Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club 3-Part Demo Announced

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Aug 162024
 

I still can’t believe that only a few months after I said I wanted a new Famicom Detective Club game, not expecting it to happen, one is actually coming out.

We’re less than two months away from the release of Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club for the Switch, and now a demo has been announced to let us try it even sooner.

Nintendo has opted for an unusual format for this demo, as it will be released in three parts. The prologue and Chapter 1 will be available on August 19, Chapter 2 will be added on August 22, and finally Chapter 3 will be added on August 27. Demo progress can be transferred to the full game.

This is an interesting way to handle the demo, and it makes me wonder if they’re imagining it almost like a book club format. Give players one chapter at a time to discuss while awaiting the full release. That could spark more discussion around it. And since Emio drew so much attention from the marketing campaign, a lengthy demo is a good way for new players to see if they’ll like it.

Releasing the first three chapters as a demo also supports my prediction that Emio will be significantly longer than the first two games, since that would be a significant chunk of an 11-chapter game.

I’m not sure yet if I’ll play the Emio demo or not. I’ve got plenty of games in my backlog to occupy me until the full release… but on the other hand, I’m excited to experience this new mystery (and a head start will help me finish ahead of the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection)!

Are you planning to play Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club? How do you feel about this 3-part staggered demo format?

Bakeru Coming West on September 3, Demo Available Now

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Aug 142024
 

Last year, Otogi Katsugeki Mameda no Bakeru came out for the Nintendo Switch only in Japan.

It’s a 3D action platformer developed by Good-Feel, the company behind games like Yoshi’s Woolly World and the recent Princess Peach: Showtime, and is seen as a spiritual successor to the Ganbare Goemon series.

(The producer of that series founded Good-Feel.)

Set in “Fairy Tail Japan,” you set out to defeat the evil spirits and save Japan, using drums for combat and transforming into different forms to use different abilities.

And it’s coming west!

Titled simply Bakeru for its western release, the game will be out on September 3 for both Switch and PC. A couple new attacks and a new enemy have also been added, which is interesting.

Sadly, it appears like it will be a digital-only release in the west.

I’ve never played the Goemon games, but there’s a demo available for Bakeru, so I gave it a try. It seems like it will be a lot of fun! It’s stage-based, which I don’t enjoy as much as the more open collect-a-thon style of 3D platformers, but it still seems like the sort of game I’ll want to play eventually.

Are you interested in Bakeru?

Muv-Luv Strategy RPG Announced

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Aug 122024
 

We’ve got some more Muv-Luv news, although it’s not what I expected!

We haven’t talked about Muv-Luv since the announcement of the Switch versions (which did eventually come out in English), but now something new is on the table.

The developer has announced a Muv-Luv strategy RPG with the tentative title Muv-Luv Tactics.

Now, I’d much rather see them talking about the next visual novels in the series, Resonative and Integrate, but it’s nice to get even more Muv-Luv news that isn’t about gacha. I hope this means those visual novels are still being made.

No details about Muv-Luv Tactics have been revealed aside from a short teaser trailer, but they intend to crowdfund the game’s development.

They previously made an action game in Project Mikhail that saw a mixed reception on Steam, so here’s hoping Tactics fares better than that.

While I wouldn’t have predicted it, I can see Muv-Luv working well as a strategy RPG. More information about Muv-Luv Tactics will be revealed on October 19, which they’ve termed Muv-Luv Day. Since it’s Muv-Luv Day, maybe we’ll hear more about Resonative and Integrate as well!

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