Sunday, April 26, 2015

Someone pinch me: two more Japanese games are being localized for the PSP

Did you hear? The folks over at Gaijinworks are localizing a pair of Japanese PSP games for European and North American release ... sometime in the next year, I would guess.

And not only that, but both games may receive physical (with cases, manuals and UMDs) as well as digital releases should demand prove strong enough.

As for which two Japanese PSP titles we're talking about here, one of them is Class of Heroes 3 (Ken to Mahou to Gakuen Mono. 3 in Japan):


While the other is Summon Night 5:


Sadly, despite my continued love for the PSP, and although I love Gaijinworks for daring to bring more of the system's Japanese titles to my neck of the woods, I can't say I'm all that interested in picking up either of these games.

Actually, I'd consider buying Class of Heroes 3 if I hadn't bought Class of Heroes 2 in 2013 ... and then ignored it for the next two years. (Yes, that means I've yet to play the damn thing.)

What do the rest of you think of this news? Are any of you planning to purchase either or both of these games? If so, which one--or which ones?

See also: 'After five years of waiting, I've finally received my copy of Class of Heroes 2 (PSP)'

11 comments:

Inganno said...

I didn't even know the second Class of Heroes had been localized, let alone that there were five Summon Night games. It's weird how the Vita and 3DS have become a bastion for dungeon crawlers. I'm actually currently working through Etrian Odyssey Untold. I wonder if the localization cost for dungeon crawlers (and SRPGs) is lower compared to other RPGs.

thegaygamer.com said...

Well, I'm glad I could make you aware of a few things, Inganno :)


Class of Heroes 2 was released in NA a couple of years ago, although I believe the physical/boxed version was only sold to folks like myself who took part in a special pre-order campaign.


I believe the digital version's still available via PSN, though--or at least I would hope so!


As for the 3DS and Vita being a bit (or a lot!) dungeon-crawler-heavy, I can't disagree with you there! I like it, in a way, but I also kind of wish we'd get more RPGs of other stripes, so to speak.


I have to imagine part of the reason for this is tied to what you suggested here: that these sorts of RPGs are easier to localize, and probably because they feature/include less text overall than a more traditional JRPG.

Chief said...

I'm salty about that special pre-order that wasn't exactly advertised well. I really wanted it. If I'm being honest it would still be sealed because I haven't touched CoH1 or CoH2 at all.


If these are Vita compatible downloads I'll get them at some point.

thegaygamer.com said...

Hey there, Chief! Yeah, I only found out about the CoH2 physical pre-order extravaganza due to the fact that I regularly visited NeoGAF at the time. Otherwise, I probably would've missed it, too.

Don't feel bad about assuming any copy of CoH2 you may have bought would still be sealed today, by the way, as I'm pretty sure my copy *is* still sealed. Unless I opened it to take photos of it, I mean.

Regardless, I really should stick it in my PSP soon and give it a go.

Justin Difazzio said...

Maybe Class of Heroes 2 needs to be on your shortlist. After Contact?

thegaygamer.com said...

I'll definitely give it
a go at some point, Justin, but I'm not sure it'll be anytime soon. Like you
said, I have to start Contact shortly, plus I want to start playing through a
Japanese GameBoy RPG and a Japanese PC Engine RPG, too, and I have a feeling
those three titles are going to keep me plenty busy for some time to come.

miruki said...

I'm super excited for Summon Night, I've been wishing for one of the main titles (the ones with turn based battles) to be translated forever. Was super excited about the fan translation for the DS game, but that never got anywhere and I lost all hope to see a SN main title in English. But now Gaijinworks is making my dream come true.. gnihihi! SN5 looks really beautiful too - I played the JP version for a bit and it's got beautiful Live2D animations for the characters and it's a huge plus that the MCs are redheads. XD

thegaygamer.com said...

Hmmm, maybe I'll have to check this out, miruki--or at least check out a few videos of it. The few glances I've taken at stills/screenshots haven't done much to interest me, but maybe seeing it in motion will do the trick. Regardless, I'm glad to hear you're excited about its release!

miruki said...

I'm just craving for some good SRPG since I've finished both XCom & Fire Emblem: Awakening and haven't found anything equally entertaining yet. I've played SN3 & 4 in Japanese on my PS2 a couple of years back and even tho I didn't understand the stories too well, the gameplay was really fun! And then there's the multiple character endings and you get to choose your favourite summon in the beginning (also you can play as either a guy or girl, huge plus to me!) - you should totally give this another look! ;)

You've got a Vita now too, don't you? Since I'm so busy studying how to make games, I rarely get the chance to keep up with the www and all my fav blogs for the past 12 months, but skimming through a few of your posts made me come to that deduction. Are you happy with it? :) Have you tried any Atelier game yet? XD

thegaygamer.com said...

Hello again! Hmmmmm, you're the second person in the last two days to mention Xcom to me. I may have to check out *that* game soon--although I have to be honest and say the game's name/title doesn't do much for me!

I'll have to check out the Summon Night series, too, although I can't guarantee my first of its games will be the fifth one :)

Oh, and, yes, I definitely have a Vita now! No Atelier games yet, though, I'm afraid. Maybe someday.

In the meantime, I really have to get back to the first Danganronpa soon. I made it a few hours in and then life got crazy :|

miruki said...

I really liked the Xcom reboot. Not sure if it's your cup of tea tho... good squad based strategy/tactics game, but can be frustrating, because squad members can permanently die and depending on your settings the game can be insanely hard. I actually cheated and edited one of the game's .ini files to add a panic button that reduces panic in the countries that support you (support = money, panic rises as the game goes on and if you don't deal with it you lose that country's support) - it's impossible to keep all countries pleased without cheating. XD


Sadly Summon Night 5 is the only one of the main games that will have a complete English translation. ;_; There have been various attempts at fan translating Summon Night X for the DS, but all of them have been dropped. SN 3 & 4 got PSP ports in Japanese tho while 1 & 2 can be found in Japanese for the DS. I wish we could get them all in English. 8) The dating-sim-y elements + great strategy gameplay really got me hooked on that series. I also enjoyed the Secret of Mana'esque (gameplay wise) "Summon Night: Twin Age" that Atlus localised a few years ago. I could never really get into the Swordcraft Story games tho, they have a kinda "Tales of" kind of gameplay, which is too stressy for me. XD But all of them are good games, so I hope you'll find one that you like. :D