#natsume-atari

[katasdollhouse]

Buyer beware, don't bother with the digital version of Pocky & Rocky Reshrined if you're buying it for co-op mode. That is locked from the start, despite co-op being both explicitly demonstrated as a feature in the preview screens when you purchase the game, and implicitly implied given the fact that every other Pocky & Rocky is co-op from the start to my knowledge, since the original title Kiki Kaikai was a literal arcade game.

Since Nintendo intends for users to depend on online reviews, here's mine: Pocky & Rocky Reshrined, aka Kiki Kaikai: Kuro Manto no Nazo, is relying on false advertising and betraying the core concept of its franchise, which is startling and a shame. It was colossally disappointing especially because my partner and I specifically looked forward to playing through it together and the game actually looks visually nice and seems pretty fun. We simply didn't buy it to play it alone. Then we didn't even get the satisfaction of an easy or straightforward refund because Nintendo's stance is that people should just Google reviews. Not cool all around.

[professoricepick]

10 Games I NEVER Wanted on PC

In case you couldn’t tell, I’m a huge supporter of video game preservation. Sadly, things are looking dismal when it comes to official attempts at archiving the medium’s rich history. According to a recent study by the Video Game History Foundation, 87% of games released before 2010 are at risk of being lost forever, due to hardware deterioration, as well as licensing and ownership issues…

[satoshi-mochida]

REYNATIS ‘NEO: The World Ends With You Collaboration’ trailer

From Gematsu

Publisher FuRyu and developer Nastume Atari have released a new trailer for dark action RPG REYNATIS, which reveals an in-game collaboration with Square Enix‘s NEO: The World Ends With You.

Users will be able to play a sub-quest with a new story featuring Shoka Sakurane and others from NEO: The World Ends With You.

Here is a message from producer and director Takumi Isobe on the collaboration:

Does the “noise” at the end of the second trailer make sense now? That’s right—we’ve transcended company boundaries to make this exciting collaboration happen! And… surprises don’t just end on April Fools! Marin and the others acquire Reaper Pins and become participants in a strange game… What will happen? Find out in the new Shibuya storyline exclusive to REYNATIS! Please look forward to the fate of Marin and Shoka with excitement! The English version trailer will be released soon! Don’t miss it!

REYNATIS is due out for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Switch on July 25 in Japan, followed by PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC via Steam this fall in the west.

Watch the trailer below.

NEO: The World Ends With You Collaboration Trailer

[maximumspider]

[The Ninja Warriors Again] : Original Version & Remake Comparison

Despite it being the follow up to a thoroughly mediocre arcade game, The Ninja Warriors Again is an incredible beat’ em up for the Super Nintendo. 25 years after its original release, Natume would release a “remaster” for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PC. 

Branding this a remaster does the game a serious disservice. The Ninja Warriors Once Again features two new characters, two player co-op, new techniques, a new arranged soundtrack and brand new graphics.

At a glance, the new version looks pretty similar to the original, but characters have been redrawn to be considerably larger and with much smoother animations.

---

(Comparison gifs via NatsumeAtari's offical The Ninja Warriors Once Again website.)

[fganniversaries]

11 years ago today, Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan - Kansei was originally released on the PlayStation Portable at JP exclusively. It was developed by Natsume Atari Inc. and published by Bandai Namco Games.

[segadriven]

SEGA Publishing Shadow of the Ninja Reborn in Japan, Releasing August 2024

[7ooo-ru]

Релиз сайдскроллера Shadow of the Ninja Reborn отложен до лета

Издатели Natsume Atari и ININ Games, посовещавшись с разработчиком Tengo Project, приняли решение перенести релиз Shadow of the Ninja Reborn с ранее запланированного весеннего окна на лето.

Подробнее https://7ooo.ru/group/2024/01/26/523-reliz-saydskrollera-shadow-of-the-ninja-reborn-otlozhen-do-leta-grss-276650721.html

[first-impressions-gaming]

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising

Developed by Natsume Atari

Published by 505 Games

Release Date 2022

Tested on Xbox Series X

MSRP 14,99 USD

Imagine typical fetch quests (which are called ‘side missions’) in bland, boring, bloated and endless Ubisoft open world games (that’s right, I am winking at you Assassin’s Creed Valhalla), what would you say if I told you there is a whole game just made out of fetch quests? That’s right, that’s Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising in a nutshell. That has been a hard statement to make honestly, but this is what it is, I tried to hard to find a glimpse of something shining in this game to direct my impressions, sadly, there has been none.

I feel the need to stress that I only played 2 hours of this game (total playtime is around 13 hours, as per How Long To Beat It), therefore my opinion is more of ‘first impressions’ rather than a ‘review’, still I am calling this a review and I’ll explain myself more in depth as I’ll be discussing various aspects of the game.

Let’s start with the beginning, the story follows CJ, an adolescent self-exiled girl, who is a self-claimed ‘treasure hunter’, comes across a town on her way, she’s looking for some hot meal and a cosy bed to pass the night, in order to be accepted into this society she’s to complete chores (fetch quests), for citizens around the town, and you help rebuild buildings that were destroyed in recent devastating earthquakes.

At this point, everything looks promising, we, as CJ, are a vagabond young girl and we heed nobody in our way, we’re obstinate, hard-headed and decisive in our actions. With this personality, CJ is trying to hard to be accepted into this town, the acting-mayor of the town welcomes us by handing us a ‘stamp card’. This stamp card is to be filled with stamps that are given by townsfolk once we complete their requested fetch quests, this is necessary to obtain the ‘explorer’s licence’, a made-up licence similar to a working permit for a treasure hunter. In my 2-hour playtime, all I did was completing these fetch quests and sort-of main missions similar to fetch quests, and this progression is strictly linear because you are thrown at quests one after the other, there is no optional quests during this early-stage. When it comes to combat, it is pretty shallow actually, there is only one button for attack, don’t expect any fancy combos or character-specific skills or abilities.

For some missions, I thought the information displayed on the screen was missing. In the quest ‘Trouble in the Quarry’, the game doesn’t instruct you where to go on the screen, you need to head over to Active Quests in Quests menu, and it says it is ‘given by Karna. The Quarry’, you figure out you need to visit the Quarry to meet the relevant person. Why doesn’t it state which location to visit upon fulfilling the requirements? The need to check out by whom it is given by can be effortlessly removed, extra steps such as this are non-intuitive for players. Another case for inefficiency is this: two active quests for the same exact objective are displayed, ‘Trouble in the Quarry’s objective is ‘Complete Frida’s Quest’, and there is an already quest I am trying to accomplish, of which objective is Finding Paint for Frida. As far as I can understand, Trouble in the Quarry is an on-going main questline, whereas ‘An Armorer with an Eye for Fashion’ is a side quest, the game does not explain any of this, this must be the reason why two of them are displayed for the same objective.

Healing Potions can be found in Stowpack menu, which heals 500 HP, in order to see your exact HP you need to go Stats and Equipment menu, then return to Stowpack and use the consumable. You cannot see your exact HP in numbers or percentage in-game, that’s why there is at least three steps to go justo heal yourself. Healing your character is one of the most basic mechanics to do in a game, yet it is extremely cumbersome here.

After completing a fetch quest and helping rebuild Armor Shop you are to purchase/upgrade your armour, there are two options to choose from, which are Hunter Suit+ and Mercenary Armour+. In latter’s description, it mentions Garoo (our kangaroo teammate), so I gather this gear is for him, the thing is that Hunter Suit+ does not mention any character specifically, it would have been much better and helpful if the items had sated with which character the gear is compatible. The main issue comes from this: the gears display your stats and armour stats, if you don’t know for which character you are purchasing the item, how can you make a reasonable decision? In all its essence, the gear should be telling which item is for which character. 

The D-Pad buttons aren’t assigned to any control, I find this odd, it feels like a missed opportunity, the developers could have assigned shortcuts for Quests, Stowpack, Resource Bad or Storehouse which would have eliminated extra steps to access them.

Here are all the menus and sub-menus:

Stats and Equipment: here you find character stats and current gear

Stowpack: consumables such as health potions, balms to boost critical hits, attack speed temporarily.

Storehouse: Resources, Consumables, Accessories, Runes, Exploration Tools.

Resource Bag: Resources, Valuables

Just bear it with me, the menus are cluttered to the max, and they can be reduced in number for the better. For example, why is there two separate menus showing different consumables (in Stowpack and Storehouse), and these menus can be merged which would give the player a more intuitive and friendly experience. Stats and Equipment should list your accessories, runes, tools and as such, why would you need individual menus? As a player, I felt so lost in all these menus because it felt pretty pointless to have so many menus which harms the overall experience, there is one thing nobody can deny: if a design-choice or a mechanic hurts the user experience, it should be improved and upgraded, unfortunately I am leaving this game with a bad taste in my mouth. 

As I discussed so far, the UI leaves so much to be desired, let’s take two separate sub-menus which are titled ‘resources’, one of them in Storehouse, the other one in Resource Bag menus. First and foremost, the game does not teach you anything regarding these menus and why they exist for. I learned, by myself, that Resource Bag shows items you have looted so far in a hostile area, such as The Great Forest, the Quarry, once you extract from these locations, the items you looted are displayed as a list named ‘haul’. The thing is that you collect and loot various items yet there is zero explanation concerning where you can make use of them or how those items are valuable or beneficial to you.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is a game that makes me appreciate good design choices in other games in terms of mechanics, user interface, progression, quest design. Personally, I haven’t had such a let-down experience recently this big, I wish all the best for the upcoming game in the series, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, which is to be released in April 2024, and learn from its mistakes and failures.

[thesplintering]

Natsume’s “Shadow of the Ninja - Reborn” Coming to PC, Consoles in Spring 2024

Natsume’s “Shadow of the Ninja - Reborn” Coming to PC, Consoles in Spring 2024 | #retrogaming #xbox #steam #playstation #NintendoSwitch

Natsume Atari and ININ recently announced that Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn is currently in production for consoles and PC. Originally released in 1990 for the Nintendo Famicom (NES), Shadow of the Ninja (Blue Shadow in Europe and 闇の仕事人 KAGE in Japan… “Agent of Darkness: Shadow”, maybe? I’m trying) is a two-player co-op, side-scrolling action game that can be best described with hyphenated…

[gengamer110]

Classic NES Game Gets Remake - Shadow of The Ninja - Reborn

Natsume Atari Inc. and ININ are pleased to announce that a new title, “Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn” is currently in production. Following on the heels of last year’s hit title, Pocky & Rocky Reshrined, which sold more than 150,000 units worldwide, this is the fourth 16-bit style remake from TENGO PROJECT.  I covered Pocky & Rocky on my YouTube channel a while back. You can see the videos…

[crazygamecommunity]

KAGE Shadow of the Ninja annunciato per PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Switch e PC

Natsume Atari e lo sviluppatore Tengo Project hanno annunciato KAGE Shadow of the Ninja per PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Switch e PC (Steam). Read the full article

[abyx]

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising

Disfruta en @abyx_es del análisis de Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. @abyx_es @eiyuden @505Gamesspain @RpgSpain #abyx_es #百英雄伝 #100heroesstrong #EiyudenChronicle #505Gamesspain #review #analisis

Suikoden es uno de los mejores Action RPG que ha lanzado Konami y de los más recordados por los fans de los juegos de rol. Es por ello que gracias a una campaña de financiación de Kickstarted sus responsables Yoshitaka Murayama, Junko Kawano y Natsume Atari lanzarán un sucesor espiritual. El nombre de la nueva saga será Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. Gracias a los objetivos de dicha…

[satoshi-mochida]

FuRyu and Natsume Atari announce Shibuya-set action RPG REYNATIS for PS5, PS4, and Switch

From Gematsu

FuRyu has announced REYNATIS, a new action RPG for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Siwtch. It will launch both physically and digitally on July 25 in Japan for 7,980 yen. A physical “Liberators Box” limited edition will also be available for 12,680 yen, while a digital-only “Liberators Edition” will be available for 12,600 yen.

Here is an overview of the game, via its official website

About

A juvenile action RPG set in a realistic Shibuya, Tokyo, where two protagonists in different positions fight for the world they desire.

Story

Modern day Shibuya, Tokyo, where magic does not exist. Marin Kirizumi is a magician who has obtained power free from anyone’s constraints and aims for freedom. Sari Nishijima, who desires an orderly world, oversees magicians. The story begins to unfold when these two protagonists from different backgrounds meet…

Gameplay

Suppression and Liberation – Switch between “Suppression Mode” and “Liberation Mode” in real-time to perform flashy actions.

Exploration – Explore in “Suppression Mode” while concealing your identity. If the fact that you are a magician is revealed, the M.E.A. will immediately rush to the scene.

Staff

Scenario: Kazushige Nojima

Composer: Yoko Shimomura

Character Design: Yasutaka Kaburagi

Key Visual: Yusuke Naora

Pre-Rendered Movies: StudioGOONEYS

Planning / Producer / Director: Takumi Isobe (FuRyu)

Development: Natsume Atari

Watch the Nintendo Direct announcement video and first gameplay footage below. A proper first trailer will debut on February 26.

Nintendo Direct Trailer

[eliemcdowell]

[JEU TERMINE] Eiyuden Chronicle Rising Switch - Ellie 2022 # 6

[JEU TERMINE] Eiyuden Chronicle Rising Switch – Ellie 2022 # 6

Le mélange des genres de “Eiyuden Chronicle Rising” semblait très prometteur sur le papier. Néanmoins il a manqué beaucoup de talent à Natsume Atari, car le résultat était très loin des attentes suscitées. Les PLUS – La jolie direction artistique – Un système de combat inspiré par Valkyrie Profile Les MOINS – L’animation Ernest Evans des personnages jouables – La police d’écriture vraiment…

[fostersffff]

Pocky & Rocky Reshrined looks like it’s going to be every bit as good as Wild Guns Reloaded and The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors, but it’s hilariously funny that a consequence of the old localization is that the cast of characters is now Pocky, Rocky, and newcomers Ame-no-Uzume, Ikazuchi, and Hotaru Gozen.

Such is the power of branding.

[spritecell-com]

The Game Boy Advance was another Nintendo handheld with a short life. It saw a ton of cheap licensed games during its time. Statistics wise it doesn’t really stand out at all, I don’t believe it was the most or least anything.

Check out SpriteCell.com for my full 15,000 Nintendo Games project.