June 2023

Cotton 100% will be rereleased on the Super Famicom in Japan. New reproduction cartridges of the classic 2D shmup game will be available for sale by Columbus Circle. Cotton 100% is the second entry in developer Success’ iconic “cute ‘em up” series. The new cartridge will cost 7,678 JPY (or roughly $55 USD), and it is scheduled to release in late September 2023. The Cotton 100% Super Famicom reproduction cartridge is now available for pre-order from Amazon Japan. As it is Amazon selling it, people in other regions can purchase it. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

This new rerelease of Cotton 100% comes in a package with newly drawn artwork, inspired by the original Super Famicom boxart. The cartridge will work in the original Super Famicom system, as well as with other compatible consoles.

The original version of the game initially appeared for the Super Famicom console in 1994 in Japan. A PlayStation port of the game came out in 2003 in Japan as well. The game would finally release overseas for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in October 2021.

Most recently, on August 2021 the first entry in the series, Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams, received a remake for the PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC under the name Cotton Reboot.

As part of its Pride Month festivities, Microsoft has made developer Don't Nod's well-received queer mystery adventure Tell Me Why free to download and keep in its entirety on Xbox and PC, in what's becoming a bit of a Pride tradition.

Tell Me Why, if you're unfamiliar, tells the story of twins Tyler and Alyson as they reunite, after several years apart, to sell their childhood home in the Alaskan town of Delos Crossing.

Their troubled past begins to resurface, though, and the slick mystery thriller gains a distinctly supernatural tinge (this is very definitely a spiritual sibling to Don't Nod's Life is Strange 1 & 2), but Tell Me Why never loses sight of the beauty and warmth in the relationship between its twin protagonists, even if it doesn't quite reach the memorable highs of its forebears.

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Yuji Naka, the Sonic Team co-founder and Balan Wonderworld director, may face up to two years of jail time due to insider trading stocks regarding Dragon Quest Tact and Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier. For context, that second game is a mobile battle royale spin-off that was released and shut down in less time…

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When Square Enix announced the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster games for PCs and mobile devices, people immediately began asking when they'd come to consoles as well. It took about a year, but it happened. Now that people everywhere can also play the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster games on the Switch and PS4, Siliconera spoke to Producer Naofumi Takuma about the process of preparing the RPGs for additional platforms.

Jenni Lada: When did work on the PS4 and Switch versions of Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster begin?

Naofumi Takuma: It was last spring (Spring 2022) when we started the porting process. However, we had already started organizing the additional functional items and areas we wanted to fix or adjust, even before that time.

Were there any special challenges with the Switch and PS4 versions of the games that the team didn’t face with the PC and mobile adaptations of Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster?

Takuma: It is rare to create a console version when a PC version already exists, and we expected there would not be that many problems if we used the PC version as a base, but when we ported the games, we encountered some hurdles including long loads and processing dropouts, which required more tuning than we had expected. In the end, I think the optimization made things much faster.

Continuing the efforts to try to bring rollback netcode to new and old fighting games, SNK Global announced that a new open beta test for the upcoming The King of Fighters XIII: Global Match will be held between June 5-11, 2023. The open beta will be available for the PS4, and it will also be compatible with the PS5. A PlayStation Plus membership is not required to access the test.

All 36 characters will be available to play during the rollback netcode open beta test for KOF XIII: Global Match. During the test only the online mode will be available, where players will also be able to spectate in matches. Additionally, players will be able to use the practice mode, but only while waiting for other opponents to join the match. Options mode and customize mode to change character color schemes will also be available

To access the rollback netcode open beta test, all you need to do is download the KOF XIII: Global Match Open Beta Test app from the PlayStation Store.

In other SNK news, the company recently revealed that the planned rollback netcode update for Samurai Shodown has been pushed back to Summer 2023.

KoMETA, a Vtuber agency centered in the Philippines, announced Miria and Virgil will both graduate on June 26, 2023. It cited “findings on recent actions” and “non-renewal of contracts” as the reason both will be leaving. Their final streams will be staggered, so fans can watch both. The announcement noted Virgil's will be two hours earlier at "6pm," though a time zone isn't noted. Miria's will follow at "8pm."

The departure of Miria and Virgil means that KoMETA will have no active talents as of June 27, 2023. The company launched its first generation in December 2021, with these two performers debuting alongside Elaine. However, in May 2022 Elaine graduated for health reasons.

Here's KoMETA's official announcement regarding its last two Vtubers graduating. It noted it will retire their content, but plans to still pass along fan letters and continue as an agency for performers.

◤ANNOUNCEMENT◢

Notice Regarding Miria and Virgil's Graduation from KoMETA Virtual Live pic.twitter.com/8bnVi97etg

— KoMETA Virtual Live  (@KometaLive) June 2, 2023

People can now hear the Demon Slayer season 3 opening theme song performed on The First Take. Man with a Mission and milet appeared on the YouTube channel to perform "Kizuna no Kiseki." For those unfamiliar, the goal of the channel is to have the original artists perform their songs live, in one take.

Here's the full The First Take version of "Kizuna no Kiseki" by Man with a Mission and milet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFj7d_fnYTU&ab_channel=THEFIRSTTAKE

This isn’t the first time a Demon Slayer anime opening theme song appeared on The First Take channel. Both Lisa and Aimer showed up to perform tracks they did for the show. First, Lisa performed "Gurenge" on the channel in December 2019. That was the opening for the first season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpYy6wwqxoo&ab_channel=THEFIRSTTAKE

After that, Aimer appeared and performed "Zankyou Sanka" in February 2022. That's the season 2 opening theme song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnzPJhW9XQg&ab_channel=THEFIRSTTAKE

Lisa returned to perform "Akeboshi" with Yuki Kajiura in November 2022. That appeared in Mugen Train.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEnaMPUCDm4&ab_channel=THEFIRSTTAKE

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the second chapter of the planned Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy of games, received a brief but welcomed progress report from producer Yoshinori Kitase. Though we haven’t heard a peep about the game since its reveal last June, we could be getting a release date soon. 

In a tweet, Kitase answered the question of how Rebirth is progressing by simply stating, “Development is progressing smoothly and according to plan. We are currently working on nailing down a release date for the game.” 

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Developer comment number 1 pic.twitter.com/O4KdGlh4gy

— FINAL FANTASY VII (@finalfantasyvii) June 2, 2023

While not much, the update is an exciting one if things are going as well as Kitase claims. As for when we could hear about a launch date, Summer Game Fest is around the corner, and Square Enix is one of the confirmed partners for the event, so there's a small chance Rebirth will make an appearance. 

This week on All Things Nintendo, Brian invites Game Informer editor-in-chief Matt Miller on the show for the first time. After talking about Matt's favorite Nintendo experiences, the two chat briefly about Super Mega Baseball 4, which is out today, then transition to answer questions from the All Things Nintendo and Game Informer community.

If you'd like to follow Brian on social media, you can do so on his Instagram @BrianPShea. You can follow Matt on Twitter: @MatthewRMiller.

The All Things Nintendo podcast is a weekly show where we can celebrate, discuss, and break down all the latest games, news, and announcements from the industry's most recognizable name. Each week, Brian is joined by different guests to talk about what's happening in the world of Nintendo. Along the way, they'll share personal stories, uncover hidden gems in the eShop, and even look back on the classics we all grew up with. A new episode hits every Friday!

Earlier this month, we asked you to vote for your favourite space games of all time, and man alive did you lot come out swinging for this. Hundreds and hundreds of votes have been beamed in over the last few weeks, resulting in an overwhelming favourite that was (no word of a lie) several thousand points ahead of its nearest rival. Not hundreds. Thousands. When you see it, you'll probably go, 'Of course, of course that's number one!' but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Come and find out what other games made the cut as we count down your 25 favourite space games of all time.

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You know who you shouldn't trust? Hotel cleaners. Not in real life, I should add - where they are hardworking and one time one helped me catch and kill cockroach even though we didn't speak the same language - but in the game This Bed We Made, a third person mystery set in a slightly grimy 1950s hotel. The reason why you shouldn't trust this particular cleaner because it is, in fact, you, in the kitten heels of Sophie here, as you rifle through their belongings and ogle at their undies. There's a demo of one such room on Steam now, and it plops you right in medias of some juicy res.

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Just yesterday, June 1st, early access for Diablo IV officially began for owners of the Ultimate and Digital Deluxe editions. But the biggest news for PC players is how surprisingly stable the launch has been. So far. Fingers crossed for the full launch on June 6th. There have been some annoying licensing errors affecting console friends (and a few PC players too), but with the disastrous launch of Diablo III in mind, early access hack n’ slashers can let out a sigh of relief that lightning hasn’t struck twice.

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Take one good look at the upcoming Catch & Cook: Fishing Adventure and you might just mistake it for 2023’s other third-person cartoony fishing sim: Dredge. The big-toothed mutants and otherworldly horrors in Dredge can get quite overwhelming though, especially when they start to chomp at your ship beneath the surface. After playing Catch & Cook’s recently released demo, I’m happy to report that it’s the ideal fishing sim for people who find Dredge’s spooky undercurrents, erm, too spooky. Just a very chill, very good time.

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Street Fighter 6 is off to a roaring start on Steam, having more than doubled the all-time record for concurrent players set by its nearest fighting game rival - and in less that 24 hours of release.

As flagged by Steam analyst Benji-Sales on Twitter, Street Fighter 6 has already secured a significant all-time concurrent peak on Valve's storefront, recorded at 66,317 players by SteamCharts at the time of writing. The figure is more than twice that of its nearest fighting competitor, Mortal Kombat 11, which currently enjoys an all-time peak of 27,301 players.

Street Fighter 6's concurrent peak is also leagues ahead of its direct predecessor, Street Fighter 5, which reached an all-time high of 13,807 players on Steam, and it's also managed to outshine the likes of Tekken 7, whose all-time peak sits at 18,766 players

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To all of my fellow members of the LGBTQ+ community, happy Pride. Being queer these days is a whirlwind of emotions, some very positive and hopeful, and others not so much. Our history is one of courage and struggle, a struggle that continues today. And in this fight, it’s essential to learn from the experiences of…

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A soccer team owned by FIFA streamer Edwin Castro has withdrawn from an inaugural soccer tournament after a member of the team allegedly used a racial slur against an opposing player in a match.

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Almost a full calendar year after the report of its existence went live at Fanbyte, Nintendo has announced a sequel to the unusual mini-game party compilation 1-2 Switch, and it’s launching later this month.

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Following its big PlayStation 5 Showcase in May, Sony’s currently running its big Days of Play sale. And it’s not just games that are getting discounts. Some accessories and even PlayStation Plus subscriptions are currently 25 percent off through June 12.

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Classic Anime franchise Dragon Ball will be present at the 2023 Comic Con International in San Diego (SDCC) with a special exhibition. The exhibition will be held at an outside booth at the Mariott Marquis Marina Terrace.

SDCC 2023 will be held this year at the San Diego Convention Center on July 20-23, 2023, with a preview night held on July 19, 2023. While nothing has been announced, Comic Con is often the stage for big reveals, so it may be worth keeping an eye on the official event site. Bandai Namco promised more new information soon. There are often exclusive pieces of merchandise as well, which could mean special figures only available at the event. There will also be a showing of the movie Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero which has not one but two crossovers with Fortnite.

You can find the announcement tweet below:

[embed]https://twitter.com/DB_official_en/status/1664543136457293825?s=20[/embed]

In May 2023, Bandai Namco celebrated Goku and King Piccolo Day. "Goku" Day is every year on May 9th. Uniqlo also opened orders for a line of Dragon Ball shirts commemorating various story arcs.

Developer Granzella announced that trading card and strategy game Hototogisu Tairan will end service on June 30, 2023. The game is exclusive to Japan, and it originally came out on the Nintendo Switch in April 2018. A smartphone version appeared later in October 2019. Additionally, in game-currency will stop being sold shortly after the announcement.

In the statement put out by Granzella, the company thanks the continued support of all the Hototogisu Tairan players for the past five years. The game will be discontinued and inaccessible from the respective digital storefronts from June 8, 2023. In addition, purchases of in-game currency will be unavailable on the same date.

People that have access to the game app after June 8 will still be able to play the game, and make use of the in-game currency until end of service.

Hototogisu is a trading card game series that started in the Famicom in 1988, created by developer Irem. Two Hototogisu PlayStation Portable games appeared for the portable in Japan in 2009 and 2010, with the later one starting the Hototogisu Tairan name for the series. The series, along with the rest of Irem’s Ips, would eventually be handed to Granzella.

There is now an official account for anime and manga series Black Cat on Twitter. This is due to the fact that the show is available to stream on U-Next. The account will release information in regards to the series. So far, though, it’s simply retweeting articles about the Twitter account. [Thanks, Dengeki Online!]

In order to watch the series on U-Next, you have to have an account and reside in Japan. If people in countries like the United States wish to stream Black Cat, it is available on Crunchyroll. Since the original manga ended in 2004 and the anime series ended in 2006, there’s really not much new information about it that fans don’t already know. The sudden revival of the IP caused some to wonder if this is just a fan account. But Gonzo, which was the animation studio, assures everyone that it’s real and official.

Shiravune announced that it will release White Album: Memories Like Falling Snow for Windows PC. This is the first official English version of the game, which first came out in 2013. Steam does not list a concrete release date yet, but players can expect it some time in Q3 2023.

White Album: Memories Like Falling Snow is the remake of the original 1998 release White Album. It came out exclusively for Japan in 2010 for the PS3, and a PC port of it appeared in 2012. The main difference between the original and Memories Like Falling Snow is the inclusion of Sayoko Kisaragi as a love interest.

White Album is a visual novel in which you play as university student Toya Fujii. He’s attracted to Yuki, but she is busy with her up-and-coming idol career. Through his friendship with Yuki, he meets Rina, who is also an idol singer in Yuki’s agency.

Though White Album 2 is more popular, White Album is still considered a famous and influential visual novel in its genre. Shiravune also plans on releasing One: Kagayaku Kisetsu E on the Windows PC. Like White Album, One is an retro visual novel that served as one of the foundations in the industry.

White Album: Memories Like Falling Snow, which is the remake of White Album, will come out on Windows PC via Steam some time in Q3 2023.

The board gaming hobby has seen meteoric growth in the last 15 years, with a growing number of players finding excitement and camaraderie in the possibilities of gathering around the table with friends for some action and strategy. That growth has enabled the sort of projects that might have been unheard of only a decade ago, with price points and complexity of play that can seem astounding to newcomers. Nonetheless, the dedicated audience for board games continues to clamor for ever higher-end projects with deep systems that enable truly epic adventures. That unique landscape paves the way for remarkable games like Aeon Trespass: Odyssey.

Publisher Into the Unknown has been at work on Aeon Trespass: Odyssey for a long time, and the game was released last year to largely enthusiastic reviews from critics and players. I’m circling back to talk about the game now for one excellent reason; a new Kickstarter for a second printing is in its final days, representing a second chance to snag the game after it’s been hard to come by since its launch. If you’re interested, you have just a few days left. But given that every pledge level to acquire the game is some variation of hundreds of dollars of investment, is it worth your money and time?

The Shrine of Light Sensor sound effect in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is making me lose my mind two beeps at a time. Not because it is unpleasant or incessant but rather because I so desperately want to hear it as I hunt for the last few Shrines in the game. But now, when I do hear it, the Shrine it is pointing to is so obscure that I spend hours trying to find the source of the noise.

I am far beyond the friendly sight of the bright green spiral reaching into the sky that I can see from miles away. I have found every one of those. Looking out into the distance, I see the occasional green door signaling a Shrine I have already discovered. Every single time, without fail, it makes me think I have finally found a new Shrine before coming to the same realization I have come to dozens of times before.

I have already been there.

At this point, I have resorted to using Hero’s Path Mode and the general layout of the Shrines I have already found to ballpark locations where a Shrine might be. If I haven’t walked through there yet and there are no Shrines in the immediate vicinity, I head in that direction and hope for the best. This has resulted in the discovery of a new Shrine 15% of the time.

I'm unsure whether to call Raid On Taihoku a "historical game", since it's an adventure game with enough daftness to feel a bit unlike what that phrase brings to mind. But it's set very thoroughly in Taiwan towards the end of World War II, and though the focus is a young girl's relationship with her family and friends, that context is critical to why I've enjoyed it so much.

Taxonomy aside, then, the important thing is that it's enjoyable. It hasn't hit the emotional highs of the kind of interactive fiction I favour, but for a story with such heavy themes, it provides a relaxing drip feed of mystery reveals and plot thickenings in between low-pressure minigames. It's a good time, without undermining its obvious respect for the people who had to live through this.

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The Epic Games Store has booted Fallout: New Vegas up the bum and off its freebie list, making room for another free weekly title - which this time looks an awful lot like Midnight Ghost Hunt.

Midnight Ghost Hunt, from developer Vaulted Sky Games, is described as a "chaotic multiplayer hide-and-seek game" that casts one team of four as fearless Ghost Hunters and the other as naughty spirits intent on causing the former harm.

Ghost Hunters get the cool gadgets, as you might imagine, including a Spectrophone, Radar and Pathfinder for the spook detection bit, plus traps and vacuums to capture them, and a heap of more direct spectre-slaying tools, including sledgehammers, harpoons, and a cannon.

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Beware, Diablo IV adventurers, for dark whispers speak of a horrific beast of great power that can spawn ungodly numbers of clones and totally fuck you up. It’s not a lie! I’ve seen it happen to many folks, and not all have returned to tell the tale.

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Fox Business, the subsidiary of Fox News Media, has discovered that some gamers are discovering their queerness thanks to Link, calling the Legend of Zelda hero a “nonbinary or trans icon.” Some, to the shock and horror of Fox, are even calling Link an “egg-cracker,” aka someone or something that helps a person…

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During the Meta Quest Gaming Showcase, Univrs revealed both the key visual and the concept trailer for Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable. This will be a VR hunting action game where the player becomes a member of the Survey Corps. You will be able to use the 3DMG to propel yourself through the air in order to defeat the Titans. [Thanks, 4Gamer!]

At just over a minute long, the concept trailer for Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable uses pre-rendered animations. There is no actual gameplay. We might have to wait a bit closer to the release date to see how the game will look in practice. However, the concept trailer shows the player using the 3DMG to travel around a city and avoid a Titan.

Here is the concept trailer for Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeE5hyJ6Jlg

This was supposed to have a Summer 2023 release window. However, UNIVRS postponed it to Winter 2023, with no reason given. There will be both single-player and co-op modes. As well, it will feature audio and subtitles in either Japanese or English. It’s unclear if there will be a plot at all to this, or if it focuses more on the VR experience of killing Titans.

Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable will come out in Winter 2023 for the Meta Quest 2, 3, and Pro.

HuneX announced its next Switch otome game to appear in English will be Hana Awase New Moon. This entry is unique, as it originally appeared as four games in Japan. In addition to the visual novel elements, it also features Hanafuda card games.

In Hana Awase New Moon, people follow Mikoto as she gets acquainted with young men attending the Kasen National Academy. They’re the best players of the game and able to use special powers while playing. The Switch release includes a new Karabeni/Utsuku Volume story starring the two characters and Mikoto. It also includes English, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese subtitle options in addition to Japanese.

There’s also an initial trailer for this Switch otome game. However, rather than showing off how the Hanafuda elements will work, it mainly focuses on showing the love interests Himeutsugi, Iroha, Karakurenai, Mizuchi, and Utsutsu while the theme song “Wheel of Fortune” plays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4E55jACoG4&ab_channel=dramaticcreate%E3%83%81%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%8D%E3%83%AB

A few screenshots are available that show how both the visual novel and Hanafuda elements work in-game.

Cover updated the Holonometria site, so it now offers the Hololive Alternate Underworld Academy Overload manga in both English and Indonesian. This storyline is created by Moroyan and stars Tokoyami Towa, Murasaki Shion, Yozora Mel, Yukihana Lamy, and Yuzuki Choco. As it is part of the "alternate world" line of stories, all of the Vtubers attend or work at the underworld academy at Underworld Geo. So far, only the two-page long chapter 0 prologue and first chapter are available.

The story begins with Towa as the newest student at the school. Immediately after she arrives, Shion crashes into her. The two quickly meet fellow students Lamy and Mel, and Shion ends up at nurse Choco’s to treat her injuries. So begins Towa’s new, eventful life with her classmate and friends.

Moroyan’s name may sound familiar. Previously, the mangaka worked on The Idolmaster: Cinderella Girls and Kantai Collection (Kan Colle) manga.

This is the second Hololive Alternate manga to appear at Holonometria. The first is Yamato Phantasia. That’s a story by Kousuke Kurose (Goblin Slayer) and You Kururugi. It focuses on Shirakami Fubuki and Ookami Mio and their adventures with supernatural beings while living at Shirakami Shrine, though also features cameos from other Vtubers like Nakiri Ayame.

For my money, one of the most interesting aspects of a game’s creation is the composition and orchestration of its music. With Final Fantasy, that’s doubly the case because for me, and I imagine for so many others, its soundtrack is one of its best parts. Be it lo-fi channels, new arrangements, compilations, piano versions, or something else, Final Fantasy music makes its way into many of my playlists. 

That’s why I was so excited to chat with composer Masayoshi Soken about his score for Final Fantasy XVI. You might recognize his name as he’s also the composer of Final Fantasy XIV. Still, if you don’t, there’s a chance it’s a name you come to remember following the release of FFXVI because after spending more than three hours of hands-on time with the game in Square Enix’s Tokyo, Japan, office, I’m confident we’re about to get a banger of a score. 

In talking with Soken, I wanted to speak to him about some of the major themes and melodies of any Final Fantasy game – things like the Prelude, the main theme, the Victory Fanfare, and more – and he had plenty to say. In this four-part series, I’ll be breaking down different aspects of the music that excite me and hopefully you too.