If you can’t meet em, join em.

I should have reported this ages ago but I’ve been super busy with work all week.

If you happen to be in Tokyo this weekend then get yourself over to the Tokyo Big Site where the Design Festa convention is taking place. Kenichi Nishi will be there once again demoing ArchimeDS and selling copies at a discount price.

This is a great opportunity to meet the designer of Moon, Lack Of Love and Chibi-Robo! And if I was in Tokyo I’d probably go to the convention on both days of the weekend.

If you can’t make the show then try using the web-chat at Nishi’s blog. I can’t get the cam to work, though that may have something to do with the time differences between the UK and Japan. Or maybe I’m just stupid.

Project Oooooh!

Gamasutra has posted a brief but informative interview with Yoshiro Kimura about his work on Punchline’s kissing RPG Chulip and his upcoming RTS/adventure Project O. Check out the interview for proof that it’s not just Kenichi Nishi who’s keeping the Lovedelic spirit alive.

I’ve been doing it wrong!

Just when you think you know everything about a game, along comes some clever clogs to make you realise you’re just like all the other clueless idiots. This is exactly what happened today when I learned that I’ve been pronouncing ArchimeDS wrong.

I’ve always referred to it as “Arch Immy DS” but it’s actually pronounced “Archimedes”, you know, like the Greek mathematician. Now the name makes a lot more sense! Thanks to Issue 22 of the lovely N.Revolution magazine for pointing out what should have been obvious.

P.S. - I promise that I will post about something other than ArchimeDS/LOL/Bakushow one of these days. Just gimme a chance.

New Route24 game in the works? - UPDATED

Kenichi Nishi has updated his blog with a post that appears to suggest a new game may be in development. Babelish isn’t helping too much with the text but the accompanying photograph appears to be taken from inside the offices of Sarugakucho.

For those of you who aren’t aware, Sarugakucho is a Japanese consulting agency that specialises in videogame “tuning”. More than just a beta testing studio, they offer advice at every stage of development, right from the initial concept. They recently helped out with Archime DS and also worked with Skip on Giftpia and Chibi-Robo.

The fact that Nishi has attended a meeting at their offices strongly suggests that development of Route24’s second videogame (after Archime) has begun. But at what stage is the development and what platform is it on? I have no idea but feel free to speculate in the comments field below.

UPDATE: Nishi’s other blog at StudioVoice.jp reveals that he has been experimenting with software development for Apple’s handheld devices. Could this mean that his next game will definitely appear on an iPhone or iPod? Personally, I hope not. Although I’m a huge Apple fan (this blog is written on a Mac Mini) the only Apple handheld I own is an iPod Shuffle, which isn’t very well suited to playing games.

Full of Surprises 2

Last week, in amongst the cavernous retro stores of Akihabara, I managed to find a copy of Moon. It wasn’t cheap but it was the only one I’d seen in a whole ten days in Tokyo, so I bought it. My Lovedelic collection is now complete.

I’ve played the game for about two hours so far and although I can’t understand a lot of what’s happening it is still pretty good fun. The change in graphical style, from 8-bit RPG to an almost claymation look is quite unique and very effective. The sound is awesome, particularly because of the chewed up voice-acting that Lovedelic and Skip always use. And there seems to be a decent adventure in there somewhere, though I may need a FAQ to unearth it.

Also: Like UFO, the packaging goes that extra mile and comes with a lovely set of stickers tucked into the manual. I have no idea what they’re for but they’re quite nice and I’m pleasantly surprised to see them complete and in good condition within a used game.

LOL Box Art

Thanks to reader Tommy Korberg for drawing my attention to the US’s LOL boxart. I had no idea it had even been revealed yet.

Tommy thinks it’s even more of an atrocity than the Bakushow art but I’m going to have to disagree. I actually quite like it, especially as it uses all of the original art from Archime.

Anyway. Here are the three different boxes together so you can compare for yourself. Let me know which your favourite is.

Yuck

Kudos to Rising Star for bringing Archime DS to the UK but why, oh why did it have to monkey with the title and box art? The new name, Bakushow, is nonsense so they might as well have stuck with the original or gone with the much more self explanatory LOL that the US is using.

And the boxart? That’s an atrocity as far as I’m concerned. It’s like they took Hikarin’s original character and got a blind child to draw their own interpretation of it. Yuck!

Everyone should still buy it though, by the way. The game itself appears to be unchanged, which is awesome.

Back in Business

Apologies for the lack of updates, folks. I’ve been in Japan for the last two weeks and haven’t been able to get near a computer for any decent length of time.

Anyway, I’m back now and you can expect lots of fresh posts in the next few days.

Ash

Forget Sonic…

…the most SHOCKING Smash Bros character is Papa from Chibi-Robo. Well, him and Chibi himself of course.

Here they are, as promised: world exclusive proof that Chibi-Robo and friends appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl (in sticker form). I really should learn to watermark screenshots. The last thing I want is for IGN and Gamespot to pass these megatons off as their own.

Expect even more screens as soon as I find more evidence. Hopefully there are loads more stickers and statues. That way I won’t have to do a proper update for months.

Yes he is.

A couple of weeks ago I posed the question ‘Is Chibi-Robo in Smash Bros Brawl?’ I have the answer and soon I will have the screenshots to prove it. He’s not playable but at least the little guy is getting a bit more exposure beyond his two massively underrated games.

Tune in tomorrow for the most exciting Smash Bros screens you’ll ever see.