Japanese Niche Games Deals & Discussion Thread 4.0

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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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Digital only in the west, of course. I'm sort of interested in getting these since I never had them on Vita, only PC, and having them portably would be nice. Did anyone play ReVerse, the PS5 remake of Re;Birth1? Wondering if it would worth grabbing that and then the other 2 on Switch if it's significantly better than the Vita version.
I did play ReVerse on PS5. I like it because of the option to have so many of the characters, mostly, but the PC version of Re;Birth 1 (I've only played the Vita version) also did a lot of that.

Apart from that the only real difference is the fishing minigame, visuals, and the 'Arrange mode'. When you start a game you can pick original, which follows the same flow and story of Re;Birth 1, or arrange, which is still the same story but more like a NG+ kinda (But you can do it on your first run) with a bunch of tweaks, listed here:

Consider looking up True Ending requirements perhaps (this should be the same in Re;Birth 1 though, too). I can't remember exactly what it was, but I had missed something from one chapter prior by the time I looked it up and had to do NG+ to go through again and get it. NG+ is pretty fast if you skip dialog and are already leveled up though, so it isn't a huge deal if you miss it, just an annoyance.
 
So I recently went through all the NES romhacks on romhacking.net looking for interesting stuff, and one of the things I found was a level and graphics hack for Nuts & Milk which reflavored it as a sequel to arcade Donkey Kong with 50 all new levels. Nuts & Milk is a single screen platformer involving collecting items and climbing ladders, so cute idea, right?

I played several levels before I noticed that Pauline (who only actually shows up after you finish collecting her stuff) is buck naked and being physically held by DK. I want to stress that everything else is completely normal.

Just… why, though?
 
So I recently went through all the NES romhacks on romhacking.net looking for interesting stuff, and one of the things I found was a level and graphics hack for Nuts & Milk which reflavored it as a sequel to arcade Donkey Kong with 50 all new levels. Nuts & Milk is a single screen platformer involving collecting items and climbing ladders, so cute idea, right?

I played several levels before I noticed that Pauline (who only actually shows up after you finish collecting her stuff) is buck naked and being physically held by DK. I want to stress that everything else is completely normal.

Just… why, though?
I mean most rom hacks loved to make the games more adult adding either foul language, blood and/or nudity. I'm guessing they added that in to make it cooler I guess.
 
There is a lot of visual novel news and a few releases as well.

Pageratta & Kemco released Horrific Zanatorium. This one has a virus affecting the main character which causes delusions and hallucinations. It is really short and surprisingly released on consoles as well. It released on PS4/5, Switch and Xbox. This is a strange release, but I may add that order to my Saga Emerald game purchase.

Steam
PSN
VNDB (NSFW)

Shiravune have released Amazing Grace -What color is your attribute?- from Cabbage Soft & Dramatic Create. I mentioned this one before but this one takes place around Christmas and a tragedy occurs. Yune rewinds time to the beginning of Advent and sees if there is a way to prevent this catastrophe. It has an 18+ patch. There is a 30% launch discount. It is also on other storefronts like JAST USA and Mangagamer.

Steam
JAST USA (NSFW)
Mangagamer (NSFW)
VNDB (NSFW)
18+ Patch (NSFW)

Shiravune also released The Shell Part II: Purgatorio. There is a 20% launch discount. There is also an 18+ patch.

Steam
18+ Patch (NSFW)

Shiravune will release Mashiroiro Symphony HD and Mashiroiro Symphony: Sana Edition release on May 2. These will have 18+ patches I'm pretty sure. I still have a Nendoroid of Sana somewhere (it's in a box in storage).

Steam Mashiroiro Symphony
Steam Sana

Nekonyan is releasing Aoi Tori on April 30th from Purple Software. This one has a doctor who has a special ability to bring bliss from a touch and he is the doctor in all girls school. This sensation is boosted when the touch is sexual in nature. He never leaves the school, but one day a hundred year old vampire joins the school and he may find out more about this power. Purple Software games are a bit weird and sometimes are quite good (Hapymaher), and sometimes leave many story strands hanging (Chrono Clock). I'll get it and see. It's up for pre-order and may or may not be on Steam (currently in review).

JAST USA (NSFW)
VNDB (NSFW)

For all you BL lovers JAST Blue has released Paradise from PIL/SLASH. This one has the MC winning a lottery to go to an island. He expects girls, but the island is full of nothing but guys. He and others start making friends, but suspicions are around and evil starts coming out. It has a launch discount and an 18+ patch for the Steam release.

JAST USA (NSFW)
Steam
18+ Patch (NSFW)
VNDB (NSFW)

Harmonia HD Full Edition is out as well from Key. This is a classic kinetic novel and now looks nicer.

Steam
VNDB (NSFW)

Denpasoft will release Kuri Kuri Click! ~My Summer Vacation!~ on May 1st. This is an interactive nukige about massaging a girl. I think that's the gimmick with this series with each game having one girl.

Steam (NSFW)
VNDB (NSFW)

Kagura Games will release Yoru ga Kuru! -Square of the Moon- Remastered. This is a an Alicesoft RPG, which generally are good, involved, and usually a little graphic. This one is about light hunters and supernatural suspense. This should have an 18+ patch when it comes out.

Steam
VNDB (NSFW)

Zombie Police: Christmas Dancing with Police Zombies is coming eventually to Steam. This is a new game from Kanou Kiichi who worked on Higurashi console & mobile games and Silent Hill The Short Message.

Steam
VNDB (NSFW)

A new fan translation is out for Gin'iro, Haruka from tone work's by the group Daybreak Translations. This is done by the same people who did Hoshi Ori Yume Mirai, which was quite a good game. This one takes place during winter and is a story about love in the main character's third year.

Patch
VNDB (NSFW)

JAST USA has a golden week sale until May 10th. If anyone has questions I can answer if I've played it.

JAST USA Sale (NSFW)
 
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I mean most rom hacks loved to make the games more adult adding either foul language, blood and/or nudity. I'm guessing they added that in to make it cooler I guess.

If it were just a general crude graphics hack or something, sure. But this guy made 50 new levels, and while I’ve only played six of them so far, that’s the only thing I’ve seen that isn’t completely normal. It’s baffling.
 
I wonder if THIS is the Play-Asia Golden Week sale, or if they'll have another sale starting next week...tempted to just wait and see before I actually hit up the 3 for 100 sale.
 
I did play ReVerse on PS5. I like it because of the option to have so many of the characters, mostly, but the PC version of Re;Birth 1 (I've only played the Vita version) also did a lot of that.

Apart from that the only real difference is the fishing minigame, visuals, and the 'Arrange mode'. When you start a game you can pick original, which follows the same flow and story of Re;Birth 1, or arrange, which is still the same story but more like a NG+ kinda (But you can do it on your first run) with a bunch of tweaks, listed here:

Consider looking up True Ending requirements perhaps (this should be the same in Re;Birth 1 though, too). I can't remember exactly what it was, but I had missed something from one chapter prior by the time I looked it up and had to do NG+ to go through again and get it. NG+ is pretty fast if you skip dialog and are already leveled up though, so it isn't a huge deal if you miss it, just an annoyance.
Thanks for the deets! I'm leaning toward getting the Switch port of Re;Birth1 if that's all that's new in the PS5 version. Considering how dialogue-heavy these games are, it'd be nice to not be tethered to the TV (and I can put something on in the background lol).
 
A precaution for Play-Asia if including pre-orders in orders for those who don't know is that pre-orders will only ship once EVERY item is in stock, so it's good to put pre-order stuff that's coming out around the same month timespan or so. There is a chance things will sell out waiting for the pre-orders, so it's a risk. I still pre-order all the time and just try to keep it around the same month span or so. I'm thinking of getting the 3 for $100 especially since some newer games are included and decently priced. Also since I know this will interest people on this thread, they have a 5 for $100 dollars for plushies and 3 for $60 for apparel as well. This is all valid until May 6th.
I separated my buys into two purchases when I placed my order originally.

One of the on-hand games, another for those pre-orders, which are in a two month window.

Good looking out.
 

Tritity Trigger and Silent Hope Day 1 editions were $19.99 during the sale earlier this month on the Xseed website.. and no tax. But some of the other games in this sale on amazon are the same price.

Amazon overcharged unicorn overlord (s) $65+ . It's oop item. MSRP $59.99

Glad I grabbed a copy from BB when this was $39.99. Figured it was just obscure enough that maybe it wouldn't get a continual restock.

While not in stock at the moment, over on gamefly it's listing the keep it price as $49.99 as I don't think they've done it's first major drop yet or liquidated off that first batch of copies. So you might want to consider that option and you can setup an email notification for when it does go in stock. I'd imagine it'll follow the pattern of other new releases and drop to $34.99.
 
My expectation is that Unicorn Overlord future prints will almost certainly be available - if not directly to retailers then through VGP or the like.

Honestly shocking to see a SegAtlus release actually sell out... so many of them in the past 3-4 years have hit pretty hefty discounts.
 
It's very plausible Unicorn Overlord will come back in stock somewhere... but it's sometimes really hard to predict this stuff with a new IP and is the demand real or is it artificial due to hype and the price drop to $40 and the game selling out at many retailers. They could restock and the copies just end up sitting around and I'm sure that has to be part of the decision making. That said, I think the game is under 4GB, so it would make sense to produce more since it uses one of the cheaper carts.

For those that didn't get it, I hope it comes back in stock. I don't really care if it ends up worth more or less than I paid.
 
Unicorn Overlord... switch... I was at a local walmart during my lunch today and looked through the games to see if there was anything I missed and I noticed a regular white pricetag for this game at $30. Not saying you'll have better luck, but that's the lowest I've seen it priced. If there is a restock, keep an eye on walmart.
 
Help me out here guys: for the pre-order bonus DLC codes for Final Fantasy Remake 1st Class Edition, Square eventually just released those to everyone right? I know they released those stupid Butterfinger promo DLCs to every but can't remember if they did the same for the 1st Class Ed preorder DLC.

I'm glad I got my Unicron Overlord from GameStop; last copy (yea, yea, "not new") but for $35, I wasn't going to complain.
Unicorn Overlord... switch... I was at a local walmart during my lunch today and looked through the games to see if there was anything I missed and I noticed a regular white pricetag for this game at $30. Not saying you'll have better luck, but that's the lowest I've seen it priced. If there is a restock, keep an eye on walmart.

This is why I just end up buying games full price... I never realize something is on sale and it seems like as soon as something is on sale, they can just disappear. So rather than risk overpaying on eBay (like I did for a ton of PS4 releases before VGP started doing regular Koei-Temco reprints), I just buy them full price most of the time.

Of course, that's not always the case (Star Ocean 2nd NS was a recent case of that not being the case).
 
Help me out here guys: for the pre-order bonus DLC codes for Final Fantasy Remake 1st Class Edition, Square eventually just released those to everyone right? I know they released those stupid Butterfinger promo DLCs to every but can't remember if they did the same for the 1st Class Ed preorder DLC.
If it's the cactuar summon, then no I don't think it was ever made available separately. At least I know that I still don't have it and I preordered the deluxe version.
 
This is why I just end up buying games full price

I have a few tiers that games can fall into for purchase. The small few that I absolutely can't miss, I'll get those at launch (DQ & Xenoblade primarily or new games in the Zelda and Mario franchises).

Then there are some I would really like to get but I can wait on a sale or for gamefly to drop them to $35. There is a tier below this of games that I don't really need but would like and if they hit $20 to $25 I might go for it. Then some that I'm curious about but wouldn't buy for over $20 and if they never drop lower I'm fine completely missing them. Tales of Symphonia Remastered (and patched) on switch for $16.85 for a new copy on Gamefly was an easy deal even though it made it $21.52 after tax and shipping. Which really, there are some even in the higher tier groups that if they never dropped in price, I'd probably be fine missing them. I ended up not getting Daemon X Machina ... even though I did think the demos were decently fun. It never hit a price that I was happy with and I had no issue just skipping it. Unicorn Overlord looked nice but if it never went on sale, I would have just skipped it too. Fire Emblem Engage at $40 was tempting but $20 was a must buy. Same for Star Ocean Second Story R.. SO:Second Sory R (switch) got hard to find for less full price but I wasn't going to pay retail as I haven't fired up the first one yet to verify I'm down for digging into the series. $20 though, no problem grabbing a copy. I probably would have paid $30 to $35 before tax and shipping. Astral Chain (sorry y'all), I wasn't prepared to pay retail for and never found a deal until it popped back up on gamefly for $39.99. Had a deal never surfaced, I would ahve just lived without it. All those XSeed games I got early last month for $20 each... were games I was interested in buying if they got in that $20 to $25 range. Free shipping and no tax made it an easy deal. But I did resist quite a few games in that sale that I really have no interest in.

I think having a very short list of primary series to follow helps me out quite a lot since my core needs as a gamer are met and missing something lower tier is not the end of the world at all. Heck it does me well if something never drops in price as I'm not adding to the backlog. Sure I'm missing some bangers ... but until I retire in just under 10 years, it's not like I really have a massive amount of time to game.
 
True that. For myself I support visual novels highly and buy the ones I want on release day hopefully with release day discounts. There is a lot of lost sales on PC especially, so I make sure they get some money from me. For series pretty much it's Final Fantasy, DQ, and Persona/SMT main entries, along with interesting new IPs (Unicorn Overlord). Spinoffs and remasters generally get my wait till it's cheaper or plenty of reviews are out.

For everything else generally I'll buy RPGs/other nice games around $25 if they interest me enough. $40 is for games I skipped over because of too many titles, but generally I wait for $30 or less to buy many games. Game series I once loved but am behind on like Yakuza also are waits since I don't play them right away and they drop quickly. It worked well for the latest games getting them both around the $30 range. Indie/non AAA games I do on a case by case basis but I generally like playing new rogue lites of all sorts. Steams refund policy also lets me "demo" them if needed.

Most of my backlog comes from PC game bundles. I have the bad tendency to get bundles I want for a game I want or two and hope the rest of the stuff is good. Sometimes I get winners, but a lot of times I throw more stuff in my bad/retired Steam categories. I don't just activate every key like I used to in the past.

Also it may just me, but after playing many games over the years I just don't have the patience for games that I used to. I'm okay with quirks and some other things, but if I'm getting truly bored with things or extremely frustrated I will retire/sell/donate/whatever games. I think this comes from me playing so many demos and just knowing when to stop them to get the idea if I'll like a game. I use the same mentality especially for bundled games, but it happens for physical games as well. I just don't have the time and generally I just want to have fun and get something out of playing.
 
This is dope.

Elden-Ring-mousepad.jpg
 
If it's the cactuar summon, then no I don't think it was ever made available separately. At least I know that I still don't have it and I preordered the deluxe version.

I see... shit, now I gotta see if I can find that email for that DLC, I don't think I ever redeemed mine... prob expired anyway.

This is dope.

Thoughts on this?
 
Thoughts on this?
"Everything is a dildo if you're brave enough"

-a wise woman. or something
 
Aoi Tori is now out from Nekonyan. This one may come to Steam later, but for now you have to get it on other sites such as JAST USA or Mangagamer. There is a 15% launch discount.

Denpasoft (NSFW)
JAST USA (NSFW)
Mangagamer (NSFW)

Some Shiravune releases since they've had a lot in a short amount of time. First is Taimanin Yukikaze about demon slaying ninjas. The art is nice in this though beware the content can be a bit extreme. There is a 20% launch discount.

VNDB (NSFW)
Steam
18+ Patch (NSFW)

The other releases are two related releases Mashiroiro Symphony HD -Love is Pure White- and Mashiroiro Symphony HD -Sana Edition- . These are moege and the Sana edition is a single route for that character. There are 18+ patches for each game. Each game has a 40% launch discount and there is a combo with more savings on Steam.

Steam
Steam Sana
VNDB (NSFW)
VNDB Sana (NSFW)
18+ Patch (NSFW)
18+ Patch Sana (NSFW)
 
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Honestly surprised the Taimanin games hadn’t all been officially translated by now, they’ve been super popular since the mid-00s when they started coming out. Hell, Lilith Soft has basically abandoned doing anything else but their web-based Taimanin gacha, I think.
 
Guess this is stuff I never think nor care about. Living in the USA, puritanical prudishness rears its head often. Reverse that for violence v. nudity in Europe (generally). And Australia? Poor folks.

I don't see it as a game changer for enjoying the game, though.
 
It's not really about enjoyment of the game, so much as a matter of ethics in art. I don't like to financially support products that have been censored in one platform/region but not others. If I'm able to get the full version elsewhere then I see no reason to get the gutted one. If that's not an option and I really want the game, I'll just buy it used (like I plan to for Hogwarts Legacy; I want to play it but no way I'm putting any money in Rowling's pocket).
 
I don't see it as a game changer for enjoying the game, though.
I don't either since the censorship is two images in an artbook and not the game. But then people also got upset at the tiny change in Pocky & Rocky Reshrined. A little cleavage was covered in a static image. Nothing that stopped me from getting the US version on the cheap. I'd imagine they made that change so it was rated E instead of T.
 
Tsukihime is rated M.

When was it that Sony decided to become the arbitrator of morality for adults?
Since they moved headquarters to California. As mentioned earlier.
Yeah, there was a noticeable trend of censorship around that time on PS4 when there was none on Switch. Lots of people started migrating their weeb purchases to Switch for that reason.
Some games Sony would not permit to release even censored thus why the switch became the go to instead of the reverse during the wiiu period where Nintendo was censorship happy. We live in the weirdest timeline.
Dmc 5 got censored and that was m rated.
Seemed to happen around the time they moved their HQ from Japan to California.
^
 
I don't either since the censorship is two images in an artbook and not the game. But then people also got upset at the tiny change in Pocky & Rocky Reshrined. A little cleavage was covered in a static image. Nothing that stopped me from getting the US version on the cheap. I'd imagine they made that change so it was rated E instead of T.
This is where I'm at. Have to pick your battles at a certain point. What bothers me is games either skipping the platform entirely due to the concerns (a la Chaos;Head NoaH, Aokana, probably others) and stuff like Senran Kagura essentially being banished to the shadow realm as a result of the policies changing.
 
It's not really about enjoyment of the game, so much as a matter of ethics in art. I don't like to financially support products that have been censored in one platform/region but not others. If I'm able to get the full version elsewhere then I see no reason to get the gutted one. If that's not an option and I really want the game, I'll just buy it used (like I plan to for Hogwarts Legacy; I want to play it but no way I'm putting any money in Rowling's pocket).
Ethics in art? You're buying a mass produced product that will always be shaped by it being a product first.

I think it's quite hyperbolic to call said edition "gutted" since the game is untouched. It's kind of like everyone's terminally online when it comes to some of this stuff. Hell, I remember being glad we got games, regardless of content, versus them being forever in Japanese.
 
I agree, it's weird pearl clutching. most times, maybe 9 outta 10.

"I need my beatoff games unadulterated!" It's just strange to me. We have so many (free, streaming, pr0n) options for that kind of stuff now. What's the point. Except in severe cases of entirely cut or highly altered content, from major franchises. but that's almost never.

It's just Twitter noise. Manufactured outrage from non-customers. People who aren't buying the game anyways. It's poor people being angry and upset; you see that in all bubbles and corners of the internet these days, and that's precisely what it is. Find something to be angry about and then latch onto it. Doesn't cost you a thing.

We have more hentai beatoff games available than ever. Go play something else then. nitrosmob reviews like 7 of them per week. There's no shortage of options. We have so much content to consume that it's crazy. We have access to everything from Japan, it's all region free, and you can have it delivered straight to your doorstep for practically nothing extra.

It's like one of my good buddies used to always say: "If this is your problem then you don't have any actual, real world problems." Must be nice. When you biggest problem is clouds hovering over animu tits in some vg franchise you don't even care about. Get a life.
 
This is where I'm at. Have to pick your battles at a certain point. What bothers me is games either skipping the platform entirely due to the concerns (a la Chaos;Head NoaH, Aokana, probably others) and stuff like Senran Kagura essentially being banished to the shadow realm as a result of the policies changing.

Sony's making sure you get both: a censored book with Tsukihime, and Fate/Stay Night skipping Playstation.
 
Where did the phrase "just an art book" come in at all? Who said that?

Nothing is pretty much strawmanning anyone on that side of the issue. As I said, this is all an issue of ethics for me, not wanting to support unnecessary censorship, just like I refuse to support Rowling by buying Hogwarts.
 
Where did the phrase "just an art book" come in at all? Who said that?

Nothing is pretty much strawmanning anyone on that side of the issue. As I said, this is all an issue of ethics for me, not wanting to support unnecessary censorship, just like I refuse to support Rowling by buying Hogwarts.

Most of us said it's just an artbook. Then you said ethics in art. We then clarified, it's a product, not solely art. Products are modified for markets, and creation of products is usually antithetical to art for artsake.

Then you said "we're talking about an artbook." Which we all were. No strawmen present.

And comparing covering up two pictures (assuming its lewd stuff) is not the same as supporting a known TERF. That's taking the discussion into a needless arena.

If you won't buy a game you want because the add-on changed literally two images, which is inconsequential to the game, then that's silly. And further, "censorship" in these regards is usually a terminally online take given, again, historically, games have always been modified when transitioning cultural boundaries. It's been a part of games since the beginning. There's like the smallest molehill in the world to die on, so be it, but it's just an overall off putting take to have when most of the discourse around censorship involves a great deal of bad faith folks looking to latch onto something trivial to make a larger political statement (hence engaging the JK Rowling thing isn't in play here).

Just get the game you want on the system you want. There's no ethical consumption under capitalism, after all.
 
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