Intro
Another year means another year of video gaming announcements. This week, we were invited for the 3rd year in a row to go to NIS America’s press event in San Francisco, CA. NIS America is known for bringing you great games like Disgaea, Danganronpa, Birthdays the Beginning, and Ys. If you are a fan of NIS America, then join us as we bring you the skinny on what’s going on this year.
Basic Info:
| When it was Established: | Established in 1992 in Japan, Nippon Ichi Software opened its doors to the United States market as NIS America, otherwise known as Nippon Ichi Software, in 2003. While the press event we went to was set in San Francisco, the company’s US headquarters is located in Southern California in Santa Ana.
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| Length of event: | This particular NIS America press event was set on March 8th 2019 with the doors opening at 6PM and closing at 11PM. This event was not broadcasted live as there was an embargo set for Monday at 10AM. |
| Place/Location: | The Foundary in San Francisco, California.
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| Cost: | Free Admission (Press Only)
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The Event
NIS America came back to the Bay Area again this year to show us gamers just what they have in store for us. While it was a rather cold Friday night outdoors, we were given the priviledge of gathering in the warmth of The Foundary on Folsom for drinks, food, and gaming. First off, we were greated by Prinny at the door and the little Prinnies who were helping at the event. The bar was open to all guests featuring a wide array of alcoholic drinks as well as a special drink menu with drinks based on a few video games and decorated specially with real flowers for the event!
Once everyone mingled a bit and were able to help themselves to the catered food (including some well thought out items to cater to all picky diets), the announcements began. Press were greeted by MCs who then hit the film reel of two other MCs filmed to make a majority of the gaming announcements. One of the first announcements came in The Caligula Effect: Overdose, a game that we had the priviledge to play as a review that was released on the 12th. The Caligula Effect: Overdose was also available to be demoed at the event for interested parties. There was even merchandise available for The Caligula Effect: Overdose!
Then we were introduced to The Princess Guide by the software developer behind Penny-Punching Princess, Hironori Takano, if you readers recall that game from last year. The Princess Guide actually features many similar features to Penny-Punching Princess, although Hironori Takano explains how the gameplay has advanced since last year. You are given the ability to help guide a princess to being a proper princess and train her. It looks like a great game with different routes. Once you’re done, you can go back and pick a new princess’ route to play, too! We’ve been given the opportunity to review this game, too, so keep your eyes open for our game review coming soon!
Next up, we have Lapis x Labrinyth, a rather cute platformer game where you stack characters on top of each other like dango and utilize different abilities in that way. We really appreciated the graphics and the visuals of Lapis x Labrinyth, and the unusual take on the platformer genre. This was also available as a demo at the event. We absolutely loved the chibi character designs that were featured in the game, which were also available on purchaseable keychains!
Then we were introduced to the game Neo Atlus 1469, which feels a bit out of left field for NIS America and its usual releases, but it feels nostalgic like an adventure title we would have played as children, if you know what we mean. We know it’s been released on PC previously, but it might be worth keeping an eye out for it as it gets a Nintendo Switch release!
NIS America is also going to release Destiny connect -Tick-Tock Time Travelers- later this year, which is a new RPG featuring more western visuals in order to appeal to all gamers and quite an interesting story line involving time. The game is actually set to release in Japan soon, so not much is known about the game outside of the trailers that were released as of yet. Still, it looks very much like a riveting game with a more western take on the traditional JRPG style!
Now, if you want to get nostalgic, check out the SNK 40th Anniversary edition, which is a game that should appeal to many old school gamers. Featuring gameplay from many different SNK games, some of the most nostaglic features have been upgraded and changed to work with modern day console gaming, so you’ll have to change up the way you play the game (because an Atari game just isn’t going to work the same on a PlayStation 4). While the game doesn’t have all games packed into one, it does also feature a museum for those who want to see the old character designs and visuals from many of the SNK games throughout gaming history.
Oh, let’s not forget that NIS America also announced RPG Maker MV will be releasing on all major consoles now. It was previously released on PC, but this latest upgrade for consoles features almost two times as many features as its original PC version, so you may want to keep an eye out for it.
Another big game to keep an eye out for appears to be Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen, a prelude to the events of the Utawarerumono game. If you love plot heavy visual novels with romance and adventure, this is the game for you. Also, we know many of our readers are anime fans, so we hope you’re as excited as we are to hear that Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen was announced!
Next up we have The Alliance Alive HD Remaster, a game previously on the 3DS that was remastered for multiple platforms including the new Nintendo Switch. The graphics look great and the story line appears solid, so we’re really hyped up for this remastered edition. It will release in Japan later this year, but it’s now available for pre-order in the west!
After all of the announcements, guests were allowed to engage with the other Prinnies and take a look at the merchandise NIS America prepared. There were items from all sorts of games they were announcing. It was really fun and there were some art books and even a Prinny hat! Also at the event were digital caricature artists, so you could have your picture drawn for you. Once we were done schmoozing and boozing, we were given a cute bag including some actual playing cards featuring The Princess Guide characters as the royal cards, a card case (great for holding business cards or small collections of cards but also contains QR codes for each one of the games announced by NIS America), and a custom pen for the event.
Final Thoughts
We always appreciate being invited by NIS America to these events each year. It’s an honor and we love hearing about what they have to offer in the coming year. If you’re a fan of JRPGs and Japanese titles, we’re sure you have been eager to hear their gaming announcements as well. Thank you once again for joining us here at Honey’s Anime for some announcements of great titles. See you again next time!
Author: Jenangelx3