Let's chat about Zero Time Dilemma's cover art

Once I finally got around to playing it, I fell head over heels in love with 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors.

I can't say the same for its sequel, Virtue's Last Reward, because, well, I haven't played it yet. I do own a copy of it (the Vita version), though, and my current plan is to find a way to play it before the series’ third and final entry, Zero Time Dilemma, hits store shelves in late June.

For now, fans of the Zero Escape series can do little more than chat about Zero Time Dilemma’s first screenshots and trailer or ogle its just-released box art.

Speaking of which, here’s the cover imagery that was created for North American copies of this highly anticipated visual novel.

As I’m sure you can guess, the 3DS version’s packaging will look very similar to its Vita counterpart. (Check it out here, if you’re curious.)

Will Zero Time Dilemma’s Japanese covers sport completely different art? I obviously don’t know, but I kind of hope they will.

Although I can’t say I dislike what Aksys Games’ designers conjured up for North American copies of this game, I wouldn’t have minded if they’d used another of artist Rui Tomono’s fascinatingly dark illustrations rather than the clichéd group shot seen above.

(I’m probably in the minority here, but I would’ve even preferred if the folks at Aksys had gone with the gun-to-the-head art that helped introduce Zero Time Dilemma to the masses instead.)

What do all of you think? Do you like Zero Time Dilemma’s North American 3DS and Vita box art?

Also, how does it compare in your minds to what was concocted for 999 (for a refresher, here are that DS game’s Japanese and North American covers) and Virtue’s Last Reward (3DS version here, Vita version here)?

See also: my #ADecadeofDS post about 999

Shiren wanders back to North America this July with The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate

Are you a fan of roguelikes? Listen up.

Actually, even if you don't much care for these traditionally unwelcoming dungeon-crawlers, you still should listen up if you own a Vita (or PSTV) and you're looking for something to play on your Sony-made console.



Why? A couple of days ago, the folks at Aksys Games revealed they'll be releasing ChunSoft's Fushigi no Dungeon: Fuurai no Shiren 5 Plus--Fortune Tower to Unmei no Dice in North America on July 26.

In this part of the world, the game will go by the far more understandable Shiren The Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate.

The best part of this out-of-nowhere announcement: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate will be available in both digital and physical (boxed) forms upon release.



If the game's Japanese name sounds familiar, by the way, that's likely because it's an expanded port of a Japan-only DS game known as, you guessed it, Fushigi no Dungeon: Fuurai no Shiren 5--Fortune Tower to Unmei no Dice. (Note: the DS game, from 2010, lacked the "Plus" part of the 2015 Vita follow-up.)

Sadly, no one seems to be taking pre-orders for this Shiren The Wanderer title--the first to see the light of day in North America since 2008's Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer, also for DS--at the moment, but I'm sure that will change shortly.

In the meantime, are any of you going to buy some version of The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate? If so, which one? (I'm going to go for the retail version, naturally.)

Now that I've finished 999, someone's going to have to explain its 'true ending' to me

Yes, it's true; I've finished Chunsoft's horror-tinged visual novel, 999 (aka 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors).

And when I say I've finished it, I mean all of it. I experienced every single ending it has to offer, including the hours-long "true ending."

Don't believe me? Here's a bit of photographic proof:



For those of you who've yet to play 999, an icon is added to the game's opening screen whenever you wrap up one of its six endings.

Even with 999's fast-forward function--which lets you race through text you've already encountered--finishing the game six (or, in my case, five) times can take a long time.

How long? Check out the next photo, which shows off how many hours I spent with 999 in the last few weeks:



Have any of you also played--and fully finished--999? If so, can you shed any light on its true ending? Some of it seemed to make sense, but the rest of it was brain-meltingly confusing.

One last comment-slash-question before I hit "publish": that last interactive section of the true ending is shockingly beautiful, don't you think?

See also: #ADecadeofDS (9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors) and Nice Package! (9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, DS)

#ADecadeofDS: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors

Amount of time devoted to this game since I started playing it a few weeks ago--12 hours, 47 minutes.

Most recent boss toppled, location reached or milestone achieved--So as to not spoil anything for those of you who've yet to play 999, all I'm going to say here is that I'm currently working my way toward this Chunsoft-made game's fourth (of six) ending.

Overall comments on the experience so far--I first attempted to play through 999 a number of years ago. I didn't make it very far and walked away from the experience after getting stuck while trying to find the exit to some room or other.

At the time, I stubbornly refused to turn to an online FAQ for assistance. I thought I shouldn't have to resort to such "cheating" and became pretty disenchanted with 999 as a result.

This time around, I decided to check my pride at the door from the word go, and I've got to say I'm glad I did. Sure, I hate it when I can't figure out a puzzle on my own, but the hatred is softened quite a bit by the fact that checking an FAQ allows me to move forward and learn more about this game's intriguing cast of characters.

Speaking of which, 999's characters have proven to be a real highlight of my first honest-to-goodness encounter with this horror-tinged visual novel.

Just as appealing has been the story that brings all of these men, women, girls and boys together--even if it's against their will--and forces them to find a way to escape the creepy ocean liner that serves as this game's setting.

(If you aren't all that knowledgable about 999, the gist is that nine people, most of whom don't know each other, are independently knocked out, kidnapped and dropped onto a Titanic-esque vessel. They're then given nine hours to traverse its many puzzle-filled rooms and successfully make their way through the ninth of its titular, boobytrapped doors. Oh, and should they fail to do all of that, they'll die.)

Admittedly, I've found some of 999's riddles and berths to be annoyingly obtuse, but even that hasn't done much to dampen the thrilling shiver that travels up and down my spine whenever I gain even a smidgen of insight into this game's goings-on.

Will I continue to play this game in the coming days, weeks and maybe even months?--Well, I'll certainly continue to play it for the next few days, but after that I probably won't play it again for some time.

I don't mean that in any sort of negative way, of course. I just mean that I'm expecting to clear all of its many endings in that time, and once that's done I'll put my 999 cart away until I've forgotten enough of its story to be able to enjoy it again.

Mark my words, though; I'll definitely come back to it down the road. It's quickly become one of my all-time favorite DS games, so there's no question I'll play through it many more times in the future.

Do I recommend it to others?--Absolutely. I know there are plenty of folks out there who have tried 999 and have walked away from the experience feeling dissatisfied, but I have to imagine they're a distinct minority.

So, if the game's premise sounds at all interesting to you, I think it's worth risking disappointment to pick up a copy if you've got the dough.

Next up--Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits

See also: previous #ADecadeofDS posts

Nice Package! (9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, DS)

If you read through my most recently published #ADecadeofDS post should be well aware that I mentioned at its close that my next selection for that on-going series would be Chunsoft's 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors.

Since then, I've put more than nine hours into this horror-tinged visual novel, and I imagine I'll put at least nine more into it before I switch it out for something else.

I'm planning to publish another #ADecadeofDS post here in a couple of days, by the way, so if you want to read some of my thoughts on this first entry in the Zero Escape series, keep an eye out for it.



In the meantime, I thought it would be nice to ogle some photos of the box art, cartridge label and instruction manual the folks at Aksys Games produced for the North American release of 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors.

Admittedly, 999's North American cover illustration (see above) isn't quite as stellar as its Japanese counterpart--or at least it isn't in my opinion--but I still think it's pretty great.

The North American iteration's cart label simply gets the job done, if you ask me, but I won't hold that against the powers that be at Aksys. After all, how many DS cart labels can be described as anything but "passable"?

The front cover of 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors' instruction manual is more impressive, although even it is far from amazing. I think I'd prefer it if it focused only on the game's colorful cast of kidnappees and ignored "Zero," its antagonist, completely.



The illustration featured on the first page of 999's manual goes a long way toward making up for things. Unfortunately, there are only a few other pieces of art in this game's instructional pamphlet--which for me means the overall product qualifies as a bit of a disappointment.

Oh, well, at least the cover art that can be seen in the first of this post's handful of snapshots is a looker, right?

See also: previous 'Nice Package!' posts

There's no such thing as too much Zombie Daisuki

Chunsoft's Zombie Daisuki may not have been all I had hoped for given its pedigree, pixel-rific graphics and its focus on the undead, but that doesn't mean I consider it to have been a complete waste of my hard-earned cash.

In fact, despite my rather ho-hum reaction to this import-only DS game (read all about it in my latest #ADecadeofDS post), I'm still pretty darn glad I picked up a copy of it some time ago.

Of course, how could I not feel that way when Zombie Daisuki's packaging is so cute? Seriously, check it out in the photo below:

The little zombie illustrations that parade across the game's cover imagery is awfully adorable, too, as should be obvious from the following snapshot:

Comparably, this game's illustration manual is a wasted opportunity, if you ask me. A few of the zombies from the box art pop up here and there, but for the most part it's your basic DS manual--a lot of text, a good number of screenshots and a select few illustrations or other embellishments. 

If only more designers had skewed things more in favor of the latter elements like they did in the "good old days."

At least it's "story" page (above) shows a few signs of life. Not that I can understand a word of it, mind you--well, aside from "story" and "zombie," I mean--but who cares when the imagery behind it is so whimsical? 

Zombie Daisuki's cart label features the same art--albeit in a slightly altered form. I have to say, I really like how the game's curvy, bubbly logo looks smooshed between the helicopter in the upper-left corner and the farm buildings that sit below it.

Have any of you played this Japanese curiosity? If so, what are your thoughts on it? Or, what are your thoughts on its box art, cart label, manual and more?

See also: my #ADecadeofDS post about Zombie Daisuki

#ADecadeofDS: Zombie Daisuki

Amount of time devoted to this game in the last week--Two hours, 24 minutes.

Most recent boss toppled, location reached or milestone achieved--Honestly, I'm kind of at a loss as to what to say here, as after completing the first "stage" of this Japanese DS game, everything kind of blends and blurs together. I can say, though, that I've beaten 10 or so levels thus far and I've attracted about 27 zombies to my "mob."

Overall comments on the experience--Much like Catch! Touch! Yoshi!, which I wrote about a few weeks ago, Zombie Daisuki is the kind of DS game that, if made today (instead of in 2011), it would be released digitally rather than via retail and it would cost just a couple of dollars.

Which is to say it's a fairly light (in terms of content), pick-up-and-play sort of experience--not unlike a lot of the mobile titles crowding the market these days. That's most evident in its gameplay, which consists of using your stylus first to corral your mob of blue knuckle-draggers and then again to send them careening toward the handful of humans--survivors of this portable game's apocalypse, I guess--and even presents (naturally they're topped with pretty red bows) that populate every pint-sized stage.

The latter are an important part of this DS game, by the way, because they provide you with all sorts of accessories that can be used to bolster the speed, strength and resiliency of your zombie pals, while the former--actually, killing to former--are key to you finishing each level.

Anyway, the survivor-slaughtering and gift-grabbing action that's at the heart of Zombie Daisuki is enjoyable enough--at first--thanks to its slick controls and cute, pixel-based graphics.

The game's audio deserves a nod here, too, as its jaunty, chiptune-y backing tracks keep the proceedings buoyant and fun, as do the silly sound bites--"oh, no!" and "please stop!" among them--that pop up now and then as the undeniably adorable undead rip all-comers to shreds.

Sadly, even when all of these elements are combined, they're not quite enough to keep your attention--or not for long, at least. Which is too bad, as it's a cute little game and I very much wanted to like it based on its pedigree (Chunsoft, hello!), graphics and focus on zombies.

Will I continue to play this game in the coming days, weeks and maybe even months?--I kind of doubt it. I love the aesthetics, and I think the gameplay's nice enough, but both aspects are so repetitive that the overall experience can't be called anything but a bore.

Do I recommend it to others?--If you can find a fairly cheap ($10, tops) copy of it, sure. If not, you're likely to feel like you've wasted your money.

Next up--Pop Cutie! Street Fashion Simulation

See also: previous #ADecadeofDS posts

Five more favorites: Japanese Nintendo 64 box art

Can a person have too many favorites when it comes to Nintendo 64 box art? Not in my opinion--which may be why I've decided to publish yet another post about the subject.

Bakuretsu Muteki Bangaio--If I had my way, this game's cover imagery wouldn't be constrained by a border as it is now. Even with the border, though, Bangaio's box art is a looker--thanks in large part to its bold logo, which really makes things "pop."

F-Zero X--Would you believe I was completely obsessed with this game while in college? Well, I was--and my copy (of the North American version) didn't even sport the awesome illustration seen above. Anyway, if ever a piece of Nintendo 64 box art perfectly depicted the "experience" of the game packed within, this is it.

Fushigi no Dungeon: Fuurai no Shiren 2--For some strange and sad reason, I was completely oblivious about this game until quite recently. I say sad, by the way, because Fuurai no Shiren 2's graphics are nearly as adorable as its cover art. 

Yoshi's Story--I know a lot of folks hate this game, but I'm not one of them. Sure, it pales in comparison to its predecessor, Yoshi's Island, but it's still a joy to look at and a blast to play. That said, I'd kill for a sequel that features graphics similar to the stitched Yoshis seen in the box art above. (Yes, I know Yarn Yoshi is being prepped for the Wii U; what I'm talking about here is a two-dimensional platformer à la Kirby's Epic Yarn.)

Zelda no Densetsu Majora no Kamen--As much as I love the cover art produced for the Japanese version of Ocarina of Time, I love the imagery above even more. In fact, I love it so much that I think I'm going to have to snatch up a copy of it in the future. Maybe it could be a present to myself after I've reached some sort of milestone related to learning Japanese?

See also: five favorite pieces of Japanese Nintendo 64 box art

I just discovered Chunsoft's Homeland, and now I'm sad that it never left Japan

Actually, the header above isn't completely accurate, as I know I heard about Homeland in some form or fashion around the time of its 2005 release.

I'm pretty sure my interest in this import-only GameCube title quickly vanished after I heard it was an MMO, though, so let's just pretend that I wasn't introduced to it before this past weekend, when I heard British game developer Hayden Scott-Baron mention it while listening to a recent episode of the Chic Pixel Plus! podcast.



Unsurprisingly, Scott-Baron's chatter caused me to look up a gameplay video of the title (see above or here) and, man, does it look good. I'm especially fond of its art style, which recalls other quirky titles of the same era like Chulip and GiFTPiA.

So, I'm now on the lookout for a cheap-ish copy of this Chunsoft-crafted (another point in its favor, by the way) curiosity. Sure, I won't be able to understand much, if any, of it for some time to come, and I won't be able to check out its online multi-player mode (thankfully, it has an offline single-player mode, too), but it's hard to care too deeply about that when everything looks as charming as it does here.

12 import games I bought in 2012 but didn't tell you about until now: Door Door (Famicom)

If ever you've wondered why I started "collecting" Famicom games a few years ago, here's my answer:



The Famicom game shown in the photo above is Enix's Door Door, by the way--an adorable little puzzler-platformer that was released only in Japan all the way back in 1985.



In my humble opinion, Door Door may have the best packaging of any Famicom release. Not only is the cover art top notch, but each of the box's side flaps feature illustrations of the game's alien "baddies."



Oh, and the back of Door Door's box is pretty delicious, too, as you can see in the photo below. I'm not sure what the little aliens are saying in their speech bubbles, but I'm guess it's something precious.



Ah, you didn't think I'd fail to show you Door Door's cartridge, did you? Yes, it's cute, too. Are you surprised?

I don't know about you, but I really like its 1970s vibe, what with those bands of yellow and orange. Also, the game's protagonist, Chun (who later inspired the name of designer Koichi Nakamura's company, Chunsoft), makes a rather welcome appearance.



Now that I've seemingly got your attention about all things Door Door, keep your eyes on this space (or, rather, this blog) for a "Great Gaymathon" review of it in the coming weeks.

See also: Previous '12 games I bought in 2012 but didn't tell you about until now' posts

I don't know about you, but I've always wanted to play a game called St. John's Wort

In this recent article about Level-5's Guild 02 over at andriasang.com, that site's proprietor mentions that one of this 3DS-based release's contributors (like its soon-to-be-released predecessor, Guild 02 will be a compilation of sorts) previously worked on an old Super Famicom "sound novel" called Otogirisō--or St. John's Wort, in English.

Thanks to my love of the Mystery Dungeon series--Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon, Shiren the Wanderer and Torneko: The Last Hope, especially--I'm always up for a ChunSoft-made game.

As such, I followed andriasang.com's link to Otogirisō's Wikipedia page, which describes the 1992 title thusly (and, yes, I do believe this is the first time I've ever used the word thusly on this blog):

"Kohei and his girlfriend Nami were on the midway when their car got accidentally hit by a tree felled by lighting. After that main characters got stuck in a forest in the middle of nowhere. They decided to spend the night in a large deserted western-style mansion nearby."

Aside: It took nearly all of my willpower to not fix the many spelling and grammatical errors in the paragraph above.

Anyway, despite the rather, um, quaint nature of the aforementioned description, I'm finding myself intrigued by this so-called sound novel. In part that's because it takes place in and around a deserted mansion (I've always been a sucker for such settings) and in part it's because of Otogirisō's ominous box art (right), which seems to include a depiction of said mansion.

Unfortunately, there's no reason for me to add this game to my ever-growing (much to the chagrin of my husband) collection, as I neither know Japanese nor own a Super Famicom. Thankfully, I've been able to experience a bit of it by watching the segmented playthrough--it's broken up into 22 parts--that YouTube user reinofheart uploaded a few years ago. (Watch part one here.)

I don't suppose any of you have played Otogirisō--or are interested in playing it now that you've read this post?

Let's Play: 'Which Box Art is Better?' (Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward edition)

A little disclaimer before I continue on with this post: I'm really happy--ecstatic, even--that someone (Aksys) decided to bring Chunsoft's Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die to the North American market.

That said, I'm not as happy with the name they chose for this particular localization: Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward. (Pre-order the 3DS version here and the Vita version here.) A much more appealing one, in my humble opinion, would have been something like Zero Escape: Good People Die.

Another aspect of this localization that I'm far from ecstatic about: Its cover art. Why? Well, take a look at the game's North American box art:

And then compare it to the art that graced the cover of the Japanese iteration, which was released on Feb. 16:

As I said in this previous post, I consider the latter to be one of the best examples of 3DS cover art. The former? Not even in the same league--thanks in part to its scrunching of Kinu Nishimura's beautiful illustration and thanks in part to its use of, as the guys at tinycartridge.com call it, "the TurboGrafx-16 font."

All of the above is just my opinion, of course. What's yours?

See also: Previous 'Which Box Art is Better?' posts

Chunsoft's Extreme Escape Adventure (3DS/Vita) has some sexy cover art

I don't usually get all hot and bothered over game characters (despite what I've said in posts like this one and this one), but I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel at least a little tingle "down there" after catching my first glimpse of the cover art that was produced for Chunsoft's Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die (aka Kyokugen Dasshutsu Adv: Zennin Shibō Desu, due out in Japan on Feb. 16).

That's chiefly, if not completely, due to this 3DS and Vita game's main character, Sigma, who takes up the right half of said cover, of course. (Speaking of whom, more shots of Sigma can be ogled, I mean seen, on the game's official site.)

As nice as this game's cover art is, it's all for naught if it never leaves Japan, right? After all, Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die, like its predecessor--the DS-based sleeper hit, 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors--is an "adventure game," which means lots and lots of text.

Unfortunately, no one has admitted to working on an English translation of the game at this point. That doesn't mean one isn't in the works, though; in fact, I'll be pretty shocked if Aksys Games doesn't lay claim to it sooner rather than later thanks to success the company had with the aforementioned 999.

So, I was all set to say that the Vita had moved up a few spots on my gaming wish list thanks to the announcement of a Little King's Story sequel ...

... and then I read (last night, via andriasang.com) that the game--whose Japanese name translates to something like, The King, The Demon King and the Seven Princesses: New Little King's Story--will feature "new visual stylings for its characters."

OK, I immediately thought to myself, maybe that just means the game will be even prettier than its Wii-based predecessor. Like, maybe it'll be in HD or something.

                       Don't expect to see such cute characters in New Little King's Story.

Then I read another post (this morning) on andrisang.com that said: "While the Wii version had cute 'super deformed' style characters, the Vita characters have more realistic proportions."

As if that weren't bad enough, it's currently unknown as to whether or not Yasuhiro Wada or Yoshiro Kimura, executive producer and producer/ director of the original Little King's Story, respectively, are at all involved in the development of the sequel.

Don't worry, Sony fanboys and fangirls, even if New Little King's Story ends up being the gaming equivalent of a steaming pile of dog poo, I'll probably still get a Vita at some point in the future--especially since the folks who made last year's critically acclaimed DS title, 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, are working on a similar game for the Sony's PSP successor (as well as the 3DS).

                              The cast of Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die.

The game, called Gyokugen Dasshutsu Adv: Zennin Shiboudes (aka Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die), will be a "game of betrayal," according to developer Chunsoft, and will feature nine people who must escape from a warehouse in which they're trapped.

For more information about Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die, check out this post over at andriasang.com.