Operation Backlog Completion 2025
Mar 242023
 

The end of an era is upon us. On Monday, the 3DS and Wii U eShops will shut down forever.

Nintendo gave us ample forewarning, with the announcement coming a year in advance, but if you’re like me, you probably held out for some potential last-minute sales.

Capcom pulled through with a final 3DS eShop sale in North America. All of their 3DS games are on sale for $2.99 each, except for those that were published by Nintendo instead. This is a great chance to pick up the Ace Attorney games at an incredible price, especially since Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice are digital-only (and I loved both games).

NISA also put Culdcept Revolt on sale for $7.49 and RPG Maker Fes on sale for $2.99. I remember getting Culdcept Revolt at launch… and it’s still in my backlog. NISA has a somewhat more impressive sale in Europe due to the games they published there.

Finally, Gurumin is also on sale for $1.99. Although I played the PC version, not the 3DS port, it’s an easy recommendation at that price.

We’re only a few days away from the shutdown date, so I doubt any more sales are on the way. I’ve been making my final 3DS and Wii U eShop purchases, from games too expensive to pick up physically like Yo-kai Watch 3 and Dragon Quest VIII, to digital-only titles like the Parascientific Escape series, to virtual console titles like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky and Golden Sun: The Lost Age.

All in all, I ended up with a list of 15 games to pick up from the eShop, along with a couple physical 3DS games I ordered in anticipation of the prices shooting up once the eShop closes down.

If you’re still figuring out what you want from the eShop, I’ll repeat my recommendation of the Ace Attorney series. I still have hope Capcom intends to port the fourth, fifth, and sixth games to modern platforms, but there’s no guarantee. (Hopefully someday I’ll look back on this with the same fond smile as when I read my old posts where I was desperately wishing for The Great Ace Attorney.) For the Wii U, Xenoblade Chronicles X is an easy recommendation, since it’s an excellent game stranded on the Wii U with no Switch port in sight.

What 3DS and Wii U games do you recommend people pick up before the eShop shuts down?

Mar 222023
 

Last July, one of the exciting announcements from Spike Chunsoft’s Anime Expo 2022 showcase was that Anonymous;Code would be released in the west in 2023.

Now the release date has been announced. Anonymous;Code will be out on September 8.

Not only that, but it’s actually getting an English dub. I was pretty surprised, since none of the others have gotten a dub (and it’s a rarity for visual novels in general), but it seems like they’re going all out for this release.

(If you prefer to pay with the Japanese voice acting, that will also be an option.)

Anonymous;Code is the most recent entry in the Science Adventure series, which also includes Chaos;Head and Chaos;Child, Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0, and Robotics;Notes and Robotics;Notes DaSH.

It seems like it’s generally recommended to have played all of them before Anonymous;Code (though maybe not DaSH, since I’ve seen it classified as a spin-off), so I have my work cut out for me.

Occultic;Nine also fits in there somewhere, but it’s an incomplete light novel series with an anime adaptation of debatable quality and an unlocalized visual novel adaptation that was supposed to get an expanded port with additional story content, but that was cancelled. If you specifically remember Occultic;Nine not being part of the Science Adventure series, it’s not a Mandela effect, but rather a retcon. It’s part of the series now, and apparently relevant to Anonymous;Code just like the others. Maybe I’ll give the anime another try.

Getting back to the matter at hand, you might be a bit wary of Anonymous;Code because of the poor state Chaos;Head Noah was in when it launched in English last year. However, the translator for this one seems to have a good track record, so we shouldn’t run into those same problems.

Are you looking forward to Anonymous;Code?

Mar 202023
 

One of our romance games we discussed in February was the otome game Amnesia Later, the first Amnesia: Memories fandisc included in Amnesia Later x Crowd.

After finishing that, I took a short break and then moved on to the second game in the collection, Amnesia Crowd.

The content here is a bit more varied than in Later. First, each character has a new “suspense” story, set during the events of the original game. While this means a return to a silent protagonist with Orion providing commentary, the stories more than make up for it. As a fan of mystery and suspense games, these were an absolute delight. They even have some light point & click elements.

Then there is the “work” segment of the game. This is a new world (with a new Waka, and I still want a Waka fandisc where we date every Waka) mostly told with chibi character sprites.

It features mini-games as you work various jobs at the cafe. Playing these mini-games and interacting with the LIs in between lets you unlock a variety of different scenarios. The mini-games are simple, so it can get tedious to try to play these routes all in a row, but it made for a nice change of pace interspersed between regular routes.

Each love interest has a romantic after story, which is the main feature. These are set after the stories in Later (so the main character gets dialogue and thoughts in these) and show the further development of their relationship. I think I’d give the edge to the Later after stories, but Crowd’s were still enjoyable.

Click for Amnesia Crowd spoilers
While I’m not the biggest Toma fan, the part of his route where Kent and Ikki saw the cage and drew their own conclusions was so funny, and then the later scene with Shin made it even funnier.

There’s also a “communication” after story for each love interest, where you pick dialogue choices to fill up an affection meter and then get a new scene. I would have liked if the conversation flow felt a bit more natural, but it’s a neat idea.

While those are Crowd’s main features, there’s one last section where you can interact with Orion, take a quiz about Amnesia, and unlock new scenarios. You also can play poker and blackjack against the love interests, although there isn’t much to that mode.

Overall, Amnesia Crowd has a good variety of content, with the after stories being a great way to conclude the romances and the other stories providing additional fun. I’d say I enjoyed it more than Later, despite Later having the advantage in some areas. With both fandiscs being enjoyable, I’d say Amnesia Later x Crowd is well worth it for any Amnesia fan, even if you only like a handful of the love interests like I do.

(There is one more fandisc, Amnesia World, which is still exclusive to Japan. From what I’ve read, it has a bigger focus on mini-games. We’ll see if we ever get Amnesia World localization – maybe if IFI decides to announce more otome games beyond Charade Maniacs.)