Console

Gamers have had multiple opportunities to become acquainted with Monokuma, the maniacal, monochromatic bear who’s presided over Spike Chunsoft’s Danganronpa titles. Originally released on Japanese PSPs back in 2010, Trigger Happy Havoc traveled stateside four ...

Amid the indefatigable barrage of bombastic games that deliver adrenaline-soaked, white knuckle experiences, there’s Gust’s Atelier franchise. Far removed from the over-the-top action which dominates the industry, the Nagano-based developer has developed a succession of ...

The combination of publisher-backed titles, remakes, and indies means that it’s often hard to keep up with the persistent barrage of new releases. Case in point: when Blue Rider was released on the PC and ...

Most contemporary role-playing games have digressed from their table-top roots. Modern narratives rarely reflect the type of bookish descriptions articulated by human game masters, extending oft-sterile cinematics for exposition. While combat might be turn-based, an ...

Unless you have an extremely selective gaming diet, there’s a strong possibility of familiarity with Omega Force’s musou games. Originally conceived as an action-oriented take on Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the developer has adapted ...

I’ve reconnoitered an elevated perch which offers ideal vantage point for my objective. While I could clandestinely make my way up to the ridge, staying prone and moving from cover points, thinning out enemy numbers ...

In the grand pantheon of arcade shooters, few are more prestigious than 1981’s Defender. While the William Electronics-developed coin-op wasn’t an immediate success (creator Eugene Jarvis has blamed the groundbreaking five-button control method), the game proved ...

Although Double Dragon creator Technōs Japan may have succumbed to bankruptcy in 1996, their legacy continues to live on. A Japanese company called Million secured the licensing rights, subsequently released a number of new follow-ups, ...

For seventeen years, Developer Omega Force has interpreted Luo Guanzhong’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms as a spirited action game, placing players in the middle of the tumultuous power struggle between ancient China’s Shu, Cao ...

The twenty-first century ushered in a tonal shift for Japanese role-playing games. Previously, protagonists were habitually plucky and perpetually cheerful. They accepted their world-saving role without much opposition. But the tumultuous geopolitics of the new ...