance that the Wii game will be similarly hardcore.
We liked Rygar: The Legendary Adventure enough to want to at least look at the Wii version. We hate to admit it and indirectly support port-dumping, but messing with the yo-yo-like Diskarmor was pretty neat on a regular controller, and we kind of think it mightb be worth trying with the Wiimote. Famitsu uploaded some new screenshots of the game, all of which highlight the bizarre and absolutely non-Rygar-like character design.
Famitsu actually found the new content in the game, outlining the new Wiimote-based "Muscle Mode," a battle arena where you slice tons of monsters with your Diskarmor using motion controls. You can slam the Diskarmor into the ground, generating a quake. You can also swing it around horizontally and create a sonic boom, or perform a sort of Diskarmor stab in which the Diskarmor shoots directly forward at high speed.
We were very excited about the prospect of a new Rygar game on the Wii. Whipping the Diskarmor around sounds like one of those things that would naturally be perfect for the Wiimote. And we thought, based on the brand-new character art and the title-- Project Rygar-- that we were in for some big new stuff. After all, if it's a "Project," that means it's a pretty intensive undertaking, right? One that takes a lot of time and effort on Tecmo's part?
Yeah, it's a port of the PS2 game Rygar: The Legendary Adventure. The one from 2002. That's a little depressing! But hey, if it helps, the PS2 game was a fairly competent Devil May Cry-alike. And Tecmo is promising new content in the form of the newly-designed main character and, more significantly, a new Wiimote-friendly battle mode.
Because this guy wants to play you for it in Tecmo Bowl. Now, we know what you're thinking. This has to be fake, right? Well, maybe it is, but we've contacted the man behind the web page and he seems to be the real deal. He says he will totally show up at your house (within the continental U.S.) with nothing more than a NES, Tecmo Bowl and a desire to strip you of your precious monies. And don't try to play him in that Virtual Consoleversion of the game, either. it's only the real thing for this guy.
Our sleeveless-ninja-suit-wearing friend from Tecmo is already planning his return, according to new listings found on the ESRB's site. Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos was released in 1990 in the U.S., just one year after Tecmo presented the first game. It features the same kind of side-scrolling action as the original, with the addition of shadow-ninja clones like the ones found in Ninja Spirit. The box warns that the game is "hard to beat!!" and we can in fact confirm this.
Also newly rated is Sega's Shining in the Darkness, the first game in the Shining series. Don't be discouraged by the fact that the series has been thoroughly ruined by countless mediocre spinoffs and sequels-- while Shining in the Darkness isn't as well-regarded as the Shining Force games, it can still be fun for people who are into hardcore dungeon crawling.
