So, after several years years, it finally occurred to me that I should start looking through video game press releases instead of regular old video game news outlets. However, the only site that posts press releases for public consumption is Gamasutra, while the more direct and, in my opinion, better organized Games Press is only available to industry professionals and the sort. So expect to see a lot of links back to that site. As for why I’m doing this? Well, I like feeling like a real games writer sometimes.
Another Pokemon Sun and Moon announcement was made, and like every announcement of this game prior to release, I’m going to cover it in a Rundown. First off, I was wrong about how Rockruff worked in Sun and Moon, as the two forms of its evolution Lycanroc, are not based on the day and night systems of the respective games. Rather, they are version exclusives, with the day from being exclusive to Sun, while the Night version is exclusive to moon. Although, the Pokemon is still a plain Rock type regardless of the form, so I don’t see them doing much more than filling up a slot in my box. They have too many weaknesses.
The next two Pokemon are version exclusive primates in the form of Passiman for Pokemon Sun, an aggressive looking white and black simian with a fruit on their head and another fruit in their hand so they can play with it like a ball. They are another pure Fighting type, and have an interesting ability that allows them to take a partner’s ability if they fall in a double battle. While Oranguru is exclusive to Moon, and is unsurprisingly an orangutan guru, a purple colored Psychic Normal type, meaning it is immune to Ghost attacks. They have a unique move that allows them to instruct partner Pokemon in double battles, and according to lore, use human items, including Pokeballs. Neat.
After the reveal of the newfangled Pocket Monsters, the fashion options in the game were lightly detailed, and are far more versatile than those in X and Y. For example, the player character no longer needs to wear a hat. Pokemon-Amie returns under the revised form of Pokemon Refresh, where you brush, rub, and scrub various Pokemon, healing them of status conditions in the process, and feeding them heart shaped Pokebeans. Also, Pikachu and Eevee will both receive an exclusive Z Move, with the former receiving a standard electric strike, while Eevee’s will involve the Pokemon meeting with their potential evolutions in a metaphysical plane, all of whom who join together to… boost the Eevee’s stats a bunch. Yeah, I was right to dismiss Z moves as being a minor inclusion that is as notable for the move as much as the Super Sentai styled pose the player character performs to hype their animal friend up.
Next up is… Do I seriously get to talk about this? Heck yeah! Released in 1993 and developed by the anime studio Gainax, Princess Maker 2 was a child raising simulator that was going to be localized by a company named SoftEgg, who struggled and failed to get the MS-DOS title released shortly after Windows 95 invalidated that subset of PC gaming. However, an unfinished version was distributed and leaked onto the internet, where it gained a very niche following. I actually played it through completion back in 2013, and found it to be quite deep, diverse, and engaging. So long as you visit Mad Eddy every couple months, because boy was it hard to make money otherwise.
Nearly two decades after the game’s attempted release, the rights to releasing the Princess Maker games outside of Japan fell into the hands of Korean game publisher CFK, who will be releasing the enhanced version of this game from 2004, Princess Maker 2 Refine, on Steam on October 3rd. I am stunned to see something like this happen, and am more than excited to check this game out when it is finally officially released in English. Although, I have to wonder if this version of the game will retain the breast enlargement pills and nudity options from the original. Probably not the latter, because I think the game classifies as legitimate child pornography then.
Following that is… Oh cripes. I previously explained this a few months ago, but this stuff bares repeating. Basically, a company called Westone Bit Entertainment entered an agreement with Sega to publish their arcade game, Wonder Boy, which in turn began spinning off into two franchises, Wonder Boy and Monster World, with some games belonging to both series… Just roll with it. These franchises were wholly owned by Sega, while Whetstone owned the actual games and entered an agreement with Hudson Soft about distributing them to other platforms. This resulted in a few Turbografx and PC Engine Ports of the Wonder Boy and Monster World games, and the far more beloved Adventure Island series, the first game of which is an adaptation of the first Wonder Boy.
I bring this up because CFK also acquired the rights to develop and publish an enhanced remake of the first Wonder Boy game, under the name of Wonder Boy Returns. Not to be confused with the DotEmu published Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap, or the spiritual successor that is being developed alongside one of the original creators, Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, originally known as Flying Hamster II. As for how Wonder Boy Returns looks, it looks like an unimpressive Flash remake of the game with dull designs, a boring art style, and little in the way of appealing gameplay. Anyways, the game is coming out Fall 2016, where it will launch exclusively on Steam and likely be ignored by all.
Alright, anything else on the topic queue? Um Dragon Ball Fusions is indeed coming to the west, with a North American release date of December 13, 2017. For as much as I love the general idea of two people fusing together, a love that Dragon Ball Z helped establish, I know that this game will not allow me to indulge in my fetishistic desires of fusing men and women together. Besides, it doesn’t look like a particularly great RPG.
Okay, that’s all I’ve got. I’m going back to the never ending void that is Dragon Quest VII…