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Sega leaves Shiren off to die →

For those of you with import copies of Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer 1 to 3, when your adventurer dies deep inside the games’ dungeons — as he often does — starting November, you can no longer put out a WiFi request for friends to come rescue you and your gear.

That’s because Sega will shut down the servers for the Shiren games it put out in Japan (Shiren 4, which was released by Spike, is unaffected). Sega also published the first Shiren DS game in North America, and people have had issues connecting to the game’s WiFi servers for months now — it’s likely they’re offline, too.

Of course, hardly anyone uses WiFi rescues; password rescues, which allow you to trade codes with online dudes willing to save you, are more common. In fact, someone even created a Revive Key Generator for the first game! That’s a super useful tool, if you don’t mind cheating.

Buy: Shiren the Wanderer Wii, Shiren the Wanderer DS

Find: Nintendo DS/3DS release dates, discounts, & more

See also: So many Shiren posts

[Via Siliconera, Image via Jumping Frog]

tags / shiren the wanderer / mystery dungeon / shiren the wanderer 3 / sega / gaming / ec

/ permalink / / 6 months ago / Comments (View)

Shiren teams up with a cat companion

Multiplayer co-op and versus aren’t the only interesting additions to Shiren the Wanderer 5; the dungeon-diving hero has a lot of fun companions this time around, including a panda-hat-wearing girl, a kung-fu kid, two lady-fox sisters, and a pretty boy samurai.

Chunsoft just revealed the best one out of the bunch, though: Gen-san, a giant, plump cat with a bell around his neck and a rifle slung around his shoulder. Look at him. The dude is a straight-up boss. That’s why we had to embed a banner featuring the feline in our sidebar.

You can watch Gen-san smacking around enemies and blasting them in the face like it ain’t a damn thang after the break. I vote that he permanently replaces Koppa.

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

Shiren the Wanderer 5’s multiplayer versus mode. You’ve seen the ecstasy of this upcoming roguelike’s co-op feature; now witness the bloody horrors of its deathmatches, in which two players must use their wits and inventories to outfox their opponent. Two men enter, one man leaves!

In honor of Shiren’s 15th birthday today — why isn’t the entire world celebrating? — Inside Games published an article about all of its releases and spin-offs, including Shiren Monsters: Netsal, that GBA soccer game I’ve been meaning to post about here for a while.

The article also collects Shiren commercials (most you’ve seen if you followed my old Promotional Consideration column on DS Fanboy) and boxarts. The topic of Shiren the Wanderer DS’s North American cover came up briefly, to which Inside Games commented, “The Shiren full of Western game taste is very…” Indeed.

Anyway, happy birthday, Shiren (and Koppa!). Considering the number of traps, monster rooms, Pekeji punches, and angry shopkeepers you’ve faced these past 15 years, it’s a miracle you’ve survived this long.

Preorder import: Shiren the Wanderer 5 (non-DX)

Buy: Shiren the Wanderer Wii, Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer DS

[Via @feitclub]

tags / shiren the wanderer / mystery dungeon / shiren the wanderer 5 / chunsoft / ec / imports

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

Extended Shiren 5 multiplayer co-op clip. God damnit, Chunsoft, why does this have to look so fun?

I was not too upset about Shiren 4 not coming here because it kind of looked butt, but the multiplayer portion of Shiren 5 looks like something that I need in my life. As is customary in every Shiren the Wanderer post we publish here, though, we must point out that the chances of this releasing outside Japan are very slim.

And even if this did come out in the States, it’s just as unlikely you’d ever run into anyone with a copy of Shiren 5 to try out the local wireless-only multiplayer with.

Preorder import: Shiren the Wanderer 5 (non-DX)

Buy: Shiren the Wanderer Wii, Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer DS

[Via DiaBleu]

tags / shiren the wanderer / mystery dungeon / shiren the wanderer 5 / chunsoft / ec

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

Multiplayer briefly shown in Shiren 5

Around the 1:05 mark, you can see two Shirens working together and fighting each other. Also, LOL at the new pretty boy companion around 00:32, Chunsoft’s attempt to appeal to Bishonen fans for some reason. It’s a game for people who want to see beautiful men die in caves!

Multiplayer looks local wireless-only — which makes sense, as each move is critical, and planning your turns probably works best with your partner closeby — so if this ever comes to America, you’ll likely never get to try it out with anyone. Not that this will ever release in the U.S…

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

Shiren the Wanderer 5 character trailer for Jirokichi, a new companion — it’s a shame his name isn’t Jero to honor the black enka singer from Shiren DS 2’s commercial.

Check out those kung-fu moves! So long as he doesn’t accidentally hit you like Pekeji used to all the time, he seems like a great partner to bring along. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Shiren reviving a fallen companion with a healing herb like that. Perhaps I’m mistaken?

I think Jirokichi’s story involves him seeking a cure for the sick, bedstricken girl, his lover Oyuu, at the beginning of the video. You can see more videos for the game, included a minute-long but uninteresting trailer, at Shiren 5’s official site. Earlier this week, Game Watch also posted some new screenshots, artwork, and details.

Buy: Shiren the Wanderer Wii ($29.99), Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer DS

[Thanks, Eastern Mind!]

tags / shiren the wanderer / shiren the wanderer 5 / chunsoft / mystery dungeon / imports / ec / jirokichi

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

Shiren 5 limited soundtrack. Chunsoft is including this soundtrack as a reservation bonus for Shiren the Wanderer 5: Fortune Tower and the Dice of Fate. It includes not only a CD in a DS-like case, but an eight-page booklet about the history of the series. It’s nice to see Chunsoft has the money to do stuff like this!

The publisher also dated the Japanese release of the roguelike: December 9, for a surprisingly rough ¥6,090 ($71.77). The American release remains set for never.

Buy: Shiren the Wanderer Wii ($29.99), Shiren the Wanderer DS

[Via Famitsu]

tags / chunsoft / imports / jc / shiren the wanderer / shiren the wanderer 5 / mystery dungeon

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

Homebrew Shiren clone released on Android

You might remember Peculiar Voyage: Escape from Cute, that homebrew clone of Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer. Not everyone has a flashcart (and not everyone who has a flashcart bothers with homebrew), so it’s likely you never got around to playing it.

Developer Crow has ported the game from DS to Android phones, and there seem to be a ton of those, so maybe people will actually try it out now. It also has a more accessible title: Voyage to Farland. You have to admit, as a city/country/realm, Farland sounds so… exotic!

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

Gameplay video for Shiren the Wanderer 5: Fortune Tower and the Dice of Fate. The best part of this clip is seeing the Mamels throw a starved Shiren out of their dungeon, likely after carrying him to the last town he visited.

So, make sure you keep a stock of rice balls, kids! (I could be mistaken on this, but I believe the top-screen bar that shows your hunger level could be new?).

While Chunsoft held a Tokyo Game Show presentation today in which it confirmed co-op multiplayer for Shiren 5, the developer didn’t actually demonstrate it. I don’t have JC around to translate details from the event, but there’s a possibility it’s online. Don’t hold me to that, though! If you do, I swear to god I will punch you.

Shiren 3/Wii sort of had a multiplayer feature, it was a kind of bland race to clear a dungeon before your opponent could, and you didn’t actually get to see the other player much less fight them. Also, Atlus cut this mode along with all the other online features for the North American release.

Buy: Shiren the Wanderer Wii ($29.99), Shiren the Wanderer DS

[Via 4Gamer]

tags / mystery dungeon / shiren the wanderer / shiren the wanderer 5 / chunsoft / imports / sega / ec / tokyo game show / tgs 2010

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

Screens for Mysterious Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer 5: Fortune Tower and the Dice of Fate, releasing in Japan this December (and in North America/Europe this never).

The game has you and Koppa exploring a Fortune Tower in search of a god that lives in the structure, and you’re accompanied by a guide named Tao (who looks like a girl in a panda suit). From what I can tell, there’s a hint of multiplayer support, as well as new dungeon gimmicks involving stairs and numbers on the ground.

The numbering for this release is a little confusing. Apparently, this is a sequel to Shiren DS 2 — a remake of Shiren GB2 for the Game Boy Color — and not a follow-up to Shiren 4, which released in Japan just last February. The talk around town is that this latest entry will still have some features introduced in Shiren 4, like tech/skill powers.

Famitsu posted a Shiren 5 opening movie that’s way uninteresting, but if you want to check that out, there you go!

Buy: Shiren the Wanderer Wii ($29.99), Shiren the Wanderer DS

See also: An insane amount of Shiren posts

[Via Andriasang]

tags / chunsoft / mystery dungeon / shiren the wanderer / shiren the wanderer 5 / imports / ec

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

“Shiren’s developer, Chunsoft, was undoubtedly a group of people who knew exactly what they were doing, what they wanted to do. They had a real philosophy, one that they probably never told anyone about.

… When played with a really bad head cold, these games give birth to terribly peaceful feelings. Under the influence of the right cough syrup, Shiren can make you understand the origins of the universe, if only briefly.”

Tim Rogers on Shiren the Wanderer, a series designed to punish you at every step for daring to trespass its dungeons, reward you for understanding and manipulating its ruleset to survive its monster/trap-filled areas, and foist you to a higher plane of understanding should the right set of variables fall into place.

I found this excerpt in Rogers’ latest super-dense article about who knows what at Kotaku. You can read it yourself here, or you can watch this WarioWare D.I.Y. microgame simulating the experience of reading a Tim Rogers essay.

Buy: Shiren the Wanderer Wii ($32.98)

tags / tim rogers / kotaku / shiren the wanderer / chunsoft / mystery dungeon / atlus / ec

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

@Play on Wii-ren the Wanderer →

John Harris, whose @Play column and playthrough diaries of the original Shiren the Wanderer game likely converted a quarter of the roguelike series’s fanbase, has a thorough article on the franchise’s recent Wii release in the U.S.

He discusses the game’s strengths, weaknesses, and changes from previous entries, also touching on Atlus’s decision to advertise the game without mentioning it’s a roguelike. If you’re still not sure about whether you should pick the new Shiren up, or if you just love intelligent articles on the series, this is the article to read!

I have to admit, with much shame, that I haven’t bought the game yet. I was on vacation when it released, spent a week or so trying to catch up on work when I got back, had to cover GDC, started watching The Wire on HBO On Demand, spent some money on Infinite Space, and then there was the whole Tiger Woods thing — you know how it goes! I’ll buy it soon, I promise!

Buy: Shiren the Wanderer Wii ($32.98)

tags / @play / shiren the wanderer / atlus / chunsoft / mystery dungeon / john harris

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

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