11.19.05
Upcoming titles update
First on the menu is Shin Onimusha Dawn of Dreams at roughly £31 on the PS2, and Kingdom Hearts II at roughly £33, also on the PS2. Both are now available on the Japanese Amazon site – which would mean sooner or later, if not now, other import outlets would stock them, although seeing they both use the Japanese language to some extent, foreign players would be well advised to wait until the English versions comes out (god knows when!).
Second, the multitude of DS games that are out in the next couple of weeks include: Animal Crossing (with its Wi-fi compatibility) on the 23rd of this month; Super Monkey Ball DS (approx. £25) and Zoid Saga – Legend of Arcadia on the 1st Dec.; and Mario Kart DS on the 8th. On the GBA/sp/micro: Super Donkey Kong 3 on the 1st; and on the 15th, Final Fantasy IV Advance (approx. £25) and FF IV Advance + GBmicro special design FF model (approx. £86). If you are lucky enough to have a kind mate in Japan, get them to send you this as a gift – no customs tax… after all, Christmas is nearly here.
As for Mario Party 7, they’ve made some updates on their official site, so here goes translation exercise:
Features: 1-8 players, uses 6block of memory card, use of GC microphone, approx. £29
1) 12 characters, 88 brand new mini-games
2) The yellow blob indicates the World: Story, how it can be played (pink square), the types of game available (yellow) and intro of 12 characters (blue).
3) The next blob down indicates Game modes: Party Tour, Duel Tour, 8-person Tour and Mini-game Tour.
4) The green blob show the new mini-games.
5) The yellow button at bottom right will show you a TV advert.
If you’re looking for Xbox (and 360) items, please look elsewhere as I’m in no way interested in that console. (Rareware, why did you take Conker with you to Microsoft?!)
Good news everyone! Well, Legend of Mana fans that is… Remember the familiar ‘ring’ command from the last game? The new game, it has been revealed, has that, making it easier for us all to fight those monsters and make our way through obstacles. All you have to do is touch it, and it shall be selected. Just make sure you’re not on a packed commuter train, and you won’t be responsible for the death of your darling character.
OK, spoilers ahead for FF IV, so avert your eyes now if you insist on not knowing these secrets…
1) In one of the stages, given you and your party are there at a certain time, a unique event will take place. (The place name is 試練の山 which roughly means the Mountains of Trial, though you never know how their translators will work that one out.)
2) Due to the above event, you have unlocked a ‘member change’ command – ie. you will now be able to change your members from amongst all the characters just before the final boss.
3) 試練の洞窟 (the Cave of Trials) is a new level added specifically to this game where you may get a legendary weapon.
4)The extras include the ability to listen to all music available in-game, and of course, have a bestiary of all monsters encountered… oh, and the rather good ability of being able to check up on certain bosses.
5) 4 new sub-characters: Gilbert (bard), Yan (monk), Tera (wizard) and Sid (the main character’s dad). Want to see their pics? Go here, scroll to the bottom (in order of top left, top right, bottom left and bottom right).