Tiny Cartridge

Nicalis considering more Cave Story ports

Nicalis and Daisuke “Pixel” Amaya (Cave Story’s creator) are reportedly considering more console adaptations for Cave Story beyond WiiWare. Neither have announced specific platforms they’re leaning towards, but it’s not like there are dozens to choose from: XBLA, PSN, DSiWare, and Apple’s App Store are the likely contenders.

A commercial portable release would be especially welcome — remember how  RavenWorks was working on a sanctioned Cave Story port for GBA and then DS a while back? The demo he put out (no longer available) had a lot of promise! From what I’ve heard, the game’s homebrew PSP port is quite nice, too.

Nicalis has also mentioned bringing more of Pixel’s games (e.g. Guxt, Ikachan) to consoles. The studio is playing around with the original PC version of the Cave Story for something, and “the very different, rarely seen Cave Story Beta”, too. It’s great to hear they’ve got more in the works than just NightSky and La Mulana!

No word yet on when Cave Story’s European release or a fix for the music problems. The studio did show something secret at TGS, though, according to Destructoid…

Buy: Nintendo Points Cards

See also: More Cave Story!

[Via Destructoid, Image via Koutaro]

Japan shopping report, 2K10 edition! I didn’t buy as much big-ticket stuff this year as I did last year, but I did pick up enough interesting things to put up a totally self-indulgent post about.

1. Slime plush and Rockmanjuu: I picked these up at TGS. I walked into the show fully aware that I was going to walk out with some kind of toy Slime, and the Rockmanjuu were one of the cheapest, but most impressive Mega Man items available. I was going to justify the cost even further by eating them for lunch, but Jeremy Parish warned me against eating them. I may still do a Tiny Review!

2. Minna de Spelunker stickers: Super cheap! How has buying Spelunker junk become a tradition?

3. Phantasy Star Zero HUmarl figure: these were 100 yen from a machine in Yodobashi Camera, I think. I got one for me and one for Eric (still be-egged).

4. Famicom games! I didn’t have any particular wants on my list, but I saw neat games in Super Potato’s clearance area. Tetris, in box, was just 50 yen! The other game is Downtown Special: Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki Dayo Zenin Shuugo, also known as that one where Kunio’s a samurai.

5. Game Center CX 2: The bottom dropped out on prices for this game, so I was able to pick one up for Eric. 

6. Syrupy Slime beverage: For relaxing Slimes, make it Suntory Slime. I have yet to drink this.

7. Famicase poster: I totally could have bought everything in Meteor, but that’s way dangerous considering how many King of Games shirts were in there. I limited myself to just two of these (again, one for Eric).

8. Space Invaders Eco Bag: these were on sale in the Taito Station in Shinjuku. I ended up having to use it when my suitcase was 5 kilograms over the weight limit at the airport.

See also: Last year’s stuff-buying

Love Plus fans throwing their DSes in the air, waving them around as if they just didn’t care (click for a larger image). The only time I’ve ever spotted a scene like this is at PAX concerts, when hundreds of geeks hold up their brightly lit gadgets during performances. It’s funny to see gamers in Japan doing the same, albeit during a celebration for Konami’s virtual girlfriend simulator. Takumi Suidu’s caption for this photo indicates that everyone was holding up their DS as part of some wireless “Love Plus business card exchange”, which I haven’t found much information about. Maybe this has to do with the DS connectivity in the series’ new 3D arcade game? I did, however, come across this video from Konami’s “Love Plus Special Stage” event at TGS, in which fans were invited to express their devotion to Manaka, Rinko, and Nene in front of attendees and judges scoring their adoration. A bunch of guys showed off vacation photos with their digital partners, everybody sang “Happy Birthday” to Manaka as someone brought out a cake, and at some point, a dude placed his lips on a DSi XL screen, demonstrating his attachment to Nene with a five-second kiss. It was a passionless, close-lipped exchange — he probably didn’t want to embarrass himself or his virtual girlfriend by turning what was supposed to be a romantic moment between the couple into a vulgar spectacle. Import: Love Plus+ See also: Way more Love Plus posts than any self-respecting video game blog should have [VIa Takumi Suidu]

Love Plus fans throwing their DSes in the air, waving them around as if they just didn’t care (click for a larger image).

The only time I’ve ever spotted a scene like this is at PAX concerts, when hundreds of geeks hold up their brightly lit gadgets during performances. It’s funny to see gamers in Japan doing the same, albeit during a celebration for Konami’s virtual girlfriend simulator.

Takumi Suidu’s caption for this photo indicates that everyone was holding up their DS as part of some wireless “Love Plus business card exchange”, which I haven’t found much information about. Maybe this has to do with the DS connectivity in the series’ new 3D arcade game?

I did, however, come across this video from Konami’s “Love Plus Special Stage” event at TGS, in which fans were invited to express their devotion to Manaka, Rinko, and Nene in front of attendees and judges scoring their adoration.

A bunch of guys showed off vacation photos with their digital partners, everybody sang “Happy Birthday” to Manaka as someone brought out a cake, and at some point, a dude placed his lips on a DSi XL screen, demonstrating his attachment to Nene with a five-second kiss.

It was a passionless, close-lipped exchange — he probably didn’t want to embarrass himself or his virtual girlfriend by turning what was supposed to be a romantic moment between the couple into a vulgar spectacle.

Import: Love Plus+

See also: Way more Love Plus posts than any self-respecting video game blog should have

[VIa Takumi Suidu]

Outstanding Tokyo Game Show cosplayers. We don’t usually post these cosplay round-ups, but I saw a lot of great outfits while trawliing through photo sets for TGS images to feature here.

Photo credits (yeah, a lot of Dragon Quest stuff):

Buy: Dragon Quest IX

See also: More Tokyo Game Show 2010 posts

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

See also: Shiren the Wanderer 5 announced, screens

[Via 4Gamer]

Gachapin x Mega Man: Megapin. Though JC is currently absent from the site while he’s working his ass off at Tokyo Game Show, we can keep him in our hearts here with this mash-up of Mega Man and Gachapin. I bet he would’ve loved this if he were still around. I bet he would.

Megapin will appear as a tie-in character in Mega Man Universe, an upcoming XBLA/PSN game focused on user-created characters and levels, as downloadable content. Capcom celebrated the collaboration by bringing the two characters together at a TGS event. Mega Man doesn’t look too happy about it.

Buy: Mega Man games

See also: More Gachapin

[Via Dengeki, Andriasang]

Inazuma Eleven Strikers’ Tokyo Game Show trailer. Level-5’s soccer sim is jumping to the Wii, but unlike the trilogy of DS games, this one seems like more of a straight-up sports game instead of a soccer/RPG hybrid — it looks a lot like Super Mario Strikers! Someone needs to start publishing these games in English already…

Anyway, what is going on with the kids in this trailer? Was Level-5 like, “We need you to look like jerk-offs while we play footage from our game on this TV”? Also, check out the younger brat totally ignoring his older brother’s attempt at a double high five at around the 1:13 mark. As first, I was like “LOL”, but then I was like “What a dick.”

Import: Inazuma Eleven games

See also: More Inazuma Eleven videos

[Via Ne2046]

Solatorobo: And Then to Coda’s Tokyo Game Show trailer. Here’s your monthly reminder that Solatorobo looks tight as hell. Now if only the character voices weren’t so irritating!

If this action RPG eventually releases in the West (and there are signs it will), I hope the North American version will feature less annoying voices — that’s presuming whoever publishes it has the budget to spend on localizing the voices for a niche game with a limited audience.

Please excuse all the video posts lately, by the way — these major trade shows often leave us with little else to put up.

Preorder import: Solatorobo: Sore kara Coda e

See also: First trailer for Solatorobo

[Via GoNintendo]

Ghost Trick’s Tokyo Game Show trailer. I’ve probably said it a dozen times by now, but god damn, the animation here is superb. Why don’t more games look like this?

I’ve also seen the intro to this video a dozen times in all the clips Capcom has put out — what’s up with that? The publisher stuck a bunch of awards at the beginning of this trailer, too, so I hope you don’t mind me cutting all that.

Capcom seems to be the first publisher that’s put out a lot of media for its Nintendo DS games at TGS; other studios need to catch up! Here’s some new trailers for Okamiden and Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth 2.

Preorder: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

See also: More Ghost Trick videos

“I Left My Heart In 1995”/Mai Shiranui shirt (click for a larger image). If you have a particular fondness for The King of Fighters ‘95 — or just 1995 in general* — Cospa will happily sell this black tee to you at its Tokyo Game Show booth for ¥3,045, or around $35.56. Cospa is selling a lot of other merchandise for Fatal Fury, Phantasy Star, and Lain (in 2010?!). They’ll also have these Neo Geo/”100 Mega Shock” goods I recently wrote about at my other gig, which are neat but not quite as ballin’ as this old 100Mega Shock shirt: I can imagine a Tiny Cartridge tee with a similar style… Buy: King of Fighters junk See also: More King of Fighters posts [Via Neo BomberMan’s Castle of Collectibles] *It was a pretty great year! Well, at least as far as rap goes — you had Liquid Swords, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, E 1999 Eternal, and Me Against the World all released that year and all classics!

“I Left My Heart In 1995”/Mai Shiranui shirt (click for a larger image). If you have a particular fondness for The King of Fighters ‘95 — or just 1995 in general* — Cospa will happily sell this black tee to you at its Tokyo Game Show booth for ¥3,045, or around $35.56.

Cospa is selling a lot of other merchandise for Fatal Fury, Phantasy Star, and Lain (in 2010?!). They’ll also have these Neo Geo/”100 Mega Shock” goods I recently wrote about at my other gig, which are neat but not quite as ballin’ as this old 100Mega Shock shirt:

I can imagine a Tiny Cartridge tee with a similar style…

Buy: King of Fighters junk

See also: More King of Fighters posts

[Via Neo BomberMan’s Castle of Collectibles]

*It was a pretty great year! Well, at least as far as rap goes — you had Liquid Swords, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, E 1999 Eternal, and Me Against the World all released that year and all classics!