Shining Blade

Shining Series artist releases his art book ‘Tony’s Artworks From Origin’ tomorrow

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TonysArtOriginRegardless of what you think of Tony Takas art since taking over the Shining franchise’s art duties all the way back in 2004, he seems to have acquired a massive following in Japan. While the Shining series has had trouble selling copies of their games, it seems that Japan responded positively to Tony Taka’s character designs. So much so that there is a ton of Shining series merch being sold, more so than the actual games. Tony Taka has even released a couple of Shining related art books as well, this will be more broad artwork he has done in the past.

AmiAmi will be selling the “Tony’s ART works from Origin” book which is set to feature various character designs from his career including magazine covers and vocaloids he has designed, including a long form interview looking at his history these past 20 years. The book will come in A4 page format, will have a hardcover backing and clear slip on box. The book will set you back 5,000 yen ($46), will have 100 pages and feature 80 illustrations. The details of the book also brag that about 30 of the character designs in the book got made into figurines. Good for you Tony Taka, I guess.

Hit the jump to check out preview pages of some of the artwork that will be in the book:

[Via AmiAmi]

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Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena demo now on Steam

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Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena demo header

A Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena demo has been released on Steam, allowing users to sample the game’s online multiplayer mode with 3 of the 16 characters.

Blade Arcus from Shining: Battle Arena was released to Steam on July 28th, 2016 and is based on Blade Arcus from Shining 2.1 EX, the most recent arcade version. It’s a 2D fighting game featuring characters from the Sega-published Shining Blade and Shining Hearts games.

Unfortunately, the game has potentially only sold a little over 2,000 copies if you go by the numbers SteamSpy suggests for it. Hopefully those excited to try it before buying will be able to find some online opponents this week thanks to the demo’s release.

The full game features a Story Mode, Training Mode, and local Versus Mode in addition to the Online Mode the demo restricts you to. If you fall in love with it, thankfully you’ll always have those and the new weekly tournament event to fall back on.

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SEGA bringing its Shining spin-off arcade game Blade Arcus from Shining EX to PS4 and PS3

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SEGA Japan has announced that they are porting the 2D arcade fighting spin-off Blade Arcus from Shining to the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 via Famitsu. SEGA will add ‘EX’ to the end of the game because the game will have loads of extras, including new playable characters.

In Japan the game will get two releases, a standard that will cost 6,990 yen ($56 USD) and a limited edition costing 9,990 yen ($80 USD). All first print copies come with the character Sonia from Shining Resonance. The “Blade Arcus from Shining EX Tony’s Premium Fan Box” limited edition comes with a Tony Taka-illustrated special box, “Shining Heroine Works” art book, Shining Ark character song CD, Shining Blade soundtrack CD, and “Shining Beach Heroines” swimsuit calendar.

As for it coming west, SEGA probably wants to see how Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax does later next month. As for the characters, if you are a old school Shining Force fan, don’t get too excited since all in-game characters are from Shining Hearts/Blade (some original characters for the game too). Hit the job to see who made the cut. 

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SEGA’s Shining cross-over fighting game reveals six playable characters

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SEGA is putting together a Shining cross-over fighting game and calling the game ‘Blade Arcus from Shining‘. The 2D fighting game will run location tests in Japan from May 9th to May 11th in Akihabara. Blade Arcus will allow users to test six characters, which include two new characters just for this game.

  • Ryuga (new)
  • Pairon Wong (new)
  • Rage from Shining Blade
  • Sakuya from Shining Blade
  • Xiao-Mei from Shining Hearts
  • Altina from Shining Blade

Given that SEGA has taken this franchise everywhere from a hack’n’slash arcade game to various role-playing games, does an entry into the 2D fighting game market excite you? Would having classic Shining Force characters matter?

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New Shining video game is an arcade fighting game, check out the trailer

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Today SEGA announced the latest entry in the Shining franchise, Blade Arcus from Shining, a 2D arcade fighting game. Tony Taka, the man responsible for most of the franchise’s character designs of the last decade, has returned to design the characters for this game. I’m disappointed by this bit of news, as I don’t care for his work in the franchise.

The game will feature characters from Shining Blade, like Sakuya and Rage, as well as least two new characters. Blade Arcus from Shining is set to come out this summer in Japan.

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Shining Blade characters will cameo in Samurai & Dragons

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Shining Blade was the last Shining title for the PSP, seems it will be making an appearance on the Playstation Vita via its cameo appearance in Samurai & Dragons. SEGA announced that they will be releasing a special pack of cards for their free-to-play Playstation Vita title that will include appearances from Shining Blade universe.

The special pack will be on sale from May 23rd through June 20th. The back will cost you 300CP. This game is Japan only with no announcement of bringing it over to America.

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Japanese Charts: Yakuza on PSP debuts at #2, Shining Blade still charting

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The weekly Japanese charts came in and have Black Panther 2: Yakuza Ashura Chapter debuting at number 2. The Black Panther series is a spin-off of the Yakuza series on the PSP. This is the second title. Unlike console versions of Yakuza, the handheld version features its own playable main character and not Kazuma Kiryu. The game sold 104,937 units. The game came out March 22nd and since the chart ended on the 25th, the game only got 3 days of sales counted. We should be seeing it next week.

The second SEGA title to chart this week was another PSP game, this one Shining Blade. It’s funny actually, Shining Blade came out a week ago and charted at number 2 when it was out selling 122,257 units. So yeah, Shining Blade debuted better than Black Panther 2. This week Shining Blade dropped to number 10 and pushed an additional 19,032 units. So far Shining Blade has sold  141,289 units.

Not bad at all. I guess SEGA was in the right when they decided to still release PSP games in Japan instead of moving development to Playstation Vita.

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The next Shining Project might end up being a browser game

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Well, remember back when I said there was going to be a teaser for the next Shining project in the retail version of Shining Blade? Guess what? Some people have gotten their copies of Shining Blade in advance. So what is the next Shining project? It would seem that it is a browser game that plays like Shining Hearts with farming elements added on to it. Shining Hearts seems sort of perfect for this, what with it letting you raise your own pet.

The Shining Blade twitter also called this announcement the “biggest thing in the series history” for t he last week or so. Is this their big news? Its hard to tell since SEGA as also shared details on a Shining Hearts anime, which will be airing in April.  That isn’t all, there will be a Shining series costume sets in Phantasy Star Universe.

 

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Shining Blade gets two Japanese commercials

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zx5_pQ00tvo

Above is the 30 second spot that will be airing over in Japan. Seems that SEGA is going to go out and promote this PSP title, even though the Vita just came out. Do you think it was a good idea to skip the Vita for now?

Hit the jump for the second spot, this one shorter at 15 seconds.

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SEGA is already working on the next Shining project

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SEGA seems to be pushing the Shining series as much as possible, so much so that they tweeted an announcement on their Shining Blade twitter account. What was it? Well, a hint on the next Shining game will be inside of Shining Blade’s package.

So what is the announcement? We don’t know, we will have to wait till the game comes out on March 15th in Japan. If it was Capcom, i’d wager it was the announcement of “Ultimate Shining Blade”.

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First gameplay trailer of SEGA’s Shining Blade released

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SEGA has finally shown gameplay segments for their up and coming Playstation Portable exclusive Shining Blade. Starring several characters that have appeared in the recent Shining games, Shining Blade looks to build upon Valkyria Chronicles BLiTZ system with the titles very own Concerto system. The trailer showcases the characters (Ranging from humans to mystical creatures) towns, the battlefields, enemies and even bosses. Unfortunately SEGA has no plans to bring this title over, but for those willing to port the title seem set to play another enjoyable Shining game. The title is set to launch in Japan on March 15th 2012.

[Thanks Suzuki Yu for the tip!]

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SEGA to have upcoming games playable at Jump Festa

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SEGA will have the majority of their handheld titles (and one arcade title) playable at Jump Festa. Check out the list of playable titles.

  • Samurai & Dragons (Vita)
  • Shining Blade (PSP)
  • Rhythm Thief R (3DS)
  • Hatsune Miku and Future Stars Project Mirai (3DS)
  • Hatsune Miku Project Diva Arcade (Arcade)
By the time that the show starts, Puyo Puyo will already be out (comes out 12/15). As for Project Diva Arcade, this one is already out  in game centers. Everything else is a 2012 title.
So what do you get for playing unreleased games? Free swag. Isn’t that awesome? If you live in Japan, the event will start on December 17th and end on the 18th at the Makuhari Messe outside of Tokyo.

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SEGA trademarks the name Shining Blade

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SEGA is still making Shining games, their last entry was the PSP title Shining Hearts, so don’t be shocked if you see Shining Blade announced for the Playstation Vita. Of course, all Shining games have stayed exclusive to Japan.

As for more information on the title we don’t know. I guess it might be announced next month at TGS.

[Source: Siliconera]

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