Go West! Week three: Defending Tokyo since 1918

12:00 PM on 02.10.2012   |   Elliot Gay

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen, to the one and only weekly column about import games, buried treasure, and giant steam powered robots! The month of February is looking like it's going to be a busy one and it all starts with the week of February 5-11! Vita gets a couple of heavy hitters while the 3DS sits things out until next week's onslaught of high school girls and Final Fantasy music. On the PSP side, fans of a certain classic Konami franchise should probably brace themselves to be ready for the worst case scenario. You know, just in case.

As for our overlooked gem of the week? This time we're rolling with the first game in a classic Sega franchise that went horribly under-appreciated out west until a few years ago. Unfortunately it was too little, too late by then. That doesn't mean we can't still appreciate it for its awesomeness though!

Follow me after the break as I break the laws of gravity, woo some dashing bishounen boys, and cut down demons while defending Tokyo.

Releases for the week of February 5-11:

Gravity Daze (Playstation Vita)
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Online Price: 5,580 yen ($71.99)

Gravity Daze is the Playstation Vita's first true killer app. There. I said it. I've spent the past two days playing this amazing game non-stop and that's the conclusion that I've been able to come to thus far. Everything from the music, to the quirky visuals, to the interesting and fun gravity manipulation contribute to make this one of the most complete games I've played in a while. The story is charming without overstating its presence to boot. For the time being, it appears as though the game has no stable release date in the west. A localized version is however being worked on, so unless you simply want to get the game early, I recommend on holding off. There are no English options in the JP game and the dialogue is all in french anyway. Either way, show modern game developers that you are interested in new and creative IPs, and buy this game!

Sumioni (Playstation Vita)
Publisher: Acquire
Online Price: 5,230 yen ($67.49)

I've only played the demo for this little 2D action/platformer, but it seemed fun enough. I don't suspect it's going to blow anyone's mind, but the crisp Okami-like visual design and paint stroke gameplay is definitely appealing. My biggest problem with the demo is that levels seemed empty of any real terrain. There would be objects and enemies blocking your path and you would draw around them to create a route. That's cool and all, but I'd love if the ground wasn't always just a flat line. Again, this might have just been a demo issue, so I'll keep my fingers crossed for now. Our friends over at XSEED Games will be bringing this title over sometime within the Vita's launch window, so keep an eye out for it!

Genso Suikoden: Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki (PSP)
Publisher: Konami
Online Price: 5,580 yen ($71.99)

It must be really difficult to be a diehard Suikoden fan these days. Konami seems convinced to not give the fanbase what it wants from the franchise. I want Hyakunen no Toki to be good. Really, I do. The problem is that nothing they've shown has convinced me that they understand what made the franchise special. A time travel story about fighting strange monsters that are trying to destroy the world? I don't seem to recall any game in the series having a story that out there. Popular gaming rag Famitsu seems to agree as well, having given the game extremely average scores. For Famitsu, that either means they weren't paid enough by Konami or that they think the game is rubbish but want the developers to save face. I'm going to be holding off on this until I hear from some other gamers about this one. I've been burned one too many times. The chances of this coming over are pretty low I'd say. I don't have the numbers for the DS Suikoden, but I can't imagine they were great.

Vitamin X: Detective B6 (PSP)
Publisher: D3 Publisher
Online Price: 5,580 yen ($71.99)

I have no clue how many of you are familiar with the Vitamin franchise (lol), but I see it around enough to recognize the name and art style at least. A series of otome visual novels, each Vitamin game seems to center on a different cast. This time around, you and your group of manly men get caught up in a series of mysterious thefts. Honestly, I'd be lying if I said I could describe the game in any further detail. If I'm going to play an otome game of any kind, I'd prefer for it to already have some quality relevant to my own interests. Still, I'm sure this has its fans, and I'd be remiss if I left it out simply because I'm not planning on picking it up. As always, visual novels are text heavy affairs so be careful if you're planning on importing.

Tsugi no Giseisha o Oshirase Shimasu: Houkaisuru Sekai ni Shinigami to (PSP)
Publisher: Boost On
Online Price: 3.640 yen ($46.99)

Overlooked gem of the week:

Sakura Taisen 1&2 (PSP)
Publisher: Sega
Online Price: 2,130 yen ($27.49)

Hah! Didn't think I'd go there, did you? I'm also kind of skirting around the rules I set during the first week of this column, but oh well! These are relatively recent ports of games that are over ten years old; I'd say that still qualifies. 

Sakurai Taisen 1&2 collects the first couple of games in the hit franchise and puts them on the PSP no frills attached. Some of you might be familiar with this giant of a franchise from the NIS published PS2/Wii release of Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love. In Japan, this was actually the fifth entry in the series and currently the most recent. After years and years of fans out west clamoring for an English language release of Sakura Taisen, they finally got it. Sadly, it was a case of too little, too late. Sakura Taisen V was actually released in 2005 in Japan, making the game five years late in America. Unfortunately, low sales seem to have all but eliminated the chances of the earlier games ever making it over in any of their respect forms. That doesn't mean we can't enjoy what we have though!

In many ways, the original Sakura Taisen defined an entire genre. Cleverly mixing visual novel/dating sim elements with the combat of a strategy RPG, Sakura Taisen was an immediate success story on the Sega Saturn. It raked in the largest sales of any original Saturn title, and even now is considered by many Japanese gamers to be one of the top 20 most favored games of all time. That's high praise for a title first released in 1996 on a doomed console. But is it really worth all the hype?

Arguably, yes. Divided up into episodes as though it were a television anime, Sakura Taisen cast the player in the role of Ichiro Ogami, freshly graduated from military school. Unlike many protagonists of this kind of game, Ogami is no slouch. Initially a non-voiced character in the first title, later games would eventually see him achieve full voice status and would have him participate in song numbers with the rest of the cast. Like many dating sims or visual novels, you progressed the story by talking to the female characters of the game, making decisions that raised their opinion of you. These heightened emotions would also benefit you in battle, upping the stats of your female companions.

Each episode of the game was dedicated to a character or two, revealing some of their back story and giving you a chance to get a little bit closer to them. This is no ero-ge however, and it's all quite innocent. Looking back on the game in retrospect is actually recommended in this age of near-hentai levels of fanservice.

As an early Saturn title, Sakura Taisen set a lot of high bars. Character portraits had quite a bit of facial animation and lips that often time matched very closely with the dialogue. There was a wealth of animated sequences (for the time) sprinkled through out every chapter. While not fully voiced, the game had a pro cast, helping to elevate the game even further. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the female cast. I remember when I was much younger, before I could ever understand Japanese, being absolutely captured by each of the girls. Sure, nowadays you'll have seen plenty of characters that are similar, but for the time, this was something new and awesome. 

It's funny, but going back to the game in this day and age you'll find the actual combat to be quite lacking. The game doesn't allow you to do any tweaking or customization to your robot suits save for the state increases for each girl. Things would improve as the series soldiered on, but in this first entry, the combat as decidedly bare bones. Not awful by any means, but certainly lacking by today's standards.

I've linked you to the PSP collection that contains the first two games in the series, but you've probably noticed by now that I haven't mentioned the sequel. My reason is rather simple; acquiring the original Sakura Taisen on an older console is likely to be a pain in the ass, and for many, the region free PSP is the easiest import option. There was never a standalone release for the game on that platform. That's all there is to it. Sakura Taisen 2 is in fact a much improved game, but I promised to use this spot to address only one title at a time, and I'm going to stick to that. 

Because the franchise is so old at this point, you'll find that faqs, translation guides and tons of general information are available all over the net. If you really want to play these games and lack the language ability to do so, it's not impossible. Hell, it's what I did when I was 13! Sakura Taisen is an important part of gaming history and its a shame that it never got the chance it deserved out west. It suffered the cruel fate of releasing during a time when Japanese games weren't expected to do all that well in English language markets.

Don't let language hold you back; check out Sakura Taisen and experience some gaming history.