Returning to the Corpse Party: 'Book of Shadows' is coming to North America

And not only that, but Corpse Party: Book of Shadows is coming to North America sometime "this winter."

Oh, and this digital PSP title will be brought here by the fabulous folks at Xseed Games. (They're fabulous because not only did they bring the original Corpse Party to our region late last year, but they've also brought a trio of similarly unique Wii games to the North American masses over the last few years: Fragile Dreams, Ivy the Kiwi? and Little King's Story.)

Don't worry, European Corpse Party fans--Book of Shadows is coming your way, too. Unfortunately, the closest Xseed staffers will come to a release date in your neck of the woods at the moment is "sometime shortly after" the game hits the streets on our shores.



For a brief glimpse at what you can expect to experience in Corpse Party: Book of Shadows once it's finally added to your region's iteration of PSN, check out the just-released teaser trailer (above and here).

Confession time: I'm picking this up day one despite the fact that I've yet to beat the first game. I didn't stop (well) short of Corpse Party's end credits because I disliked anything about it, mind you. Rather, I got stuck at one point and refused to head to GameFAQs for a solution. Shortly after I reached that impasse, it fell off my radar due to the release of some other title I can't remember right now.

Anyway, I'll get back to that ghoulish adventure eventually. Whether that happens before or after I add Book of Shadows to my PSP collection, though, is another question entirely.

Acquisition #132: Engacho! (WonderSwan)

Just over a month ago, I mentioned in this post that I recently developed a bit of an obsession with the Bandai WonderSwan. I also mentioned that I've already picked up a few games for this Japan-only handheld, which was first released in 1999.

One of those games, as I'm sure you surmised after reading the headline above, is the WonderSwan version of NAC Geographic Products' amusingly gross puzzler, Engacho!



I've owned the PlayStation version of this title, which tasks players with leading a frightened boy through tile-based stages while avoiding the putrid characters that can be seen on the box above, for some time now (read a brief review of it here) and I've enjoyed what I've played of it, so when I saw this portable port pop up on eBay I couldn't help but pick it up.

I haven't played it yet--I'm still waiting for the perfect SwanCrystal to appear on eBay--but I like what I've seen of its black-and-white graphics so I'm looking forward to doing so soon.

In the meantime, I'll just stare at the game's packaging, which is pretty swell, don't you think?



I also quite like the little cartridges (above) on which WonderSwan games appear, and the plastic sleeves that protect them. The cartridges are about the size of GameBoy Advance cartridges, by the way--in case any of you were wondering.

To see a few more snapshots of this particular pick-up, check out my Flickr photostream.

See also: previous 'Acquisition #123' posts

The Great Gaymathon Review #32: Engacho! (PlayStation)

Game: Engacho!

Genre: Puzzle

Developer: NAC Geographic Products Inc.

Publisher: NAC Geographic Products Inc.

System: PlayStation

Release date: 1999

Looking at its cover--which features a quartet of slimy, smelly and even snotty grotesqueries--I'm quite honestly shocked NAC Geographic Products' Engacho! never made its way to the States. Then again, this Japanese import, released in 1999, is a devilishly difficult puzzler and not a dark and dreary FPS, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised by its lack of localization.

Anyway, enough about that--you're probably curious as to what makes this game so challenging. Would it be rude of me to suggest checking out this post, which explains the game's premise more fully than I could here?

If that description makes the game sound something less than devilishly difficult, maybe this will do the trick: so far, I've only successfully traversed the first 10 of this turn-based puzzler's stages. I believe there are between 50 and 100 stages in the game, but I can't say that with any certainty since I'm hopelessly stuck on the tenth and there doesn't seem to be a way to skip troublesome stages.

That's my only real quibble with Engacho!, to tell you the truth. It isn't cheap (it's your fault when you fail to complete a stage), it controls well, its sprite-based graphics are colorful and nicely drawn and its soundtrack is surprisingly catchy. (I especially like the theme song, which recalls Rhythm Heaven's "DJ School.") And then there's that cover art. Sure, it's gross, but it's also funny and more than a bit intriguing--or at least it is to me.

See also: Previous 'Great Gaymathon' posts

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

What words would you use to describe the following piece of art, which graced the cover of Engacho!, a PlayStation (and WonderSwan) game released in 1999?

"Disgusting" is a given, but how about "eye-catching"? After all, it isn't every day you see a piece of cover art that features a blushing butt (with wings, no less), gooey green boogers and (seemingly) stinky armpit hair.

Both words came to mind when I first saw the cover art a few days ago (thanks to a comment over at tinycartridge.com), as did "interesting" and "intriguing." Oh, and the ever-important "huh."

Forget the "huh," though; it's the "interesting" and "intriguing" that matter in this post, as they prompted me to find out what I could--which, sadly, isn't much--about this NAC Geographic Products Inc.-published title.

Turns out the game, while definitely a bit on the (comically) disgusting side, is a turn-based puzzler--which is right up my alley, especially these days.

Here's how it works: Players, controlling a young boy named Sunzuki, are dropped into each stage and then tasked with making their way to its exit (the blue square in the screenshot below) without taking too many steps and without colliding with any of the four baddies displayed in the cover art above.

Here's what happens when you collide with the flying, blushing butt.

That's no easy task, as each of the aforementioned baddies has its own movement patterns. One, for instance, mirrors your movements, while another moves in the opposite direction. As such, planning ahead is vitally important if you hope to avoid being covered with or smothered by armpit hair, boogers, poop or spit.

I'm sure that sounds about as appetizing and enticing as a date with Jabba the Hut, but it's actually pretty fun (if a bit too difficult for my rapidly atrophying brain).