Category Archives: thoughts

Memos from Mamemura: Weeks 2-3

Remember how I said I was going to start a (semi)weekly feature chronicling my adventures in Animal Crossing: New Leaf? Well, I’ve finally got off my lazy butt and compiled all my screenshots thus far into one such post! My Initial Animal Crossing: New Leaf Impressions post will serve as the first week, hence why this is weeks 2-3.

I’ll try my very best to talk about all the special events and fun tidbits that people might not know about in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, so keep in mind that these posts will be chock-full of information and screenshots that “spoil” some of the surprises in the game. That said, I won’t cover every little thing in order to keep some of the magic there for those of you who haven’t gotten the chance to play yet, but I can’t guarantee anything, so please proceed with caution!

Anyone notice my ongoing thing for Swadloon?

But before I begin, you’re probably wondering why I decided to title this “Memos from Mamemura.” I’ve named my Animal Crossing: New Leaf town Mamemura, which literally means “bean town,” but I like how it almost sounds like Amemura, short for America Mura, which is an actual location in Osaka.  Of course since I am actually American, a town who’s name is a pun of Amemura sounded like a grand idea! (Amemura really doesn’t have much of anything to do with America, if you’re wondering) And I’d like to give everyone who pitched title suggestions in my last post a huge thanks for the wonderful inspiration! If it weren’t for your awesome ideas, I wouldn’t have come up with Memos from Mamemura, which I’m quite proud of, if I do say so myself.

Enough talk! What have I been up to in the world of Animal Crossing: New Leaf?

I got a whopping three new villagers over the past two weeks! The first to appear was Frill, who, if I’m not mistaken, is new to New Leaf (someone please correct me if I’m wrong!). Doesn’t she look like she came straight out of a Tim Burton film? And I love the Victorian decor! I wonder if they were channeling lolita goth when they designed her.

Next came Rocky the koala, another (definitely) new villager to New Leaf! I’m really lucky to have gotten such a wide range of characters! I just adore his shades, sideburns, and leather jacket. 
Finally, we have Kuroko, or Alli in the English versions. It’s lots of fun to see old and new faces mingle. 

I got my first visit from Kaburiba, or Joan, the lady who sells turnips. As all Animal Crossing aficionados know, you can make quite a killing reselling turnips to shops, as the price changes from day to day (I believe it even changes multiple times a day in New Leaf). The only downside is that they go bad in a week, so you might find yourself stuck having to sell them back for a less-than-desirable price. I thought Joan was trying to pull me a fast one by setting the turnip price rather high this week, so I decided to play it safe and not buy any.

I finally unlocked the island! If only I took better notes, I’d be able to say exactly which day this occurred on… After completing certain tasks as mayor, Tortimer, the mayor of previous Animal Crossing towns, will appear when you load up your game and invite you to visit his island. From the next day, you’re able to travel to the island whenever you wish, as long as you can afford the 1,000 bell fee. It’s a great place to find rare bugs, fish, and fruit, as well as play special mini-games!

Swimming is new to New Leaf, as well, and can only be done on the island. It’s a lot of fun diving for things! You can see I’ve caught a sea urchin above.

I bet you’re wondering what’s wrong with my eye in the above screens, right? Well, guess who shook one too many trees? I pushed my luck too far and a beehive landed right next to me! I was no match for those bees. I love how the villagers react to seeing your mangled face. They suggest to find medicine but I had no idea how to get any… Luckily all was well the next day.

New digs and swag! I love my Mario hat and sparkly shojo eye glasses.

My first project as mayor was building this bridge! Every time you compete a project (i.e pay off your debt) you’ll have a little celebration with some of the villagers and Shizue, the secretary.

Last Thursday was the Harvest Festival! This turkey, Franklin, shows up in everyone’s towns asking for ingredients to cook a feast. Unfortunately the event was going on when I was traveling, so I didn’t get a chance to complete all the tasks.

I did, however, trade some ingredients with some villagers…

and brought them back to Franklin to make a mushroom salad! He asks you to bring a “secret ingredient,” but I didn’t realize I needed one, and unfortunately there’s no turning back once you have the required items and initiate a conversation with him. Basically, my lack of the secret ingredient meant that it wasn’t the “best it could be,” which leads me to believe I might’ve gotten a better item had I brought the secret ingredient. I’m happy with the harvest dresser I got in return, but it’s a shame I’ll have to wait until next year to do the rest of the event! 
I also built a tent in my town so wandering villagers could come visit. You can play a short guessing game with them, and in this case the conniving deer you see above, Doremi (another newcomer to New Leaf!), managed to swindle my bug net off me for a mere 56 bells because I kept picking the wrong numbers (it’s basically all up to chance, I believe). Luckily she said she enjoyed my town and wants to move in, so I hope to see her soon! 
Gettin’ my nerd on with an arcade machine and cat ears. 
Finally, though I don’t have space to share all of the pictures I have from visiting friend’s towns, I wanted to show a quick glimpse of K.K Slider’s Club 444. You can actually dance around by pressing the directional buttons and everything! (Can you see my little hip shake in the above image? Talk about cute!) 
Well, that about sums up my last two weeks in Mamemura. As always, if you have any questions about the game, feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer. See you next week!

[Update] Ah yes, I forgot to post what my town’s layout looks like! Here you go:

 

Extra Life Marathon Round-Up: One mayonnaise machine, two tsunamis, and many stray sheep

Two weekends ago, I participated in the Extra Life 24-hour gaming marathon to raise money for children’s hospitals for the first time ever, and I must say it was quite the experience! First, I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who donated –– I exceeded my goal of $300 by a whole $72! That means I raised a whopping $372! That is no small feat, and I couldn’t have done it without all of your help.

I also want to give a big shout-out to all the folks who stopped by to watch as I streamed myself playing games for the full 24 hours (That’s right, I made it! That, too, is no small feat). I’m confident that I wouldn’t have been nearly so driven to stay awake the whole time if it weren’t for the viewer count hovering between 6-12 for the majority of the 24 hours, and the folks who dropped in to chat made the marathon that much more fun to do. Lastly, a couple of local friends of mine stopped by for the final 6 hour stretch, and that was a major boost to my energy! I probably said more than a few weird things as a result of too much coffee and miscellaneous energy drinks, but I hope they enjoyed themselves.

Since the theme of the marathon was to go through games in our backlogs, I made it my personal goal to beat at least one full title, as well as play a few others that I’d been meaning to check out. So, what did I think of the games I ended up playing? Were you able to guess what I tried based on the hints in the title of this post? Read on to find out!

Disaster: Day of Crisis
I decided to start with one title that I’d been eying for a while but finally managed to snag for an extremely reasonable price, just in time for Extra Life! Disaster: Day of Crisis is a Japanese game by Monolith Soft (the folks behind the recent Xenoblade Chronicles) that has you controlling Raymond Bryce, who may be one of the coolest protagonists I’ve seen in a while. He’s having a pretty awful day full of everything from tsunamis (not one, but two) to volcanic eruptions, and he’s stuck both rescuing civilians and fighting terrorists. Ray sure gets around!

Going into Disaster, I really only expected it to be about rescuing people, with helping civilians being the main point of the game. Boy, was I wrong. Disaster is like the whackiest Hollywood action flick imaginable –- it has a goofy plot with nonsensical dialogue and everything from first person on-rails shooting (and since it’s on the Wii, it’s all motion-controlled) to driving sequences (again, motion-controlled) and even a one-on-one fight with a bear. Yep, a bear.

One of the best scenes in the game. Looming tsunami wave!

I actually managed to beat the game in about 11 hours, and it was probably my favorite experience from the 24-hour marathon. It’s not the most polished game ever, and it certainly takes a person with an appreciation for camp to enjoy it, but I stand by it being one of my favorite titles on the Wii to date. I’m even considering playing it again with the newly-unlocked New Game+! That’s a big deal for me, considering I hardly ever replay games.

Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility
This isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility, and admittedly I didn’t start this one from the beginning, but it was the perfect peaceful game to take a break with after the action-packed Disaster, so I popped it in for a few hours to continue my quest to woo bachelor Owen and expand my growing barn of animals.

Last time I played Tree of Tranquility I bought my first chicken, and I was pleasantly surprised to realize that Chika (yes, Chika the chicken) laid one “good” egg a day for me. Selling good eggs was profitable enough, but with 3,000 G I could buy a mayonnaise machine to make mayonnaise out of the eggs. For the machine to cost that much, I assumed that meant selling mayonnaise would be much more profitable than just shipping off the eggs to the market by themselves… or so I thought.

Thanks for the advice…

Let it be known that I went into Tree of Tranquility with the intention to not look at any guides or walkthroughs, so all of my decision-making thus far has been purely “instinct.” Well, my mayonnaise machine intuition was totally wrong – after saving up for days in the game to purchase said machine, I placed an egg in, got my mayonnaise bottle, and promptly sold it… for the same price of an egg (or thereabouts). Yup, 3,000 G down the drain, moneymaking scheme unceremoniously shot down. What a disappointment! At least putting an egg into the machine and watching a mayonnaise bottle (Japanese-style, of course) pop out is relatively amusing. How on earth do you even make money in Harvest Moon? That’s a question that’ll have to wait for another day…

Catherine
The last title I played (aside from a few minutes spent playing Saints Row: The Third that are best forgotten) was one I have long been interested in checking out: Catherine. Catherine probably needs little introduction, considering it’s become rather infamous since its release last year, but the general premise is that the main character, Vincent, has a bit of a lady problem. He’s afraid of committing to a permanent relationship with his long-time girlfriend Katherine, and it just so happens that a mysteriously alluring girl named Catherine has her eye on him… Throughout the game, you’re required to juggle your relationships with the two girls, choosing “good” or “bad” responses to various questions and prompts, making it a little like a dating sim game (I’m told these choices influence the game’s ending), but the majority of the gameplay comes from the puzzle segments that occur at the end of chapter.

I believe I’ve done about four chapters of Catherine so far, and I have to say I quite enjoyed what I played during the marathon. I’d heard the puzzle levels were particularly brutal, so I went in on easy, and didn’t have too tough of a time, especially since I had three people telling me what to do (which was probably a good idea, considering how tired I was by that point). Many have applauded the game for tackling some difficult, more “mature” topics such as issues surrounding commitment and other grownup relationship struggles, but I have to admit that none of the characters came across as likable in the slightest, so it made it difficult for me to feel at all invested in the narrative or Vincent’s “plight.” That said, it was a strange, intriguing experience that is unlike any other game I’ve played, and I look forward to seeing it to its conclusion.

[Update]
Tokyo Jungle
How could I forget that I played Tokyo Jungle during some of my downtime, as well?! Clearly I was more tired than I thought… Well my pal Christine reminded me that I did indeed play Tokyo Jungle. In fact, we played together! It was her first time playing so I tried to do my best to show her the ropes. We both played carnivores and got pretty far, actually, but you eventually always hit that wall where things just get stupidly tough. I believe we met our demise to a group of ravenous lions.

This wasn’t my first time play Tokyo Jungle, to be sure, but it’s such a great game that’s easy to pick up for short bursts of play that I had to include it in my marathon. I still have a few more animals to unlock, so I imagine I’ll keep chipping away at it well into next year. I don’t want to jump the gun, but Tokyo Jungle is definitely in the running for my game of the year! It’s definitely going to make the top 5.

Well, believe it or not, that’s all I played during the 24 hours! I’d say it ended up breaking down to about 11 hours of Disaster: Day of Crisis, 2 hours of Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility, 6 hours of Catherine, 2 hours of Tokyo Jungle and 1 hour of Saints Row: The Third. That doesn’t quite add up to 24, but counting breaks you’ve got a full day’s worth of gaming! Would I do it again? Absolutely! … In a year from now.

The Monster Hunter Beginner’s Guide is a must-have for aspiring hunters

As someone who takes pride in her love for (virtually) all things Japanese, including video games, it’s hard to ignore the influence the Monster Hunter series has in Japan. But anyone with even a passing knowledge of MonHun (as it’s affectionately called by fans) probably knows about its notoriously overwhelming systems that make it rather difficult for a newcomer to jump in.

To date, I own both Monster Hunter Tri for the Wii and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite on PSP, but I haven’t gotten any further than completing a handful of the tutorial quests in Freedom Unite. And even then, I already feel like I’m over my head! Luckily, the newly-released Monster Hunter Beginner’s Guide was released just in the nick of time.

The lovely duo behind the newly-launched Culty and the My Fair Hunter Podcast launched the Monster Hunter Beginner’s Guide earlier this week, and as a hopeful future MonHun player, I rushed to pick it up straight away. The near-60 page guide is packed full of information and explanations for beginners, all neatly presented in an easy-to-navigate format. Did I mention that it contains some downright adorable illustrations?

I forked out $9 for the digital version so I can always have it by my side, and I must say it definitely feels like a $9 well spent. I was pleasantly surprised by the community tips sprinkled throughout, which feature some words of wisdom from other MonHun players. The guide is also great in that it isn’t specific to any one MonHun game, but rather the information can be applied to every entry in the series! Differences between the games are clearly detailed when necessary, making it a great universal guide. There’s also an item combination guide, which I have a feeling will be very useful.

To celebrate the launch of Culty, they’re also having a special where you can buy the print version of the guide and get a bonus art print for only $35, which I definitely recommend checking out. Alternatively, you can buy one of the Fleyne art prints (they’re really adorable!) for $25 and get the digital version of the guide for free! Isn’t that swell? There’s also a four-page preview available on the product listing page for those interested.

Though it probably is too rudimentary for anyone who’s played a significant amount of MonHun, I definitely recommend it for anyone just starting out or interested in getting into the games in the future. It’s packed full of content and presented in a way that definitely beats looking at an online FAQ or walkthrough.

Well, I have to say reading through the guide has gotten me all geared up to do some hunting! I’ve been told that Monster Hunter Tri is actually a better place to start for beginners, so I think I’m going to put my Freedom Unite game on hold and start fresh there. So, who’s going to play with me?

Thoughts on three recent and radically different game demos

What do fashion shows, deranged nurses, and a talking rabbit have in common? They just so happen to feature in the three game demos I played over the last week! The first week of October was surprisingly busy for game demos, and though I don’t usually jump at the sight of a new demo, all of these happened to be titles I’m interested in enough to give them a shot. I know you’re dying to see what titles I’m talking about (or have you guessed already?), so I’ll cut right to the chase.

Silent Hill: Book of Memories (PS Vita)
It probably won’t surprise any of you to hear that I’ve never properly played a Silent Hill title before. I’ve played and watched various segments of Silent Hill 2 (mostly the beginning, along with the infamous pyramid head scene), and though I know a good deal about the series in general, I don’t particularly have a huge investment in it, nor do I know enough about the games to have a discussion on them. Taking that into account, I was still surprised when I heard that Book of Memories was going to be an RPG. “A Silent Hill RPG? Now that’s something I’ve got to see!” accurately sums up my reaction to the news that the demo was finally up on the North American PSN.
As you can see from the image above (have I ever mentioned how much I love the PS Vita’s screen capture function?), I wasn’t horribly creative with my character, choosing to go for the gothic lolita look and generic goth gal name Alice. Did you know my parents almost named me Alice? Well there’s your random Chic Pixel trivia for the day! 

So, how does it play? I came out pleasantly surprised and satisfied with my time with the Silent Hill: Book of Memories demo. I didn’t find the areas and overall graphical style very appealing, but the gameplay was interesting and made great use of the PS Vita’s touch screen to pick up/use items and weapons. I’d go so far as to say that this game has the best mixture of traditional and touch screen controls I’ve seen on the PS Vita since launch! 
Gameplay consists of exploring various rooms in a randomly-generated zone, battling classic Silent Hill enemies, and collecting puzzle pieces to unlock the door to the next area. All traditional RPG elements are present, including experience points and artifacts that can be equipped for a range of stat boosts. There’s also a heavy multiplayer element that is apparently included in the demo, but honestly I couldn’t figure out how to get a multiplayer sessions going! Will I pick it up on launch? Probably not, as I’m generally more interested in more story-driven RPGS, but this demo has definitely convinced me that Silent Hill: Book of Memories is not some throwaway spinoff. 
Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward (PS Vita)
The second PS Vita demo I sank my teeth into (figuratively, of course) was for the upcoming sequel to 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, the graphic adventure/visual novel for the Nintendo DS which has subsequently been rebranded as Zero Escape: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors. For the record, I have played 999, and I definitely consider it one of the standout titles on the DS. The mixture of interesting puzzle segments, a gripping and surprisingly mature story, and gorgeous character designs quickly earned it a special place in my heart, and I’ve been looking forward to the sequel’s English release ever since. 

Like 999, Virtue’s Last Reward features a deadly game that forces its participants to use their wits and make some difficult choices in order to escape from the compound they’ve inexplicably found themselves in. This time around, the game is known as the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition (for reference, 999‘s game was just the Nonary Game) that requires its participants to either betray or cooperate with the other players in an effort to obtain the necessary 9 BP (“bangle points”) needed to escape. In all honestly, I still don’t quite understand how this system works, but in my defense it didn’t really factor into the demo, which only featured a short visual novel segment that introduced the story and an escape portion that focused entirely on escaping from a certain area. 
As always, Aksys’ translation is quite humorous, and I regularly found myself chuckling at the quirky dialogue. The gameplay also remains true to its roots: Virtue’s Last Reward requires you to work out a series of puzzles that involve investigating the world around you, and since this is the PS Vita version (it’s also coming to the 3DS, but the demo is PS Vita-only at this time), there are a lot of touch screen controls. I’ll admit that after playing the Book of Shadows demo I felt like the touch controls here were a little more difficult to get used to, and I often found myself doing actions I didn’t intend to. 

The visual novel section features a quick introduction to the game’s story that, in all honesty, didn’t really grab me, which was unfortunate, but I’m still (perhaps naively) confident that the actual story will end up being just as engrossing as 999‘s was. One final quibble: I wish the game retained the 2D character illustrations of its predecessor rather than making the jump to 3D models, but I can understand why they made that decision. But can you just imagine how lovely Kinu Nishimura’s gorgeous art would be on the PS Vita’s screen? I know I can! 
Honestly, it sounds like I was rather underwhelmed by this demo, and I suppose I untimately was, but that’s only due to the fact that I have such high hopes for this sequel. It’s still something I’m planning on playing –– I just hope the story delivers. 

Style Savvy: Trendsetters (3DS)
Of course, I’ve saved the best for last! Yes, I’m not kidding, and yes, I can just imagine you all side-eyeing me very hard right now. If a game titled Style Savvy: Trendsetters doesn’t sound like something that will appeal to you from the get-go, I certainly won’t try to convince you otherwise, but I’m happy to report that the demo has proven itself to be a competent fashion game and not just another shovelware title destined for bargain bins and 5-year-olds. 
The first notable thing about this demo is that it only gives you a measly five tries, rather than the full 30 that usually come with 3DS demos. Funnily enough, though I never use more than one or two of my alloted demo plays, this is the one title that I think I’ll actually run out of tries for. The reason for this is that though Trendsetters only gives a sample of one portion of the game, the fashion contest, there are at least two different themes you can compete in, each with different clothing choices, and a wide range of randomly-selected models to choose from. At the time of this post, I’ve played through the demo four times (all on one “use” since I didn’t exit out of the demo itself), and have tried both the “pop” theme and the “bold” theme (for the record, I got pop three times and bold once, which leads me to believe these are the only options). 
I guess I must not be very style savvy (pun intended), since it took me all four tries to get first in the competition. The fashion contest pits you against three other stylists, and it’s your goal to select and dress a model according to the theme with the goal of being the best representation of that theme on the catwalk. I’m really not sure how the game determines what’s fashionable and what’s not, but there are certain clothing brands that it indicates as fitting better with certain themes. The above two images are my winning coordinate for “pop,” and I thought I was just phoning it in, so who knows. 
Regardless, if you have any interest in fashion, Style Savvy: Trendsetters should definitely keep you happy. The full game has you managing your own store, among other things, and I must admit it’s a title that I’m extremely looking forward to picking up. Also, it gets major props for featuring lolita fashion and allowing you to dress men as well as women! 
So, did you play any of these demos, or are any of these titles on your radar? I’d love to hear your thoughts! 

Manga Mentions: MeruPuri

Ah, Shojo Beat. It may have started just as I was transitioning out of reading manga in English, and it may not have romanized the word “shōjo” properly, but it still holds a special place in my heart. I still remember when the first issues of the new manga magazine began to arrive at my high school’s library… I would devour each and every issue, though I barely followed the manga being serialized. There was just something so comforting knowing that there was a publication that felt like it was made just for me –– shōjo manga has always been my favorite type of manga, and the Japanese culture articles gave me a glimpse of the world I yearned to return to ever since I went abroad during my freshman year.

In honor of this week’s Manga Movable Feast, I thought I’d take the opportunity to talk about one of my favorite overlooked Shojo Beat titles, MeruPuri. MeruPuri (short for “Märchen Prince”) ran for four volumes under the Shojo Beat imprint, though it was never serialized in the monthly magazine. Of course, MeruPuri‘s author, Matsuri Hino, has another, more popular series that was published monthly: Vampire Knight. Her work strikes me as being very similar to Arina Tanemura‘s, as they both do wonderfully detailed illustrations with plenty of traditional shōjo motifs such as flowers and sparkles, but the major difference between the two is that Hino’s work often delves into slightly more mature themes, which I can certainly appreciate.

As much as I like Hino’s art, the description on the back of the first volume of MeruPuri did not sound all that appealing initially:

All high-school freshman Airi Hoshina ever wanted was to someday live in a cozy home with a loving husband, and find joy in the little things in life. As a result, she makes it her daily mission to get to school on time because school legend has it that the longer one’s non-tardy streak is, the better boyfriend one will find. But just when her daily routine is working like clockwork, an occurrence of fairytale proportions threatens to disrupt her grand plan. 

On the way to school one morning, Airi drops her mirror—one that had been passed down to her through generations—and suddenly finds herself in a bizarre situation. Never in her wildest dreams did she expect to meet Aram, a little boy from a magical kingdom, to have emerged from the mirror in the short time it took her to track it down! 

Now, little 7-year-old prince Aram has a problem: He’s been hit by a spell cast by his half-brother Jeile that was supposed to turn him into an ugly old man, but instead changes him into a 17-year-old man whenever he is in the dark. The spell can only be broken by the kiss of his beloved (surprise surprise), and since Airi is the first woman he lays eyes on after being cursed, he hastily proclaims his love for her.

Aram and… Aram

I’m sure some people will immediately have a number of alarm bells ringing after reading the above description. Not only is Airi’s biggest goal in life to live in a “cozy home with a loving husband,” but early on in the story she gets a love confession from a 7-year-old boy. I wish I could say Hino does something spectacular to subvert reader’s expectations, but in all honestly, MeruPuri is simply very appealing fluff. I never really found Airi’s character all that likable, but Aram actually undergoes significant growth over the course of the four volumes –– he starts as a bratty little kid, but he eventually learns that he has responsibilities that he must meet as prince.

Of course, Airi and Aram end up falling in love (very early on, I might add), so much of my personal interest in the series lies in how Hino maneuvers a very strange relationship… It’s not often you see a story where a 15-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy fall in love, after all. In fact, it may be worth picking up for that alone. Hino does a great job of getting the reader to grow attached to the characters, and, if you’re like me, you may start to have some conflicting feelings about Aram…

I’ll happily admit that part of MeruPuri‘s charm lies in the fact that it is only four volumes long, as well. It’s the perfect length to develop interesting characters in, but not so long that the story starts to feel like its dragging on, which is particularly important given MeruPuri‘s subject matter. The relationship between Airi and Aram may be a little bit too weird for some readers, but anyone interested in a romance that’s a little off the beaten path need look no further than MeruPuri. It’s exactly how I like my shōjo: beautifully drawn, emotional, and just a little bit nuts.

Let’s Fish! Hooked On-inspired fishing game musings

Not sure how useful that knee band-aid is going to be

I’m probably not the first person to say that they never expected a moe fishing game to get localized, and I probably won’t be the last, but I’d like you all to take a moment to ponder with me the implications of a moe fishing game coming out in North America over all of the other possible titles that could be in the process of being translated right now.

Okay, I’m being overly dramatic, but I have to say I was completely floored by this announcement. Let’s Fish! Hooked On (or Let’s Try Bass Fishing: Fish on NEXT as it is known in Japan) takes an interesting approach to the world of fishing games by combining sickeningly cute character designs by a famous Japanese artist with “realistic fishing action.” Subsequently, it’s also the first full-fledged fishing game for the PS Vita. I imagine the front and back touch controls could work very well in a fishing game, if implemented correctly.

So, does all this mean I’m actually interested in picking up Let’s Fish! Hooked On? Well, aside from the fact that I think the phrase “hooked on” is genius and whoever came up with it should get a raise, I’d have to say intersection of two niches has me morbidly curious. Actually, the first thing that went through my mind while reading the announcement was, “Now wouldn’t that be a hilarious title to blog about!” I’m not exactly sure I should be judging my gaming purchases on how funny they’ll be to read about after I gruel through the process of actually playing them, but I’m sure there is some degree of fun to be had in Let’s Fish! Hooked On. Actually, the developers did take a second to think of possible female fans. After all, one of the four playable characters is a guy:

Well, that isn’t exactly what I was hoping for. 

More than anything, thinking about Let’s Fish! Hooked On has got me wondering if it’s time I jumped into the world of fishing games. Fishing Resort, which was released on the Wii late last year by XSEED Games, is another fishing game that caught my eye recently. It largely went under gamer’s radars due to the fact that not many people care about fishing games to begin with, and the Wii was pronounced a barren wasteland of shovelware long before it came out.

Not only is the art style more to my tastes than Let’s Fish! Hooked On (can you tell I’m trying to see how many times I can fit that name into this post?), but I haven’t heard a negative opinion of Fishing Resort yet. Also, it has ice fishing.

My dad, once an avid fisherman, took me ice fishing long ago.
It was, for the most part, cold and boring. I think I’d much
rather think about ice fishing than actually go ice fishing. 

The moral of the story is that I’m now this close to buying a copy of Fishing Resort. It may not be game of the year material, but it certainly looks like fun.

And since I’m on the topic of fishing games, I can’t not mention the Legend of the River King series. I’ve been debating whether or not to buy a copy of River King: Mystic Valley (DS) for ages now, and my recent interest in fishing games has brought me back to “should I buy it, or should I not” land. The indecision is killing me!

So: fishing games. Love ’em, hate ’em, or ambivalent towards ’em? If I only bought one fishing game, Let’s Fish! Hooked On, Fishing Resort, or River King: Mystic Valley, which would you recommend?

Add Sakura Samurai to the list of “games with weird name changes”

I’ve always wondered what goes into the localization and adaptation of game titles for different regions, and the recent news surrounding Sakura Samurai‘s European release has me scratching my head once again. The 3DS eShop title will not be coming to Europe under the name Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword, but Hana Samurai: Art of the Sword.

This leads to a number of questions. Is that why the game has taken so long to come out? (it’s been out since February in the US) The most logical conclusion is that “sakura samurai” has already been trademarked in Europe and it took a long time to negotiate a new name with the creators/publisher/etc. I can only imagine how that meeting went down.

“Hey guys, so “sakura samurai” is taken. We’ve gotta change it to something else.”

“How about another random Japanese word?”

“No, wait, I know! Sakura is a flower, right? So let’s just use the Japanese word for flower!”

Hands were shook, meeting adjourned. Okay, if it really went as well as the scenario in my head, then I wouldn’t expect it to have taken so long. By the way, sakura means “cherry blossom” and hana means “flower.” From what I’m aware, “sakura” is a much more recognizable word for English speakers, whereas I don’t think “hana”is anywhere near as commonly known. And why didn’t they go for another Japanese flower term, rather than the actual word for “flower”? The world probably will never know.

I always love an excuse to post a picture of a kappa!

Now, how about the game’s logo? The North American logo (at the top of the post) features the kanji for “sakura” and “samurai” above the corresponding English. Will they be changing it to the kanji for “hana” for the European release? I’ll be very disappointed if they don’t, though they may figure not that many people will notice.

Of course, I’ll admit I haven’t played the game, so there is the possibility that there is meaning behind the name “hana samurai” that I’m missing. Anyone who has played the title who thinks they have additional insight to add, feel free to post your thoughts in the comments!

Now’s a perfect opportunity to share your favorite game name changes, so have at it! My recent favorite is Fortune Street, which was changed to Boom Street in Europe and Australia. No, I have no idea, either.