The Obscurer Tribune # 46

Quick Review: The god-forsaken jungle virus that someone in my household brought home last week and infected me with, dooming me to nearly-unbroken anguish for days upon days (said family member, of course, is long since over it), gets a 0 out of 10. Hopefully the following news items will prove slightly more appealing:

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Uber-compilation Raiden Fighters Aces is now available as a downloadable title on the US XBLA marketplace – if you’re STILL holding out on dropping a measly twenty bucks for this, you’re running even shorter on excuses. Still waiting for official word on the rumored European release…

Wh…whaaaat?! Some time ago it was mentioned that Konami had trademarked “Otomedius” in the West – I, like many others, was skeptical that anything would come of it, since the game seemingly in question is 1) a shmup, 2) weirdly Japanese, and 3) not very well-reviewed even over there. Believe it or not, though, Siliconera tells us that Gamestop is taking pre-orders for Otomedius Excellent – at the moment it doesn’t seem to be on their website, but supposedly you can reserve it in-store. I’m honestly not sure what to think, much less do…I’ll probably wait for some confirmation before going much further, and I’d recommend fellow fans do the same.

More Gamestop weirdness! Okay, so the US version of Illvelo for the Wii has been delayed numerous times since it was originally supposed to release last year – Amazon still says it’s not coming in ‘til July, and the game’s official site says exactly zilch, same as it’s been for months. Lo and behold, I take a quick look around Gamestop’s site, and there it is, out of the blue, available Used only! What the heck happened? Noplace anywhere near me has it, either…seriously, worst release process ever!

It’s not my personal favorite of the series, but it’s still worth a try for Cave fans – the company’s very first shooter, DonPachi, is now available as a downloadable title on the Japanese PSN. As the link mentions, the TG-16 ports of Deatana Twinbee and Gradius are also on the way - no indication as to whether any other region might get a crack at any of this eventually.

We’ve got some new screens for Neo Geo Heroes Ultimate Shooting, as well as an exact Japanese release date – Japan will be getting the game on July 29th. Anyone planning to import, or are you hoping against hope that it’ll be localized?

Another official blog entry is up for Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype, focused mainly on the game’s scoring system.

Did you enjoy ESPGaluda II on the iPhone? If so, Cave wants to know which of their titles you’d like to see ported to the platform next, along with your thoughts on a few other things – a link to their survey can be found within this article.

Space Invaders got its XBLA Indie re-imagining with Decimation X – now it’s Galaga’s turn, and it comes in a vessel called Retrofit: Overload. It’s only a buck (though there’s also a demo if you’d like), so give it a try – Marketplace link is here.

If you’re looking for a change of scenery when it comes to XBLA shooters, maybe Aqua: Naval Warfare will be up your alley – it looks to be the same twin-stick action, more or less, but you’re in control of an honest-to-goodness gunboat instead of a spaceship or abstract glowing shape. There also appears to be a relatively strong story element (for a shooter, at least), so if any of this sounds up your alley keep your spyglass on this one. (DToid coverage here.)

If you couldn’t import Ketsui for the 360, maybe one of these doujin game “tributes” could help fill in the gap – first up is ToriTatsu, which can be found here (AppLocale required) and second is EX -extra-, which you can get here.

In other doujin news, the final revision of Eden’s Aegis, version 1.10, has been released – the download link can be found at x.x gameroom.

I’m not particularly up on the Amiga scene, but supposedly users from back in the day remember a shmup called Battle Squadron rather fondly. That said, did you know there was a sequel in development which was never finished? Well, that’s what one guy says, anyways – moreover, that guy might try to do what could not be done back in the computer’s heyday and bring it to completion. Keep an eye on that site if this sounds up your alley…

The opportunity to grab it for free has passed by now, but I’ll still link you to Jim’s post for Blue Skies on the iPhone. A few videos of it can be found on YouTube – here’s one.

The 360 version of Metal Slug XX has also received an exact release date, at least for Japan – May 19th looks to be the day.

That said, if Metal Slug just wasn’t politically-incorrect enough for you, and Rex Ronan didn’t go quite deep enough into one’s unmentionables to satisfy, keep an eye on Privates an indie run-n-gun which appears to be parts Fantastic Voyage, after-school special and South Park. An unlikely combination to be sure, but when you’re working with source material like this, it’s kind of inevitable, wouldn’t you say?

The Tribune doesn’t usually count Blizzard-related stuff as within its areas of interest, but apparently you can do some interesting things with this newfangled modding equipment for StarCraft II – some enterprising soul has made a shooter out of it, in the “Touhou” style of all things. Heck, there’s even a bit of Shoot the Bullet-esque action near the end.

I forget whether or not I ever mentioned that someone was going to try to give the original Shikigami no Shiro a decent fan translation, to make up for XS’s awful Mobile Light Force 2…anyways, as can be seen on the HG101 blog, the project is under way.

The extra-fiery Remilia figure that was linked to a short while ago is now up for pre-order, and should release in August.




On the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 front, Felicia, Deadpool, Dante, and Captain America have all been confirmed present on the roster, and a few additional snippets on the gameplay system can be seen here. Capcom’s counting on you liking what you hear, as they expect to sell 2 million of the things – that’s a lotta Pringles.

Goofy DSiWare offering Photo Dojo is now out, and Kotaku has a fitting review here – more importantly, through June 10th it’s free, so you’ve got no reason not to download the bugger and start bugging your friends to let you use them as virtual punching bags. (DToid coverage here, c-blog item here.) An interview on the title can be found here, though it doesn’t likely reveal much that you didn’t already know. These tips for creating your warrior, however, are simply indispensible.

Did you enjoy the Street Fighter: Legacy short film that made the rounds recently? Keep your fingers crossed, then, as the creator hopes to do more of them, perhaps handling distribution via Xbox Live. Stay tuned…

Are your in-game Super Street Fighter IV characters just not stylish enough? Rejoice, for the “Super Shoryuken” costume pack is now available!

The latest info for nilcam’s “PS3 Fight Club” tourney setup is over here, while the rules and scoring system details are here. You won’t have much time to think about them while being booted in the face, so read up now!.

It’s already over by now, but this past Wednesday there was an art exhibition featuring BlazBlue stuff at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution in the UK (not like I needed to tell you as much, where else are you going to find an institutional name like that?). If you missed it, I’m sure there must be some photos from attendees floating around someplace…

I know absolutely nothing about this scene, but if you’re into mixtapes then you should know that Akira the Don has put out a compilation featuring a bunch of Street Fighter-related samples. Even if you’re just curious, it can be listened to in its entirety for free. Meanwhile, some guy who’s not Akira the Don attempted to render the theme song from Doraemon using only Street Fighter II sound effects. The other fight fans out there must be on different meds than I am…

This post at Tomopop links to some more stuff related to that Dizzy statue mentioned an issue or three back.

Just in case you thought that copyright-infringing Street Fighter likenesses on pirated products could not sink any lower, witness this. Fair warning – what is seen cannot be unseen.




We’ve finally got some in-game screens for Neptune – the goddesses may be cutesy, but those enemies sure look to mean business! A short new trailer has also appeared – nothing new is revealed, but you know I still have to link to it.

Those of you depressed that a lot of Falcom’s (good) recent releases, specifically on the PSP, haven’t made it outside of Japan, take heart – Xseed just announced a partnership with them to localize a half-dozen of those games from the Ys and Sora no Kiseki series. Not too many specifics are out there yet, but apparently the flood will begin late this summer with Ys 7 - stay tuned, and (pre-emptively) rejoice! Siliconera also offers up an interview with Falcom’s president, mostly concerning the Ys series.

Some new screens are out for Trinity Universe, along with the game’s ESRB write-up…nothing you weren’t likely expecting from NISA already, of course.

3D Dot Game Heroes is out, and Atlus is inviting you to submit your character creations to the Hall of Heroes – if you can get yours in before June 12th and it’s one of their favorites, you could win some Amazon credit. Even if you don’t enter, you can still go to the site and download stuff that other people put there to use in your own game. (DToid coverage here.) By the by, the Jack Frost model mentioned awhile back is up there for the taking! You can also check out the game’s fifth “vignette” video, specifically the Mini-Game Rap – your parents help you hook it up!

Agent North’s preview of Persona 3 Portable runs down all of the changes in store for this version, in case you needed them listed in one spot.

Not a huge surprise, but Blaze Union will feature a couple of cameo appearances by characters from Yggdra Union – of course, since Blaze takes place earlier in time than Yggdra, you’re talking about younger versions of characters from the latter game. So far, Eudy and Zilvia have been confirmed as dropping by…well, more than that, actually, as they’re playable.

This new trailer for Ys vs. Sora no Kiseki appears to offer a preview of a few more characters – someone more versed in Falcom lore than myself will have to take a stab at deciphering who’s who, though.

I’m not familiar with Hudon’s Necromancer RPGs, as I don’t game on mobile devices (or live overseas), but if you’re interested an enhanced port of the second game, subtitled Nightmare Reborn, is coming to DSiWare in Japan. Anyone hardcore enough to have played this series?

Here’s another video for Arc Rise Fantasia, if you’re interested – it does look nice, but I’m still not sold, personally. The front page has some more, in the form of in-battle vid footage and extra screens.

Novakaine lets us know why he loves the music from Etrian Odyssey/ F.O.E.! F.O.E.! In other dungeon crawler news, Class of Heroes 2G will be priced lower than originally announced once it’s released in Japan.

mjemirzian continues his quest for “more strategic” SRPGs – you might not agree with everything he says, but it’s still a discussion worth hashing out. He also updates his genre list here.

Want s’more pics of that newfangled Aegis figure from Tomopop? ‘Course ya do! By the way, Selvaria and Mercedes are now up for pre-order. A handful more Selvaria pics are here.




It’s been some time since we last heard anything about Monster Tale, the next DS project by the Henry Hatsworth crew – this article has some screens as well as a tentative release date of December. I’ll take it! (DToid coverage here.)

It’s also been a bit longer than usual between front-page Super Meat Boy posts by Mr. Holmes, but for the moment the drought has ended.

Could Limbo possibly play as good as it looks in this trailer? We can certainly hope so… (DToid coverage here.)

In related news, it’s not anything groundbreaking (not like too many really are), but indie platforming fans might want to check out They Need To Be Fed to see if it’s up their alley.

You’ve probably heard something or other about Steam recently coming to the Macintosh platform – of course, all that means for the likes of the Tribune is another reason to mention Portal. The game is free to download for both Mac and PC through the 24th of the month, so if you’ve yet to try it, get on it. A word from “the sponsor” over here.

Nothing official yet, but there are indications that Maxwell’s next jaunt on the DS could be titled Super Scribblenauts. Let’s hope it lives up to its (purported) title!

Data East Arcade Classics could have been better, but it appears that license-holder G-Mode is thinking about taking another shot at it with a “Volume 2” – if they can cobble together a batch of better games this time around I might be up for it. They’re also looking into releasing one of the Magical Drop titles on XBLA, though hopefully they’ll ditch the semi-butchered “World” version of III altogether.

Nothing new to report this week on Okamiden itself, but this set of twin tea cups (featuring Amaterasu and Chibiterasu) that recently went on sale in Japan is enough to get any Western geek’s nerd-envy all a-tingle.

Seeing as I posted my own puzzle-related article earlier this week, I’d be remiss not to link you to metroid fetus’s review of Drop7 for the Android.

There are far weirder puzzle-related goings-on this week, however (and I’ve got nothing to do with ‘em, honest!) – Konami is bringing Alucard back, and plopping him into Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the night. Yes, it’s a Castlevania take on Puzzle Quest. And yes, those high- and low-res sprites look absolutely ridiculous together on the same screen. (DToid coverage here.)

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Well, I at least managed to fire my “preliminary shot” connected to the project I keep yammering about…that’s something, right? Until next time, thanks for reading and keep gaming obscurely.

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