Japanese Niche Games Deals & Discussion Thread 4.0

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shivan128

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Welcome to the Japanese niche games deals and discussion thread!  Feel free to talk about local and import Japanese games here.  Our goal is to maintain a thread dedicated to active deals on niche games including RPGs, Visual Novels (VN), Shoot'em ups (Shmups), Musou, etc.  Also maintained are pre-orders for standard, limited and collector's edition games with key release dates provided.

I've wikified the thread to make it more friendly and open to others that can actively update with important information. You can find the wiki post directly below this one.

NOTE:  Please, leave the censorship discussion away from this thread.  It's common for japanese games to have questionable content outside of the country.  We want to keep discussions to the game itself and not about cultural/societal tolerance.

A message from Thorbahn:

Our CAG Japanese Niche Games Thread also has a community on PS4, where you can interact and game with other members of the thread.

Our moderators are: Draekon, Las_Hole, and Waffleswanton

You can basically friend any of our members, or any moderator, and you will be able to request to join the community under "Communities friends are in" tab, and a mod will approve your request.

You can also leave your PSN ID in the thread, saying you want to join, and we can invite you directly as well.

As always, have fun and enjoy your stay!

 
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Out of curiosity I checked VGP again. They are stating 5 copies left of fantasian PS5. These are the sole 5 copies of the US region ESRB release available for purchase on the entire internet, from what I can tell. Including eBay. More could just pop up again, but who knows.
 
"VGP will be launching a Limited Run Games Distro video game reprint of Senran Kagura Reflections for the Nintendo Switch at 1 P.M. EST today. $89.99 / 62 USD"
 
Vinny said:
Is $54 for the Asian release of Ninja Gaiden Master Collection lowest we can expect at PA? I figure with the free shipping offer, getting that plus some other games is prob the best I'll do on a English cover release...
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I got the PS4 version at playasia last year for $39.99.
 
Vinny said:
Hm... VGP is showing it in stock right now, I picked placed an order to be safe.
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Xenogears said:
Out of curiosity I checked VGP again. They are stating 5 copies left of fantasian PS5. These are the sole 5 copies of the US region ESRB release available for purchase on the entire internet, from what I can tell. Including eBay. More could just pop up again, but who knows.
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Thank you both—I made a deal with myself last night that if Fantasian was still available in the morning, I’d bite, so I got in an order earlier when there were 9 left and now it’s OOS.
 
My PA order from the 2nd which has been on the slow boat for the last 20+ days is probably the last one I'm going to make for a while. There are some good deals but I want to see how the tariffs affect shipping by being a spectator instead of a participant. Though at this rate, I may be a participant anyway, lol.

I played the demo for Romansing SaGa 2 - Revenge of the Seven (switch). I like the world and the battle system. Overall it was pretty decent though not to the point that I feel compelled to buy it and experience the full game. Which is probably for the best as my rpg plate is pretty full.

I'm even deeper into Chapter 5 on Tokyo Xanadu eX+ at around 25 hours played. I doubt I finish it this year... but I just love this game to bits. The social side isn't so deep that I feel like it's too much, the world isn't so big that I feel it's overwhelming, and the dungeons are not so long that I feel it overstays its welcome. It kind of hit me at the right time and is pretty easily to dig in for an hour and feel like I've moved things forward or stick with it for several hours without getting bored.
 
Yeah Tokyo Xandadu was made for Vita and is great for portable systems with pick up and play type gameplay. I played it on PS4 in the eX+ version, and it's a good game for sure, and its been bundled endlessly on PC (great prices). I do agree the Persona type interactions are OK, but nothing crazy and the story pretty straightforward after a point. The little dungeon crawls with the good bosses are good though with the switching of girls and such to combat different elements. Not the best Falcom game, but you can usually get it very cheap and it's only really at higher prices for the newer Nintendo Switch port.
 
I played through the Fantasian demo last night so that I could make an informed decision if I saw a ps5 come back in stock. A couple positives were the snappy pace of combat (relative to classic FF entries) and solid to great audio covering voice acting and bgm. But overall.. yeah I'm not paying $50 for this product, fomo be damned. The deal breaker for me is how little updating went into the UI from mobile. For example on my invertory screen I have 8 items total but I have to scroll down because my entire 55" 4k tv is consumed by three huge bubbles for the top 3 items. Just unacceptable. I'll probably ultimately buy this cheap digitally and play it on steam deck, where someone will probably mod the UI to resemble a proper console game.
 
Xenogears said:
Fantasian PS5 is sold out on Amazon, the only US retailer, square enix store and VGP. No US region listings left on eBay. Unsure if a restock is planned or not, but currently gone everywhere I think. Going to be a Pixel collection situation, where the PS version becomes way more valuable than the over produced switch version, if it really is gone. Phone game and girly girl man protagonist aside, glad I got a copy. Possibly the last work of some of the GOATS, including freaking Uematsu, might be a good idea to get the switch version while you still can, if it’s something you want physical
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But how do you know it's going to be hard-2-find ???
If it's gone now, will you sell me ur copy?
 
some of the game design looks neat, but I am having trouble getting over the crappy mobile graphics. It's just not my thing.

There's so many other similar games I have left to play still like Sea of Stars and Eastward.
 
Nothing- said:
But how do you know it's going to be hard-2-find ???
If it's gone now, will you sell me ur copy?
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I stated at the time of my posting, it was gone. There was not a single copy for purchase available on the internet. Posting in advance would admittedly be more helpful, but otherwise, kind of the point of the Japanese niche thread. VGP has been playing stock games, like Vinny found. It’s been coming and going off and on, but currently out of stock there again. Amazon seems to now have it for February delivery, like a 2nd pre-order I guess, but they have fallen through on those before. The mobile origins turn me off a lot, but i’ve heard enough good that I want a physical copy. Just having one US retailer is unusual, and made me make the decision that it was not worth missing out on possibly Uematsu‘s last physically published work.
 
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There's a big difference between oop and oos. This is just oos. It's a current gen release; it'll come back. Disc replication takes longer nowadays because there are only a few manufacturers left in the world.
 
Mattiful-Joe said:
There's a big difference between oop and oos. This is just oos. It's a current gen release; it'll come back. Disc replication takes longer nowadays because there are only a few manufacturers left in the world.
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take your logic elsewhere and buy 5 copies of this shitty mobile game and watch the value go straight to the moon. probably be selling these bitches for $10 profit by this time next year.
 
Mattiful-Joe said:
There's a big difference between oop and oos. This is just oos. It's a current gen release; it'll come back. Disc replication takes longer nowadays because there are only a few manufacturers left in the world.
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How easy is it to tell if something is OOS or OOP? The only time I know something is going to be OOP is if there's some licensing issue and they're told to recall/stop sale of X game.

I know we all like to think that reprints have always been super common but I can tell you: they're weren't. Yes, they happened semi-often (I was here in CAG ground zero when the Persona 2 PS1 and Rhapsody PS1 reprints happened) but the run VGP's been on over the past ~2 years is unprecedented and honestly, brilliant; no clue why some other retailer didn't pick up on it.

I appreciate the heads-up when something goes OOS, even if it's a false alarm. I'd rather pay $50-70 now vs paying way over MSRP like I did for tons of PS4/NS Atelier and some Tecmo-Koei because they were OOS for a LONG time before VGP started reprinting them. If it is a false alarm, usually we might still be in the retailer's return window (like we saw for Prime Remastered) and just return the game and wait for a sale.
 
I remember a few months ago, Nothing- and others were bemoaning that they missed out on Capcom fighting collection, when it was out of stock at retailers for a week or so? I advised I wouldn’t FOMO on that, it would be back soon, and it was within a few days. So a normal square release, I’d usually have said the same, but this had a lot of firsts. Tell me the last Square game that just had one US retailer, the last formerly mobile game that has had a physical release, the last time square enix store has sold out of a standard edition, the last time a recent release has been completely unbuyable on the internet for a period of time? The Capcom fighting collection blip, eBay was flooded with listings still, this had no buyable eBay listings. That is extremely unusual, and worth discussing. I can’t think of the last game that has been the case for, and at a minimum, still indicates scarcity. After how square handled the first pixel remaster, you can’t say for sure about a reprint. Why didn’t they just reprint that immediately if that is always the case? Because they thought demand would be low? Maybe they think demand will be low for a stupid mobile game, and take a year again, or maybe not, you don’t know.
 
Finished the Fantasian demo with about five hours on the clock, and I’m definitely gonna pick this one up. I’m really enjoying the feel of it, and I like how the dimengeon system and multitargeting shakes up the otherwise pretty traditional combat.
 
Just got the platinum on Fantasian, definitely my game of the year even over Rebirth. If you prefer old school Final Fantasy to more modern stuff like Persona, this is probably the game for you. As others have noted it's not the prettiest game and while it has modern quality-of-life features it doesn't have a lot of flourishes. But it's probably the best turn-based content I've played since FFX-2 (but FFX-2 has plenty of other problems). I have no idea what's happening with the vehicle controls but they're very bad, and the endgame is a bit boss-heavy, but those are relatively minor dings (i.e. I think I spent a total of 10 minutes driving vehicles out of my ~80 hours playing). Definitely pick up the demo if you're on the fence.

No clue if the game will become rare or not, I bought it because I really liked Mistwalker's other games and this one looked good too. Probably not very CAG of me to say, but I feel like I got my money's worth at MSRP.
 
FFX-2 had the best damn turn-based RPG combat from any game of that era. I really wish the rest of the game hadn’t been so… FFX-2. Then maybe people would have taken cues from the combat system going forward. I feel like, mechanically speaking, that could have really breathed new life into 00s- and 10s-era JRPGs.
 
I will definitely agree that FFX-2 was the step for atb. 13-2 had some decent improvements to 13 as well only derped up since they pulled a dawn of the new world complete with uncontrollable monster party members. Iirc even dawn let you use the symphonia cast while 13-2 doesn't.
 
Tothoro said:
out of my ~80 hours playing). Definitely pick up the demo if you're on the fence.
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Kudos on finishing an 80 hour game in just under a month. For me that's a huge factor as well when buying any big rpg. It would be more like 3 months at my pace right for something like that so it's gotta tick a lot of boxes. I have other interests like tv shows that I put a priority on much of that so I don't build a big backlog of content. Heck I looked back and I started Tokyo Xanadu EX+ around 31 days ago probably around Black Friday or that Saturday after. I'm now at the start of Chapter 6 with around 28 hours on the clock (8 chapters in the game). Some of that delay was me playing through about 4 or 5 other demos on the side. So, my guess is very late Janurary is when I'll finish it (not that I'm in a rush).

Looking ahead at 2025... I'm going to continue to try and be VERY picky about what I buy. Trails through Daybreak II and Xenoblade Chronicles X are priority (Along with Trails in the Sky 1st remake). I may sacrifice Suikoden I & II just because of time. Pretty sure I may have these as PS1 digital games anyway and even when I owned the originals on PS1, I never dug deep into them. A sign to let it go. Tales of Graces F is on the bubble, probably something I'll wait for a gamefly deal. Not much else on my radar at the moment which is really for the best.
 
Suikoden II took a while to hook me and I almost dropped it too, but it does start picking up once you get your headquarter and start building out your base. Maybe give it another chance if you need something to play later, but with the recent amount of high quality RPG games releasing it might be difficult to do so.

I still need to play the Persona, Xenoblade, Trails, and Shin Megami series. I also need to get back into Tears of the Kingdom and FFVII Rebirth
 
blueweltall said:
Suikoden II took a while to hook me and I almost dropped it too, but it does start picking up once you get your headquarter and start building out your base. Maybe give it another chance if you need something to play later, but with the recent amount of high quality RPG games releasing it might be difficult to do so.

I still need to play the Persona, Xenoblade, Trails, and Shin Megami series. I also need to get back into Tears of the Kingdom and FFVII Rebirth
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For me, I never really got deep into the Suikoden games simply because of time. It was the factor I overlooked for a long time when buying games. Especially later on PSN when something went on sale and it had multiple paths to be played (PS1 games on PSP, Vita, PSTV, & PS3... I think I bought most of the PS1 games though a few were handheld only). Especially since I shared my account with my kids PS3. So buying digital meant everyone could play and it wasn't just locked to my system.

Don't get me started on what I still need to play. My list includes most of what you mentioned including Zelda:TotK. I have finished XC2 & Torna but got deep into XC1 definitive and then took a break due to some life stuff that I didn't want tied to my memory of playing such a great game. The shorter my purchase list next year is, the better!
 
I just got another one of those scam "Your package cannot be delivered due to incorrect address information" imessages which reminded me to check the tracking on my PA order....

Tracking finally updated on my order from 12/2. It's in North Las Vegas. So it made it in the country to the second shipping partner. Now it's in the hands of the third shipping partner and hopefully next is the transfer to USPS. Maybe end of the week or early next? It's the only purchase I have left floating around out there at the moment. I'm not worried about it, just happy to see progress. It's kind of interesting all hoops they jump through to get things shipped. Sorry I know you guys order stuff from PA all the time, but it's been since DQ I/II/III Switch in 2019 since I've needed to order anything from PA. Most of what I've wanted has had a domestic release or I've used ebay or amazon to get the import version (or just gone digital if there's a sale).
 
I’m also waiting on a PA order. I didn’t ship out until 12/17 though. It has the second Splatoon 3 CD set that my older daughter asked for for Christmas - we knew it wouldn’t make it here for the holiday. PA was the only place (except for eBay) where you could order it. Nintendo for some reason told Japanese retailers that they could not ship it to the US. Seriously don’t know what Big N is trying to do there.
 
nightc1 said:
Kudos on finishing an 80 hour game in just under a month. For me that's a huge factor as well when buying any big rpg. It would be more like 3 months at my pace right for something like that so it's gotta tick a lot of boxes. I have other interests like tv shows that I put a priority on much of that so I don't build a big backlog of content. Heck I looked back and I started Tokyo Xanadu EX+ around 31 days ago probably around Black Friday or that Saturday after. I'm now at the start of Chapter 6 with around 28 hours on the clock (8 chapters in the game). Some of that delay was me playing through about 4 or 5 other demos on the side. So, my guess is very late Janurary is when I'll finish it (not that I'm in a rush).
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Timing actually worked out for me really well with Fantasian, I left my job (voluntarily) for another job and had two weeks of downtime between the two so I was able to go pretty hard on it. Holidays were weird being in the middle of the week and I don't have kids so that didn't take much time away either.

I will note, it's 80 hours for the platinum but if you just want to finish the game and don't care about trophies you could probably do it in 40-50.

I'm glad to see X-2 getting the recognition it deserves here. The game is kind of a mess but that combat system was the peak of turn-based combat.
 
Tothoro said:
I will note, it's 80 hours for the platinum but if you just want to finish the game and don't care about trophies you could probably do it in 40-50.
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Thank god. Any RPG that's over 40+ hours these days for me is just something I do not want to commit to unless I already have some pre-existing desire to play it (like FF Rebirth). I really wanna give Metaphor a genuine try next year and then try Fantasian.
 
Vinny said:
Thank god. Any RPG that's over 40+ hours these days for me is just something I do not want to commit to unless I already have some pre-existing desire to play it (like FF Rebirth). I really wanna give Metaphor a genuine try next year and then try Fantasian.
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Yeah I'm fine with 45 at most but now that I'm not a part timer anymore I don't have it in me as much for behemoths like trails.

P5 vanilla I was ready to call it a game after the first dungeon. Granted the first dungeon is the length of some full games.
 
Any cag here want a psn code for the FFVII Rebirth preorder bonus? IIRC it's just starter armor but when organizing stuff I realized I had an extra code. It lists a 9/30/24 expiration but it appears to still work according to the check I just did on an alt account. If someone here wants it for free, just pm - I just ask that you actually own the game, will redeem it right away, and are a cag i recognize (and don't have on ignore).
 
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I just picked up Ninja Jajamaru The Great Yokai Battle + Hell Deluxe (on Switch, if it matters), and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to exit the old games to return to the main menu without exiting the application entirely. I’ve been searching on google, reading reviews, and I can’t find anyone mention it, either. Does anyone know if I’m missing something?
 
Souffrir said:
I just picked up Ninja Jajamaru The Great Yokai Battle + Hell Deluxe (on Switch, if it matters), and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to exit the old games to return to the main menu without exiting the application entirely. I’ve been searching on google, reading reviews, and I can’t find anyone mention it, either. Does anyone know if I’m missing something?
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I googled... first result was a reddit thread from 2 years ago that said:

"You have to play in local (offline) mode to be able to pause and quit games."
 
Just a heads up, apparently the physical Eastasiasoft Tokyo Clanpool Switch was edited at the last minute. I don't think there was even a statement letting everyone know before it shipped. Some CGs were modified and a minigame was completely removed. If these changed weren't made, I don't think they were even allowed to release the game. I am guessing most of the people that already bought this game don't even know this yet.
 
nightc1 said:
I googled... first result was a reddit thread from 2 years ago that said:

"You have to play in local (offline) mode to be able to pause and quit games."
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I’m not sure what that’s about, but there are no online/offline/local modes in the “bonus” application that contains the old games (which seems to be functionally identical to the Ninja Jajamaru Retro Collection from what I can gather, other than the title and probably the main menu artwork). I appreciate you looking, but it doesn’t seem applicable.
 
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Cool to see Reverie reprint happened though too late for me. I ended up going with the EU version of Reverie for switch (same for Zero). That's the PA order that I'm waiting on. It made it to Georgia and is out to wherever it's going next (still with the third party shipper). Hopefully it transfers to USPS soon so I can get a delivery date. Given how close it is, maybe this weekend or Monday I'll get it.

Souffrir said:
I’m not sure what that’s about, but there are no online/offline/local modes in the “bonus” application that contains the old games (which seems to be functionally identical to the Ninja Jajamaru Retro Collection from what I can gather, other than the title and probably the main menu artwork). I appreciate you looking, but it doesn’t seem applicable.
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It must have been a different game I was looking at. I pulled a few videos and it looks like maybe holding the + or possibly the down button will get you out of one of the classic games back to the menu. One of the other collections mentions holding the - button. I had considered getting this collection at one point but ultimately opted out or I'd try to figure it out.
 
nightc1 said:
I pulled a few videos and it looks like maybe holding the +
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That’s the one, thank you. I was going crazy trying button combinations, I didn’t even think to long press anything.

If you’re still on the fence, I’d say the full Ninja Jajamaru: The Great Yokai Battle + Hell Deluxe is a good deal, assuming you know what you’re getting into and are okay with that, for the $3 it’s currently on sale for on the eShop.

Honestly the Retro Collection/Deluxe Bonus is pretty barebones, it just literally dumps you in a game select menu after selecting your language, which also has the most paltry gallery I’ve ever seen in one of these. I haven’t messed around with it too much, but the games emulate pretty well as long as you don’t add the CRT filters—I tried Jajamaru’s Big Adventure (Famicom) with that on, and it ran like shit on my Switch. Might be better on PS4. Without the filter, no obvious issues. You get some basic cheats, save state support, and even rewind, and the color job on the Game Boy title is quite well done, one of the best I’ve seen (and I spend a decent amount of time following fanmade romhacks).

The emulated game selection is… middling. Jajamaru was never a top tier IP, and it’d have been nice if they could have gotten some more of the Ninja-kun games in there, since that’s sort of a weird sibling IP—at the very least, I’d have liked to see the Wonderswan or Arcade ports of Ninja Jajamaru-kun. The normal sidescrolling platformers are decent to pretty good, with the weakest probably being Big Adventure. The original Ninja Jajamaru-kun, which is more of a Bubble Bobble or Mario Bros style game, is pretty good in concept, but it doesn’t run especially well (this is true even on original hardware, it’s not an emulation thing) and it’s a very early platformer so the controls take getting used to. Perhaps the most interesting thing (about most of them) is that you don’t take damage from contacting enemies, you only get dizzy; projectiles are what damage you. Super Ninja Kid, the Super Famicom title, is probably the best game in the Retro Collection. It’s a colorful, cartoony platformer with solid level design and controls, pretty polished overall, and very cute and attractive—think something along the lines of a Go Go Ackman or a DoReMi Fantasy, just very slightly more generic.

The star attraction is definitely the revival game, Ninja Jajamaru: The Great Yokai Battle. It’s a modern arcade-style update on the original Ninja Jajamaru-kun formula, only much smoother and more frantic. It’s pretty fun, and the several unlockables (including a far more complete gallery than is in the Retro Collection) and the several playable characters, each with their own playstyle, definitely elevate the replay experience. The best way to play it is probably with a friend in local multiplayer (don’t remember offhand if there’s an online mode for this one), but I haven’t tried that yet, and it’s still pretty good in single player. It’s not really on the level of something like Space Invaders Extreme, in terms of injecting new life into an old IP, but it’s quite fun if you like these sorts of “single screen” platformers.

In the current sale, for whatever reason, the Deluxe version (which as mentioned includes the Retro Collection) is the same price as The Great Yokai Battle or the Retro Collection are individually.
 
Souffrir said:
In the current sale, for whatever reason, the Deluxe version (which as mentioned includes the Retro Collection) is the same price as The Great Yokai Battle or the Retro Collection are individually.
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I appreciate the feedback. The more I looked into it, the more I was mostly just interested in the rpg's which are in a separate collection where one is more turn based along the lines of classic DQ and the other is an action rpg (gave me star tropic mixed with rygar feelings). Nicely, yeah, it's all on sale for pretty cheap.
 
Switch players sure buy their games. I just like to browse now and then (don't have a Switch) and it's nuts how fast some Switch titles sell out -- and many times, they're mediocre or not good games (and also at times 2+ times more expensive than PS4 versions). Switch gamers seem a strange bunch.
 
Physical Switch games are appealing because they're usually mostly or entirely complete on cart unlike Playstation and especially Xbox discs. (Obviously there's exceptions like 2K releases).

It's especially nice for compilations and older games, as long as there's parity with other platforms.
 
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