Battle Royale: The Last Generation Of An SNES-CD Saga
- Thread starter RySenkari
- Start date
The Only Convergent Purchase is pixar...other details...those will be spoilers....
Oh I'm guessing @RySenkari has something big planned. The question is how long until it happens?
It can be done, Anthony. But you're going to have to write it yourself and then submit it to Niv and Ry in a PM. Please do not just post it in the thread as if it's canon.
Winter 2014 (Part 6) - The Whispered
The Whispered
The Whispered is an RPG/survival horror/third person shooter title published and developed by Squaresoft. A sort of spiritual successor to Parasite Eve, with some similarities in gameplay but based on an entirely original story, The Whispered sees the world invaded by mysterious ghosts that only a few people can see. These ghosts can do all sorts of horrific things, from possessing helpless people to killing them sight unseen, and can even cause humans to mutate into horrific creatures. The game's protagonist is a young woman named Naomi who discovers that she has a gift for fighting these creatures, but that her gift makes her a target, and causes her friends and loved ones to be targeted as she struggles to find whatever allies she can to help her fight these ghosts, who are known as The Whispered. The Whispered is a joint American/Japanese production, with teams on both sides of the Pacific working on various aspects of the game. Most of the writing staff is comprised of Americans, while most of the game's programmers and graphic/sound design staff are Japanese, giving the game a fairly unique East meets West aesthetic. The gameplay can best be compared to "Resident Evil in RPG form", faster paced than OTL's Parasite Eve games (but closer to TTL's in terms of how quickly players are able to shoot and move in combat), with damage numbers and loot drops that almost invoke a sort of third person Destiny or Borderlands in terms of overall execution (loot isn't quite as plentiful as in those games, but it's far more plentiful than in Parasite Eve, and on par with something like OTL's Final Fantasy XII). Horror is a major theme throughout the game, with all types of frightening occurences, including slow psychological scares and occasional unexpected jump scares. The atmosphere is made even spookier by the use of music throughout: though there are plenty of instances with no background music, there's also a lot of scenes with something appropriate to set the mood, with the musical score composed by Yoko Shimamura, a much more haunting and frightening series of songs than in her previous work (save for her work on the Parasite Eve titles). The Whispered is more character focused than the Parasite Eve games, with more character interactions than the typical survival horror game. Early on, Naomi will be able to trust any human she comes in contact with, but later on, she learns that certain advanced specimens of Whispered are able to possess and control humans in a manner indistinguishable from a normal person, thus rendering her unable to trust anyone. The Whispered can't be killed by conventional means, and must instead be killed by special weapons or powers, though it is possible to use melee or firearms to damage their "shells" and force them out. Naomi begins to learn these unique powers throughout the game, with most acquired via the story and a few found by going off the beaten path. There are others who possess these powers as well, and it is possible to get help from them, though Naomi has to be careful about who she trusts, as it's possible for the Whispered to possess even those with the gift of fighting them. The Whispered features a strong voice cast featuring many voice over veterans and even some on-camera actors, with Courtney Ford as Naomi, Troy Baker as Naomi's ex-boyfriend/reluctant companion Shawn, Dave Fennoy as Jackson, a police officer who helps Naomi at various points throughout the game, Zehra Fazal as a xenobiology professor named Indira, and Jennifer Hale as the voice of the Whispered Collective, the mysterious and haunting voice that emanates from some of the more powerful Whispered that float out in the open.
The Whispered begins with a young woman named Naomi returning from medical school to visit her family at her childhood home in a fairly small town. When she arrives, things are already bad, with unusual disasters happening all over the world, but things quickly go from bad to worse when the Whispered descend upon the town. To make matters worse, Naomi's ex-boyfriend Shawn is also in town, and though he's not a bad person, the two don't like each other and his presence ramps up the tension. Eventually, Naomi finds herself cornered by the Whispered, including a possessed bear and some apparitions, but she manages to fight them off with her new powers. That night, her family is horrifically murdered by the Whispered, and Naomi is forced to kill her own possessed sister after she transforms into a hideous beast. Naomi and Shawn manage to escape to the nearest large city, where the two get separated as more Whispered-related disasters occur. Naomi eventually teams up with Jackson to fight off some Whispered that have invaded an apartment building. Naomi eventually returns to Shawn to save him from some Whispered, and the two briefly reconcile after escaping some more Whispered, but then suddenly Shawn turns on Naomi and knocks her unconscious. Naomi wakes up being held hostage by Shawn, but realizes that he's possessed, and after managing to break free, she escapes from him and flees. She battles her way through more horrifying events, managing to save some more people but being forced to kill other possessed individuals. She reunites with Jackson, but doesn't trust him, even after he tries to prove that he hasn't been possessed. Meanwhile, a still possessed Shawn is now seen leading a pack of Whispered out of the city, and Naomi realizes that they're headed for a nearby university that was investigating xenobiology (one of her early fields of study before switching over to regular human biology). Naomi finds a scientist she can trust, Indira (though she has to take certain precautions with her first), and learns that the Whispered are in search of a leyline that will allow them to simultaneously control every living being on the planet. Naomi has to stop them from reaching that leyline, and with the help of Indira (who also has the ability to fight the Whispered), the two manage to cut off Shawn and the others from a crucial building that they need to access in order to learn of the leyline's location. However, Indira is possessed by the Whispered, and Naomi has to fight her. After defeating Indira, Naomi learns how to use her powers to free a possessed person from the Whispered's control, but Indira's injuries are too severe, and she dies in Naomi's arms. Naomi reunites with Jackson, and the two go to find the leyline. Naomi manages to find Shawn and cure him with her power, and the two reconcile fully, but Shawn is then possessed by another Whispered who transforms him into a powerful beast, forcing Naomi to kill him as well. Naomi eventually makes it to the leyline just in time to stop the Whispered Collective from taking control of it, and she is confronted by a being known as the Queen. By this time, Naomi has already learned (by piecing together various clues and expositions throughout the game) that the Whispered are the fragmented souls of a world destroyed by a cataclysm, and that they have come to Earth merely to take on physical vessels so that their civilization can live again. It's also revealed that Naomi is the first among them to discover this power and that she herself has been possessed by a Whispered for an indefinite amount of time. Then she wonders if she's been controlling her own actions or if the Whispered has been. The Queen reveals itself as her mother, and asks Naomi to come home. Naomi realizes that she's always had her human memories, and refuses to obey, instead turning her powers on the Queen and eventually defeating her. Naomi then uses her powers on the leyline, freeing every living thing from Whispered possession and returning the world to some semblance of normal. However, it's left ambiguous at the end as to whether or not Naomi truly restored humanity or whether she possessed all of them with Whispered spirits.
The Whispered is released on the Nintendo Reality, Apple Virtua, and Google Nexus on March 4, 2014. The game is an immediate critical success, praised for its outstanding graphics, its terrifying story, and its excellent music and voice acting, and is considered to be one of the best if not the best game of the first quarter of 2014, making it an early Game of the Year contender. Preceded by a large amount of hype due to Squaresoft's pedigree and a major ad campaign for the game, it would sell over two million copies worldwide in its first month of release, in line with expectations to become the month's second best selling new game, after Gate 2. It's also seen as a major success in Squaresoft's continued efforts to branch out from JRPGs and work more with Western developers, and though the company won't go on an acquisition binge like it did IOTL, the company would slowly begin to work on games with more similarities to what the company publishes ITTL. The game would see some controversy at the time of its release due to comparisons between the game's plot and the origin story of Scientology (with commentators comparing the Whispered to body thetans), and the revelation of a Scientologist amongst the game's writing staff would deepen the controversy further. It's not enough to hurt sales of the game, but it does become a popular story in games media in the spring of 2014, and would lead to some amusing memes.
The Whispered is an RPG/survival horror/third person shooter title published and developed by Squaresoft. A sort of spiritual successor to Parasite Eve, with some similarities in gameplay but based on an entirely original story, The Whispered sees the world invaded by mysterious ghosts that only a few people can see. These ghosts can do all sorts of horrific things, from possessing helpless people to killing them sight unseen, and can even cause humans to mutate into horrific creatures. The game's protagonist is a young woman named Naomi who discovers that she has a gift for fighting these creatures, but that her gift makes her a target, and causes her friends and loved ones to be targeted as she struggles to find whatever allies she can to help her fight these ghosts, who are known as The Whispered. The Whispered is a joint American/Japanese production, with teams on both sides of the Pacific working on various aspects of the game. Most of the writing staff is comprised of Americans, while most of the game's programmers and graphic/sound design staff are Japanese, giving the game a fairly unique East meets West aesthetic. The gameplay can best be compared to "Resident Evil in RPG form", faster paced than OTL's Parasite Eve games (but closer to TTL's in terms of how quickly players are able to shoot and move in combat), with damage numbers and loot drops that almost invoke a sort of third person Destiny or Borderlands in terms of overall execution (loot isn't quite as plentiful as in those games, but it's far more plentiful than in Parasite Eve, and on par with something like OTL's Final Fantasy XII). Horror is a major theme throughout the game, with all types of frightening occurences, including slow psychological scares and occasional unexpected jump scares. The atmosphere is made even spookier by the use of music throughout: though there are plenty of instances with no background music, there's also a lot of scenes with something appropriate to set the mood, with the musical score composed by Yoko Shimamura, a much more haunting and frightening series of songs than in her previous work (save for her work on the Parasite Eve titles). The Whispered is more character focused than the Parasite Eve games, with more character interactions than the typical survival horror game. Early on, Naomi will be able to trust any human she comes in contact with, but later on, she learns that certain advanced specimens of Whispered are able to possess and control humans in a manner indistinguishable from a normal person, thus rendering her unable to trust anyone. The Whispered can't be killed by conventional means, and must instead be killed by special weapons or powers, though it is possible to use melee or firearms to damage their "shells" and force them out. Naomi begins to learn these unique powers throughout the game, with most acquired via the story and a few found by going off the beaten path. There are others who possess these powers as well, and it is possible to get help from them, though Naomi has to be careful about who she trusts, as it's possible for the Whispered to possess even those with the gift of fighting them. The Whispered features a strong voice cast featuring many voice over veterans and even some on-camera actors, with Courtney Ford as Naomi, Troy Baker as Naomi's ex-boyfriend/reluctant companion Shawn, Dave Fennoy as Jackson, a police officer who helps Naomi at various points throughout the game, Zehra Fazal as a xenobiology professor named Indira, and Jennifer Hale as the voice of the Whispered Collective, the mysterious and haunting voice that emanates from some of the more powerful Whispered that float out in the open.
The Whispered begins with a young woman named Naomi returning from medical school to visit her family at her childhood home in a fairly small town. When she arrives, things are already bad, with unusual disasters happening all over the world, but things quickly go from bad to worse when the Whispered descend upon the town. To make matters worse, Naomi's ex-boyfriend Shawn is also in town, and though he's not a bad person, the two don't like each other and his presence ramps up the tension. Eventually, Naomi finds herself cornered by the Whispered, including a possessed bear and some apparitions, but she manages to fight them off with her new powers. That night, her family is horrifically murdered by the Whispered, and Naomi is forced to kill her own possessed sister after she transforms into a hideous beast. Naomi and Shawn manage to escape to the nearest large city, where the two get separated as more Whispered-related disasters occur. Naomi eventually teams up with Jackson to fight off some Whispered that have invaded an apartment building. Naomi eventually returns to Shawn to save him from some Whispered, and the two briefly reconcile after escaping some more Whispered, but then suddenly Shawn turns on Naomi and knocks her unconscious. Naomi wakes up being held hostage by Shawn, but realizes that he's possessed, and after managing to break free, she escapes from him and flees. She battles her way through more horrifying events, managing to save some more people but being forced to kill other possessed individuals. She reunites with Jackson, but doesn't trust him, even after he tries to prove that he hasn't been possessed. Meanwhile, a still possessed Shawn is now seen leading a pack of Whispered out of the city, and Naomi realizes that they're headed for a nearby university that was investigating xenobiology (one of her early fields of study before switching over to regular human biology). Naomi finds a scientist she can trust, Indira (though she has to take certain precautions with her first), and learns that the Whispered are in search of a leyline that will allow them to simultaneously control every living being on the planet. Naomi has to stop them from reaching that leyline, and with the help of Indira (who also has the ability to fight the Whispered), the two manage to cut off Shawn and the others from a crucial building that they need to access in order to learn of the leyline's location. However, Indira is possessed by the Whispered, and Naomi has to fight her. After defeating Indira, Naomi learns how to use her powers to free a possessed person from the Whispered's control, but Indira's injuries are too severe, and she dies in Naomi's arms. Naomi reunites with Jackson, and the two go to find the leyline. Naomi manages to find Shawn and cure him with her power, and the two reconcile fully, but Shawn is then possessed by another Whispered who transforms him into a powerful beast, forcing Naomi to kill him as well. Naomi eventually makes it to the leyline just in time to stop the Whispered Collective from taking control of it, and she is confronted by a being known as the Queen. By this time, Naomi has already learned (by piecing together various clues and expositions throughout the game) that the Whispered are the fragmented souls of a world destroyed by a cataclysm, and that they have come to Earth merely to take on physical vessels so that their civilization can live again. It's also revealed that Naomi is the first among them to discover this power and that she herself has been possessed by a Whispered for an indefinite amount of time. Then she wonders if she's been controlling her own actions or if the Whispered has been. The Queen reveals itself as her mother, and asks Naomi to come home. Naomi realizes that she's always had her human memories, and refuses to obey, instead turning her powers on the Queen and eventually defeating her. Naomi then uses her powers on the leyline, freeing every living thing from Whispered possession and returning the world to some semblance of normal. However, it's left ambiguous at the end as to whether or not Naomi truly restored humanity or whether she possessed all of them with Whispered spirits.
The Whispered is released on the Nintendo Reality, Apple Virtua, and Google Nexus on March 4, 2014. The game is an immediate critical success, praised for its outstanding graphics, its terrifying story, and its excellent music and voice acting, and is considered to be one of the best if not the best game of the first quarter of 2014, making it an early Game of the Year contender. Preceded by a large amount of hype due to Squaresoft's pedigree and a major ad campaign for the game, it would sell over two million copies worldwide in its first month of release, in line with expectations to become the month's second best selling new game, after Gate 2. It's also seen as a major success in Squaresoft's continued efforts to branch out from JRPGs and work more with Western developers, and though the company won't go on an acquisition binge like it did IOTL, the company would slowly begin to work on games with more similarities to what the company publishes ITTL. The game would see some controversy at the time of its release due to comparisons between the game's plot and the origin story of Scientology (with commentators comparing the Whispered to body thetans), and the revelation of a Scientologist amongst the game's writing staff would deepen the controversy further. It's not enough to hurt sales of the game, but it does become a popular story in games media in the spring of 2014, and would lead to some amusing memes.
This might cause a lawsuit by the Church of Scientology due to the similarities.inb4 Tom Cruise stars in an adaptation of the game.
Is the main characters name, Naomi, a nod by the developers ITTL or by yourself the author to Ring actress Naomi Watts?
Naomi is both japanese and western name, that is genuine coincidence.
Winter 2014 (Part 7) - The Next Generation Of Online Shooters
Titanfall
Titanfall is an aerial first person shooter published by Electronic Arts. Much like its OTL counterpart, Titanfall has players donning massive battle mechs to battle it out in intense battles in the skies above, though all players start out on foot and must battle their way to the Titan mechs when they are deployed later on in battle. Unlike OTL's game, which featured online multiplayer only, Titanfall does have a single player campaign, though it's fairly short and serves almost like a glorified tutorial to ease new players into combat. Most players will begin online battles right away, and like OTL, these take the form of 6 vs. 6 battles with an emphasis on completing different objectives (though deathmatch modes are also available). With games like Techno Angel and Battle Engine Aquila proving to be quite influential in this genre ITTL, certain elements from those games carry over into TTL's Titanfall, and this game features an expanded HUD and slightly faster combat compared to OTL's game. The game features similar weapons and features on the combat mechs as OTL's game, with highly enhanced reflexes and firepower compared to a normal human soldier, and other features like x-ray and infrared to better scout friends and foes in combat. The game's plot revolves around a massive civil war in space, in which both factions command powerful Titan mechs and are battling for control of a newly discovered group of planets, with one faction serving as a sort of galactic authority and the other faction consisting of ruthless rebels. Neither side is depicted as being entirely good or entirely evil, and players can choose to fight for either side in both campaign and multiplayer play (with online battles always being between the Authority faction and the Rebel faction). The plot serves as mostly window dressing for the gameplay, which is on par with if not slightly better than OTL's, while the graphics push the limits of both the Reality and the Virtua (while the Nexus just isn't powerful enough to handle the game, despite developers' best efforts). Titanfall takes full advantage of the Reality's VR and the Virtua's motion controls, creating a unique and fun experience on both consoles, and overall, it's seen as being one of the best first person shooters of 2014, building off the lessons taught by earlier successful games. It's by far the best selling game of February 2014, and though critical praise doesn't quite match up to that of The Whispered, it's still among the early contenders for Game of the Year.
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Tom Clancy Online
Tom Clancy Online is an Ubisoft-published MMO/shooter based on the games and books of the Tom Clancy multimedia franchise, though it leans much more heavily into the games and doesn't start introducing a lot of elements from the books until later on. It features a massive world in which the player signs up to be either an armed forces soldier or a special agent, battling terrorists, enemy nations, and a host of other hazards and enemies, teaming up with one another or sometimes battling it out in a series of realistic environments. The basic gameplay takes the form of a first person shooter, though there are segments of the game, mostly hub/exploration segments, in which players can view the world in third person. The base game features hundreds of missions that players can take on alone or with a team, though most players will want to squad up as soon as possible, as the game is designed around coordination and cooperation. While players must initially choose between becoming a soldier or an agent, it is possible to switch between roles later on, and though some missions are exclusive to one faction or the other, it is possible for soldiers and agents to team up together as well. The gameplay combines elements of Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, and Delta Force, though it's probably closest to Delta Force overall, the franchise that proved the most popular amongst all the Tom Clancy titles. The game features an RPG-esque system of leveling up, in which players can improve their health and abilities by completing missions, however, it doesn't do much for the player's manual aim or damage output. The game introduces an entirely new cast of characters initially, though later on, characters from other games and even some of the books make appearances, and in a later DLC, Jack Ryan and elements from his books are introduced, with Ryan voiced by Harrison Ford in a shocking cameo that will be revealed at E3 2015 for an expansion released toward the end of that year. With Tom Clancy himself still alive as of 2014 ITTL, the author did consult about certain segments of the game, and also assists in the game's promotion and marketing, including a marketing stunt in which he himself plays the game in the first week and players can meet him and go on missions with him (though after the first week, he rarely touches the game). As far as MMO shooters go, Tom Clancy is easily the deepest and most hyped to date. It's a game four years in the making, and is meant to bring together the fans of all the Tom Clancy video game franchises while also being welcoming to new players. The game launches on Reality, Virtua, PC, and Macintosh on March 25, 2014, and though it sells well on consoles, it's much more popular on PC, where the majority of its sales come from. The initial launch largely meets expectations, though reviews average only in the low 8s, with the gameplay not considered as polished as other contemporary MMOs, and some early hiccups and glitches with online play. Tom Clancy Online is quite popular amongst fans of Tom Clancy games, but it's not quite the revolutionary MMO that some expected it to be. It remains one of the most popular MMOs on the market for years after its release, with multiple expansions and upgrades, and of course it helps that apart from the initial cost of the game, it's free to play (save, of course, for microtransactions, most of which are cosmetic).
Titanfall is an aerial first person shooter published by Electronic Arts. Much like its OTL counterpart, Titanfall has players donning massive battle mechs to battle it out in intense battles in the skies above, though all players start out on foot and must battle their way to the Titan mechs when they are deployed later on in battle. Unlike OTL's game, which featured online multiplayer only, Titanfall does have a single player campaign, though it's fairly short and serves almost like a glorified tutorial to ease new players into combat. Most players will begin online battles right away, and like OTL, these take the form of 6 vs. 6 battles with an emphasis on completing different objectives (though deathmatch modes are also available). With games like Techno Angel and Battle Engine Aquila proving to be quite influential in this genre ITTL, certain elements from those games carry over into TTL's Titanfall, and this game features an expanded HUD and slightly faster combat compared to OTL's game. The game features similar weapons and features on the combat mechs as OTL's game, with highly enhanced reflexes and firepower compared to a normal human soldier, and other features like x-ray and infrared to better scout friends and foes in combat. The game's plot revolves around a massive civil war in space, in which both factions command powerful Titan mechs and are battling for control of a newly discovered group of planets, with one faction serving as a sort of galactic authority and the other faction consisting of ruthless rebels. Neither side is depicted as being entirely good or entirely evil, and players can choose to fight for either side in both campaign and multiplayer play (with online battles always being between the Authority faction and the Rebel faction). The plot serves as mostly window dressing for the gameplay, which is on par with if not slightly better than OTL's, while the graphics push the limits of both the Reality and the Virtua (while the Nexus just isn't powerful enough to handle the game, despite developers' best efforts). Titanfall takes full advantage of the Reality's VR and the Virtua's motion controls, creating a unique and fun experience on both consoles, and overall, it's seen as being one of the best first person shooters of 2014, building off the lessons taught by earlier successful games. It's by far the best selling game of February 2014, and though critical praise doesn't quite match up to that of The Whispered, it's still among the early contenders for Game of the Year.
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Tom Clancy Online
Tom Clancy Online is an Ubisoft-published MMO/shooter based on the games and books of the Tom Clancy multimedia franchise, though it leans much more heavily into the games and doesn't start introducing a lot of elements from the books until later on. It features a massive world in which the player signs up to be either an armed forces soldier or a special agent, battling terrorists, enemy nations, and a host of other hazards and enemies, teaming up with one another or sometimes battling it out in a series of realistic environments. The basic gameplay takes the form of a first person shooter, though there are segments of the game, mostly hub/exploration segments, in which players can view the world in third person. The base game features hundreds of missions that players can take on alone or with a team, though most players will want to squad up as soon as possible, as the game is designed around coordination and cooperation. While players must initially choose between becoming a soldier or an agent, it is possible to switch between roles later on, and though some missions are exclusive to one faction or the other, it is possible for soldiers and agents to team up together as well. The gameplay combines elements of Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, and Delta Force, though it's probably closest to Delta Force overall, the franchise that proved the most popular amongst all the Tom Clancy titles. The game features an RPG-esque system of leveling up, in which players can improve their health and abilities by completing missions, however, it doesn't do much for the player's manual aim or damage output. The game introduces an entirely new cast of characters initially, though later on, characters from other games and even some of the books make appearances, and in a later DLC, Jack Ryan and elements from his books are introduced, with Ryan voiced by Harrison Ford in a shocking cameo that will be revealed at E3 2015 for an expansion released toward the end of that year. With Tom Clancy himself still alive as of 2014 ITTL, the author did consult about certain segments of the game, and also assists in the game's promotion and marketing, including a marketing stunt in which he himself plays the game in the first week and players can meet him and go on missions with him (though after the first week, he rarely touches the game). As far as MMO shooters go, Tom Clancy is easily the deepest and most hyped to date. It's a game four years in the making, and is meant to bring together the fans of all the Tom Clancy video game franchises while also being welcoming to new players. The game launches on Reality, Virtua, PC, and Macintosh on March 25, 2014, and though it sells well on consoles, it's much more popular on PC, where the majority of its sales come from. The initial launch largely meets expectations, though reviews average only in the low 8s, with the gameplay not considered as polished as other contemporary MMOs, and some early hiccups and glitches with online play. Tom Clancy Online is quite popular amongst fans of Tom Clancy games, but it's not quite the revolutionary MMO that some expected it to be. It remains one of the most popular MMOs on the market for years after its release, with multiple expansions and upgrades, and of course it helps that apart from the initial cost of the game, it's free to play (save, of course, for microtransactions, most of which are cosmetic).
Winter 2014 (Part 8) - The Rest Of The Games
(Here are the rest of the notable games from January 2014 to March 2014!)
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Nintendo Reality-
World Of Color Reality
The latest in Nintendo's hit puzzle series, World Of Color has declined in notoriety since the early 2000s, but this is still a moderately well anticipated game, and Nintendo put a lot of work into this, with new modes and refined online multiplayer, along with a VR mode that somewhat resembles OTL's Tetris Effect (though without the trippy music, making this one somewhat inferior). It's definitely the most content-rich game in the series to date, and it achieves strong reviews (in the mid 8s), with sales a bit ahead of other recent games in the series. It definitely doesn't bring World Of Color back like it used to be, but it easily sells more than a million copies worldwide.
Divinity: Original Sin
The popular PC RPG (which ITTL came out in late 2013 rather than 2014) is ported to the Reality, the only console version of the game. It's fairly similar to its OTL counterpart, with similar gameplay and story, and like OTL's version of the game, this one was partially crowdfunded, an example of the rise of crowdfunding ITTL (which, while not QUITE as popular as it was at this point IOTL, is still establishing itself as a way to fund games). The Reality version performs surprisingly well, with sales only slightly below the PC version of the game, and it's a pretty well received port as well.
Double Dragon Neon
The popular Double Dragon reboot is ported to console after a 2012 release on Steam, coming exclusively to Nintendo's digital store after Nintendo funded the port and added extra content. It's also ported to the Sapphire and Connect, but the Reality version, with a trippy VR mode added in, is the most popular console version. This version is also notable for inspiring a Battletoads And Double Dragon Neon reboot which will be hitting Nintendo digital stores exclusively in 2017.
E.S.P.: Extra Sensory Precision
An interesting, experimental, visual novel/action digital exclusive first person game in which the player gets telekinetic powers and must decide how to tell their friends and loved ones. A game with some similarities to titles like Life Is Strange, but more interactive and fourth wall breaking, with the protagonist directly interacting with the player character, especially in the second half of the game. The game uses the Reality's VR in extremely interesting ways, forcing the player into some weird/trippy situations in which they have to navigate with various interface screws and visual handicaps. The game's plot is a branching one that depends on which of the protagonist's friends is told about their powers, but eventually comes down to a battle between the protagonist and another psychic, with their love interest caught in the middle. Though sales aren't great, the game gets excellent reviews, and is considered revolutionary in some aspects for its narrative and use of VR.
Shin Megami Tensei: Angel Factor
A spinoff of the Shin Megami Tensei series, Angel Factor is a fairly traditional JRPG in which the protagonist, a young police officer named Kuda, must team up not only with powerful demons, but powerful angels as well. There are 36 total angels that can be recruited, and each of them has their own unique backstory and powers. Many of the angels can evolve into new forms, and they serve as party members, able to learn new skills and equip weapons and armor. The combat party consists of Kuda, two angels, and two demons, with the angels typically being the more important party members and demons serving in more supportive roles. The storyline of the game involves a war for control of the planet between a powerful demon lord and the angelic army sent to battle it. Kuda will ultimately have to travel all over the world via angelic portals to battle the demons in various locations, with each area having its own angels and demons to recruit. Angel Factor was a launch title in Japan for the Reality, and was the third best selling game during the launch week there, but it took a while to port the title to North America, with a lot of text to translate and a full English dub. The game is generally well received, it's one of the better Shin Megami Tensei spinoffs, and received a 33/40 in Famitsu, with North American reviews also averaging around an 8/10. It sells just enough for the dub to make a profit, though it's definitely not one of the bigger JRPGs in recent months.
Stretchmasters
Stretchmasters is an action platformer about a group of young superheroes who can stretch out their limbs in various ways to battle enemies and reach new heights. Though not published or developed by Nintendo, the company does push it heavily as a Reality exclusive IP, and they did partially fund the game. There are five heroes in all, and the player is able to switch freely between them, with some specializing in things that others don't, allowing the player to choose their general gameplay style (some of the Stretchmasters are faster and more limber than others, while others specialize in short-range melee). This game is reminiscent of OTL's ARMS if it was a platformer, and has a similar visual aesthetic, as well as a similar character design and tone. The five Stretchmasters must do battle against the powerful Dark Armory, a living factory capable of creating powerful robots to attack innocent people. When Dark Armony's soldiers are destroyed, parts and coins fly everywhere, allowing the Stretchmasters to craft new weapons and armor for themselves or to upgrade their abilities, with each of them having their own skill tree to upgrade. The game has a fun first-person VR mode allowing players to battle, explore the city, and do minigames in first person, though it's probably best played in the third person, especially during tough platform segments. Stretchmasters achieves only moderately good reviews, but it's quite a popular game amongst families. Positioned against Star Fox: Fire And Ice, it's not a huge seller initially, but shows good sales legs to become one of the better new Reality exclusives of the year.
Apple Virtua-
Umbral Waste
Umbral Waste is an adventure hack and slash with a very basic graphical style and a noirish feel, in which a mysterious fedora-wearing adventurer journeys into the mists for unknown reasons. The game is fairly slow paced and the story takes a while to pick up, but once it comes together it's quite memorable. The gameplay has some Zelda-like elements, but avoids large dungeons and instead sends its hero through old outdoor ruins areas and collapsed cities, battling enemies and acquiring power-ups along the way. The game utilizes the Gemini's motion controls, but can be enjoyed just as well without them. The game gets mostly good reviews, but is a bit of a disappointment with fans, and sales are rather low.
Virtua Downhill
The third game in Apple's acclaimed and popular skiing sports series, this one being the first on the Virtua. As with most first-party titles, it makes heavy use of the system's motion controls, allowing players to make realistic skiing motions to move their character down large slopes and also to perform stunts, which comprise a major part of this game. Virtua Downhill features more tracks and characters than any other game in the series, and also has an extensive character creation and stat enhancement mechanic as well. The game also features some of the best graphics to date on the Virtua, and is released at a budget price of $29.99, less than the previous games in the series, and enough to provide serious value considering that the game is more content rich than the iTwin titles. It becomes the best selling new game of the month, performing quite well in North America, Europe, and Japan, and also helping to push some Virtua units early in the year.
Super Power
The third game in the acclaimed series of iTwin puzzlers, Super Power sees electrician-turned-hero Thomas Watt return to bring the power back to Lumina by completing a series of challenges and levels. Watt's friend/rival Violet Volt returns, but mostly serves as the game's antagonist, as she's been brainwashed by a mysterious force and now has dark electrical powers, opposing him every step of the way. As it turns out, she's being controlled by an evil electrical being, Zappatrina, who wants to charge up Lumina with her dark electricity to control all the electrical devices in the realm. Watt must free Violet and defeat Zappatrina by completing dozens of levels and puzzles and battling a series of tough bosses. The basic gameplay remains fairly close to the original, but introduces some new mechanics, enemies, and special powers for Watt, some of which he learns by besting Violet in challenges. Like the previous two games, Super Power receives excellent reviews, but fails to achieve the strong sales of its predecessors, with less impressive graphics than other Virtua games while also failing to take much advantage of the motion controls. It does manage to make back its budget later on, but it is a disappointing result for such a promising series.
Yakuza 5
Yakuza 5 is the first game in the series for the Virtua, and takes advantage of the system's advanced capabilities by featuring a much larger city than the previous game, improved graphics, and excellent motion controls. Its storyline is slightly more serious than the last game's, starring a young man named Kataganji and his girlfriend Mikuzu, both of whom are playable at different points in the game (though Kataganji is the main protagonist and is playable vastly more than Mikuzu is). The two must rise through the ranks of the underworld to stay one step ahead of Mikuzu's gangster father, who seeks to take Mikuzu back to join her brother as his underboss. Yakuza 5 offers a huge variety of activities and missions, and players will rarely be without something to do, with the game's full range of missions going far beyond the main story. Considered an even stronger game than Yakuza 4, it achieves the series' best reviews to date, but achieves only moderate sales outside of Japan. It's a huge hit in Japan, however, probably the biggest Virtua game of the year thus far there, and so the game makes quite a substantial profit despite its mediocre performance in the West.
Google Nexus-
Counterintelligence
Counterintelligence was a moderately popular stealth franchise in the last gen, and it's rebooted on the Nexus as a sort of hybrid between a traditional stealth game and a hacking sim, somewhat like a less violent Cyberwar. Its protagonist is a young woman named Cissi who is recruited to a spy agency due to her extreme intelligence and courage under fire. However, she's still new to the spy game, and thus needs to rely on her hacking skills to take out enemies before she emerges to battle them with her guns. It's a strict stealth title, requiring the player to sneak around numerous places sight unseen, but fortunately, the Nexus' second screen is a huge help in that regard, and can be used in a variety of ways to lure enemies from their positions or scope out an ambush. It's compared to last year's Watch Dogs, and while it's not as technically impressive, it's still a fun, albeit very difficult game. Review scores are high, ranging from the mid to high 8s, and sales are decent.
Sati and the Beautiful Boutique
Rainbow Castle's popular franchise returns to consoles, this time to the Nexus rather than the iTwin (though it's also gotten several mobile installments for iOS and Android, and will continue to do so). It's a mystery/action/visual novel title, and also combines elements of life sim and boutique games into a somewhat unique package that earns comparisons to Miraculous Ladybug (though without the open world elements of that title). Sati, now 14 and still wielding a small amount of magical powers, gets a job working at a fashion boutique under the apprenticeship of the beautiful young heiress Aisha Leonore. Most of Sati's friends from previous games also return to help her out, and progress is made by helping out the patrons of the boutique, which then opens the way to special puzzle dungeons that Sati can explore to find treasures or rescue people. Like the previous game, these small mysteries are part of a bigger mystery, and in this case, it revolves around people being trapped within paintings and sealed away in a hidden castle. Sati initially strongly suspects Aisha, but as it turns out, Aisha has been trying to stop the real villain, and she herself is captured later on in the game, forcing Sati to come to her rescue. The game makes great use of the Nexus' second screen, with some puzzles utilizing both the second screen and the main game itself. Sati and the Beautiful Boutique is definitely larger in scale than any of its predecessors, and at $39.99, it's not a bargain like the original iTwin game was. Reviews aren't as good either, but they're still decent, averaging right around 8/10, and the franchise has enough fans to make this game profitable.
Nintendo Connect-
Polymorph Returns
The third installment in Nintendo's platformer series about an amorphous blob named Morpho with the ability to transform into hundreds of different objects, Polymorph Returns features a more unified style of 3-D platforming, rather than the genre-bending gameplay that distinguished previous games in the series. This game's gimmick revolves around the Connect's ability to link up with different electronical devices, which can give Morpho new abilities and forms depending on what's connected to the system. For example, playing rock music might turn Morpho into a barbarian or demon, while connecting to a TV can enable Morpho to transform into something resembling one of the characters. Even without connecting, it's still possible to become many different things, living and non-living, and while the platforming is a bit dated, the ability to transform to take different approaches to various challenges is still a nice treat. It also helps that the game looks gorgeous, one of the best looking Connect titles yet. Polymorph Returns gets mostly good reviews, and sales follow suit, making it one of the most successful Connect titles of early 2014.
Final Fantasy Tactics Remia
A straight-up Final Fantasy Tactics game featuring a huge campaign and online gameplay, this title plays much like the Final Fantasy Tactics games of years past, though with new character classes, plenty of quality of life improvements, and beautiful graphics and music. It follows the story of a princess named Remia, the only survivor of the kingdom of Grimoire after it's invaded and her family is slaughtered. Remia seeks self-exile rather than revenge, and feels more depressed and guilty than anything, but is inspired to lead a rebellion by a young resistance leader named Jachol who becomes her mentor and eventually her love interest. Remia unites an army, becoming much like Joan of Arc as she leads them into battle, but after Jachol is slaughtered about two-thirds of the way through the quest, Remia finally steels her blade with rage and makes the final push into her former home. Final Fantasy Tactics Remia allows players to recruit different races other than Humes, including Moogles, Viera, and Nu Mou, though Bangaa are out in favor of a race of rock people, and chocobos can also be recruited into the army as fighters. The game features many of the same classes and spells that characterize the Final Fantasy games, and Remia herself has several unique classes that she can aspire to throughout the game, allowing the player to choose which way they want to take her character (ultimately, it pays to take her through several paths to get the abilities and stat boosts before deciding on a final class). Final Fantasy Tactics Remia is an extremely melancholy and tragic game, with numerous playable characters, most notably Jachol, scripted to die throughout. It's possible to save one or two people via the player's choices throughout the game, but there are several beloved characters who die and no way to save them. In the end, Remia retakes her throne, but though her people and her surviving army rejoice, she feels hollow: her loved ones are still dead and she has done unforgivable things in the name of revenge for Jachol. She resolves to try and be a good queen to make amends for her misdeeds, but she is deeply troubled as the game ends. Final Fantasy Tactics Remia is certainly the best reviewed SRPG since the last Fire Emblem, and the best thus far on the Connect. It's also considered by some to be the best game in the series, and sells extremely well in Japan. Sales in the West lag far behind, but are still decent.
NES Remix
This game, which is a mish-mash of mini-games based on popular NES titles, is very similar to OTL, allowing players to compete in different challenges and then submit their scores online to compete with other players. Because of butterflies, a few games are changed from OTL, but for the most part, this is the same game as OTL's with minor changes here and there.
Apple Gemini-
The Raid 6
The sixth game in Apple's flagship handheld FPS series focuses more heavily on multiplayer, truly aiming to bring a Call Of Duty-like experience to handhelds, and featuring a battle royale mode for the first time in which up to 32 players can battle one another until only one is left standing. The campaign, about a hostage crisis at a worldwide peace summit, is mostly an afterthought compared to the multiplayer, and despite the game's excellent graphics and innovative gameplay, reviews are merely decent, peaking in the high 7s. Despite this, sales are quite good, an improvement over The Raid 5, and it becomes one of the most popular handheld FPS games of all time.
Chun-Li Rising
A 3-D beat 'em up developed by Capcom, Chun-Li Rising tells the origin story of the popular Street Fighter character Chun-Li. In the game, Chun-Li has all her moves from virtually every Street Fighter game, along with a host of new moves, and gameplay is much like Devil May Cry, a beat 'em up in which Chun-Li can relentlessly attack her enemies with aggressive kicks, punches, throws, and energy blasts, with a focus on scoring combos. The game is mission-based, with a total of 16 missions in all, chronicling Chun-Li's origin story from her life as a teenage girl living in a small village, forced to watch as her father is murdered by M. Bison, to her life as an officer in Interpol working to take Bison down. Along the way, she meets up with various allies, including characters such as Ryu from Street Fighter lore to brand new characters such as her partner Deisho and her friend the reporter girl Suzuki. Chun-Li is voiced by Laura Bailey in the English dub, and there are many cutscenes throughout the game to give players a good idea of who this beautiful fighter truly is. The game ends with a climactic duel between Chun-Li and Bison in which she defeats him to avenge her father's death, choosing to spare Bison's life and allow Interpol to arrest him rather than killing him. Chun-Li Rising is considered an outstanding beat 'em up title and one of the best to ever launch as a handheld exclusive. It truly does play like a console game, and reviewers and fans consider it a must play for fans of the character and the franchise. Not only does it become a commercial success, it actually helps move Gemini units early in 2014 (along with a permanent MSRP drop for the system to $199.99, putting it in line with Connect pricing).
Sakura Wars Ultimate
A massive crossover Sakura Wars title, this game was released in Japan in late 2012 to great reviews and sales, and finally got localized for the West in early 2014. It takes elements and characters from nearly all the previous Sakura Wars games, mixing them together into a massive dating sim/RPG/adventure title full of callbacks to previous games and a big epic quest for all the characters to undertake. Though it's meant for fans of the series, it's a solid game on its own, and thanks to online hype, does manage to sell a bit better than other recent releases in the series. However, its initial sales are poor, and only improve once it hits the bargain bins and gets a price cut. It fails to establish Sakura Wars as a popular franchise in the West, but it's definitely a crowd pleaser for longtime fans.
Multiplatform-
King's Grave III
An action RPG by From Software (released on the Reality and Nexus), and their last game as an independent company before being bought by Namco, King's Grave III continues the dark atmosphere and punishing difficulty of the two previous games in the series, and can be seen as somewhat analogous to OTL's Dark Souls II, with improved graphics and gameplay and a wider world. The protagonist is a young soldier who is the last survivor of his king's army, which was overrun and destroyed by a powerful warlock commanding an undead army. The surviving soldier makes his way through the destroyed kingdom, battling the risen dead corpses of his fallen countrymen as he attempts to make his way to the warlock's realm to get revenge. The game is a brutal slog filled with horrifyingly powerful creatures and plenty of treasure and lore, and greatly expands upon the scope of King's Grave II, addressing some of the issues players had with that game. It achieves solid reviews and becomes the best selling game in the series to date, but Namco sees King's Grave as somewhat of a dead end. However, they like the formula of the games, and thus they begin to launch new properties while allowing From Software to keep the same basic style of game.
Return To Oddworld
This dark 3-D platformer sees the Mudokon Abe returning to Oddworld after hearing that a powerful corporation has taken over and has captured some of his friends while forcing others into hiding. Like previous games in the series, this is a dark journey full of puzzles and peril, and in order to free Oddworld from oppression, Abe will have to save 139 of his friends and defeat the machinations of the mighty Cobble Corporation, makers of syrupy beverages and deadly robots. The game is packed with satire and references to real world corporations, and generally keeps the atmosphere similar to that of previous Oddworld titles. Curiously, it comes to the Virtua and the Nexus, but not the Reality, though the game fails to sell very well on either one despite good reviews. Oddworld is once again put back on the shelf, and it's unlikely we'll see another game in this series anytime soon.
Youthful Soul
An RPG for the handhelds, the game is in full anime style and features a traditional turn based combat system with lots of customization. Its protagonist is a teenage boy named Esher who journeys in search of a mythical white bird that flew over his village and protected it from destruction by a powerful wizard. This bird, the Albatross Of Miracles, is also sought after by several other characters, as well as the game's main antagonistic forces: Ouphus, the wizard who tried to destroy Esher's village, and the Loathian Empire, which seeks power and prestige. While a somewhat cliched RPG, Youthful Soul is saved by the degree of customization it allows the player to make both in and out of battle: the hero can be a traditional swordsman or a sort of paladin/mage knight, and even the meek love interest, who specializes in healing magic, can become a bruising attacker if the player so chooses. In battle, it's possible to alter a character's attack or spell on the fly, making for some really unique effects. The game features an excellent English voice dub as well, and some beautiful animation and music, along with a 35 hour main quest and plenty of side activities. Youthful Soul is an excellent JRPG, and manages to achieve decent sales even in the West thanks to strong reviews and word of mouth.
Deus Ex: Codebreaker
A shooter/RPG released on the Connect and Gemini, Deus Ex: Codebreaker is a full-fledged Deus Ex game created with handhelds in mind, and though it has a significantly smaller scope than Oblivion, it's still quite an impressive feat for a handheld game. The game's protagonist is a hacker named Ral Stanton, who attracts the attention of a group of terrorists after hacking into a secret government database. The terrorists attempt to recruit Ral, but it's up to the player to decide whether or not to work for them or to become independent, drawing their ire but also gaining Ral's freedom. This game has a much larger focus on hacking but still lets the player choose whether to take a more stealthy or direct approach to a variety of situations and missions, and though the game's main campaign is shorter and its world is smaller, the gameplay and story progression are quite similar to that of Oblivion. The production values remain high too, with a strong cast of voice actors. Though the game does run fine on the Connect, it's much better on the Gemini, with more detailed animations and backgrounds and faster gameplay overall. Reviews for the game are solid, though it fails to achieve anywhere near the success of its console cousin.
Gate 2
Gate 2 is the sequel to Electronic Arts' massive hit action game from 2009, and takes place fairly shortly after the original title left off. It continues the story of detective Raymond Holmes, who must uncover a galaxy-spanning conspiracy that leads to the reactivation of the teleportation devices that Holmes thought he'd deactivated for good at the end of the last game. While Holmes attempts to unravel the mystery behind the reactivations, he must also search for his love interest Greta Lorenza, who was believed lost in space at the end of the last game but has been communicating mysteriously throughout the past few weeks, and Holmes has to decide whether her communications are real or just fantasies of his delusional mind. Gate 2 initially varies significantly from its predecessor in terms of gameplay: with the Gate technology deactivated, Holmes has had to develop more conventional means of fighting, and that leads to more complex melee combat and more use of firearms in different ways. Missions themselves are much more varied as well: rather than the “go here, kill this guy” missions that littered the previous game, there are now more mysteries, puzzles, and multi-step missions, leading to more complex missions and more variety overall. Once Holmes gets his Gate technology back, about a third of the way through the game, he has more combat moves than ever, able to teleport multiple times during a single battle to gain a more advantageous position or dodge an attack. Overall, the combat system has improved slightly over the last game's, though it's not quite as good as the combat in some of the big hack and slash or third person shooter titles of the day. The graphics have of course improved in the leap to the new consoles, and each console's gimmick is present in its version of the game, with the Reality getting some nice VR first person gameplay, the Virtua incorporating plenty of motion controls into its scheme, and the Nexus giving the player the ability to explore the city in more detail with the second screen's functionality. The game's plot sees Holmes initially searching for Greta, only to be led to a conspiracy in which Phytek's technology and personnel weren't seized by the federal government, but were instead co-opted and taken elsewhere. Holmes suspects the federal government itself, only to learn of a third party at work: a group of individuals who had been using Gate technology to establish a secret base on Mars, hidden away from prying eyes on Earth. Just as Holmes is closing in on exposing them, the Gate technology is suddenly reactivated, and Holmes is abducted to the Martian base. He's confronted by a familiar figure: Greta, who was contacted by the group while in deep space and rescued by them. Greta believes that this group, known as the Phobos Collective, has the best use for the Gate technology, but that they need to make certain strikes on certain Earth locations to eliminate obstacles. Holmes refuses to help, and manages to escape. He begins to seek out those targeted by the Phobos Collective, and is able to save two of the targets, but is too late to save the third, getting there just in time to watch Greta kill them. Earth's forces launch an all out war on the Phobos Collective, submitting Mars to an orbital bombardment, but this merely serves as a distraction to allow the Phobos Collective to make a precision strike, their assassins using the Gate technology to take out dozens of Earth's most important leaders at once, leaving the planet in chaos. As war and terror rage, Holmes hunts down Greta, who is horrified that her actions have led to such a bloody conflict. She decides to team up with Holmes to try and stop the Phobos Collective, whose leader turns out to be a prototype Phytek AI unit that achieved sentience and seeks to protect its former company's technology. Holmes and Greta manage to destroy the AI unit, but immediately afterward, agents teleport in and arrest Greta for her role in the crisis. Greta seemingly agrees to accept her punishment, but when Holmes comes to visit her, she's gone... the Gate technology is a part of her now, and she could be anywhere in the galaxy. She leaves a note of apology but promises to make amends for her actions in her own way. Even though he knows that the manhunt for Greta will be massive, he decides to hunt for her himself as well, hoping to find her but not knowing whether he'll help her or stop her once he does.
Gate 2 is released to slightly worse reviews than the original game. Despite the graphical improvements and improvements in quest variety, the gameplay itself is seen as somewhat boring and not all that much improved from the original. The plot is also considered significantly worse, especially with the AI twist toward the end of the game. The game's reviews still average in the low 8s, and fans still buy the game in droves, making it the best selling game of the first quarter of 2014, with overall sales outpacing Titanfall (the fact that it's released for all three consoles and not just two is a big help).
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Top Selling New Console Games In North America (in terms of sales over the first four weeks of release):
January 2014:
1. Virtua Downhill (Apple Virtua)
2. Tekken Reality (Nintendo Reality)
3. World Of Color Reality (Nintendo Reality)
4. King's Grave III (Nintendo Reality)
5. Polymorph Returns (Nintendo Connect)
February 2014:
1. Titanfall (Nintendo Reality)
2. Titanfall (Apple Virtua)
3. Ace Combat: Infinite Skies (Apple Virtua)
4. Divinity: Original Sin (Nintendo Reality)
5. The Raid 6 (Apple Gemini)
March 2014:
1. Gate 2 (Nintendo Reality)
2. Gate 2 (Google Nexus)
3. The Whispered (Nintendo Reality)
4. Star Fox: Fire And Ice (Nintendo Reality)
5. Gate 2 (Apple Virtua)
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Nintendo Reality-
World Of Color Reality
The latest in Nintendo's hit puzzle series, World Of Color has declined in notoriety since the early 2000s, but this is still a moderately well anticipated game, and Nintendo put a lot of work into this, with new modes and refined online multiplayer, along with a VR mode that somewhat resembles OTL's Tetris Effect (though without the trippy music, making this one somewhat inferior). It's definitely the most content-rich game in the series to date, and it achieves strong reviews (in the mid 8s), with sales a bit ahead of other recent games in the series. It definitely doesn't bring World Of Color back like it used to be, but it easily sells more than a million copies worldwide.
Divinity: Original Sin
The popular PC RPG (which ITTL came out in late 2013 rather than 2014) is ported to the Reality, the only console version of the game. It's fairly similar to its OTL counterpart, with similar gameplay and story, and like OTL's version of the game, this one was partially crowdfunded, an example of the rise of crowdfunding ITTL (which, while not QUITE as popular as it was at this point IOTL, is still establishing itself as a way to fund games). The Reality version performs surprisingly well, with sales only slightly below the PC version of the game, and it's a pretty well received port as well.
Double Dragon Neon
The popular Double Dragon reboot is ported to console after a 2012 release on Steam, coming exclusively to Nintendo's digital store after Nintendo funded the port and added extra content. It's also ported to the Sapphire and Connect, but the Reality version, with a trippy VR mode added in, is the most popular console version. This version is also notable for inspiring a Battletoads And Double Dragon Neon reboot which will be hitting Nintendo digital stores exclusively in 2017.
E.S.P.: Extra Sensory Precision
An interesting, experimental, visual novel/action digital exclusive first person game in which the player gets telekinetic powers and must decide how to tell their friends and loved ones. A game with some similarities to titles like Life Is Strange, but more interactive and fourth wall breaking, with the protagonist directly interacting with the player character, especially in the second half of the game. The game uses the Reality's VR in extremely interesting ways, forcing the player into some weird/trippy situations in which they have to navigate with various interface screws and visual handicaps. The game's plot is a branching one that depends on which of the protagonist's friends is told about their powers, but eventually comes down to a battle between the protagonist and another psychic, with their love interest caught in the middle. Though sales aren't great, the game gets excellent reviews, and is considered revolutionary in some aspects for its narrative and use of VR.
Shin Megami Tensei: Angel Factor
A spinoff of the Shin Megami Tensei series, Angel Factor is a fairly traditional JRPG in which the protagonist, a young police officer named Kuda, must team up not only with powerful demons, but powerful angels as well. There are 36 total angels that can be recruited, and each of them has their own unique backstory and powers. Many of the angels can evolve into new forms, and they serve as party members, able to learn new skills and equip weapons and armor. The combat party consists of Kuda, two angels, and two demons, with the angels typically being the more important party members and demons serving in more supportive roles. The storyline of the game involves a war for control of the planet between a powerful demon lord and the angelic army sent to battle it. Kuda will ultimately have to travel all over the world via angelic portals to battle the demons in various locations, with each area having its own angels and demons to recruit. Angel Factor was a launch title in Japan for the Reality, and was the third best selling game during the launch week there, but it took a while to port the title to North America, with a lot of text to translate and a full English dub. The game is generally well received, it's one of the better Shin Megami Tensei spinoffs, and received a 33/40 in Famitsu, with North American reviews also averaging around an 8/10. It sells just enough for the dub to make a profit, though it's definitely not one of the bigger JRPGs in recent months.
Stretchmasters
Stretchmasters is an action platformer about a group of young superheroes who can stretch out their limbs in various ways to battle enemies and reach new heights. Though not published or developed by Nintendo, the company does push it heavily as a Reality exclusive IP, and they did partially fund the game. There are five heroes in all, and the player is able to switch freely between them, with some specializing in things that others don't, allowing the player to choose their general gameplay style (some of the Stretchmasters are faster and more limber than others, while others specialize in short-range melee). This game is reminiscent of OTL's ARMS if it was a platformer, and has a similar visual aesthetic, as well as a similar character design and tone. The five Stretchmasters must do battle against the powerful Dark Armory, a living factory capable of creating powerful robots to attack innocent people. When Dark Armony's soldiers are destroyed, parts and coins fly everywhere, allowing the Stretchmasters to craft new weapons and armor for themselves or to upgrade their abilities, with each of them having their own skill tree to upgrade. The game has a fun first-person VR mode allowing players to battle, explore the city, and do minigames in first person, though it's probably best played in the third person, especially during tough platform segments. Stretchmasters achieves only moderately good reviews, but it's quite a popular game amongst families. Positioned against Star Fox: Fire And Ice, it's not a huge seller initially, but shows good sales legs to become one of the better new Reality exclusives of the year.
Apple Virtua-
Umbral Waste
Umbral Waste is an adventure hack and slash with a very basic graphical style and a noirish feel, in which a mysterious fedora-wearing adventurer journeys into the mists for unknown reasons. The game is fairly slow paced and the story takes a while to pick up, but once it comes together it's quite memorable. The gameplay has some Zelda-like elements, but avoids large dungeons and instead sends its hero through old outdoor ruins areas and collapsed cities, battling enemies and acquiring power-ups along the way. The game utilizes the Gemini's motion controls, but can be enjoyed just as well without them. The game gets mostly good reviews, but is a bit of a disappointment with fans, and sales are rather low.
Virtua Downhill
The third game in Apple's acclaimed and popular skiing sports series, this one being the first on the Virtua. As with most first-party titles, it makes heavy use of the system's motion controls, allowing players to make realistic skiing motions to move their character down large slopes and also to perform stunts, which comprise a major part of this game. Virtua Downhill features more tracks and characters than any other game in the series, and also has an extensive character creation and stat enhancement mechanic as well. The game also features some of the best graphics to date on the Virtua, and is released at a budget price of $29.99, less than the previous games in the series, and enough to provide serious value considering that the game is more content rich than the iTwin titles. It becomes the best selling new game of the month, performing quite well in North America, Europe, and Japan, and also helping to push some Virtua units early in the year.
Super Power
The third game in the acclaimed series of iTwin puzzlers, Super Power sees electrician-turned-hero Thomas Watt return to bring the power back to Lumina by completing a series of challenges and levels. Watt's friend/rival Violet Volt returns, but mostly serves as the game's antagonist, as she's been brainwashed by a mysterious force and now has dark electrical powers, opposing him every step of the way. As it turns out, she's being controlled by an evil electrical being, Zappatrina, who wants to charge up Lumina with her dark electricity to control all the electrical devices in the realm. Watt must free Violet and defeat Zappatrina by completing dozens of levels and puzzles and battling a series of tough bosses. The basic gameplay remains fairly close to the original, but introduces some new mechanics, enemies, and special powers for Watt, some of which he learns by besting Violet in challenges. Like the previous two games, Super Power receives excellent reviews, but fails to achieve the strong sales of its predecessors, with less impressive graphics than other Virtua games while also failing to take much advantage of the motion controls. It does manage to make back its budget later on, but it is a disappointing result for such a promising series.
Yakuza 5
Yakuza 5 is the first game in the series for the Virtua, and takes advantage of the system's advanced capabilities by featuring a much larger city than the previous game, improved graphics, and excellent motion controls. Its storyline is slightly more serious than the last game's, starring a young man named Kataganji and his girlfriend Mikuzu, both of whom are playable at different points in the game (though Kataganji is the main protagonist and is playable vastly more than Mikuzu is). The two must rise through the ranks of the underworld to stay one step ahead of Mikuzu's gangster father, who seeks to take Mikuzu back to join her brother as his underboss. Yakuza 5 offers a huge variety of activities and missions, and players will rarely be without something to do, with the game's full range of missions going far beyond the main story. Considered an even stronger game than Yakuza 4, it achieves the series' best reviews to date, but achieves only moderate sales outside of Japan. It's a huge hit in Japan, however, probably the biggest Virtua game of the year thus far there, and so the game makes quite a substantial profit despite its mediocre performance in the West.
Google Nexus-
Counterintelligence
Counterintelligence was a moderately popular stealth franchise in the last gen, and it's rebooted on the Nexus as a sort of hybrid between a traditional stealth game and a hacking sim, somewhat like a less violent Cyberwar. Its protagonist is a young woman named Cissi who is recruited to a spy agency due to her extreme intelligence and courage under fire. However, she's still new to the spy game, and thus needs to rely on her hacking skills to take out enemies before she emerges to battle them with her guns. It's a strict stealth title, requiring the player to sneak around numerous places sight unseen, but fortunately, the Nexus' second screen is a huge help in that regard, and can be used in a variety of ways to lure enemies from their positions or scope out an ambush. It's compared to last year's Watch Dogs, and while it's not as technically impressive, it's still a fun, albeit very difficult game. Review scores are high, ranging from the mid to high 8s, and sales are decent.
Sati and the Beautiful Boutique
Rainbow Castle's popular franchise returns to consoles, this time to the Nexus rather than the iTwin (though it's also gotten several mobile installments for iOS and Android, and will continue to do so). It's a mystery/action/visual novel title, and also combines elements of life sim and boutique games into a somewhat unique package that earns comparisons to Miraculous Ladybug (though without the open world elements of that title). Sati, now 14 and still wielding a small amount of magical powers, gets a job working at a fashion boutique under the apprenticeship of the beautiful young heiress Aisha Leonore. Most of Sati's friends from previous games also return to help her out, and progress is made by helping out the patrons of the boutique, which then opens the way to special puzzle dungeons that Sati can explore to find treasures or rescue people. Like the previous game, these small mysteries are part of a bigger mystery, and in this case, it revolves around people being trapped within paintings and sealed away in a hidden castle. Sati initially strongly suspects Aisha, but as it turns out, Aisha has been trying to stop the real villain, and she herself is captured later on in the game, forcing Sati to come to her rescue. The game makes great use of the Nexus' second screen, with some puzzles utilizing both the second screen and the main game itself. Sati and the Beautiful Boutique is definitely larger in scale than any of its predecessors, and at $39.99, it's not a bargain like the original iTwin game was. Reviews aren't as good either, but they're still decent, averaging right around 8/10, and the franchise has enough fans to make this game profitable.
Nintendo Connect-
Polymorph Returns
The third installment in Nintendo's platformer series about an amorphous blob named Morpho with the ability to transform into hundreds of different objects, Polymorph Returns features a more unified style of 3-D platforming, rather than the genre-bending gameplay that distinguished previous games in the series. This game's gimmick revolves around the Connect's ability to link up with different electronical devices, which can give Morpho new abilities and forms depending on what's connected to the system. For example, playing rock music might turn Morpho into a barbarian or demon, while connecting to a TV can enable Morpho to transform into something resembling one of the characters. Even without connecting, it's still possible to become many different things, living and non-living, and while the platforming is a bit dated, the ability to transform to take different approaches to various challenges is still a nice treat. It also helps that the game looks gorgeous, one of the best looking Connect titles yet. Polymorph Returns gets mostly good reviews, and sales follow suit, making it one of the most successful Connect titles of early 2014.
Final Fantasy Tactics Remia
A straight-up Final Fantasy Tactics game featuring a huge campaign and online gameplay, this title plays much like the Final Fantasy Tactics games of years past, though with new character classes, plenty of quality of life improvements, and beautiful graphics and music. It follows the story of a princess named Remia, the only survivor of the kingdom of Grimoire after it's invaded and her family is slaughtered. Remia seeks self-exile rather than revenge, and feels more depressed and guilty than anything, but is inspired to lead a rebellion by a young resistance leader named Jachol who becomes her mentor and eventually her love interest. Remia unites an army, becoming much like Joan of Arc as she leads them into battle, but after Jachol is slaughtered about two-thirds of the way through the quest, Remia finally steels her blade with rage and makes the final push into her former home. Final Fantasy Tactics Remia allows players to recruit different races other than Humes, including Moogles, Viera, and Nu Mou, though Bangaa are out in favor of a race of rock people, and chocobos can also be recruited into the army as fighters. The game features many of the same classes and spells that characterize the Final Fantasy games, and Remia herself has several unique classes that she can aspire to throughout the game, allowing the player to choose which way they want to take her character (ultimately, it pays to take her through several paths to get the abilities and stat boosts before deciding on a final class). Final Fantasy Tactics Remia is an extremely melancholy and tragic game, with numerous playable characters, most notably Jachol, scripted to die throughout. It's possible to save one or two people via the player's choices throughout the game, but there are several beloved characters who die and no way to save them. In the end, Remia retakes her throne, but though her people and her surviving army rejoice, she feels hollow: her loved ones are still dead and she has done unforgivable things in the name of revenge for Jachol. She resolves to try and be a good queen to make amends for her misdeeds, but she is deeply troubled as the game ends. Final Fantasy Tactics Remia is certainly the best reviewed SRPG since the last Fire Emblem, and the best thus far on the Connect. It's also considered by some to be the best game in the series, and sells extremely well in Japan. Sales in the West lag far behind, but are still decent.
NES Remix
This game, which is a mish-mash of mini-games based on popular NES titles, is very similar to OTL, allowing players to compete in different challenges and then submit their scores online to compete with other players. Because of butterflies, a few games are changed from OTL, but for the most part, this is the same game as OTL's with minor changes here and there.
Apple Gemini-
The Raid 6
The sixth game in Apple's flagship handheld FPS series focuses more heavily on multiplayer, truly aiming to bring a Call Of Duty-like experience to handhelds, and featuring a battle royale mode for the first time in which up to 32 players can battle one another until only one is left standing. The campaign, about a hostage crisis at a worldwide peace summit, is mostly an afterthought compared to the multiplayer, and despite the game's excellent graphics and innovative gameplay, reviews are merely decent, peaking in the high 7s. Despite this, sales are quite good, an improvement over The Raid 5, and it becomes one of the most popular handheld FPS games of all time.
Chun-Li Rising
A 3-D beat 'em up developed by Capcom, Chun-Li Rising tells the origin story of the popular Street Fighter character Chun-Li. In the game, Chun-Li has all her moves from virtually every Street Fighter game, along with a host of new moves, and gameplay is much like Devil May Cry, a beat 'em up in which Chun-Li can relentlessly attack her enemies with aggressive kicks, punches, throws, and energy blasts, with a focus on scoring combos. The game is mission-based, with a total of 16 missions in all, chronicling Chun-Li's origin story from her life as a teenage girl living in a small village, forced to watch as her father is murdered by M. Bison, to her life as an officer in Interpol working to take Bison down. Along the way, she meets up with various allies, including characters such as Ryu from Street Fighter lore to brand new characters such as her partner Deisho and her friend the reporter girl Suzuki. Chun-Li is voiced by Laura Bailey in the English dub, and there are many cutscenes throughout the game to give players a good idea of who this beautiful fighter truly is. The game ends with a climactic duel between Chun-Li and Bison in which she defeats him to avenge her father's death, choosing to spare Bison's life and allow Interpol to arrest him rather than killing him. Chun-Li Rising is considered an outstanding beat 'em up title and one of the best to ever launch as a handheld exclusive. It truly does play like a console game, and reviewers and fans consider it a must play for fans of the character and the franchise. Not only does it become a commercial success, it actually helps move Gemini units early in 2014 (along with a permanent MSRP drop for the system to $199.99, putting it in line with Connect pricing).
Sakura Wars Ultimate
A massive crossover Sakura Wars title, this game was released in Japan in late 2012 to great reviews and sales, and finally got localized for the West in early 2014. It takes elements and characters from nearly all the previous Sakura Wars games, mixing them together into a massive dating sim/RPG/adventure title full of callbacks to previous games and a big epic quest for all the characters to undertake. Though it's meant for fans of the series, it's a solid game on its own, and thanks to online hype, does manage to sell a bit better than other recent releases in the series. However, its initial sales are poor, and only improve once it hits the bargain bins and gets a price cut. It fails to establish Sakura Wars as a popular franchise in the West, but it's definitely a crowd pleaser for longtime fans.
Multiplatform-
King's Grave III
An action RPG by From Software (released on the Reality and Nexus), and their last game as an independent company before being bought by Namco, King's Grave III continues the dark atmosphere and punishing difficulty of the two previous games in the series, and can be seen as somewhat analogous to OTL's Dark Souls II, with improved graphics and gameplay and a wider world. The protagonist is a young soldier who is the last survivor of his king's army, which was overrun and destroyed by a powerful warlock commanding an undead army. The surviving soldier makes his way through the destroyed kingdom, battling the risen dead corpses of his fallen countrymen as he attempts to make his way to the warlock's realm to get revenge. The game is a brutal slog filled with horrifyingly powerful creatures and plenty of treasure and lore, and greatly expands upon the scope of King's Grave II, addressing some of the issues players had with that game. It achieves solid reviews and becomes the best selling game in the series to date, but Namco sees King's Grave as somewhat of a dead end. However, they like the formula of the games, and thus they begin to launch new properties while allowing From Software to keep the same basic style of game.
Return To Oddworld
This dark 3-D platformer sees the Mudokon Abe returning to Oddworld after hearing that a powerful corporation has taken over and has captured some of his friends while forcing others into hiding. Like previous games in the series, this is a dark journey full of puzzles and peril, and in order to free Oddworld from oppression, Abe will have to save 139 of his friends and defeat the machinations of the mighty Cobble Corporation, makers of syrupy beverages and deadly robots. The game is packed with satire and references to real world corporations, and generally keeps the atmosphere similar to that of previous Oddworld titles. Curiously, it comes to the Virtua and the Nexus, but not the Reality, though the game fails to sell very well on either one despite good reviews. Oddworld is once again put back on the shelf, and it's unlikely we'll see another game in this series anytime soon.
Youthful Soul
An RPG for the handhelds, the game is in full anime style and features a traditional turn based combat system with lots of customization. Its protagonist is a teenage boy named Esher who journeys in search of a mythical white bird that flew over his village and protected it from destruction by a powerful wizard. This bird, the Albatross Of Miracles, is also sought after by several other characters, as well as the game's main antagonistic forces: Ouphus, the wizard who tried to destroy Esher's village, and the Loathian Empire, which seeks power and prestige. While a somewhat cliched RPG, Youthful Soul is saved by the degree of customization it allows the player to make both in and out of battle: the hero can be a traditional swordsman or a sort of paladin/mage knight, and even the meek love interest, who specializes in healing magic, can become a bruising attacker if the player so chooses. In battle, it's possible to alter a character's attack or spell on the fly, making for some really unique effects. The game features an excellent English voice dub as well, and some beautiful animation and music, along with a 35 hour main quest and plenty of side activities. Youthful Soul is an excellent JRPG, and manages to achieve decent sales even in the West thanks to strong reviews and word of mouth.
Deus Ex: Codebreaker
A shooter/RPG released on the Connect and Gemini, Deus Ex: Codebreaker is a full-fledged Deus Ex game created with handhelds in mind, and though it has a significantly smaller scope than Oblivion, it's still quite an impressive feat for a handheld game. The game's protagonist is a hacker named Ral Stanton, who attracts the attention of a group of terrorists after hacking into a secret government database. The terrorists attempt to recruit Ral, but it's up to the player to decide whether or not to work for them or to become independent, drawing their ire but also gaining Ral's freedom. This game has a much larger focus on hacking but still lets the player choose whether to take a more stealthy or direct approach to a variety of situations and missions, and though the game's main campaign is shorter and its world is smaller, the gameplay and story progression are quite similar to that of Oblivion. The production values remain high too, with a strong cast of voice actors. Though the game does run fine on the Connect, it's much better on the Gemini, with more detailed animations and backgrounds and faster gameplay overall. Reviews for the game are solid, though it fails to achieve anywhere near the success of its console cousin.
Gate 2
Gate 2 is the sequel to Electronic Arts' massive hit action game from 2009, and takes place fairly shortly after the original title left off. It continues the story of detective Raymond Holmes, who must uncover a galaxy-spanning conspiracy that leads to the reactivation of the teleportation devices that Holmes thought he'd deactivated for good at the end of the last game. While Holmes attempts to unravel the mystery behind the reactivations, he must also search for his love interest Greta Lorenza, who was believed lost in space at the end of the last game but has been communicating mysteriously throughout the past few weeks, and Holmes has to decide whether her communications are real or just fantasies of his delusional mind. Gate 2 initially varies significantly from its predecessor in terms of gameplay: with the Gate technology deactivated, Holmes has had to develop more conventional means of fighting, and that leads to more complex melee combat and more use of firearms in different ways. Missions themselves are much more varied as well: rather than the “go here, kill this guy” missions that littered the previous game, there are now more mysteries, puzzles, and multi-step missions, leading to more complex missions and more variety overall. Once Holmes gets his Gate technology back, about a third of the way through the game, he has more combat moves than ever, able to teleport multiple times during a single battle to gain a more advantageous position or dodge an attack. Overall, the combat system has improved slightly over the last game's, though it's not quite as good as the combat in some of the big hack and slash or third person shooter titles of the day. The graphics have of course improved in the leap to the new consoles, and each console's gimmick is present in its version of the game, with the Reality getting some nice VR first person gameplay, the Virtua incorporating plenty of motion controls into its scheme, and the Nexus giving the player the ability to explore the city in more detail with the second screen's functionality. The game's plot sees Holmes initially searching for Greta, only to be led to a conspiracy in which Phytek's technology and personnel weren't seized by the federal government, but were instead co-opted and taken elsewhere. Holmes suspects the federal government itself, only to learn of a third party at work: a group of individuals who had been using Gate technology to establish a secret base on Mars, hidden away from prying eyes on Earth. Just as Holmes is closing in on exposing them, the Gate technology is suddenly reactivated, and Holmes is abducted to the Martian base. He's confronted by a familiar figure: Greta, who was contacted by the group while in deep space and rescued by them. Greta believes that this group, known as the Phobos Collective, has the best use for the Gate technology, but that they need to make certain strikes on certain Earth locations to eliminate obstacles. Holmes refuses to help, and manages to escape. He begins to seek out those targeted by the Phobos Collective, and is able to save two of the targets, but is too late to save the third, getting there just in time to watch Greta kill them. Earth's forces launch an all out war on the Phobos Collective, submitting Mars to an orbital bombardment, but this merely serves as a distraction to allow the Phobos Collective to make a precision strike, their assassins using the Gate technology to take out dozens of Earth's most important leaders at once, leaving the planet in chaos. As war and terror rage, Holmes hunts down Greta, who is horrified that her actions have led to such a bloody conflict. She decides to team up with Holmes to try and stop the Phobos Collective, whose leader turns out to be a prototype Phytek AI unit that achieved sentience and seeks to protect its former company's technology. Holmes and Greta manage to destroy the AI unit, but immediately afterward, agents teleport in and arrest Greta for her role in the crisis. Greta seemingly agrees to accept her punishment, but when Holmes comes to visit her, she's gone... the Gate technology is a part of her now, and she could be anywhere in the galaxy. She leaves a note of apology but promises to make amends for her actions in her own way. Even though he knows that the manhunt for Greta will be massive, he decides to hunt for her himself as well, hoping to find her but not knowing whether he'll help her or stop her once he does.
Gate 2 is released to slightly worse reviews than the original game. Despite the graphical improvements and improvements in quest variety, the gameplay itself is seen as somewhat boring and not all that much improved from the original. The plot is also considered significantly worse, especially with the AI twist toward the end of the game. The game's reviews still average in the low 8s, and fans still buy the game in droves, making it the best selling game of the first quarter of 2014, with overall sales outpacing Titanfall (the fact that it's released for all three consoles and not just two is a big help).
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Top Selling New Console Games In North America (in terms of sales over the first four weeks of release):
January 2014:
1. Virtua Downhill (Apple Virtua)
2. Tekken Reality (Nintendo Reality)
3. World Of Color Reality (Nintendo Reality)
4. King's Grave III (Nintendo Reality)
5. Polymorph Returns (Nintendo Connect)
February 2014:
1. Titanfall (Nintendo Reality)
2. Titanfall (Apple Virtua)
3. Ace Combat: Infinite Skies (Apple Virtua)
4. Divinity: Original Sin (Nintendo Reality)
5. The Raid 6 (Apple Gemini)
March 2014:
1. Gate 2 (Nintendo Reality)
2. Gate 2 (Google Nexus)
3. The Whispered (Nintendo Reality)
4. Star Fox: Fire And Ice (Nintendo Reality)
5. Gate 2 (Apple Virtua)
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Unfortunately, he still has many of the same problems he has IOTL, and he dies around the same time as OTL, give or take a few months.
Nope, it doesn't avoid the butterflies.
It could end up becoming a side hustle for Monty, or its ideas could get incorporated into a game. He's going to be working on Squad Four for a while though, and I'm not sure if Argonaut would be willing to pick up RWBY as a game idea.
Radiohead is actually mostly as OTL, the butterflies haven't touched them too much.
Yeah, it's still around. Feel free to PM your ideas, I've got nothin'.
Anpanman does, Osmosis Jones does not.
Yeah, that works for the song. As for David Goggins, he still joins the military and served in Afghanistan, but doesn't become an ultramarathoner. ITTL, he's just another Navy SEAL (which on its own is still pretty remarkable).
He decides to create something other than Percy Jackson ITTL. He's still a novelist, though his work skews more toward adult readers. He's decently famous in the mystery/thriller genre.
I don't have anything really in particular planned for Disney at the moment. They're still big, just not as huge as IOTL. OTL is a Disney wank.