When Nexon first announced that they would be collaborating with Arc System Works to develop a fighting game based on Dungeon Fighter Online, the response was a bit muted. Arc System Works is arguably the best fighting game studio in the industry right now, but working with an IP that has such a niche audience–no matter how huge that IP may be–didn’t set the fighting game community on fire. Fast forward a year and a half later, though, and there’s no doubt that DNF Duel earns its place as one of the more accessible and polished releases the studio has had thus far.
The Kunio-Kun series (known as River City in the West) has been through every incarnation imaginable. From its humble beginnings on the NES chronicling the adventures of delinquent high school boys to the excellent River City Girls that gave Kyoko and Misako a chance to shine last generation, the River City series has been faithfully serving beat ‘em up fans for years. Now, that same series is tackling the famous Romance of the Three Kingdoms story and making it its own. What results is a cheesy but heartfelt beat ‘em up that stumbles just a bit in its execution.
While K-pop groups like Blackpink and BTS are credited with popularizing idols in the West, the concept of idols and idol culture originated in Japan and continues to thrive there. Idol Manager is all about creating the next big group to top the charts and sell out arenas while navigating the cutthroat Japanese idol scene. It’s a harsh but unrelenting look at all the behind-the-scenes work that it takes to make it to the world stage, and it’s an absolutely addicting (if not soul-crushing) experience.
Games based on anime are notorious for two things: being arena fighter Musou games and retreading the source material. So when Bandai Namco announced that the new One Piece game would be a full-fledged JRPG with an original story written by Eiichiro Oda himself, it sparked interest throughout the entire fandom. Thankfully, developer ILCA has largely managed to deliver an engaging adventure for fans and JRPG enthusiasts alike. Despite some rough edges, One Piece Odyssey stands out as one of the best games based on an anime in recent memory.
In an era of unwieldy UI and endless icons to manage, minimalist design sensibilities shine through in titles like Melatonin. Its dream-like aesthetic is pulled off perfectly from start to finish, and though the runtime is on the shorter side, the level of polish Half Asleep has managed to implement here is astounding.
Tales of Symphonia is an all-time classic JRPG and arguably the best Tales Of game ever made. Ironically, Tales of Symphonia Remastered is easily one of the most disappointing remasters of all time. There are no significant improvements visually, audibly, or gameplay-wise that warrant buying this version. In fact, it’s worse than its original release in terms of framerate and stability. For a company that just put out one of the best remasters of the 2020s thus far with JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R, it’s shocking that Bandai dropped the ball this hard. If this is what Tales Of fans have to look forward to in the future, it may be best to stop asking for remasters of other entries altogether.