I’ve been looking forward to the Switch port of Tokyo Xanadu eX+ ever since it was announced that it would be coming west this summer.
See, Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is a game I was trying to play but never stuck with, and I think I’d be much more inclined to stick with it if I had it on the Switch instead of PC.
Something about this style of JRPG just feels better to me when I play it on consoles, and I love being able to just pick up the Switch to play whenever I feel like it.
The Switch port is also supposed to have an improved localization, so that’s another reason to potentially wait.
I don’t think we’ve seen any direct comparisons of the localizations yet, but the lead editor responded to a question about it, saying that they focused on consistency, lore accuracy, and characterization.
After previously being announced for June, it has now been confirmed for July 25, with a new release date announcement trailer. I don’t mind the delay, since that will give me more time to play my other in-progress games.
I’m looking forward to restarting Tokyo Xanadu eX+ when it comes to the Switch in July. In the meantime, I’ve got plenty of other games to play (including other Falcom games). Are you planning to play Tokyo Xanadu?
Last week the posting schedule got a bit off track, but that shouldn’t repeat itself this week.
Anyway, what would have been the topic of Friday’s post if I hadn’t jumped the gun and posted on Thursday, is that a Tokyo Xanadu sequel has been announced!
Last month, one of the announcements from the All Aksys Showcase was that the Switch version of Tokyo Xanadu eX+ will be coming west with an updated translation.
I’ve enjoyed what I played of Tokyo Xanadu but never stuck with it, so that announcement convinced me to officially put my playthrough on hold and wait for the Switch version. Meanwhile, Falcom had been teasing a sequel lately, as well, so it’s exciting to see that turn into an official announcement at last.
The new game appears to be set in Kyoto, so whether it will keep the “Tokyo Xanadu” title for familiarity or adopt a different one (Kyoto Xanadu?) remains to be seen.
No western release has been announced yet, but chances of it happening seem pretty good. (Maybe Aksys will announce it at another showcase?) Since I’m intent on playing the Switch version when it comes out, I might actually be caught up in time.
Moving on to something completely different, yesterday was Mario Day, and Nintendo’s announcements included a release date for the upcoming Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake.
May 23!
That’s actually a lot sooner than I expected. Since it was announced with a simple “2024” release window, I assumed it would be late in the year. Coming out in May makes it feel like it’s almost here already!
So Paper Mario is coming soon, and more Tokyo Xanadu is on the way. This really is a good year to be an RPG fan.
With our romance celebration underway, we never had a chance to discuss the All Aksys showcase held on February 1.
I was disappointed in the immediate aftermath… I’d gotten my hopes up for a show that would rival their 2022 Anime Expo showcase due to how long its been since the last one, but it was more in line with their regular showcases instead.
Once I had some time to think about it, however, I realized that it actually was quite a decent showcase.
So instead of lamenting what they didn’t announce, let’s take a look at what they did.
The showcase began with trailers for Death Mark II, Tengoku Struggle, and Blazing Strike, their previously-announced titles. Then it was onto new announcements, with quite a big surprise up first – the Switch port of Tokyo Xanadu eX+.
I’ve had Tokyo Xanadu on my list to play for a few years now (it even joined my specific completion goals this year and last year), but I couldn’t help but feel I’d be more likely to play if it I had it on the Switch instead of PC. Well, I’ll get my chance this year, because Aksys is bringing the Switch version west this summer with an improved translation.
Their next announcement was Despera Drops, an otome about a young woman who becomes a murder suspect and ends up on the run with six other fugitives. This one was a surprise, since it’s not by Otomate (the usual otome developer Aksys localizes for), but I remember seeing it when it was announced for Japan and hoping for a localization!
Unfortunately, Despera Drops won’t be out until 2025, so we’ve got a long wait.
They had another surprise in store with the (non-otome) visual novel Tales from Toyotoki: Arrival of the Witch, about a boy who goes to a remote island to live with his grandfather and encounters a young witch. I’d never heard of it before, but it sounds interesting. It will be out this summer.
The final two announcements were the Radiant Tale fandisc, Radiant Tale -Fanfare-, also due out this summer, and the Virche Evermore fandisc, Virche Evermore -EpiC: Lycoris-, for this fall. I loved Radiant Tale, so I’ll be getting that one for sure, although due to my mixed feelings on Virche Evermore, I may skip that one.
So in the end, I really can’t complain. They announced 5 new games, 4 of which I’m interested in. I would have liked to see another non-fandisc otome localization, but we have so many otome games slated for this year already that I probably won’t even catch up on my backlog while waiting.
Anyway, this long after the fact you’ve probably long since watched or read about the Aksys showcase… but how do you feel about these upcoming games?
I’ve been looking forward to the Switch port of Tokyo Xanadu eX+ ever since it was announced that it would be coming west this summer.