Square bringing a Mario/Dragon Quest Hybrid and More!

[TheGreenElf]

(All announcements come courtesy of IGN)

At the Square-Enix '07 Party, some new games (and "non-games") were announced along with more information on the already known games, and it appears Square-Enix will be providing Nintendo with a lot of loving...so I gathered what information I could find on some of their upcoming (DS) releases, as some already announced may have been off the radar and have come rather quietly. Read for more info.

First for the "Non-Game" Series

How to Walk the Earth DS
(No screens available)

Originally Posted by IGN

Leading the pack is Chikyuu no Arukikata DS (How to Walk the Earth DS), a set of digital tour guides based off the book series of the same name. Users (it's probably inappropriate to say "players") can look up shops and tourist attractions as they make a schedule of activities to sample while on a trip. The guide includes maps, complete with 3D landmarks, and offers the ability to record self-made notes.

Three versions of Chikyuu no Arukikata DS will initially be offered, covering, respectively, Italy, France and Thailand. These will be followed by a second batch, providing guides for Hawaii, New York and Taiwan.

-Sounds useful for...traveling to these cities.

Won't You Try Listening to Classical Music on the DS?
Screens

Originally Posted by IGN

The next title is just a single release. In DS de Classic Kiitemimasenka? (Won't You Try Listening to Classical Music on the DS?), users listen to classical music. The title includes the songs from Toshiba EMI's Best Classic 100 series. As the music plays, you can tap the bottom screen to learn more about the songs and the CDs that contain them.

-I'm a sucker for classical music. I'm interested.

Flower Blooming (a.k.a. Gardening Life)
(Supposedly screens are on the site, but I couldn't access them-404 error)

Originally Posted by IGN

Finally in this first batch of DS Style titles comes Hansaku DS Gardening Life (Hanasaku is Japnaese for "flower blooming"). This gardening support tool is a joint production with the staff of the popular NHK edutainment program Shumi no Engei. Users record the plants that they're currently planting in real life, and the software provides advice on watering schedules and other growth-related issues. Basic details on over 260 plants are included.

-Doubt it will make it stateside...(as the rest of these).

Now for the good stuff (the full games)

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire
Screens
Information
-A direct sequel to the GBA Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
-"Dual-screen rendition of the GBA title...the visuals have received a major upgrade."
-"It's still a strictly 2D affair with sprite-based characters and backgrounds, but it's hard not to see the much sharper and more vibrant visuals in this sequel."
-"Many of the gameplay elements of the Game Boy Advance title are employed in the Nintendo DS game."
-"Final Fantasy Tactics A2 doesn't use the touch screen for its in-game controls. It's strictly a D-pad and Button affair during the missions"
-"Final Fantasy Tactics A2 is still deep in development; Square Enix isn't ready to announce a release date for the game, but it should hit shelves by the end of 2007."

-Excited, but lack of touch-screen controls=not good.

Finally, the most interesting title to come from the party...is...

Itadaki Street DS
Screens
The game is basically a cross between Monopoly (buying properties, stocks, etc. as you move around the game board and try to control it) with DQ and Mario characters on boards created from DQ worlds and Nintendo franchises (a Mario Kart board and Yoshi's Island board were mentioned).

IGN noted that all the Nintendo characters are of high "Ranks" than the DQ characters with Peach being the highest character at an S Rank. Other than the team up though, it is reported as nothing to get overly excited about and we are better off waiting for a "real crossover". The game is scheduled for a 6/21 release in Japan.

-Interesting to say the least...
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All this support from Square-Enix for Nintendo plus games not mentioned like DQ for DS and DQ for Wii, Heroes of Mana, FF:CC for Wii and DS, and the new Chocobo Wii title, it seems the Square-Nintendo relationship is as strong as ever and only good things can come from this.

[Generosity of God]

Square-Enix should just forget Itadaki Street and create a Kingdom Hearts game with Mario characters instead of Disney. i think it would be pretty popular especially considering how much popularity Nintendo is regaining in Japan.

Definitely getting FF Advance 2. i enjoyed the first one before it got too long and repetitive. really dont understand the lack of touchscreen controls during missions. it doesnt bother me. i hardly use touchscreen in advance wars DS so i probably wouldnt have used it in this. but it still would have been nice to have the option. it might be better to control with touchscreen but now we'll never know for sure.

will also be getting FFCC for Wii and DS. i'm glad it is concentrating more on the single player game. having a good single player campaign is important for me as its not often i can find anyone to play multi. online is definitely needed for the multi but looks like Square-Enix doesnt want to make the effort. they arent coming for a few months yet you'd think they'd be able to.

i'm not sure about the RTS style gameplay of FFXII: RW and Heroes of Mana. i'll try them out but i'm still not confident i'll like it.

DQSwords looks fun too.

lets hope that they make more money with Wii and DS. just so they'll decide to bring more support.

[SuperLuigiBros]

Definitely getting FF:TA2 and FF:CC for Wii and DS.

The Mario/Square thing is cool, but it sounds too much like Mario Party. We'll see though.

[Lucent Beam]

Yeah, I've been following Itadaki Street on the Japanese Square-Enix site and although the crossover of Mario and DQ is cool, it just seems like a weird kind of game and I'm not sure I'm interested in it. What I didn't know is that Itadaki Street is a franchise from Famicon in 1988, haha.
I agree with Generosity of God about having it be more like Kingdom Hearts... an action/adventure/RPG/not-board-game would interest me a lot more.

I probably will want to check out Heroes of Mana only cause its in the Seiken series.
FFT never interested me on other platforms, so I still don't know if I'd be into it on DS.
Definitely interested in FF:CC DS.

..And I have been interested in both Rocket Slime Adventures and Chocobo Tales on DS, but just never got around to buying them.

Those non-gamers sound pretty interesting an I hope it snags a new demographic. I can't see myself buying those for my own use though. Very cool to see Square-Enix doing something like that though.

[SuperLuigiBros]

The Earth thing seems like youd only get it if you were traveling. Its not the kind of thing youd just pick up from browsing and it 'looked cool'. The classical music thing is sweet. I wanna get that. The plant thing is a cool idea for those of us who like gardening or who want to get into gardening as a hobby or something. Not for me...

But yeh, its great to see SE supporting Nintendo in fullforce. Perhaps they are waiting to see how well these games sell and if they do well then theyll bring out some big guns. (Im thinking the Kingdom Hearts with Nintendo characters.)

[Lynk Former]

Riding your trusty Yoshi across the field in an RPG setting... *drools* Me wanty.

[Xer0]

Originally Posted by TheGreenElf

(All announcements come courtesy of IGN)



Itadaki Street DS
Screens
The game is basically a cross between Monopoly (buying properties, stocks, etc. as you move around the game board and try to control it) with DQ and Mario characters on boards created from DQ worlds and Nintendo franchises (a Mario Kart board and Yoshi's Island board were mentioned).

IGN noted that all the Nintendo characters are of high "Ranks" than the DQ characters with Peach being the highest character at an S Rank. Other than the team up though, it is reported as nothing to get overly excited about and we are better off waiting for a "real crossover". The game is scheduled for a 6/21 release in Japan.

Could you imagine the sales of this thing? I mean Japans loves DQ, Mario, and the DS. Put them together and oh boy

[Phoenix]

That sounds like an awkward crossover, but the Japanese will buy anything with either of those names, let alone both.

I am extremely excited for FFTA2 though. I played the first one to death.

[BananaBabeQT]

Originally Posted by Generosity of God

Square-Enix should just forget Itadaki Street and create a Kingdom Hearts game with Mario characters instead of Disney. i think it would be pretty popular especially considering how much popularity Nintendo is regaining in Japan.

That's an awesome idea, but I think it should be Disney, Mario AND Kingdom Hearts, now that is a game I would def. buy.

Square-Enix=cute

[Lucent Beam]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

That sounds like an awkward crossover, but the Japanese will buy anything with either of those names, let alone both.

I am extremely excited for FFTA2 though. I played the first one to death.

You'd think, and there's a Final Fantasy crossover for PSP, too..

Here it is: http://psp.ign.com/objects/874/874125.html

[Shadow Voa]

Itadaki Street is generally a DQ and FF affair I believe. The last IS game included chars from DQVIII and FFXII when they were both releatively new games in Japan. Its a pretty famous series down there, no surprised to see how unknown it is here.

[curryking1]

That Itadaki Street thing is like a Monopoly game with FF characters right? Saw my Japanese buddy playing it with some people he had over once. I thought it was cool... then I forgot about it for like 4 years until now lol.

That's some awesome DS support. The DS is frigging where it's at.

[Bsack]

Meh, this game doesn't look too interesting.

[Shadow Voa]

I might try it for PSP or DS. I always wanted to play the PS2 version, so maybe I will go ahead and give it a try. It's popular for a reason.

[curryking1]

^I think it's popular because it's monopoly with FF characters, and that's about it. Not sure though lol, might as well give it a go :P

[Shadow Voa]

The DQ power has great pull as well my friend. Never forget what DQVIII did for Japan on launch it was nothing short of amazing. Im willingly to bet DQIX on DS will smash all expectations which major sellouts!

[curryking1]

O, I didn't mean to forget DQ lol :P

[Shadow Voa]

Lol you FF fan you, Id pick Squall or a Moogle as my character anyway. Possibly a Slime since they are as awesome as Chocobos and other FF creatures!

[curryking1]

Is slime those flan things? Or is that those water drops in DQ? lol

[Shadow Voa]

Who wouldnt love that face?