Famicom Detective Club Series with Zalman, Tears of the Kingdom Master Works

[00:00:08] Welcome to Tokyo Game Life, a Tokyo-based video game podcast focusing on Nintendo and gaming

[00:00:13] culture in Japan's capital.

[00:00:15] Your host Mono here to bring you a slice of gaming life from Tokyo.

[00:00:19] Nintendo Superfan Zalman joins the podcast as we highlight the Famicom Detective Club Series.

[00:00:25] From a Japan-only Famicom Disk System game to Nintendo's recent worldwide release of

[00:00:29] Imiyō The Smiling Man, we explore Nintendo's fascination with adventure games and,

[00:00:33] of course, who should be in Smash Bros.

[00:00:36] In the game section I break down the newly released The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom

[00:00:40] Master Works book.

[00:00:42] Is the timeline solved?

[00:00:43] No, but I promise there's a lot to talk about.

[00:00:46] And finally, I'll end with the many news items from the past few days.

[00:00:50] Let's get into the feature on the Famicom Detective Club Series with Zalman.

[00:01:01] Today's feature is on the Famicom Detective Club Series, a once Japan-only Nintendo franchise

[00:01:05] that has found new life these past few years on the Switch, including the recently released

[00:01:10] Imiyō The Smiling Man.

[00:01:12] Joining me to chat all about this mysterious franchise is a special guest.

[00:01:16] So guest, please introduce yourself.

[00:01:18] Yes, hello.

[00:01:18] My name is Zalman, also simply known as Zal.

[00:01:21] You may have seen me on Twitter and on various other Discord sites, servers.

[00:01:26] And I'm happy to finally be on Tokyo Game Life.

[00:01:29] So it's been a long time coming.

[00:01:31] Thank you for having me.

[00:01:33] Thanks for joining me.

[00:01:34] Like I said before we recorded, when I think of Famicom Detective Club, I think of only

[00:01:38] one person and that's you.

[00:01:39] So for those unfamiliar with the series, give us the basics.

[00:01:43] What is the Famicom Detective Club Series?

[00:01:45] Famicom Detective Club is a text adventure visual novel style series.

[00:01:51] And what's unique about it is it was developed internally at Nintendo for the Famicom.

[00:01:56] And that is in itself very unique because Nintendo doesn't usually make these kinds

[00:02:01] of games.

[00:02:02] And not only that, but they are spearheaded by Yoshio Sakamoto of Metroid fame nowadays.

[00:02:09] So you will see some of the same influences actually from the Metroid series in this

[00:02:14] series.

[00:02:14] Do you remember how you first became aware of this year?

[00:02:17] So I was saying the late 2000s is when I started getting into this genre of games, just like

[00:02:24] many others.

[00:02:24] I got into Ace Attorney first.

[00:02:27] And as soon as I played Ace Attorney, I was hooked and I started playing more and

[00:02:30] more visual novels, text adventure games.

[00:02:33] And around the same time, I started becoming more aware of the game industry and I started

[00:02:38] doing more research on the developers and the classic series.

[00:02:42] And I stumbled upon Famicom Detective Club at the time.

[00:02:46] And what really caught my eye was the fact that it was Nintendo developed and it was

[00:02:50] written by Sakamoto.

[00:02:51] And I also realized at the time a Yumi is actually a trophy in Smash Mili, which

[00:02:57] melee is a game that I played back in the day.

[00:03:00] But you know, I didn't really think about it too much back then.

[00:03:02] So all the pieces kind of fell into place at the time.

[00:03:06] And I was at the time I was just thinking, you know, maybe one day I'll get

[00:03:09] the opportunity to play these, but it wasn't really looking good at the time.

[00:03:13] So I kind of forgot about it for a while.

[00:03:15] And then when they announced it for the switch, obviously that was the perfect

[00:03:20] opportunity.

[00:03:21] Yeah, me as well.

[00:03:22] I think the first time I encountered the series was definitely IYUMI Tachibana's

[00:03:25] trophy in Super Smash Brothers Melee, which I think is a pretty common

[00:03:28] origin story for many people.

[00:03:30] And one of the many strange, really deep cut characters represented in the

[00:03:34] game with a fantastic 3D model.

[00:03:36] But let's flesh out a bit of history.

[00:03:38] The basic premise is that you work for a detective agency and solve mysteries

[00:03:41] by interacting with other characters and the environment.

[00:03:44] The first game, Famicom Detective Club, the missing air was released on

[00:03:48] the Famicom Disk System.

[00:03:50] So not just the Famicom, the actual disk system in 1988, followed

[00:03:54] by a prequel, the next year titled The Girl Who Stands Behind.

[00:03:57] And both games were on two disks, which was somewhat rare for the

[00:04:00] Famicom Disk System.

[00:04:02] And yes, the most notable alumni from the dev team is of course Yoshio

[00:04:05] Sakamoto, who is most known as the arbiter of the Metroid series.

[00:04:09] And Famicom Detective Club is a classic Japanese style adventure game

[00:04:13] similar to the Portopia Serial Murder Case, which was popular around this time.

[00:04:17] You mentioned it a little bit earlier about the Metroid connection.

[00:04:20] So what would you say are these standout elements of the Famicom

[00:04:23] Detective Club series?

[00:04:24] So if you think of Metroid, Metroid is probably one of the darker

[00:04:28] Nintendo franchises.

[00:04:29] You will notice some horror elements in Metroid and you will see

[00:04:33] that in Famicom Detective Club as well.

[00:04:36] And actually, Emil is rated M or Piggy 18 in Europe.

[00:04:41] So you will definitely see that it has like a darker edge to it.

[00:04:46] Yeah, I think people often compare this type of game to Layton or

[00:04:49] its attorney due to their mix of text heavy narrative and puzzle solving.

[00:04:53] But would you say Famicom Detective Club is a bit lighter on the

[00:04:56] puzzles and heavier on the story compared to those games?

[00:04:59] Yeah, I would say so.

[00:05:00] I mean, it does have some puzzles.

[00:05:03] But the puzzle in Famicom Detective Club is actually how you

[00:05:06] proceed the conversations because an ace attorney, you get specific

[00:05:11] dialogue options and it tells you when that option is done, when you

[00:05:15] can move on to a different option.

[00:05:17] But Famicom Detective Club, it doesn't really tell you that.

[00:05:19] So you have to kind of figure out yourself what to ask the person

[00:05:23] to get more information.

[00:05:25] And that is kind of maybe controversial part of this series.

[00:05:29] It can be a bit obtuse because you have to guess sometimes what you need to do.

[00:05:33] But I've actually grown to like it because it's unique, especially in this day and

[00:05:37] age, you don't really see visual novels do this anymore.

[00:05:40] And also it allows for some player freedom, which obviously I will not

[00:05:43] spoil anything about this game.

[00:05:45] But there are some interactions in this game that only happen if you

[00:05:49] do certain things.

[00:05:50] So it's very interesting that way because there's a lot of Easter eggs

[00:05:54] and these Easter eggs would not be possible if it worked like an

[00:05:58] ace attorney game, for example.

[00:06:00] Did you ever try out the original Famicom diss system games or what was your

[00:06:03] first experience actually playing the franchise?

[00:06:05] No, I did not.

[00:06:06] My first experience was the remakes.

[00:06:08] Did you ever go back and try that diss system games just for fun?

[00:06:11] No, I would actually like to just to compare.

[00:06:14] But obviously they were in Japanese.

[00:06:15] Maybe I can find some translation out there, but no, I've not gone back to it.

[00:06:19] No, the series actually has a pretty robust release history.

[00:06:23] And like with any great niche Nintendo franchise, it has a Satella

[00:06:27] View game, a remake of the girl who stands behind in a brand new adventure

[00:06:30] titled BS Yukinikiya Takako, where you only play as Ayumi Tachibana.

[00:06:36] But this game was a bit more experimental than the other two since

[00:06:39] it was a sound link game, which meant it was fully voice acted, but

[00:06:43] had limited actual input from the player.

[00:06:45] Have you ever messed with any of the Satella View games?

[00:06:48] No, I have not.

[00:06:48] And I'm actually curious because they seem to not want to

[00:06:52] acknowledge its existence, which is interesting to me because just a few

[00:06:56] days ago before the release of M.E.O., a Nintendo released

[00:06:59] developer interview with Sakamoto and Miyachi also from Nintendo.

[00:07:03] And none of them ever mentioned the Satella View game.

[00:07:07] They just pretended there were two games and now there's this third one, right?

[00:07:10] So it makes me wonder like how involved was Sakamoto in this?

[00:07:14] I don't actually know.

[00:07:15] I believe he was credited as the producer, but was he like

[00:07:19] the main writer or was it someone else?

[00:07:21] I'm not actually sure about that.

[00:07:23] But for some reason, they're not really doing anything with that game.

[00:07:27] We're just unfortunate because you play as Ayumi in that game, which is interesting.

[00:07:31] In M.E.O., you actually have some Ayumi segments, which is nice.

[00:07:35] But the fact that she got her own game and we're not getting that brought over

[00:07:38] is kind of a shame.

[00:07:40] We just have to wait for the Satella View NSO app.

[00:07:42] Yes.

[00:07:42] I will launch any second now.

[00:07:44] And beyond the Satella View games, the first two titles did get ported

[00:07:47] to the GBA in Japan and it's shown up on various eShops over the years.

[00:07:50] But again, only in Japan.

[00:07:52] But lo and behold, in 2021, Nintendo and Tokyo developer Mages, mostly known

[00:07:57] for the science adventure series, including Steins Gate, remade the first two

[00:08:02] games for a worldwide release, marking the first time the series has ever hit the West.

[00:08:07] What were your thoughts on the switch remakes of the first two games?

[00:08:09] Yeah, so I don't know if you remember this, but initially this was only

[00:08:12] announced in a Japanese direct.

[00:08:15] And I remember thinking, man, that's such a shame.

[00:08:17] I would love to play these.

[00:08:18] And then I believe they were delayed in Japan, like quietly.

[00:08:22] And then one day they showed up again and they announced that they were

[00:08:25] coming to the West as well.

[00:08:26] So I assume they probably changed their mind to some point, which is nice.

[00:08:30] And so they got a global simultaneous release.

[00:08:33] And that was really cool.

[00:08:34] And I am familiar with some of Mages work.

[00:08:36] I have played Steins Gate.

[00:08:38] So I knew like these guys are good at making this genre of games.

[00:08:43] And it was a match made in heaven.

[00:08:45] So I was really excited about that.

[00:08:47] Yeah, it was amazing to see Nintendo revive this series after so long.

[00:08:51] And a recent dev interview, Sakamoto said the origin of the project

[00:08:54] came from really just a super fan at Mages.

[00:08:57] So it's pretty amazing to see the small company, at least relative to Nintendo,

[00:09:01] was able to completely revive a Nintendo franchise and give it a worldwide release.

[00:09:06] Though I did see some criticism of the games

[00:09:08] saying that compared to a lot of other adventure titles,

[00:09:10] it was fairly basic in how you interact with the game

[00:09:13] and that it does feel like an NES game in a lot of ways.

[00:09:16] Is this a fair criticism or is that just part of the charm of the series?

[00:09:20] I think it's a bit of both, as I mentioned before,

[00:09:23] it does play a little bit differently than modern visual novel games

[00:09:27] in the sense that it doesn't really tell you what to do.

[00:09:31] And that can be a bit frustrating when you just want to proceed

[00:09:34] and you keep trying the same menu commands and nothing's happening.

[00:09:38] But I've grown to like it.

[00:09:40] I think it's part of the charm and it does allow for some freedom and some,

[00:09:44] you know, it's kind of like a puzzle in itself.

[00:09:46] So I think it's cool.

[00:09:48] You have a preference between the two games.

[00:09:50] Which one is your favorite?

[00:09:51] Of the two originals, the girl who stands behind is a little more unique.

[00:09:54] I think The Missing Air is more of a traditional

[00:09:58] who done it type of murder mystery.

[00:10:00] Whereas the girl who stands behind is a little more unique to me.

[00:10:04] And it's also more horror focused.

[00:10:07] And I believe in the recent interview, Sakamoto said that

[00:10:09] he believed that one was mostly his.

[00:10:13] Whereas he got some outside influences that influenced that game in some ways.

[00:10:18] Whereas the girl who stands behind was fully like, this is what I want to do type of thing.

[00:10:23] And you can kind of tell because again, it is a little more horror inspired

[00:10:27] just like Emiyo is.

[00:10:28] But yeah, I think it's not really night and day for me.

[00:10:31] I like both games pretty evenly.

[00:10:33] How would you describe Sakamoto's writing?

[00:10:35] Of course, he's mostly famous for being a designer and a director.

[00:10:38] But do you think he has a very specific writing style or what would you say are some

[00:10:43] elements of Sakamoto's writing?

[00:10:45] I think it's hard to say because, you know, yes, he has made a lot of games over the years.

[00:10:50] He's one of the old guard from Nintendo, you know, Nintendo Legends.

[00:10:54] But you don't really associate him too much with writing, right?

[00:10:58] Obviously, he caught some flak for other M at the time.

[00:11:01] But I don't I don't really associate him with writing.

[00:11:04] Typically, it's really just Famicom Detectives Club.

[00:11:07] So it's really hard for me to pinpoint his style.

[00:11:10] Again, it is horror inspired, as I have said.

[00:11:13] All right, we've gotten into the history into the recent games.

[00:11:16] But let's get into the big boy, Emiyo.

[00:11:19] A few weeks after the June Nintendo Direct, they cryptically

[00:11:22] tweeted out who is Emiyo with a short video.

[00:11:25] Now, at this time, did you know it was a Famicom Detective Club game?

[00:11:29] You know, it did cross my mind at one point, but I didn't think about it too much.

[00:11:33] So when the remakes came out, there was an interview with one of the leads for the game.

[00:11:37] And he was saying how he wanted to do a brand new original Famicom Detective Club game.

[00:11:42] So this was in 2021.

[00:11:44] So it was always like in the back of my mind.

[00:11:46] And I believe it was earlier this year in January, when mages,

[00:11:51] they started talking about their plans for this year.

[00:11:53] And they were talking about they were doing this big Steinskate anniversary celebration.

[00:11:58] And then aside from that, they said there was a big game coming,

[00:12:01] like some big announcement.

[00:12:02] And I remember reading that earlier this year, thinking

[00:12:05] that's probably Famicom Detective Club.

[00:12:07] But again, I just forgot about it.

[00:12:08] And I didn't think too much about it when the MOTs came out.

[00:12:12] But then the week after when they did announce what it was,

[00:12:15] I was surprised, I will admit, I did not see it coming.

[00:12:18] Yeah, I just see some people guessed that it was going to be Famicom Detective Club,

[00:12:21] but it never really crossed my mind.

[00:12:23] So I was pretty surprised when they revealed, oh,

[00:12:26] Emiyo is the next entry in the Famicom Detective Club series.

[00:12:29] Why did you think about this marketing strategy overall?

[00:12:32] Would it have been better to include it in a Nintendo Direct?

[00:12:34] Or was this the way to go?

[00:12:35] Oh, I think this was perfect.

[00:12:36] It really caught a lot of traction online.

[00:12:39] And it was really funny to see how the mainstream media was

[00:12:43] disappointed when they found out what it really was.

[00:12:45] But I thought it was awesome because it really,

[00:12:48] if you look at the number of views on that video, initial video,

[00:12:52] I believe it's like half a million.

[00:12:53] That would not happen if they just had announced

[00:12:55] it as the Famicom Detective Club game.

[00:12:57] So I think it was a smart move.

[00:12:59] Yeah, I definitely think it would have gotten buried and then it's no direct.

[00:13:02] If they did Marvel versus Capcom is coming back.

[00:13:05] And then Emiyo and then Zelda back to back.

[00:13:08] I think a lot of people are forgetting about Famicom Detective Club.

[00:13:11] Sad to say, but I really like the marketing strategy.

[00:13:14] Now I definitely love to see Nintendo do it more in the future.

[00:13:18] Also want to talk about the way they did this demo for the game,

[00:13:21] which I thought was really awesome because, you know,

[00:13:24] initially I'm not the type of person who usually plays demos

[00:13:26] that far in advance because I want to play the whole thing

[00:13:29] when it comes out.

[00:13:30] But I did like the fact that they were doing like one chapter every couple of days

[00:13:34] leading up to the release.

[00:13:35] So I was like, OK, I can be a part of this.

[00:13:38] So that was really fun for me because I played chapter one

[00:13:41] and then I read people's theories and people had so many different

[00:13:45] wild theories about this game.

[00:13:47] And I couldn't even discount any of them

[00:13:49] because I had no idea where this game would go.

[00:13:51] And Sakamoto did warn us in advance

[00:13:53] that this game probably would have a controversial ending.

[00:13:56] So I was like, I have no idea what's going to happen in this.

[00:14:00] So all these theories valid at this point.

[00:14:02] Right. So chapter two came out the same thing.

[00:14:05] And then chapter three.

[00:14:06] And it was really fun to be a part of that ride for me.

[00:14:09] Obviously not too many people are actually playing this game.

[00:14:11] It's pretty niche still.

[00:14:13] But it was like a small community of players who played this game

[00:14:16] every couple of days and then shared their theories,

[00:14:20] which was I thought that was really cool to be a part of.

[00:14:22] Yes.

[00:14:23] Emil, the Smiling Man, Femmoncom Detective Club came out just a few days ago.

[00:14:27] And this time you hunt down a serial killer with a distinct smiling mask.

[00:14:31] You told me before we recorded you have completed it.

[00:14:33] So what are your overall thoughts on the game?

[00:14:36] Yes, I completed it four or five hours ago.

[00:14:39] And so it's still fresh in my mind.

[00:14:41] But you know, I have to process it, but I'm confident in saying

[00:14:44] it's my favorite in the series. That's for sure.

[00:14:47] I guess without getting into spoilers, like you said earlier,

[00:14:50] this is an M rated game.

[00:14:51] The first in the franchise and a rare Nintendo published M rated title.

[00:14:55] Would you say it earns its M rating or were you scratching your head

[00:14:59] about why it got that mark?

[00:15:01] I was scratching my head for the longest time,

[00:15:02] but the closer you get to the end, the more you understand it.

[00:15:06] Hmm. Another interesting element about the game

[00:15:09] is that while the original titles took place in that time period,

[00:15:13] this one is now a period piece as it takes place in the late 80s.

[00:15:16] Do you think they lean into the 80s setting at all?

[00:15:19] Or is it just kind of an afterthought?

[00:15:20] They kind of do.

[00:15:21] I'm not sure actually how this would have worked if it took place

[00:15:25] in the modern day with, you know, social media and all that.

[00:15:29] They would have to rewrite the whole script.

[00:15:31] There is you do have a phone in this game, but it's an old school phone.

[00:15:34] So I do think they lead into that 80s 90s vibe, which I think is cool.

[00:15:40] Do you actually ever see a Famicom in the Famicom?

[00:15:43] The touch of club games?

[00:15:45] I don't recall ever seeing one.

[00:15:46] No, maybe there's one hidden somewhere, but I don't remember.

[00:15:49] OK, I wish they called themselves the Famicom detective club in the game.

[00:15:53] That would just be a funny thing to introduce yourself as.

[00:15:56] But yes, maybe in the next one, they can do that compared to the other two

[00:15:59] switch games, are there any new interesting gameplay mechanics?

[00:16:03] I guess without getting into spoilers because I have heard.

[00:16:05] Oh, they're hiding a lot of gameplay elements that you might not expect.

[00:16:09] But is the way you interact with the game pretty much the same

[00:16:12] as the other titles from ages?

[00:16:15] It's pretty much the same as the other Famicom detective club games,

[00:16:18] I would say, which was a little surprising to me because, you know,

[00:16:21] it is an old school way of navigating a visual novel.

[00:16:25] But actually, I do notice that they have streamlined it a little bit.

[00:16:30] It's more obvious what you have to do.

[00:16:32] So they're not completely giving it away, but they are leaning you

[00:16:34] towards the right direction.

[00:16:36] So I think that's actually a good balance.

[00:16:38] More specifically, what they do is they highlight some of the text

[00:16:41] to hint what you need to do next.

[00:16:44] And you can actually turn this off if you want to in the options,

[00:16:47] which is nice. But yeah, that does make it less up to us, which is good.

[00:16:50] But overall gameplay wise, it's the same as the previous ones.

[00:16:54] Was there anything you wish they would have added or streamlined even further?

[00:16:58] No, actually, no, I think I'm pretty content with it.

[00:17:01] Yeah, the game reviewed quite well, definitely above the first two remakes.

[00:17:04] And many people have even been saying it's one of the best

[00:17:07] game stories they've ever encountered.

[00:17:08] I even see a few people dub it game of the year.

[00:17:11] So there's definitely a subset of people who are really, really into the game.

[00:17:15] What's Emiyo doing that elevates it over the other two games?

[00:17:19] I think what it does differently or better is too early to say for me.

[00:17:23] I need to really think about this game.

[00:17:24] I'm still processing it, but I will say in terms of game of the year,

[00:17:28] it's probably the game that has impacted me the most this year.

[00:17:32] And so I could see it being my personal game of the year.

[00:17:36] This year, Nintendo put out Emiyo and another code recollection

[00:17:39] two very classic style Japanese adventure games.

[00:17:42] And the aforementioned Layton and Ace Attorney have close ties with Nintendo platforms.

[00:17:46] Why do you think Nintendo is so invested in the adventure genre?

[00:17:50] It's kind of hard to imagine Sony or Microsoft funding a game like this.

[00:17:53] Yeah, I think that's just Nintendo the way they are.

[00:17:56] One thing that Nintendo has been really good at in the Switch generation

[00:17:59] is they are investing in the most niche franchises

[00:18:03] that you would not expect anyone to invest in,

[00:18:06] especially not a big publisher like Nintendo.

[00:18:08] Like who greenlights a big budget visual novel in 2024?

[00:18:12] That's crazy.

[00:18:13] That's what makes Nintendo special to me that they are willing to do this

[00:18:16] because the trend in the industry is we're going to make fewer games,

[00:18:20] but we're going to make bigger games.

[00:18:22] And Nintendo is just the opposite of that.

[00:18:24] The fact that they can release these games at a pretty quick pace,

[00:18:27] that that's unbelievable.

[00:18:29] I'm not sure if they're fond towards visual novels specifically,

[00:18:32] or I think it's just that they want to have a variety of genres.

[00:18:35] But I do remember there was an investor Q&A a couple of years ago

[00:18:39] where they were asked about this genre, visual novels.

[00:18:43] And Miyamoto actually answered that and saying how he was a big fan of ace

[00:18:46] attorney Professor Layton, that people were doing a good job with the genre.

[00:18:50] But it's really hard to invest in because there's so much text

[00:18:54] that needs to be translated and there's an expectation of

[00:18:57] should we have voice acting in this?

[00:18:58] Does that need to be localized too?

[00:19:00] So it's not a cheap thing to produce, actually.

[00:19:04] So the fact that they're still doing it is awesome.

[00:19:07] Yeah, I think just even programming the logic about, you know,

[00:19:10] what activates this dialogue box is very, very complicated.

[00:19:13] There's a lot going under the hood than a lot of people realize.

[00:19:16] And speaking of voice acting, this has only Japanese voice acting, correct?

[00:19:20] That's correct.

[00:19:21] Would you have liked an English dub or do you prefer the Japanese voices?

[00:19:25] I'm OK with the Japanese voices, but I do think if they want

[00:19:28] it to be a little more mainstream,

[00:19:30] it would have been nice to have an option for a dub version.

[00:19:33] But again, I know that they probably know this is not a game

[00:19:36] that's going to sell gangbusters.

[00:19:38] So the fact that we got this at all in the West is really cool.

[00:19:43] So I'm OK with the Japanese voices personally.

[00:19:45] I think it adds to the vibe.

[00:19:47] Yeah. And going back to what Miyamoto said, I can definitely kind of

[00:19:50] understand the appeal of adventure games for Nintendo

[00:19:53] because they are really games anyone can play.

[00:19:56] Nintendo, of course, they're really wide reaching and getting casual

[00:20:00] gamers, people who really don't play games.

[00:20:02] And I'm sure there's a subset of gamers who they only play adventure games,

[00:20:06] but they only play visual novels.

[00:20:09] And yeah, these people are coming to the switch

[00:20:10] because that's the place to play these games.

[00:20:13] So even if there's only a few hundred thousand people

[00:20:15] who are really, really into these games,

[00:20:17] they are willing to buy a switch to play these types of games,

[00:20:21] which I think is an interesting strategy that not a lot of other companies think about.

[00:20:26] Yes. And I saw a tweet earlier.

[00:20:29] Someone said, this feels like a game you greenlight when you are at the top of the industry.

[00:20:34] Right? Like you are like everyone has a switch at this point.

[00:20:37] Why not just make this game and then it's going to sell fine

[00:20:40] and we're going to make money off of it.

[00:20:41] It's not going to be a huge success, but people will be happy.

[00:20:44] And I think that's cool.

[00:20:46] Did you see the Nintendo Tokyo Amio merch and what are you picking up?

[00:20:49] Yes, I saw that.

[00:20:50] Not going to pick up any of that.

[00:20:52] But I really appreciated that they actually went the extra mile with this.

[00:20:56] So that was cool.

[00:20:57] Yeah, I was a bit surprised.

[00:20:58] You never really know if a game will get merch or not.

[00:21:00] But for listeners, you haven't seen it yet.

[00:21:02] There's a key chain of like a cartoon Amio.

[00:21:05] And there's also like an Amio bag that's like his head or I guess his mask.

[00:21:10] So you can wear a tote bag of Emile's mask.

[00:21:13] Although I guess it's technically upside down

[00:21:15] since the opening is on the top and the bottom is closed.

[00:21:19] And there is an Amio shirt as well, which is not available, but it is coming soon.

[00:21:24] I think Sakamoto has a lot of power here because I remember

[00:21:27] Mitch like Dredd also got merch, which, you know,

[00:21:30] Metroid is not really a series they do a lot of merch on.

[00:21:33] So that was cool to see as well.

[00:21:35] I would like to see Famicom Detective Club Amiibo,

[00:21:39] but they seem to like not do as many Amiibo these days.

[00:21:43] So maybe we'll have to wait for a Yumi to join Smash to get an Amiibo offer.

[00:21:48] There is a small Metroid section in Nintendo Tokyo.

[00:21:50] It doesn't have like a big statue or anything,

[00:21:52] but there is like a Metroid aisle.

[00:21:54] I'm really curious, where are they putting the Amio merch inside the store?

[00:21:58] Like, is it next to the Animal Crossing stuff or where is it?

[00:22:01] So I'll try to go there just to see where they're putting this.

[00:22:05] For people who want to get into the Famicom Detective Club series,

[00:22:08] where do you recommend they start?

[00:22:10] Should they just jump in with Amio or try out the other two games first?

[00:22:13] I always think it's nice to start from the beginning.

[00:22:16] You can easily jump into Amio,

[00:22:17] but I do think you get a little more out of it if you play the others.

[00:22:21] Thankfully, though, these are all pretty short games.

[00:22:24] So you can get through these.

[00:22:26] I think there are about 10 hours each, but they are standalone stories.

[00:22:29] So you don't really have to worry about missing out on significant details.

[00:22:33] It's just like an extra thing.

[00:22:35] OK, final question.

[00:22:36] Who should be in Smash?

[00:22:38] Ayumi Tachibana or Amio or a different character?

[00:22:41] I do think Ayumi deserves it.

[00:22:42] I think that would be cool.

[00:22:44] Have you thought about her moveset yet?

[00:22:45] What should be her final smash?

[00:22:47] I've not thought about that.

[00:22:48] This is one of those characters where you have to be creative.

[00:22:50] But that's the fun of Smash, right?

[00:22:52] Like anyone can join Smash and you can come up with a cool moveset for it.

[00:22:56] I think that's Sakurai's job, not mine.

[00:22:58] Yeah, I guess maybe like the final smash could be in like a text box or something

[00:23:01] like the original Famicom disk system menu layout

[00:23:05] and they bounce around or something.

[00:23:07] Yeah, I think Sakurai is smarter than both of us.

[00:23:10] So I'm sure he'll figure it out.

[00:23:11] And like I would like to see I'm a big supporter of Phoenix Wright

[00:23:13] in Smash as well.

[00:23:15] And Capcom made that work in Marvel versus Capcom.

[00:23:17] So I do think there is a way for sure.

[00:23:20] Yeah, Sakurai can always find a way.

[00:23:22] He just makes up characters like Mr.

[00:23:24] Game and Watch and exactly turns them into masterpieces.

[00:23:26] So hopefully we'll see Famicom Detective Club character playable

[00:23:30] or at least an assist trophy or something.

[00:23:32] I would like to see this franchise be a little more integrated

[00:23:35] into the overall Nintendo community.

[00:23:38] And I think Smash would be a good way to do that.

[00:23:40] I'm a big fan, like for example, sometimes on YouTube at these

[00:23:43] I see these two hour long videos, which are just

[00:23:46] compilations of songs from different Nintendo series.

[00:23:49] And I never see any Famicom Detective Club on those.

[00:23:52] And I'm like, they deserve to be on these playlists too.

[00:23:57] Right? The soundtracks are phenomenal.

[00:23:59] One thing that I was worried about with Emiya was actually

[00:24:01] the soundtrack, but I'm happy to say that it's really good.

[00:24:04] It definitely lifts up to the old games.

[00:24:07] It might actually be better than the old games.

[00:24:09] I know that the composer is Takeshi Abo who works with

[00:24:12] mages on the science adventure games.

[00:24:15] So he always does a fantastic job and Emiya is no different.

[00:24:18] So yeah, I would love to see Famicom Detective Club Amiibo.

[00:24:22] I would like to see them in Smash.

[00:24:23] I would like to see just more integrated, you know,

[00:24:26] because they are a core part of Nintendo's history.

[00:24:28] I do have actually one more question.

[00:24:30] What do you think is the future of the Famicom Detective Club series?

[00:24:33] Do you think mages is going to make a new one every three years

[00:24:36] or is it going to be on the back burner for a while,

[00:24:39] depending on the sales of Emiya or what do you see the future of the series like?

[00:24:43] I get the sense that they were happy with the remakes, how they perform.

[00:24:46] Just the fact that they're doing a physical copy in the West for Emiya tells me

[00:24:51] that they were satisfied and I think Emiya will do even better

[00:24:54] because the marketing has been so good.

[00:24:56] So hopefully this is not the end, but start a new era for the series.

[00:25:02] I would like to see every three, four years a new Famicom Detective Club.

[00:25:06] I think if they're down, I think Nintendo is down.

[00:25:08] And also in the recent developer interview,

[00:25:11] they were talking about how Miyachi from Nintendo could take over the series somehow.

[00:25:15] They were kind of teasing it.

[00:25:17] So I think they are open to the possibility.

[00:25:21] So I sure hope so.

[00:25:23] Yeah, I definitely think it's a possibility.

[00:25:25] And I think they might make one just to have somebody in spash.

[00:25:28] They're going to run out of characters one day.

[00:25:29] So you might as well just keep making games to fill out that roster.

[00:25:33] Crossing my fingers.

[00:25:34] So that was a look at the Famicom Detective Club series.

[00:25:37] Emiya is out there right now.

[00:25:39] So stay on the lookout.

[00:25:40] Zalman, where can people find you?

[00:25:42] Yes, you can find me on Twitter at Intrasalman.

[00:25:44] I tweet about video games, news, opinions, jokes, all that stuff.

[00:25:48] So feel free to connect and yeah, that's it.

[00:25:51] Great. And the link will be in the podcast description.

[00:25:54] So listeners, check it out.

[00:25:56] Zalman, once again, thanks for joining me.

[00:25:57] Thank you for having me.

[00:26:04] Today's game section is not about a game at all, but instead a book.

[00:26:07] Yes, The Legend of Zelda, Tears of the Kingdom Masterworks,

[00:26:10] a comprehensive overview of that game that's part art book,

[00:26:14] part development diary and part lore dump.

[00:26:16] Breath of the Wild also had a similar book,

[00:26:18] which was titled Masterworks in Japan, but creating a champion in English.

[00:26:22] So this is the I suppose sequel to that book.

[00:26:25] What would the localized title for this one be?

[00:26:28] Summoning a sage. It's got to have a iteration, right?

[00:26:31] I mean, Masterworks is already a pretty good title.

[00:26:33] So I don't really think we need to change it, but, you know,

[00:26:36] localization is localization.

[00:26:38] Tears of the Kingdom is easily the most discussed game on this podcast.

[00:26:41] But I still don't feel like I've even scratched the surface

[00:26:44] regarding why this game is great and why it connects with me.

[00:26:47] Basically, if I could snap my dream game into existence,

[00:26:50] it would be exactly like Tears of the Kingdom.

[00:26:52] So a huge book dedicated to what I consider probably the greatest game ever made.

[00:26:57] Easy day one by as of this recording, it has been announced for the West.

[00:27:00] But yeah, I mean, it's coming.

[00:27:03] Considering how much text is in the book,

[00:27:04] I know a lot of people are probably waiting for the English translation

[00:27:07] instead of just importing it.

[00:27:08] But thankfully, I can at least provide a bit of a preview

[00:27:11] of what to expect when it comes overseas.

[00:27:13] The book is published by Ambit,

[00:27:14] which owns the Japanese Nintendo magazine, Nintendo Dream.

[00:27:18] I did a feature on Nintendo Dream on the podcast before.

[00:27:20] But for those unaware, it is basically the Japanese version of Nintendo Power.

[00:27:24] But Nintendo is a bit more hands off than it was with power.

[00:27:28] But the people actually writing the book are the Nintendo Dream editorial staff.

[00:27:31] But of course, with overview from Nintendo, like Hyrule Historia or creating a champion,

[00:27:36] it's a huge book you could easily incapacitate somebody with

[00:27:38] as it's filled with four hundred and sixty four glossy pages

[00:27:41] of colorful art, detailed descriptions of the world

[00:27:44] and an interview with the developers.

[00:27:46] A big game requires a big book.

[00:27:48] The cover design is fantastic, featuring the Zonai green hand symbol

[00:27:51] on black and gold circles.

[00:27:54] And these are based on the Japanese Samon circles in Zid Gardens to symbolize waves.

[00:27:58] The circles also have some texture to them.

[00:28:00] So it's fun to just run your fingers all over it.

[00:28:03] But eventually you're going to want to actually open the book.

[00:28:05] There are three core sections, artworks,

[00:28:08] which features official art from the game,

[00:28:09] making which focuses more on concept art and designing the new elements of the game

[00:28:13] and history, which focuses on the lore and setting of Tears of the Kingdom's Hyrule.

[00:28:18] Depending on who you are, you might be excited for one over the other.

[00:28:22] I'm definitely a making guy.

[00:28:23] I want to see that rough concept art,

[00:28:25] unused sketches and read about all the inspiration for the different design elements.

[00:28:29] The book opens up with these stone murals you see at the start of the game.

[00:28:32] So some great synergy there.

[00:28:34] One thing you'll immediately notice is that the pages have a great

[00:28:37] thickness and texture to them.

[00:28:38] They don't feel flimsy at all.

[00:28:40] And all the art is an incredibly high resolution.

[00:28:42] You'll definitely notice details you've never seen before.

[00:28:45] This section also has some unused art from the murals

[00:28:48] where it was less stone engravings and it looked more like ancient Chinese art.

[00:28:52] Then it moves on to chapter one, artworks, 61 pages of official art.

[00:28:56] If you're a hardcore Tears fan, you've seen all of this before.

[00:28:59] Link crouching in the sky, splash pages of characters like Zelda and Ganon.

[00:29:03] Basically, all the character art you can see within the game itself is here.

[00:29:07] Even though there's nothing new here, it is fun to see it blown up quite large on nice paper.

[00:29:11] They've got the link grabbing Zelda art from both launch day and one year later,

[00:29:15] side by side, and they look spectacular.

[00:29:18] Near the page number, they do title the art and these pages say

[00:29:21] official art posted on X in Japanese.

[00:29:24] I'm not sure how I feel about X being immortalized in my Zelda book.

[00:29:28] I do think it's funny that there is a splash page where Link is wearing his own

[00:29:32] I-toga as the Sky Islands hover above him and it is titled

[00:29:35] The Game Awards 2023 Visual.

[00:29:37] So Jeff Gehle must be very proud that the Game Awards

[00:29:40] is also immortalized in this book.

[00:29:43] Page 64 is where the real fun starts, chapter two, making.

[00:29:47] This shows concept art, developer notes and general background information

[00:29:50] on making the game.

[00:29:51] And yeah, it's most of the book, spanning pages 64 to 360.

[00:29:55] Sadly, I can't detail every single thing I saw on 300 pages,

[00:29:59] but I think the format is laid out very well and the information is easy to parse.

[00:30:03] Like the art section, we go through all the major characters one by one.

[00:30:06] Link has a few pages, then Zelda, then Ganondorf and so on.

[00:30:10] Many sections have designers notes, which gives more background information

[00:30:13] from the designers and artists of the game about how they went about

[00:30:16] creating the characters or artwork.

[00:30:18] These are some of my favorite sections of the book as we really get

[00:30:21] into the designer's methods and get to break the fourth wall a little bit.

[00:30:25] They can get very granular, like explaining that Link would obviously

[00:30:29] have hilly and style underpants in this game, as opposed to the Shikasorts

[00:30:32] in the last one. Obviously, the most eye catching part of these pages

[00:30:36] filled with concept art is all the stuff they didn't use.

[00:30:39] We see many alternate designs for the light dragon,

[00:30:42] Zelda's own outfit had many variations.

[00:30:44] And when you get to the brand new characters, it's pretty amazing

[00:30:47] how different some are going to be.

[00:30:49] My favorite concept art section is easily Ganondorf,

[00:30:52] who had several radically different designs, but they all go hard.

[00:30:56] It did seem like they really latched onto the Japanese aesthetic

[00:30:59] early, explaining that they wanted to give him a design that was mixed

[00:31:01] with a samurai since they want to convey the sense that Ganondorf

[00:31:05] is somebody who fights alone and also desert style clothing

[00:31:08] inspired by the age of the Silk Road.

[00:31:11] So there's a few other Japanese inspired designs here, including one

[00:31:14] where he looks more like a traditional Oni and somewhere

[00:31:17] he looks closer to Japanese gods like Bishamonten.

[00:31:20] Honestly, they really could have picked any of these

[00:31:22] and they would have all been great, even the more wilder ones.

[00:31:25] I mean, I don't want to spend this whole segment just explaining

[00:31:27] every little piece of concept art because there's just so much

[00:31:30] from the characters to the places to the items.

[00:31:32] It's really impressive to see all these early and unused designs

[00:31:36] and how they still manage to convey the character's personalities and traits.

[00:31:40] It's very clear that they had a strong foundation for them

[00:31:42] and we're trying out different ways to bring them to life.

[00:31:45] And yes, the ancient heroes aspect has an entire page

[00:31:49] filled with official art and concept art.

[00:31:51] Is there any note explaining anything about it?

[00:31:54] Nope. Come on, give us something.

[00:31:57] There are also background pages which give a general overview

[00:32:00] of specific elements of the game.

[00:32:02] For example, one is about Link's abilities.

[00:32:04] One is about the clothing of Hyrule.

[00:32:06] Every now and then you'll come across a section called Secret File

[00:32:08] that features very rough sketches of gameplay concepts or scenes.

[00:32:12] I talked recently about the Earthbound and Dragon Quest 3 exhibit

[00:32:15] where a lot of the planning was done by just scribbling stuff on paper.

[00:32:19] And yeah, that definitely still happens at Nintendo.

[00:32:22] Every great idea starts off on a napkin somewhere.

[00:32:24] The making section is incredibly comprehensive

[00:32:26] with some great details on how they ended up where they ended up.

[00:32:29] But I always feel like it could have been more.

[00:32:32] I wouldn't think it really into the nitty gritty

[00:32:34] about every single design element,

[00:32:35] but you might just get a paragraph or two

[00:32:37] about something specific every now and then,

[00:32:39] which are all great and insightful.

[00:32:41] But I do feel like there could have been more behind the scene stuff

[00:32:43] when it came to how they finalized or thought up the designs.

[00:32:47] Like for example, there's a designer's note for Sonya,

[00:32:49] one of the more mysterious and important characters in the game.

[00:32:53] But the note mostly talks about trying to get her eyes right.

[00:32:56] They do mention that her markings are there

[00:32:57] to kind of make a connection between her and Zelda,

[00:33:00] but Lorhounds might get frustrated

[00:33:01] with how dodgy some of the explanations are.

[00:33:04] Making also includes storyboards of the Geoglyph cut scenes, not just sketches,

[00:33:08] but we also see the formatting Nintendo uses

[00:33:10] when creating a scene like this, even detailing stuff like the time for each shot.

[00:33:15] All 12 scenes are included,

[00:33:17] so it's a very thorough look at how they actually created them.

[00:33:19] The section closes out with a bit more general concept art

[00:33:22] of excellent vistas and other scenes in the game.

[00:33:24] I think concept artists must be a fun job

[00:33:26] because it really does seem like you get a lot of freedom.

[00:33:29] Maybe the opposite is true, but I like to think that I'm right.

[00:33:32] The final section, history, dozens of pages about the general lore,

[00:33:35] history and culture of this Hyrule.

[00:33:38] Is there brand new information not mentioned in the game?

[00:33:40] Yes, but these mostly just flesh out existing ideas

[00:33:43] instead of outright retconning or confirming anything.

[00:33:46] Of course, there are multiple splash pages about the timeline.

[00:33:49] Now, is anything solved?

[00:33:51] Do we know exactly how it connects to the past games?

[00:33:54] Of course not.

[00:33:55] The timeline is literally the three goddesses created in Hyrule,

[00:33:59] then Hilly appeared, squiggly lines, then tears of the kingdom starts.

[00:34:03] So there's a lot in that squiggly line.

[00:34:05] I always like the convergence theory

[00:34:07] where all timelines eventually ended up at the world of Breath of the Wild.

[00:34:11] But it's clear that these two games are a hard cut

[00:34:13] from most of the other titles, only lightly touching on the events

[00:34:16] of Skyward Sword and Ocarina of Time.

[00:34:19] And to know would never come out and say,

[00:34:21] this is the fourth timeline or a multiverse game.

[00:34:24] But it functionally is a game that almost takes place

[00:34:27] in its own version of the Zelda world.

[00:34:29] The history section mostly just has a lot of info I already knew.

[00:34:32] But then again, I am a crazy hardcore

[00:34:34] Zelda person who is interested in the lore and world building up Hyrule.

[00:34:38] So maybe I am not your average person who played tears.

[00:34:41] But then again, I have to think this book is for people like me.

[00:34:44] An interesting or annoying element of some of the more mysterious

[00:34:47] tidbits from the game is that a lot of the history section

[00:34:49] is presented almost like it's written by a Hylian historian.

[00:34:52] So instead of hard facts, it's mostly speculation.

[00:34:56] But it is interesting that Nintendo is basically giving us

[00:34:58] multiple choice options for some stuff.

[00:35:01] For example, the book actually does address

[00:35:02] the long discussed connection between the Zonai and the barbarian tribe.

[00:35:07] Now, does it say what that connection is?

[00:35:09] No, but the book hypothesizes that the barbarians were possibly

[00:35:13] Zonai who were bowed against authority,

[00:35:15] Zonai who didn't ascend to the sky or Hylians who worshipped

[00:35:19] the Zonai instead of Hylia.

[00:35:21] These are at least interesting concepts to discuss and think about.

[00:35:24] But in general, the history section reads like an encyclopedia of this Hyrule.

[00:35:28] The final section of the book is a multi-page interview with

[00:35:31] Aji Aonuma, Hiramaru Fujiwashi and art director Satoru Takizawa.

[00:35:35] Here you get a lot of new info about the game's early development

[00:35:37] process and how they decided on what to implement and how.

[00:35:41] Just a ton of great little trivia bits here,

[00:35:43] like how the game was originally called Tears of the Dragon

[00:35:46] and that Ultra Hand was basically the first concept they thought up

[00:35:48] and how they came about creating the depths and so on.

[00:35:52] It's just as good as any developer interview Nintendo has put out.

[00:35:55] Now, the book has tons of info

[00:35:56] and I'm sure there was a paragraph I missed or didn't pay attention to.

[00:35:59] But here are 10 fun factoids I learned from this book.

[00:36:03] One, dragons were a major motif early on in development.

[00:36:06] Like I said before, it was originally going to be called Tears of the Dragon.

[00:36:09] The idea of Link riding a dragon and even the final boss battle

[00:36:12] having the thematic concept of a white versus black dragon

[00:36:15] was thought of very early in the development stages.

[00:36:18] Two, the secret stones were originally supposed to resemble dragon fetuses.

[00:36:23] There's even concept art of the fetus stones,

[00:36:25] but the similar shape led them to changing it to the Japanese Magatama design.

[00:36:29] Three, Green was chosen as a color for the Zonai Magic

[00:36:32] due to the readability in the game, the historic connection

[00:36:35] between your magic bar being green and past games

[00:36:37] and to evoke the series past, since green is the most elemental

[00:36:41] color of the series. They go in depth about how they tried to fine tune

[00:36:45] the perfect shades of green for the Zonai Magic.

[00:36:48] Four, I said this earlier, but they do get into the connection

[00:36:51] between the Zonai and the barbarians, but no concrete answer.

[00:36:54] They may have been Zonai or Hylians,

[00:36:55] but there is a gap of thousands of years between Raaru's reign

[00:36:58] and the barbarians.

[00:37:00] Five, it's confirmed that Ganondorf became both the Demon King

[00:37:03] and Calamity Ganon.

[00:37:04] So Calamity Ganon isn't the Ocarina of Time Ganon, for example.

[00:37:08] This is kind of a retcon,

[00:37:10] since I think it was supposed to be clear that Calamity Ganon

[00:37:13] was like a concentrated force of evil that's been forged over countless generations.

[00:37:18] Ganon has been defeated so many times, so all that's left is his raging spirit

[00:37:21] unable to take form.

[00:37:23] The book also mentions that the Gerudo

[00:37:25] stopped the tradition of male kings after Ganondorf,

[00:37:28] supposing that either boys were never born again or they purposefully hit them.

[00:37:32] Six, the book states that magic runs in the bloodline of the royal family.

[00:37:36] So Raaru and Sonia must have had a child before the events of the game.

[00:37:40] Which is something a lot of people speculated upon,

[00:37:42] but it is kind of funny since that character would, lore wise, be insanely important,

[00:37:46] but has never touched upon in the game.

[00:37:48] Seven, the shrine design is based on Shimanoa around Boulders,

[00:37:51] which is a Shinto purification ritual.

[00:37:53] Shimanoa is a type of rope.

[00:37:55] They also designed the shrines to feel a bit more calm and open as opposed

[00:37:58] to the Shika shrines.

[00:38:00] We also see some alternate shrine designs.

[00:38:02] One is like a dragon mouth holding a ring.

[00:38:04] Another one is just a straight up Japanese tortigate.

[00:38:07] Eight, an early idea for the depths was based on

[00:38:09] kind of a lost world motif where it was filled with giant prehistoric plants and dinosaurs.

[00:38:14] They kind of folded this idea in with lighting up the dark.

[00:38:17] Nine, Hinoxes originally had much stranger fuse items on the top of their heads.

[00:38:22] There are multiple designs of them wearing hats made of metal,

[00:38:25] including a weird looking top hat.

[00:38:27] And another design shows a giant cut diamond sitting on top of their heads.

[00:38:32] Maybe it would have been a little goofy to fight a top hat, Hinox.

[00:38:35] But I think that would have ruled.

[00:38:36] Ten, like I said before, they basically had the concept for the final battle at the start.

[00:38:41] But the details came later.

[00:38:43] So should you buy masterworks?

[00:38:45] I mean, if you're like me, who thinks Tears of the Kingdom is likely

[00:38:48] the greatest game ever made and I've played it more than any other single player game ever, then yes.

[00:38:53] But in terms of what the book offers, it's an R book first, a Dev Diary second,

[00:38:57] then a Lord Dump third.

[00:38:59] So think about what you want out of the book most before buying it.

[00:39:02] And small side note, I do kind of wish they went backwards with these things.

[00:39:05] I'd love a masterworks for like the Oracle games, for example.

[00:39:09] How well preserved are those documents?

[00:39:11] I'm not sure. But if Nintendo did retro masterworks, that would be amazing.

[00:39:15] But anyways, that's all for games slash books.

[00:39:17] Let's move on to the news.

[00:39:24] We got a double whammy Nintendo Direct Partners showcase in Indie World

[00:39:27] a few days ago, a very strange idea to match them together.

[00:39:30] Since they're often not shy about doing one and then doing another the following week.

[00:39:34] But I do like this combined format better.

[00:39:37] Especially for Indies, since that gives them a bit more shine.

[00:39:40] I got to be honest, though,

[00:39:41] Indie World didn't really have a whole lot that caught my eye.

[00:39:45] Morsels, which is like an action roguelike, the vibrant art style

[00:39:47] looks pretty neat and Piece of Tower is a game I will probably pick up eventually

[00:39:51] but the partners showcase had more for me.

[00:39:54] Mostly just old games I've already played.

[00:39:56] But still the best announcement

[00:39:58] I mean it's got to be Capcom Fighting Collection 2 yet another retro fighting game collection.

[00:40:03] But this one houses the greatest 2D fighting game ever, Capcom versus SNK 2.

[00:40:08] I cannot believe it's finally coming and so soon after the Megaton Marvel announcement.

[00:40:14] If you've never played CVS 2, it's what it sounds like.

[00:40:17] But it manages to really capture the gameplay elements of both Capcom and SNK

[00:40:21] and offers a ton of customization when it comes to how you fight.

[00:40:24] It also includes the EO mode, which was what the Xbox and GameCube versions were based on.

[00:40:29] But sadly, no GC-ism style where you could do moves with the C-Stick.

[00:40:33] Honestly, I would have bought the collection just for this,

[00:40:36] but it also includes the two Power Stone games, which are amazing.

[00:40:40] I guess arena fighters, they're closer to Smash Brothers than not.

[00:40:44] I mean, I would have bought a CVS collection and a Power Stone collection separately.

[00:40:48] So it's fantastic that they're both here.

[00:40:50] There are also some other deep cuts in here, too, like Alpha 3 Upper,

[00:40:54] which was a Japan only version of my favorite Street Fighter game

[00:40:56] and we get Project Justice, which is the sequel to Rival Schools and Plasma Sword.

[00:41:01] The follow up to Star Gladiator, a.k.a.

[00:41:03] the game Hayato from Marvel versus Capcom 2 is from.

[00:41:06] The only dud is Capcom Fighting Evolution, but that game is at least interesting in its own right.

[00:41:11] I think this collection is way better than the first one,

[00:41:14] although there are some gems in that one, too.

[00:41:16] I say it's even better than the Marvel collection, which is basically just

[00:41:19] in VC2 and a bunch of other games you're not going to touch.

[00:41:22] Pretty much every game here is something I want to spend time with

[00:41:25] and playing CVS 2 and Power Stone 2 online.

[00:41:28] That's all you need to say.

[00:41:30] No date yet, except for 2025, but that soon.

[00:41:34] Speaking of collections, Tetris Forever from Digital Eclipse was announced for this year.

[00:41:39] It's a collection of Tetris games, including the NES version,

[00:41:41] Hattris, Super Bombless, and apparently they didn't show every game included.

[00:41:46] So there might be some strange games hidden in here, too.

[00:41:48] There's also a Tetris Time Warp, which swaps between the different versions

[00:41:52] and as part of Digital Eclipse's gold series, meaning there are a lot of exclusive documentary videos.

[00:41:57] Seems like a very deep cut Tetris collection that I will pick up eventually.

[00:42:02] More old games, Suiciden 1 and 2 popped up again, and it will release March 6th.

[00:42:06] I'm a huge fan of Suiciden 3.

[00:42:08] It's one of my favorite PS2 titles, but I haven't touched two,

[00:42:11] which many say is one of the best JRPGs ever.

[00:42:13] So I am definitely very curious to try it out.

[00:42:16] And a new version of an old game, the first Trails of the Sky,

[00:42:19] is being remade for Nintendo Switch and will launch next year.

[00:42:23] I actually have played this game, but only for about an hour.

[00:42:26] I bought it for cheap on Steam, played some of it, enjoyed it.

[00:42:29] But at the time I thought I'm not in the mood to start a JRPG.

[00:42:33] So I guess I should redeem myself by picking up this remake.

[00:42:37] As I get older, I start to realize that it's getting impossible

[00:42:39] to play every single JRPG I'm interested in.

[00:42:42] But if I can at least play one game from every series, I'll be content.

[00:42:46] Speaking of JRPGs, we have Atelier Umia,

[00:42:48] the newest game in the Atelier franchise.

[00:42:51] Move Over Riza, you've been replaced by a miniskirted, high-heeled heroine.

[00:42:55] I'm not an Atelier hardcore, so it's hard to tell what's new just from the gameplay.

[00:42:59] But it certainly looks more action focused.

[00:43:02] However, it seems to be confirmed that it's not an action RPG,

[00:43:05] but the attacks look very dynamic and vibrant.

[00:43:07] It definitely looks fantastic for a Switch game.

[00:43:09] And I've seen people speculating that this is secretly a Switch 2 launch title.

[00:43:14] However, it was announced that it is coming out in March.

[00:43:16] So I don't know if Switch 2 will be that soon.

[00:43:19] I enjoyed Atelier Riza 1, but playing 2 and 3 does kind of feel like homework.

[00:43:24] But I might jump back into the series with a newer protagonist.

[00:43:27] But back to old games, Castlevania Dominus Collection is out now,

[00:43:30] which is the 3DS Castlevania games.

[00:43:33] I played some of Dawn Nassauro and, sorry, I really can't get into these games.

[00:43:37] I mean, I like Metroid, so I should like this one, right?

[00:43:40] I also like Castlevania 4, which is not in Metroidvania, but still.

[00:43:44] But Nintendo did not deem this the most important old game,

[00:43:47] as Yakuza Kiwami is coming to Switch.

[00:43:49] This is the first Yakuza title on Nintendo hardware,

[00:43:52] since the Japan only Yakuza 1 plus 2 HD on the Wii U.

[00:43:56] The game infamously sold incredibly poor,

[00:43:59] and it's rumored that it soured the relationship between RGG Studios and Nintendo.

[00:44:03] But Time Hill's all wounds, as does selling 150 million units.

[00:44:07] Kind of makes sense to start with, quote, Yakuza 1,

[00:44:10] but I think most agree that Zero is a much better entry point.

[00:44:14] I mean, he said that Kiwami's new content kind of frames itself as a sequel to Zero,

[00:44:18] unless Zero being a prequel to one.

[00:44:21] Zero is a fantastic game, while Kiwami is basically a souped up version

[00:44:25] of a mid-2000s game, so I do think not just launching with Zero,

[00:44:29] which was on the PS3, is a missed opportunity.

[00:44:32] But I do imagine all these games will be coming to Switch to one day.

[00:44:36] There were some Japan only announcements like Straight Children Got a Date

[00:44:39] and also Tokimeki Memorial, the first game, is coming to Nintendo Switch.

[00:44:44] Overall, it is a pretty decent Nintendo Direct.

[00:44:46] I mean, I'm mostly excited about a 20 year old fighting game coming back,

[00:44:49] but what a fighting game.

[00:44:51] People are speculating about why Nintendo had a rare August Direct

[00:44:54] and one that didn't focus on Nintendo first party games.

[00:44:57] September general directs have been the pattern,

[00:45:00] so people are wildly speculating about Switch to getting revealed in September or October.

[00:45:04] I mean, it'll be announced when it's announced.

[00:45:07] We already know Nintendo schedule for this year.

[00:45:09] The only question mark is Q1 2025,

[00:45:11] and we at least have one game confirmed then.

[00:45:14] But I am thinking we get a general direct before Donkey Kong comes out.

[00:45:19] We've been getting new echoes of wisdom updates,

[00:45:21] including a video highlighting the still world or Muno Sekai,

[00:45:24] which means the world of nothingness in Japanese.

[00:45:27] The purple area Link fell into.

[00:45:29] Zelda can also enter this world via special passages in the overworld.

[00:45:32] It does feel like the depths in some ways, since there are specific entry points.

[00:45:36] Not sure if it's one big interconnected world

[00:45:38] or each entry point is its own little section.

[00:45:41] I first theorized these rifts were like trying equivalents,

[00:45:44] but it seems more than that.

[00:45:45] And there are even dungeons you can discover in here.

[00:45:48] I'll always think it's funny

[00:45:50] that recently people have been skeptical about dungeons and Zelda games.

[00:45:53] A franchise where literally every game has dungeons.

[00:45:56] They also showed off a swordfighter form

[00:45:58] where a Zelda can essentially turn into Link and bash things with the sword.

[00:46:02] Not sure how I feel about this

[00:46:03] since the whole idea of the game is that you are different from Link

[00:46:06] and need to solve problems in other ways.

[00:46:08] But it is a limited time power up.

[00:46:11] So it's not like you can just use it anywhere or at any time.

[00:46:14] I did see someone note that Link is a swordfighter

[00:46:17] so he can use weapons freely, but has limited magic.

[00:46:20] But Zelda is more magic adept.

[00:46:22] Thus, our sword fighting is more limited.

[00:46:24] And yeah, that's kind of a fun way to think about it.

[00:46:26] Oh, and the latest trailer teased a battle with Link,

[00:46:28] which is a really fun idea.

[00:46:30] We fought Dark Link before, but a Link-Link battle?

[00:46:33] I'm hoping they go all out with this one.

[00:46:35] PlayStation 5 is expensive.

[00:46:37] And now it's going to get even more expensive in Japan.

[00:46:40] The new price for the disc version is 79,980 yen,

[00:46:44] a 19 percent increase from the previous price.

[00:46:47] Also note that the previous price itself was a price increase.

[00:46:50] The launch price was 49,980 yen,

[00:46:53] so it's gone up 30,000 yen in four years.

[00:46:57] The price increase alone is about as much as a switch.

[00:46:59] Sony cited global economic conditions for the price increase.

[00:47:03] The end is doing very bad right now.

[00:47:04] So people are paying less for PS5s in Japan than they are in America.

[00:47:09] However, for Japanese people, 80,000 yen does feel like $800.

[00:47:13] Keep that in mind.

[00:47:15] Japanese people get paid in the end.

[00:47:17] So I don't think, well, now the PS5 is equal to the price in America

[00:47:20] because while that may technically be true

[00:47:22] due to the fluctuating conversion rate for Japanese people,

[00:47:25] the PS5 is now priced out of their typical range for a console.

[00:47:29] There's absolutely a set of people who are just purely waiting for Monster Hunter.

[00:47:32] And I do wonder how much the inflated price is going to affect sales of that game

[00:47:36] in Japan, where the franchise still sells millions of units.

[00:47:39] Will Monster Hunter Hardcore's just swallowed the cost and by a PS5 at the new price?

[00:47:43] Or will there be a mad dash by cheaper PS5s right now?

[00:47:47] This is a real long shot.

[00:47:48] But if Switch 2 can come out and say we have wilds

[00:47:52] or at least announce a new Monster Hunter is coming,

[00:47:54] that would be an insane boon to the new system

[00:47:56] and a dagger to PS5's growth in Japan.

[00:47:58] It is really sad to see how far PlayStation has fallen

[00:48:01] when it comes to appealing to Japanese gamers.

[00:48:03] I honestly don't think it can be turned around in Japan

[00:48:06] as Sony focuses more on Western markets and some sad news.

[00:48:09] But wizardry co-creator Andrew Greenberg has passed away with Robert Woodhead.

[00:48:13] He created the original Dungeon Crawler,

[00:48:15] a game that has had an enormous impact on the gaming industry,

[00:48:17] especially on the Japan side.

[00:48:20] Go listen to my past wizardry episode

[00:48:22] or I actually got to interview Mr. Woodhead.

[00:48:24] But in short, the game heavily inspired a Dragon Quest,

[00:48:26] which heavily inspired, you know, every JRPG.

[00:48:30] But even as a game, it really is a classic

[00:48:32] and the digital eclipse remaster from earlier this year

[00:48:35] really highlights how strong the original game design is still to this day.

[00:48:39] Greenberg left the gaming industry many years ago going into law,

[00:48:42] but he will always be an important part of gaming history.

[00:48:45] Last bit of news, Indie Cube, the developers of Mario Party

[00:48:47] and many other games is now Nintendo Cube.

[00:48:50] Yes, Nintendo Cube. That's their name.

[00:48:54] The rebrand is similar to Mario Club and OneUp Studio

[00:48:56] and their logo looks exactly like those two companies.

[00:49:00] The name Indie Cube comes from their initial investors,

[00:49:03] Nintendo and Japanese company Densu.

[00:49:05] Densu no longer has any shares of Indie Cube

[00:49:08] or they only have a very small minority share

[00:49:10] since Nintendo controls 99 percent of the company.

[00:49:13] I'm not sure if this is going to be a trend.

[00:49:15] I don't know if we are going to see Nintendo monolith anytime soon.

[00:49:18] But it is going to be strange to say,

[00:49:20] oh, this is a Nintendo Cube developed game.

[00:49:23] I wonder if the new name and logo will appear in Super Mario Party Jamboree.

[00:49:27] It might be worth buying just to see that.

[00:49:29] All right, let's wrap it up.

[00:49:30] Thanks as always for listening.

[00:49:32] Be sure to like and subscribe to this podcast on your favorite app.

[00:49:35] The V5 Store review as well.

[00:49:36] It helps with visibility.

[00:49:37] This podcast is also available on YouTube, so like and subscribe there as well.

[00:49:41] I'm on Twitter, threads, Blue Sky Instagram.

[00:49:44] Just search Tokyo Game Life or find the links in the podcast description.

[00:49:47] If you like the podcast, be sure to share with your friends and on social media.

[00:49:51] If there's anything you want to talk about or cover, don't be shy.

[00:49:54] Just message me on Twitter.

[00:49:56] The next episode will be on September 22nd.

[00:49:58] See you next time.

[00:49:59] Mata ne!