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Audio sends a sentimental Sakura Note →

“During childhood, every day was a fantasy.”

Though Audio Inc.’s Sakura Note isn’t the sequel to Contact that I was hoping for, the game’s visual style — which you can preview along with a wonderful song at the link above — gives the impression of a spiritual successor.

1UP’s preview of the “nostalgia-twinged” DS game:

“It’s a story-heavy, overhead-view adventure set within two towns and the surrounding countryside. A new girl, Nanami Yoshida, has just moved in to your neighborhood, and apparently she’s being targeted by a local band of ghosts and ghouls.

It seems this has something to do with a pair of sakura (cherry blossom) trees that dominate the landscape of both towns, one slowly withering and another one blooming deep into the summertime, as if to make up for its weaker sibling. You, a normal boy, decide to get to the bottom of both mysteries, talking to people and unlocking new story episodes as you go along.”

Audio Inc. founder Akira Ueda adds that it’s “a game whose whole atmosphere is mellow and moving, that makes you think, with its game design, text, and music.”*

The development team is packed with top talent — Ueda (Contact) as director, Final Fantasy vets Nobuo Uematsu and Hideo Minaba managing the music and graphics, Kazushige Nojima (Kingdom Hearts) handling the script, and Kenichiro Takagi (Half-Minute Hero) as producer.

Sakura Note will release in Japan on November 5th, and will include a soundtrack CD with preorders.

See also: Mochi and those damned vanilla skies

*JC says this translation might not be 100% accurate

tags / contact / akira ueda / sakura note / marvelous interactive / audio inc / ec / official site

/ permalink / / 2 years ago / Comments (View)

Yuusha30 (Hero for 30sec) Japanese commercial.

Preorder import: Yuusha30

See also: Yuusha30 (Hero for 30sec) gameplay video

tags / yuusha30 / commercial / hero for 20sec / marvelous interactive / psp / ec

/ permalink / / 2 years ago / Comments (View)

Where’s the Contact sequel?

Hearing this past week’s news about Goichi Suda and Grasshopper Manufacture working on No More Heroes 2, the studio’s first sequel, has me wondering about the other Grasshopper game sequel that was promised, Contact 2.

I’m probably one of only a few dozen people looking for a follow-up to this flawed, unique game, but I’d like to see how Contact turns out with its past faults — shallow combat and an unintuitive costume system — remedied.

To me, the original Contact’s frequent video game allusions, disregard for the fourth wall, and uncommon visual style combining simple sprites with lush, pre-rendered environments, made up for those failings.

While completing Contact in early 2006, director Akira Ueda parted ways with Grashopper and formed his own studio, Audio Inc., which was supposed to be working on the sequel for an unannounced Nintendo platform.

Since then, however, Audio has put out Deltora Quest and Majin Tantei Nougame Neuro, both licensed titles for the DS and neither seeing a stateside release, without a single mention of Contact 2, as far as I know. I hope they haven’t abandoned the project.

Though I wasn’t able to find any news about the sequel on Audio’s company blog (Japanese), I did come across this wicked Mochi Dot-S diorama and Mochi kaleidoscope:

tags / audio inc / grasshopper manufacture / contact / marvelous interactive / akira ueda / ec / diorama / kaleidoscope / dot-s / mochi

/ permalink / / 3 years ago / Comments (View)

Trailer for No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle.

I never would have guessed that Grasshopper’s No More Heroes moved enough units to provoke a sequel — not that I’m arguing against it!

No in-game footage yet, and that subtitle sounds more suited for the DS … Maybe I’m just crazy!

Update: Publisher Marvelous Interactive’s press release for the game (Japanese PDF) clarifies that No More Heroes 2 will be for the Wii.

tags / desperate struggle / ec / goichi suda / grasshopper manufacture / marvelous interactive / no more heroes / suda51 / tgs-08

/ permalink / / 3 years ago / Comments (View)

Muramasa: The Demon Blade (Oboro Muramasa Youtouden), announced for a 2009 stateside release.

There hasn’t been much footage released for this game yet, but I expect that to change once this year’s Tokyo Game Show comes around. Considering developer Vanillaware’s previous releases — Odin Sphere and GrimGrimoire, both visually superb — Muramasa should, at the very least, showcase some fantastic 2D designs.

[Via Nintendo Power, Botticus]

tags / marvelous interactive / muramasa / vanillaware / oboro muramasa youtouden / nintendo power / ec / xseed

/ permalink / / 3 years ago / Comments (View)

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