Onion Games announced the Japanese release date for Stray Children as part of the Japanese version of the latest Nintendo Direct August 2024. The new game from the creators of Moon Remix RPG will appear on December 26, 2024 for the Switch.

A new short 36-second trailer appeared during the Direct, showcasing some old and new areas of the Land of Children, as well as the title’s unique RPG combat system. The new area shown depicts a waterlocked city inhabited by frog-like people in which the player traverses using a lily pad.

You can check out the Japanese release date trailer for Stray Children here:

Onion Games is a Japanese studio started by former members of developer Love-de-Lic. The company went on to create Moon: Remix RPG Adventure in 1997, and Onion Games ported the game outside of Japan for the first time in August 2020. The title influenced Undertale creator Toby Fox, and the Stray Children footage shown suggests that Undertale might have influenced back Onion Games’ new title, with both title sharing light bullet hell elements and enemy talking mechanics.

Stray Children will come out for the Nintendo Switch on December 26, 2024. At the time of writing there is no announced release date for the game outside of Japan.

The post Stray Children Japanese Release Date Set for December 2024 appeared first on Siliconera.

Capcom announced a new entry in the Capcom Fighting Collection 2 that brings back even more classic fighting games from the developers’ catalog. The reveal of the new collection happened during the latest Nintendo Direct Partner Showcase.

Two SNK crossover titles will be included with the new collection, as well as both games in the Power Stone series, and the second entry in the Rival Schools fighting series, Project Justice, among others.

This is the full list of the 8 beloved fighting games included in the upcoming collection:

• Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 Pro
• Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001
• Capcom Fighting Evolution
• Street Fighter Alpha 3 UPPER
• Project Justice
• Power Stone
• Power Stone 2
• Plasma Sword: Nightmare of Bilstein

And you can also check out the reveal trailer for the new Capcom Fighting Collection 2 here:

In addition to the new fighting game collection, Capcom recently revealed the release of the highly demanded Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics during the previous June 2024 Nintendo Direct. The game will appear for the Switch, PS4, and PC via Steam on September 12, 2024.

Capcom Fighting Collection 2 will appear on 2025 for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PC via Steam.

The post Capcom Fighting Collection 2 Brings Back More Classics in 2025 appeared first on Siliconera.

During the latest Nintendo Direct August 2024 Partner Showcase, Koei Tecmo and Gust revealed Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories and the Envisioned Land. The new mainline title in the RPG alchemy series will be themed around the concept of "memories."

The reveal trailer of the game offered a brief look at the alchemy system, exploration, and combat in this new entry to the Atelier series. Additionally, Gust showcased the new protagonist Yumia and a wolf-like character that acts as her enemy or rival.

The Atelier Yumia reveal trailer is available in Japanese with English subtitles, and you can check it out here:

The previous mainline title in the Atelier series is Atelier Resleriana: Forgotten Alchemy and the Polar Night Liberator, a free-to-play gacha game available for mobile devices as well as PC via Steam. The English version of the game appeared on January 25, 2024.

Atelier Yumia: The Alchemist of Memories & the Envisioned Land will come out on early 2025 for the Nintendo Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One and PC via Steam.

The post Atelier Yumia Is the Next Title in the Alchemy RPG Series appeared first on Siliconera.

Over the years, Star Wars video games have become their own institution separate from and adjacent to the source material. The massive multimedia franchise offers a wide range of playstyles ranging from RPGs, a variety of first and third person shooters, Lego platforming games, and even an ongoing MMORPG. However, the franchise was missing a proper open-world experience. Or at least it was before the arrival of Star Wars Outlaws, a full-fledged scoundrel adventure game spanning a galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars Outlaws is the first open-world game available featuring the Star Wars extended universe. This third person shooter adventure puts players in the role of Kay Vess, a fledgling scoundrel accompanied by her alien mascot Nix. After two failed attempts at her big break in the criminal underworld of Canto Bight, she gets thrust into a galaxy-wide underbelly world of intrigues, backstabbing, political alliances, where the powerful and influential have a lot to lose and everyone else has a lot to gain. With a reputation following Kay, a new and flashy spaceship in tow, and a death mark from the head of the biggest crime syndicate himself on her back, the scoundrel must now find a way to survive in a ruthless galaxy and make a credit or two in the process.

After a brisk and exciting prologue setting the events of the game in march, Kay Vess lands in the planet of Toshara, where she needs to get her act together and start acting as a true criminal and trickster. The first few main quests in the game introduce the players to the structure of the game and its main draw— the aforementioned open-world. While the first planet offers a vast expanse, the always accessible speeder allows for these big open areas to feel easy to cover. The focus is always on exploring and finding points of interest in the map, whether it be interconnected and detailed city hubs, settlements, caves, or Imperial bases to sneak into and get a hold of rare parts and materials.

What I found most interesting about Star Wars Outlaws is that it felt like games I’ve already played, but never before for a Star Wars title. Different parts of other titles combine to make something exciting. The main gameplay loop lies in semi-linear missions, third person action, and free-form exploration. On top of it all you have a healthy dose of stealth-action, some light roleplaying elements and decision making, and even some space travel elements added to the mix. Star Wars Outlaws doesn’t reinvent the open-world, but it adds layers of genres you’re familiar with to make for a fun theme-park ride that keeps itself fresh for long enough to captivate, but not to much that it bores or distracts from what makes the game enjoyable.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the game is how reactive the world felt to my choices. Throughout both main story missions and other various contracts and side quests, Kay has the chance to ally herself or favor the four major crime syndicates that appear in the game, these being Crimson Dawn, the Pyke Syndicate, the Hutt Cartel, and the Ashiga Clan. During my time in Toshara I spent plenty of time favoring Crimson Dawn over rivals, which led to my reputation following me when I traveled to other planets.

The narrative of the game is mostly linear, meaning that the game only allows for some decisions to truly alter the world of Star Wars Outlaws. Despite that, the Reputation system of the game stands out for its interesting gameplay repercussions. If your stand with any of the crime syndicates is good, you’ll have it easier to get inside their home turfs both inside cities and in the open world areas. Meanwhile, a bad reputation means getting worse deals from their merchants, or even being persecuted and blacklisted if you mess with them too much. I like how this meld with both side content and main story quests, as you will often need to have a different approach to complete objectives depending on who you favor and who you betray for plenty of occasions.

This is different when it comes to the Galactic Empire, as they have no interest in making friends. Instead, the Empire and its iconic Stormtroopers act as the Wanted system in this game. If you cause too much trouble to them, the Empire will put a bounty on you that you can only clear by staying off their nose for long enough. Unless you max out your bounty, in which case they will deploy a full manhunt for Kay. I met this instance twice, in which I had to go to a Death Trooper camp and delete my record from their files to clear my name. While this sounds daunting, the manhunts are a good spectacle and show of might for the Empire, deploying an inordinate amount of war machinery against a single person. Fortunately for Kay and for the player, clearing your name is not too difficult or intrusive, and it made for very cool highlights of my galactic hijinks.

The events of Star Wars Outlaws are set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, allowing the Rebel Alliance and Force-sensitive characters to take a step back in the narrative and allow the criminal syndicates to take center stage. Star Wars hasn’t been historically great at allowing non-Force sensitive characters to take the spotlight, which is why I loved being able to soak in the more mundane and down to earth world of Outlaws, with its common folks trying to make a quick credit and its more unsavory fellas waiting to double cross you at the drop of a hat.

Some colorful and interesting characters complete the roster of the game, with the Clone Wars-era ND-5 battle droid being a standout with his sexy long coat. While he’s a great crew member, I wish he had gotten a bit more gameplay participation than just being your handler and your guy on comms, as he’s always a great presence to have. Likewise, Sliro and his Zerek Besh crime syndicate are an interesting addition and offer great tension throughouth the course of the game. Aside from them, the adorable Nix is your mainstay partner. Nix is great fun and acts as both great comic relief as well as a great gameplay element. Nix can fetch items for Kay or distract them during stealth, as well as attack enemies to blind them in the fray of combat. Using him to open vents or complete platforming puzzles always felt fun and quick.

Other gameplay elements that changed the experience somewhat noticeable were the varied costumes, tokens, and collectibles. Almost everything you collect has a gameplay purpose, and with exploring feeling fast and engaging every aspect of Star Wars Outlaws felt rewarding. It helps that both the various planets available in the game and their corresponding surrounding space areas are absolutely stunning and filled with unique looking vistas. Some maps like Akiva or Tatooine can feel vast and their scope too big, but the speeder and some smart fast travel points make them very easily accessible. Meanwhile, planets like Kijimi focus on a maze-like single city and hiding things at every corner.

With an oversaturated market for open-world games, Star Wars Outlaws keeps things varied, fast-paced, and constantly rewarding. Developers at Massive Entertainment focused on variety and quality over quantity, and didn’t skimp on visual spectacle. There is always something for Kay Vess and her Trailblazer crew to do, whether it be treasure to find, some gang territory to sneak into and rob, an Imperial space base to assault, or even some card games to play. For a true space scoundrel there is no limit in the galaxy.

Star Wars Outlaws will release for the Playstation 5, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC via Ubisoft Connect on August 30, 2024.

The post Review: Star Wars Outlaws Keeps Things Fresh and Familiar appeared first on Siliconera.

The release date for the Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime movie Walpurgisnacht: Rising has been delayed by a year to Winter 2025. The Aniplex production committee for the film announced that the delay is happening due to circumstances surrounding production, but offered no further details.

Additionally, the production committee issued an apology for the delay and promised to continue working hard to deliver an even better film than originally intended. A trailer for the new Walpurgisnacht: Rising anime movie featuring Homura appeared in late October 2024, and it revealed the former release window of Winter 2024.

The new Puella Magi Madoka Magica anime movie is a direct sequel to the previous film Rebellion, originally released over a decade ago in October 2013. The new anime movie was announced in April 2021 as part of the 10th anniversary project for the Puella Magi Madoka Magica franchise, and will once again be animated by Shaft Animation Studio.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie - Walpurgisnacht: Rising- is currently in production and the release date has been delayed by a year from Winter 2024 to Winter 2025. The movie is also known as Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Walpurgis no Kaiten in Japanese.

The post Madoka Magica Walpurgisnacht: Rising Movie Delayed a Year appeared first on Siliconera.

The One Piece official social media account revealed that Miyu Irino will be the new Japanese voice actor for Sabo in the original Japanese dub for the anime series. Irino will replace Tooru Furuya after the latter was discovered to be involved in an adultery scandal.

Miyu Irino is set to debut as the Japanese voice actor for Sabo in One Piece with the return of the character in episode 1,116 of the anime series, which will premiere in Japan on August 18, 2024. Irino is a veteran voice actor known for his role as Sora in the Japanese dub of the Kingdom Hearts video game series, Haku in Spirited Away, Syaoran in Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, and Kōshi Sugawara in the Haikyu anime adaptation.

On June 23, 2024, Aoni Production announced that Tooru Furuya would step down from his role as Sabo, in addition to his role as Tooru Amuro in Detective Conan (also known as Case Closed). The voice actor was also recently recast from a yet undisclosed role in the upcoming Atlus RPG Metaphor: ReFantazio. At the time of writing, there is no information on who will recast Furuya as Amuro in Detective Conan.

In a similar light to the recent recast of Tooru Furuya as Sabo in One Piece, Johnny Yong Bosch took over Sabo’s former English voice actor Vic Mignogna back in 2019 after multiple allegations of sexual harassment to former colleagues and fans came out against the latter.

The One Piece manga is handled by Viz Media outside Japan, the anime is streaming on Crunchyroll and Netflix, and the live-action adaptation is on Netflix.

The post New One Piece Sabo Japanese Voice Actor Revealed appeared first on Siliconera.

Sony Interactive Entertainment announced an extension of the disc replacement service for the Japanese packaged version of FFVII Rebirth. Several deadlines for the service have been extended by one month.

The application deadline has changed from August 16, 2024 to September 15, 2024. Meanwhile, the disc shipping deadline changed. It originally would be ending on September 30, 2024. It has been extended to October 31, 2024. After applying for the replacement service and once Sony has received the discs, the company will ship the correct version of the discs from September 2, 2024.

The Sony Japan official website for the FFVII Rebirth disc replacement service now reflects the changes in deadline. Sony originally announced the disc replacement system for the Japanese physical edition of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth back in July 11, 2024.

The printing error for the FFVII Rebirth discs happened with the first physical batches after the release of the game on February 29, 2024. However, the printing error was not unique to the Japanese version of the game and also appeared in prints for other versions of the title throughout various Asian countries, including the South Korean physical version.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is readily available for the PlayStation 5, and the exclusivity arrangement ended on May 29, 2024. The original FFVII Remake is available on the PS4, PS5, and PC, and the third entry in the trilogy is in development.

The post Sony Japan Extends FFVII Rebirth Disc Replacement Deadline appeared first on Siliconera.

Due to the recent typhoon alerts in Japan, Atlus has decided to cancel one of the two days of the demo trial event for Persona 3 Reload DLC and Metaphor: ReFantazio. The event for August 16, 2024 has been cancelled, with only the August 17 schedule moving forward as expected for attendants.

The joint demo event for the Persona 3 Reload DLC Episode Aigis: The Answer and Metaphor: ReFantazio and the sale of merchandise goods for both games has been canceled, as well as the special promotional video screenings. Both events were originally going to be held at the UDX gallery and theater located in Akihabara, Tokyo. This is being done in the name of protecting attendees in the event of poor or dangerous weather.

The August 17, 2024 demo event and merchandise sale will apparently move forward as planned. In addition, the Atlus Stalker Club broadcast will be held online on the AtlusTube YouTube channel at 7pm JST. However, in order to accommodate the typhoon warnings, the livestream has been changed to continue with no live audience members for the safety of everyone involved.

Typhoon No. 7, also known as Typhoon Ampil, is currently nearing the Kanto region of Japan. It will continue heading north towards the Tohoku Region after August 19, 2024.

Persona 3 Reload is readily available for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC, and the Episode Aigis: The Answer DLC will debut on September 10, 2024. Meanwhile, Metaphor: ReFantazio will come out for the PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on October 11, 2024.

The post Persona 3 Reload and Metaphor: ReFantazio Event Rescheduled Due to Typhoon appeared first on Siliconera.

The production staff for the upcoming The One Piece anime remake series has been revealed. The new remake series was originally announced at Jump Festa 2024 on December 17, 2023, and it will appear on the Netflix streaming service sometime in the future.

As previously shared, the upcoming remake will adapt the manga from the very beginning of the East Blue saga. WIT Studio, known for their work on Attack on Titan and Spy x Family, will be in charge of animating the new show. During the recent One Piece Day 2024 event held in Japan on August 10-11, 2024, WIT Studio revealed the staff members involved in the new The One Piece anime remake.

Attack on Titan Director Masashi Koizuka will be in charge of the new The One Piece anime series, with Hideaki Abe acting as co-director. Taku Kishimoto will be in charge of series composition, with both Kyoji Asano and Takatoshi Honda will act as character designers and chief animation directors. Meanwhile, Yasuhiro Kajino will handle creature design and storyboarding. Eri Taguchi will be prop designer, while Ken Imaizumi and Shuhei Fukuda will be action animators. Tomonori Kuroda will be the art director, and Ryoma Kawamura will be the animation producer.

Furthermore, a 20-minute-long staff interview video with the members of WIT Studio appeared. The video is available in Japanese with English subtitles included, and it features some concept art of the new remake series.

You can check out the production notes video here. Remember to turn on closed captions and select subtitles for the translation.

The One Piece anime remake is currently in production. There is no release window announced for the new anime series.

The post The One Piece Anime Remake Staff Members Detailed appeared first on Siliconera.

Premium Bandai announced a new line of Hololive Fantasy Tamagotchi devices featuring Vtubers Usada Pekora, Shiranui Flare, Shirogane Noel, and Houshou Marine. The new Hololive Tamagotchi models costs 7,700 yen (or about $52.32) each, and they are now available to pre-order until September 4, 2024.

The new Tamagotchi devices are expected to release in Japan sometime in February 2025. The new toys are based on the Tamagotchi nano colorful model, with full color screen displays. Aside from the Tamagotchi device itself, the new Hololive Fantasy devices come packaged with a plush of the respective Vtuber and a charging cable.

You can take a look at the new Hololive Fantasy Tamagotchis as well as the plushes here:

An Usada Pekora Tamagotchi nano already released back in December 2023, and it was originally announced in July 2023. However, this model was an older version and didn’t have a color display. Bandai started a lottery for the Tamagotchi again back in July 2024, with the winners being announced this August 2024.

The new Hololive Fantasy Tamagotchi devices cost 7,700 yen (~$52.32.) They are available for pre-order from the Premium Bandai online store until September 4, 2024 and they are expected to release on February 2025.

The post Hololive Fantasy Vtuber Tamagotchi Nano Colorful Models Shown appeared first on Siliconera.

New pieces of merchandise will appear at the Junji Ito and Sanrio characters collaboration pop-up store. The new goods will appear at the Shibuya Parco store in Tokyo and the Shinsaibashi Parco store in Osaka.

As a reminder, the Tokyo pop-up store will be available for a limited time between August 23, 2024 and September 9, 2024, while the Osaka store will appear between September 27, 2024 and October 14, 2024. The new items include new chibi goods featuring Tomie paired with Hello Kitty, My Melody, and Pompompurin, as well as the Lovesickness character the Boy at the Crossroads paired with Lloromannic, Cinnamoroll, and Kuromi. In addition, items imitating textile decorations will appear with other available character pairings.

Here’s the lineup of new merchandise items being added to the Junji Ito x Sanrio characters collaboration:

• Boy at the Crossroads Letter Set – 990 yen (~$6.72)
• Chibi Trading Mini Acrylic Stand (6 available) – 770 yen (~$5.23)
• Chibi Trading Pin Badge (6 available) – 440 yen (~$2.99)
• Chibi Clear File Folder – 440 yen (~$2.99)
• Clear File Folder – 440 yen (~$2.99)
• Cup Set – 4,950 yen (~$33.62)
• Die-cut Cushion – 2,420 yen (~$16.44)
• Double Metallic Charm – 1,870 yen (~$12.70)
• Flake Stickers – 990 yen (~$6.72)
• Trading Umbrella Marker (12 available) – 770 yen (~$5.23)
• Trading Pin Badge – 550 yen (~$3.74)
• Tomie Letter Set – 990 yen (~$6.72)

And you can check out photos of the items here as well:

The Junji Ito x Sanrio Characters Pop Up Stores were originally announced back in early July 2024, and the previously shown merchandise items feature Gyaru Tomie in t-shirts, keychains, coasters, and more.

The post New Junji Ito x Sanrio Character Merchandise Appears appeared first on Siliconera.

Square Enix opened pre-orders on its online e-store for a Dragon Quest slime plush that doubles as a cleaner for smartphone, tablets, and PC screens. The slime cleaner plush costs 1,188 yen (or about $8) and is expected to release in Japan on October 19, 2024.

The Slime plush is similar to previously released versions in appearance, with the main body using a regular polyester soft toy material. Meanwhile, the bottom of the plush uses a softer fabric similar to that of cleaning cloths. This bottom part is designed to wipe fingerprints and smudges off of screens without damaging them, by grabbing the main body of the Slime and rubbing the bottom on smartphone, tablet, or PC screens.

You can check out the Dragon Quest Slime cleaner plush here:

Earlier in June 2024, Square Enix announced the re-release of 3 classic Dragon Quest villain plushes belonging to the Legendary Demon King line, featuring the Dragonlord, Malroth, and Zoma from DQ1 through DQ3. Additionally, a Liquid Metal Slime electric floor cleaner is now available as a crane game prize in Japan.

The Dragon Quest slime tablet and PC screen cleaner plush costs 1,188 yen (~$8) and is now available for pre-order from the Square Enix online e-store.

The post Dragon Quest Slime Plush Doubles as Tablet and PC Cleaner appeared first on Siliconera.

Atlus in collaboration with Wakatsuru sake brewery announced the release of a new SMT V: Vengeance whiskey bottle. The new bottle features the iconic demon and Lord of Chaos Lucifer, and it costs 24,200 yen (or approximately $164.43.) [Thanks, PR Times!]

The new Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance Saburomaru single malt whiskey bottle has a 50% alcohol volume and has a 700ml capacity. The whiskey was distilled in 2021 and bottled in 2024, aged for 3 years inside a Spanish oloroso (fragrant) sherry oak cask. The bottle is expected to release in late August 2024, and will only be sold via lottery to registered Wakatsuru members.

The pre-sale lottery application period is now open on the Wakatsuru online store and will end on August 13, 2024. There will be an estimated number of 250 bottles available for this batch, so those interested in acquiring the new bottle might want to apply for the lottery before tickets go out of stock.

In other related news, Chimney Group announced that new SMT V: Vengeance drinks will appear throughout July and August 2024 inspired by characters and demons from the latest game in the series.

The new SMT V: Vengeance Saburomaru collaboration whiskey bottle costs 24,200 yen (~$164.43) and the pre-sale lottery application period is now up on the Wakatsuru online store. The bottle is expected to release by the end of August 2024.

The post New SMT V: Vengeance Collaboration Whiskey Bottle Appears appeared first on Siliconera.

Nintendo recently updated the Japanese official website for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom to feature new characters that will be appearing including Impa, the King of Hyrule, and Zelda’s new ally, Tri.

In Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Impa is an elderly woman and Zelda’s caretaker, and she offers her unwavering support to Zelda. Meanwhile, Impa’s brother Ruberi is a researcher investigating the rifts that are appearing all around Hyrule. Tri is Zelda's new ally accompanying her in Echoes of Wisdom, a fairy that possesses the mysterious power to replicate things in the world.

As is usual in The Legend of Zelda games, the King of Hyrule is Zelda’s father. Other members of the Hyrule Kingdom government include Sadali, a polite and reliable minister in the court, and General Ugi, a military man with a strong sense of justice. As shown in the reveal trailer, Link is the Hero of Hyrule who rescues Zelda from the evil Ganon. The official website indicates that there might be a connection between Ganon and the strange rifts appearing in Hyrule, but something seems amiss.

The latest trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom showed various locations from the game, as well as Zelda being able to ride a horse to traverse Hyrule and equipping various different accessories and pieces of clothing.

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom will come to the Nintendo Switch on September 26, 2024.

The post Impa Appears in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom appeared first on Siliconera.

Sony announced a new line of headphones featuring One Piece protagonist Luffy, as well as other characters from the anime and manga series. The collaboration headsets are now available for pre-order and they will be available on-store from August 12, 2024.

The wireless noise cancelling stereo headset WH-1000XM5/OP are over-ear headphones that cost 60,400 yen (or approximately $X.) The headset features Luffy on the left ear part, and the Straw Hat pirates skull logo on the right ear part. Meanwhile, the WF-C700N/OP model are a pair of in-ear headphones that costs 17,500 yen (~$X.) The in-ear headphones are available in three colors, blue, green, and white, as well as featuring the Jolly Roger skull mark for Luffy, Zoro, or Sanji, for a total of 9 possible variations.

You can check out the new One Piece Sony headsets here:

As a reminder, Lacoste recently announced a collaboration with One Piece featuring various articles of clothing with illustrations designed by Eiichiro Oda. The collaboration started on August 2, 2024.

The One Piece Sony collaboration headphones are now available for pre-order from the Sony official website and they are expected to ship by August 16, 2024. The headsets will also be available on stores from August 12.

The post Sony One Piece Collaboration Headphones Feature Luffy appeared first on Siliconera.