It’s sure taken its time getting here, but North American 3DS owners can now get their hands on Samba de Amigo director Shun Nakamura’s latest rhythm adventure.
Combining rhythm mini-games with puzzles and light exploration elements, the game’s a good bit of fun and has no shortage of charm.
Check out its official launch trailer above and be sure to pick it up while you can still find it.
UPDATE: A US trailer has been released, revealing a US release date of November 20th, 2012. Also, we have package art for the 360, PS3, 3DS and Vita after the break.
With Comic Con comes many announcements, and not just ones pertaining to comic books. SEGA has officially announced a release date for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Trasformed, at least for the UK: November 16th, 2012. I’d guess that this means the US release date will either fall on November 13th or November 20th. Ah yes, and that lovely trailer. No real new reveals, though it does show off a bit more of the CG intro and features Sonic and friends plus Joe Musashi, Gilius Thunderhead, Vyse and other already revealed SEGA all-stars. I do like how the Panzer Dragoon track is the setting for the intro. Enjoy the trailers and mark your calendars!
Today, the first original SEGA rhythm game since the days of Space Channel 5 and Samba de Amigo, makes it’s debut. Rhythm Thief, available exclusively for the 3DS, is part rhythm gam and part Professor Layton-esque puzzle game, with a healthy amount of inspiration from SEGA’s classic rhythm games sprinkled throughout. This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, since the game is directed by Samba de Amigo director and Sonic Team alumni Shun Nakamura.
To mark the occasion, the good people over at Random Encounter Entertainment have put together a little musical based around the game’s characters and plot. It’s a funny little musical number that does a pretty good job of actually explaining what the game is about. Big thanks goes to the people of Random Encounter for putting together this little tribute to a game that will probably go ignored when it is released today, and to Aaron Webber for both co-producing this and sending it in to us!
There’s no doubt about it; there are many games out there, all of them vying for your money and attention in a competitive marketplace. At a time when the industry’s favoring, by and large, a play-it-safe approach to development, it’s always a breath of fresh air when a game surfaces that feels like something truly unique. Judging by its latest demo (now available on the 3DS’ North American eShop) Rhythm Thief and the Emperor’s Treasure is one such game.
Looks like RPG fans on the 3DS will have quite a choice to make this October. It’s being reported that SEGA’s mashup with Namco and Capcom, Project X Zone, will be releasing not only in the same month, but on the same day, as Square-Enix’s upcoming handheld RPG, Bravely Default.
Both titles will see release for the 3DS on October 11th in Japan, with no Western plans yet announced for either; given Square-Enix’s localization track record in recent years, however, Bravely Default’s Western release is looking a bit more likely.
Do you think it’s a smart idea to go up against Square-Enix? Or does Project X Zone have the brand name recognition to crush the new IP? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
Here is the first edition run of Project X Zone. Looks pretty awesome, right? What do you get?
Finally! U.S. gamers can get their hands on a demo of the upcoming rhythm-based game, Rhythm Thief and the Emperor’s Treasure. The demo feature 3 levels to give you a good feel for the game. Here’s a quote from Sega’s announcement this morning.
Good news everyone! The Rhythm Thief Demo launches today across North America in the 3DS E Shop! You play as Raphael, a normal every day kid by day, and Phantom R by night – the heroic thief who is famous among Parisians for stealing paintings only to return them a few days later. There’s a mystery afoot, with full map navigation across Paris, intricate and involved story, and tons of musical mini-games.
Rhythm Thief and the Emperor’s Treasure will be available Tuesday, July 10th.
Now, just because they promise 200 characters, doesn’t mean there will be 200 playable characters. It just means there will be a ton of cameos, some will be villains others NPCs. If you haven’t heard about Project X Zone, it will feature characters from SEGA, Namco-Bandai and Capcom in a tactical RPG on the Nintendo 3DS.
I know what you are saying, “When is the game out?” Sadly, the game hasn’t been announced for release outside of Japan and I doubt it will make its way out of there. Namco x Capcom on the PS2 stayed Japan exclusive as well.
Project X Zone has been teasing just how big the game will be. They have confirmed that the game will have 90 voice actors, which lead people to believe there will be at least 90 characters in the full game. Of course this doesn’t mean there will be that many characters, I guess we will have to see how many characters make it to the final roster.
Now another number has been confirmed, over 45 songs will make it into the game. Each character will have a song from their game during battle. If you pair two characters together you will get songs from either character in your team at random. Also the field map and event music is being pulled from source materiel. Only because this is a crossover title, doesn’t mean there won’t be original music. The developers already stated they are working on some for the game’s scenario sequences. The title song for the game will also be original and is called “Mysterious Project”.
The developers already teased that the next update will be details on the gameplay systems.
As this Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion only has a loose SEGA connection, and is neither developed nor published by SEGA, consider this our only article on the game.
While SEGA did not feature prominently at last night’s Nintendo 3DS E3 Software Showcase, aside from a mention of Rhythm Thief, SEGA got an indirect mention when Warren Spector and Peter Ong of DreamRift took the stage. Ong shared his love for Castle of Illusion, stating that for a time as a child he played the full game once a day. His love for the Genesis classic carried over to his pitch to Junction Point Studios for how he and his studio would develop a 3DS Epic Mickey game. The end result is much less Epic Mickey inspired, and much more Castle of Illusion inspired. In fact, the trailer states “a beloved hero returns to a castle of illusion” and Castle of Illusion sound effects return including the item collection and jump sounds. The mushroom enemies from Castle of Illusion’s first stage make an appearance, hearts are used for health and paint replaces apples as a projectile attack. You can even butt bounce on enemies heads. Essentially it is a full-on sequel. One off bit was the mention of Mizrabel of Castle of Illusion returning as the main villain, yet Sleeping Beauty’s Maleficent was shown. So either they goofed and mistook one villainess for another, or figured they’d use a more recognizable evil witch for the new game. Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion releases this Fall.
Though it was only given a brief mention at Nintendo’s 3DS-specific E3 press conference, it serves as confirmation that SEGA’s Rhythm Thief is indeed still going to see release in North America. A demo will be released this summer, which hopefully indicates a release date in the very near future.
The well-received rhythm game is already available in Europe and Japan.
There has been a new batch of Project X Zone screens released today, these screens show off roaming and event scenes. Not only will the game be using characters from SEGA, Namco and Capcom franchises; they’ll also be using areas from their games. One that stands out to me is Peacock’s Cyberspace from the Mega Man series. If you want to see the latest list of franchises in the game, click here.
Saw a few people point out that some of the character art released was actually re-used from Namco X Capcom, a game they made during the PS2 era. Yes, this game is basically the sequel on the Nintendo 3DS.
Shun Nakamura earned his SEGA respect back in the day when he created Samba De Amigo that apppeared in Arcades, SEGA Dreamcast and later ported over to the Nintendo Wii. He is now working on his new IP known as Rhythm Thief & the Emperor’s Treasure on the 3DS. In the interview he was asked if he could work on a Nintendo franchise what would it be?
” I would rather pick out no titles! Honestly, I would like to enjoy Nintendo titles just as a user rather than developer, because most of them are too great and seem so hard to develop. If I had to, I’d ideally create something like Nintendo All Star Musical, a rhythm game like Rhythm Thief using Nintendo characters and background music. Mario rhythmically follows the stage while Koopa Troopa’s location is based on the rhythm, and that makes a track, for example. Nintendo, I’m looking forward to your offer!” – Shun Nakamura
Sadly the interview conducted by Computer and Videogames is very Nintendo related, disappointing me since I have like 30 questions I would love to ask Shun Nakamura about Samba de Amigo.
Famitsu has announced lots of new details for the upcoming 3DS crossover video game called Project X Zone. Project X Zone will include characters from Capcom, Namco, and your favorite publisher, SEGA, in a tactical RPG game. The developer for the title has been announced as non other than Monolith Software. At first you will be excited since they created the Xenosaga franchise and the new(ish) Wii RPG Xenoblade Chronicles, but they also developed Namco x Capcom on the PS2; which wasn’t that great of a game.
Hit the jump to see new gameplay details, Famtisu scans and a full list of confirmed characters!
I sit down with Joe Neate, Producer for Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed, to have a talk with him about the game. Will All Stars be usable online? Will there be more online modes? Will there be a larger number of franchises represented? Find that out and more in the video interview above.
This isn’t the entire story, though. For a more Sonic centric interview, check out Nuckles87’s interview over at Sonic Stadium!