Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy Might Get a Physical Release in North America After All

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , , ,
Nov 242023
 

I’ve been pretty excited for the upcoming release of the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy, but the one disappointing fact was that it seemed to be digital-only in the west again.

However, that might not be completely true anymore.

Yesterday, listings started going live at Canadian retailers for a physical ESRB copy of the Apollo Justice Trilogy for the Switch. VGP even confirmed it and said anyone who preordered the import with them and wants to change to the North American version should get in touch.

So it seems the North American Switch version, at least, will be available as a physical copy. (Amazon Canada listed it as the “Pollo Justice Trilogy”, which is questionable, but everything else seems legitimate.) Other retailers haven’t followed suit yet, but yesterday being Thanksgiving might have something to do with that.

I’m excited about this for several reasons. First, I just like having physical copies of my games. I’m one of those people who preordered the import already since it seemed like it would be digital-only here. Second, since Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice were digital-only 3DS releases, this will be the first time those games are getting a physical release in North America! And third, this bodes well for how Capcom views the series.

I mentioned earlier this year that Ace Attorney’s future looks brighter than ever (or at least brighter than it has been in over a decade). The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles getting a localization and a physical Switch release in North America felt like Capcom had faith in the series, faith rewarded by its excellent sales. The Apollo Justice Trilogy being made at all was already another promising sign, and if it’s getting a physical release in North America, that really suggests Capcom believes it will sell enough to be worth it.

(Though apparently they don’t have that same faith in European and PS4 players, let alone Xbox players.)

This is exciting! I’m more convinced than ever that Capcom will follow through with more Ace Attorney games, such as our long-awaited Ace Attorney 7. In the meantime, I’ll be trying to switch my import preorder to an ESRB copy and keeping an eye on other retailers to see if they’ll list the Apollo Justice Trilogy as well.

Will you be buying a physical release of the Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy?

Atelier Resleriana is Coming West

 Video games  1 Response »  Tagged with:
Nov 222023
 

Remember back in August when I was excited for the upcoming announcement of a new Atelier game and then never said anything about it ever again?

(Well, not entirely. I mentioned it briefly when making TGS predictions.)

I woke up early that morning to watch the live stream, and they did indeed announce the next mainline entry… which turned out to be a gacha game for mobile and PC, Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night.

A mobile gacha game being the next mainline entry was not well-received by fans, and many assumed it would never come west anyway. Well, it’s still a mobile gacha game, but it was recently announced that it will be coming west after all, in 2024.

It’s a shame it’s a gacha game, because it looks beautiful.

But you know how I am with this type of game. Even when it’s something that interests me quite a bit, like Tears of Themis or Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis, I find it a difficult format to stick with. Reception to Resleriana’s Japanese release doesn’t seem too great, either.

Nevertheless, if you were hoping for a western release of Atelier Resleriana, you’ll get your wish next year.

I doubt the backlash to Resleriana would be as strong if it had been announced as a spin-off title. Being a main entry, however, has fans worried that it could define the series going forward if it’s successful. On the other hand, the optimistic view is that a successful mobile game could provide Gust with enough funding for future console Atelier games to have higher quality. Time will tell.

For me personally, I just see it as a break in their normally-rapid release schedule for me to make progress with the previous games… as I have more Atelier games in my backlog than any other series.

How do you feel about Atelier Resleriana? Do you intend to try it when it comes out in the west next year?

Metroid Dread is Exciting, Tense, and Fun

 Reviews, Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Nov 202023
 

It took me long enough to get here, but I finally played Metroid Dread.

I actually started it last October, but played only about an hour or so and then put it on hold until this year, when I started over since I’d made so little progress the first time.

Metroid Dread is set after the events of Metroid Fusion, which makes it the latest game in the timeline, and follows Samus as she heads to a remote planet to investigate the loss of contact with the EMMI robots deployed there.

EMMI featured heavily in the marketing, because it adds a new element to the gameplay. While most of the world is the usual Metroid-style exploration and combat, certain areas are “EMMI zones,” patrolled by the rogue EMMI robots intent on destroying Samus. You can’t fight them normally, and they can kill you in a single hit, which means you need to use stealth and/or run to avoid them.

The EMMI sections are tense and exciting, although there were times when I started to get annoyed with them (especially when it seemed like the EMMI was intent on staying in the tiny area I was trying to traverse instead of patrolling).

Dread was developed by MercurySteam, who also did Samus Returns, and the melee counter system from that game returns. In general, the combat feels really good, which makes it a lot of fun to play. That’s good, because I found some of the boss fights to be really hard. There were several where I started out thinking the fight was impossible until I slowly learned how to react to the various attacks.

As far as exploration goes, to some extent the progression feels a bit too guided, with the game making it clear where it wants you to go first. However, once things opened up a bit more, I got to enjoy its design anyway. It felt like it wasn’t geared toward backtracking after each upgrade quite as much, but I had fun sweeping through each area once I had all my abilities to get as many upgrades as possible.

Now, this one is a bit more story-driven than the others in the series… but I kind of played it as though it wasn’t. I don’t know how to explain it. Maybe I’m just not attached enough to Metroid lore or wasn’t in the right state of mind for Metroid storytelling, because even though I wanted to be interested, I didn’t pay as much attention to it as I normally would.

But regardless of my lack of attachment to the story, I definitely enjoyed my time playing Metroid Dread. I still need to play Super Metroid and the Metroid Prime games, but if they announce a Metroid 6, I’ll be interested for sure!

(Since Metroid Prime 4 seems to be in limbo, maybe I’ll have time to play the Prime games before it comes out.)

What did you think of Metroid Dread?

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