A new Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase June 2022 aired this week, and since we’re a few days removed from the presentation, we’d like to hear your thoughts about what was shown.
We might as well start off with the closer of the event, which was the announcement that the mainline Persona series is finally bound for Switch. Persona 5 Royal is coming first this October, with Persona 4 Golden and Persona 3 Portable due out later. Speaking of ports, NieR: Auomata was finally confirmed for Switch and is also launching in October. Dragon Quest Treasures got a proper reveal, was confirmed for Switch, and received a December release date. Other announcements included Harvestella from Square Enix, Pac-Man World Re-Pac, Mega Man Battle Network Collection, Super Bomerman R 2, Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom, Blanc, and Little Noah: Scion of Paradise (which also launched on the same day). You can find the full recap of everything shown here.
What were your thoughts on the Nintendo Direct Mini: Partner Showcase for June 2022? Do you have a personal highlight? Let us know in the comments below.
Publisher Sekai Project, along with developers CreSpirit, Storia, and Narrator, today announced that A Light in the Dark is making its way to Switch. The visual novel is slated for this fall.
For more on A Light in the Dark, read the following overview:
Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II will be released in the west in 2023, Aksys Games confirmed at Anime Expo 2022 today.
The game has thus far been known as its Japanese title Shinigami: Shibito Magire. It was funded via crowdfunding at the very end of 2019. Most recently, it was delayed from September 15 to December 1 in Japan.
Today, Aksys Games announced that it’s bringing Shuuen no Virche -ErroR:salvation- to the west. The otome visual novel is expected to hit overseas territories in 2023.
Shuuen no Virche -ErroR:salvation- first appeared on Switch in Japan last October. This is the first time we’re hearing about plans for localization.
Another announcement from Aksys Games coming out of Anime Expo 2022 is that Radiant Tale is heading west. A release window was not provided, however.
Radiant Tale has been on Switch since its Japanese debut back in May. This is one of Idea Factory’s otome visual novels.
Aksys Games today unveiled that it is localizing Norn9: Var Commons and Norn9: Last Era for the west. Both are otome visual novels for Switch.
Thanks to Aksys Games, we have the following overview for Norn9: Var Commons and Norn9: Last Era:
At Anime Expo 2022 today, publisher Aksys Games and developer Dreamloop Games announced the social thriller Inescapable. Switch and other platforms will be getting the title in 2023.
Inescapable takes place on a tropical island resort in which the main character has been kidnapped and forced to participate in a twisted reality TV show with ten strangers. Those that make it to the end will be given $500,000, but the catch is that the island has no rules and no escape. Aksys says the story “explores human nature and how far people will go for social clout, wealth, and their own desires – and how much further they might be willing to go when they have permission to ignore the rules.”
Bandai Namco showed off the first English gameplay from Digimon Survive at Anime Expo 2022 today. We’ve seen plenty of trailers thus far and some footage in Japanese, but this is our first proper look at the localized build.
You can learn more about Digimon Survive by checking out the following overview:
Speaking with Nintendo Everything, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope producer Xavier Manzanares has discussed the origins of the project and how it came to be.
According to Manzanares, the team first sat down around Summer 2018 and discussed what the future could be. Having a follow-up be “surprising” was key, and making it stand out from Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle was important in order to move forward. That led to a change in how Sparks of Hope handles battles as well as expanding the scope to allow for more exploration and gameplay features.
2017’s Golf Story proved that there is a market for sports-themed RPGs, and Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest is attempting to bring a similar style of retro-themed gameplay and role-playing to the sport of wrestling (or wrasslin’, if you prefer). Rather than taking a serious simulation-focused approach, WrestleQuest leans hard into the absurdity and humor that often takes place in the sport in real life and cranks it all up as high as possible. I had a chance to check out the game at Summer Game Fest recently, and although I don’t yet have a full sense for just how deep WrestleQuest’s RPG mechanics will go, wrestling fans will certainly find a lot to love here.
WrestleQuest takes the concept of idolizing one’s heroes to a literal interpretation, as the protagonist of the game – Muchacho Man – lives in a world where there are giant statues of famous wrestlers scattered all over the place. If you’re familiar with the major names in the history of modern wrestling – Macho Man Savage, Andre the Giant, Jake the Snake, etc. – you’ll run across quite a few cameos in the game that you can interact with in some capacity. These real-life athletes act as the main protagonist’s guiding sources of inspiration as he tries to get his wrestling career up and running.
