Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Radiant Tale -Fanfare!- Will Be Out on June 27

 Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Mar 202024
 

One of the otome games announced during February’s All Aksys showcase that I’ve been looking forward to is Radiant Tale -Fanfare!-, the fandisc for Radiant Tale.

If you weren’t here for our past fandisc discussions, you can think of it as a game-length epilogue or a sort-of sequel focused more on fluff than plot.

I had a lot of fun with Radiant Tale, a lighthearted romance about a circus troupe bringing happiness in a fantasy world, and I finished it hoping the fandisc would be localized.

Now it has a release date: June 27.

Aksys announced the release date yesterday, while also opening preorders. Since I’d nearly preordered Tengoku Struggle and Tokyo Xanadu the night before, only to decide to wait until morning, that was incredible timing. Preordering them all together let me get free shipping!

I’m looking forward to Radiant Tale -Fanfare!- and I hope I’ll be reasonably caught up on my backlog by then (hah).

In other otome news, Idea Factory revealed the opening movie and limited edition for the Cupid Parasite fandisc, which has no release date yet beyond 2024.

Unrelated to both of those, the upcoming otome game Him, the Smile & Bloom will launch with both Japanese and English options. I wasn’t familiar with this one before, but it looks cute… although that English title has me waiting to see more about the translation before I go for it.

It’s a good time to be an otome fan!

Will The Thousand-Year Door Lead to a Paper Mario Revival?

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Mar 182024
 

It’s a good time to be a fan of Mario RPGs, which isn’t something we’ve been able to say in a long time.

Not only did Super Mario RPG get remade last year, but a remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is due out on May 23.

I’m excited for that remake because I love Thousand-Year Door and think the remake looks beautiful, but I also can’t help but hope that this could lead to a revival of the Paper Mario series in general.

It’s no secret that I’ve been… critical… of the direction Paper Mario took starting with Sticker Star. (Heck, my reaction to Color Splash’s announcement made it into one of Arlo’s videos, and even though I enjoyed Color Splash more than Sticker Star, I still wasn’t exactly thrilled with it.) But with Thousand-Year Door coming to a new audience, things might finally change.

I haven’t played Origami King yet, and I do intend to, to see if the story is as big an improvement over Color Splash as people say. But one of the most perplexing things we’ve discussed in regards to Paper Mario is the Origami King interview in which the producer suggested RPGs are too hardcore for a casual audience.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is not a “hardcore” game. Turn-based RPG combat is not inherently harder to understand than what they did in the later Paper Mario games. It’s an argument that never made sense to me, and I hope this new remake will prove it wrong.

If Super Mario RPG and Thousand-Year Door both do well, it might prove that it isn’t just a small hardcore audience clamoring for Mario RPGs after all.

And then… will we finally get a new Paper Mario in the old style after all?

That’s something I’d stopped hoping for. I’d given up and let Bug Fables fill the void Paper Mario left behind. I’d resigned myself to the fact that Paper Mario would never be an RPG series again.

But anything is on the table now.

This is more than just a simple port. It suggests they have actual faith that classic Paper Mario is worth paying attention to. Of course, I’d be happy to see the original Paper Mario and Super Paper Mario get remakes as well, but the possibility of a new classic-style Paper Mario game is now at the top of my list. If such a game was announced as a launch title for the next Nintendo console, that’s something that would get me there day one.

Do you think we’ll see a new Paper Mario game in the style of the originals?

A Jack Jeanne Sequel is in Development!

 Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Mar 152024
 

Almost exactly a month ago, I reviewed Jack Jeanne and wished for a sequel, even though I thought the scale of the project made it unlikely.

But it’s actually happening.

It’s actually happening! A Jack Jeanne sequel is in development!

Jack Jeanne had a third anniversary live stream this morning, and although I didn’t watch since there was no translation, I woke up to the news that they announced a new game project, a live-reading drama, a new drama CD, and a new novel.

The sequel announcement is the biggest and most unexpected pieces of news. Next to no information is available so far; even the Famitsu article about it only lists the announced projects.

But even with next to no information, the fact that Ishida and Towada are making a sequel is enough for me to be excited! I loved Jack Jeanne, I wanted a sequel so much, and I’ll be looking forward to this no matter how long it takes (I’m expecting years before it’s even out and then another wait for localization).

Fingers crossed we get routes for some of the side characters, along with continuations of the original love interests’ stories! And since the music was so great, I can’t wait to hear see the sequel’s performances are like.

Are you looking forward to the Jack Jeanne sequel?

 Older Entries  Newer Entries