Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Capcom Will Revive Dormant IPs, Bandai Namco Plans “Consistent” Tales Remasters

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: , , , ,
Dec 182024
 

The biggest surprise of the Game Awards for me was Capcom reviving both Onimusha and Okami, two series that looked like they’d never return.

Onimusha’s last full entry was in 2006, a whole 18 years ago. Only a browser game and a VR experience came out since then. The remaster of the first game was followed by rumors that subsequent remasters had been cancelled.

As for Okami, it also came out in 2006, with a spiritual successor called Okamiden coming out in 2010 and a remaster of the first game in 2012 (with ports in subsequent years).

So it’s been quite a while since Onimusha and Okami saw any love, much less a brand-new entry for each both being announced at the same even. We Ace Attorney fans think we’ve got it bad, but it’s only been 7 years since the last one – hardly any time at all in comparison.

But what makes this even more exciting is that an official press release from Capcom says they’re “focusing on re-activating dormant IPs that haven’t had a new title launch recently.” That opens up the doors for more than just Onimusha and Okami to return.

I’ve believed for a while now that a new Ace Attorney game is coming sooner rather than later, but what else could they revive? Dino Crisis has been dormant since 2003. Breath of Fire’s last entry was in 2002 (all right, technically Breath of Fire 6 came out in 2016, but let’s try not to think about that). Is it finally their time to shine again?

Moving aside from Capcom, this week also saw some interesting news from Bandai Namco. After Tales of Graces f Remastered was announced, we learned that they intended to remaster more Tales games as well. Now they’ve doubled down. In a new message translated here by Gematsu, producer Yusuke Tomizawa said there’s now a dedicated development line for Tales remasters and that they’re planned to be released “fairly consistently” and “as much as possible.”

This is exciting news, and it gives me hope that it will be more than just a handful of the newer games in the series. My hopes that we’ll get some of the untranslated games officially released are renewed!

In short, we could have a lot of good stuff coming. What dormant Capcom franchises do you hope to see revived, and what Tales remasters would you like to have follow Graces?

Could We Get Ace Attorney News This Sunday?

 Video games  5 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Sep 272024
 

Is it finally happening?

Edit: They have confirmed it is in fact not happening.

Yesterday was Capcom’s TGS show, and it was basically just a quick overview of their recently-released games (including the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection) followed by a ton of Monster Hunter Wilds information.

But near the end of the presentation, after talking about their current sales, they moved on to “an announcement from the Ace Attorney series,” and I had a moment of shock realizing we might actually be getting a new game announced at TGS after all. Instead, they announced a “product introduction trailer” for September 29.

Now, the way it’s described, it sounds like it could just be an overview of the series to let everyone know what games are available and how to play them.

But if that’s all it is, this is a very strange way to do it.

Why would you announce and schedule a simple overview video instead of showing it at the end of the TGS show? It’s also been announced that it will go live on September 28 at 11 PM PT / September 29 at 2 AM ET. That means this video is premiering at the same time in all regions. For regular videos, they have no problem uploading a Japanese video first and then an English trailer hours later.

Moreover, don’t forget how Dragon’s Dogma 2 was announced. Fans’ hopes were crushed when Capcom’s 2022 showcase brought up Dragon’s Dogma only to announce a “10 Years of Dragon’s Dogma” video instead of a sequel, but then the video a few days later ended with Dragon’s Dogma 2 being announced.

It feels like this means something.

Now, I remember the “unmissable” TGS showcase. I remember the Ace Attorney social media accounts changing their profile pictures. I remember the out-of-context Earth screenshot. Yes, I remember all the times we’ve gotten our hopes up for no reason, but that’s not going to stop me from doing it again.

What will be announced this Sunday? Will it be the long-awaited Ace Attorney 7? The Great Ace Attorney Investigations to explain the mysterious misplaced Van Zieks captions? A new anime? Or will there be no announcement at all and it’s simply a scheduled series overview trailer?

I know what I’m hoping for, but what do you think?

The Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is Here!

 Video games  4 Responses »  Tagged with: , ,
Sep 062024
 

Today is the day. The Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is now out for all modern platforms.

Investigations and its sequel were the only games in the series that never made it to the 3DS, which made it feel a bit like Capcom had left them behind. And Investigations 2 had never received an official translation.

That makes this collection a momentous release, much more so than the Apollo Justice Trilogy earlier this year.

I already played the Investigations Collection and reviewed it over at MonsterVine, so you can head there to read my thoughts on this excellent remaster. I’m so happy this collection exists, and I’m thrilled that more people will get to play these games at last.

(Rest assured, I preordered a physical copy of the collection as well and it arrived today. There’s no way I was missing out on that!)

I’ve been waiting for this day for a long, long time.

All the way back in 2012, I blogged about the fan movement “Operation: Objection!” that hoped to show Capcom we wanted Investigations 2 localized. Two years later, we were holding a write-in/call-in event. A few months later, I was still at it. By the next year, we had a newly-revived movement to show our support.

I eventually put Investigations 2 localization on my list of pipe dreams, where it remained year after year after year…

By 2022, I had all but given up. I wanted to believe the Investigations duology would be remastered, but we’d had no new Ace Attorney announcements since The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (which itself felt like a miracle to have translated). I told myself that if there was no Ace Attorney news by the end of the year, I would finally give in and play the Investigations 2 fan translation. So the following May, I finally played the fan translation and came out of it hoping for an official translation harder than ever so that more people could play.

And now it’s finally here.

I’ve spent so long going into every single video game event hoping for an Investigations 2 localization announcement that it feels strange to no longer have to. What will I pin all my hopes and dreams on now? I guess I’ll just have to double down on wishing for Ace Attorney 7.

In the meantime, I can’t wait to see reactions from people playing these games for the first time. Are you planning to play the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection?

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