Senran Kagura series (3DS/Vita)

[Nerroth]

And another new clip:




EDIT: 8/9/8/7.

[Nerroth]

According to MarvelousAQL, Shinovi Versus sold over 120,000 copies (including physical and PSN editions), making it the third most successful launch week for a PS Vita title in Japan so far. The weekly charts should help put things into context once they go up tomorrow EDIT: show how much of that is due to physical sales.

Also, two of the "hidden" characters from the 3DS games, Daidouji and Rin/Suzune, will be made available as paid DLC.

[Nerroth]

Two new characters have been added to Shinovi Versus as DLC add-ons: Daidouji and Suzune/Rin:

[RoadBuster]

Well, the Yen is way down and AmiAmi had a pretty good deal on it, so I ordered Shinovi Versus and it got in today.

I was a big fan of the Ikkitousen games Marvelous made and there's a good deal of that brawler in this game as well. A ton of extra content and it really shows what the Vita can do.

If anyone is curious about the game I can give some overview of it.

[Laith]

Oh, oh! I'm curious, I'm curious!

[RoadBuster]

Alrighty, then! Here we go!

The first thing you'll do in the game is choose which 'faction' you want to start playing as. At first there are three, but I believe a fourth will unlock after the others are beaten.



From there, you'll go to your HighSchool Shinobi Clubhouse, which serves as a main menu of sorts.



Here you can do things like talk to the other characters, shop for new items, dress up your character, go on missions, etc.

The customization options are really high, as you can change your characters normal outfit, Shinobi outfit, accessories, and most importantly underwear.

And yes, most fetishes are widely covered:






Anyway, selecting a mission will get you started. You can either go for a story mission, an 'arcade mode', or training. Most of the story missions have a dedicated character you must play them through as, but after you beat it, you can replay it as any of the characters in your team.

So lets get started!

Starting the mission will usually involve a bit of story before hand. You can make the text fly by with Triangle or you can skip it all together by pressing start.

When the game begins, it will first introduce your character:



And will then begin:



Right now, the character is in High School Shinobi Enthusiast mode. Depending on the mission, it could start out with a bunch of fodder enemies or it could go directly to a confrontation with another Shinobi Enthusiast.



Combat works a lot like a mix between a brawler and Dynasty Warriors. Or almost exactly like Hokuto Musou (Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage). Square will do light attacks, Triangle will do heavy attacks. Circle will dash if tapped and run if held down. Cross will make your character jump, and they can double jump. Pressing R will make your character block. Do it at the exact moment of the impact and they will parry.

Combos work like they did in the Ikkitousen games this company made. The more your character level's the more the combo opens up.



The ones with a green circle around them had to be earned by levels.

Eventually, you'll come across a rival (if not immediately):



This young lady came to discuss politics. Unfortunately, she has a different opinion than us, so it's time for her to die.

Lots of these rivals will spawn fodder enemies with them. I've never had fodder enemies on my side, so the Hero fights alone!!

Combat with the rivals acts slightly different as large hit combos can actually destroy bits of clothing. There's different levels to this, as the first will just damage their outer clothing (top and bottom, not necessarily together) and the second will destroy it completely, leaving them in their underwear.





When the going gets tough, there's a trick up the sleeves of these girls (Assuming they have sleeves left at this point). Press L and IT'S MORPHING TIME!



Your character just went from Shinobi Enthusiast to Shinobi Badass.



In this form, your character hits harder and their reach is generally further as well. Combos change up a bit so be sure to check the screen. Not only that, but now they also have access to super moves. That would be what the little scrolls in the bottom left of the screen are for. You can now press L in conjunction with one of the other buttons to perform a super attack. Level 1 supers are performed by presseing L and Square, Level 2s with L and Triangle, and Level 3s with L and Circle. However, for a level three, your health has to be in the red as well, KoF style.



Supers are guaranteed to do clothing damage if they hit, although they usually only affect either the top or bottoms only.

Lol, also, should you finish your rival off with a super and they are down to their underwear, it will completely rip off whichever part of the clothing it hits. It's censored, obviously, but apparently it was risque enough for imageshack to immediately delete the screenshot of it I took...

Anyway, VICTORY!



After the fight, you'll get a rating and earn XP.





So, there's a quick overview of how the game works. My opinion of the game is actually really high. I wasn't sure how it would turn out when I ordered it, but I'm actually having a blast with it. A word of warning, though. You can overlevel your characters VERY easily. The fight I screencaptured here I had to actually LET the girl hit Asuka enough to get a shot of the clothing damage. What I did was play through the characters arcade modes first, which leveled them up quite a bit. It's making the story missions way too easy, though. I'll definitely do the next group differently.

Also, if you're interested in the game, but afraid of all the Japanese menus, Gamefaqs has a wiki that translates them all. There also seems to be significant work on translating the stories of the game as well.

And if you have further questions, don't be afraid to ask. I'm still just really scratching the surface of the game, so there's a lot more to be seen, I'm sure.

[Laith]

Oh man that actually sounds like fun. If I could digest Queen's Gate Spiral Chaos I can digest this. Guess I know what I am buying next month.

[RoadBuster]

Oh! I actually have the first Queens Blade game and really enjoyed it. Was the sequel just as good, then?

[Laith]

Probably better. The gameplay was the same but the stages were better designed. Also there was more balance so everyone was useful.

[RoadBuster]

Welp. Something else to look for while the yen is down, lol.

[Sobzob]

I love Ryouna.

I'm also up for playing this game online. If anyone is up for it my psn is SobzobJP.

[Nerroth]

Xseed might be up to something...

EDIT: Burst is coming to the North American Nintendo eShop. No word of a European version as of yet.

[Nerroth]

Zen United will be handling Burst in Europe, and will even go for a physical release, too.

[Nerroth]

Burst is out on the Nintendo eShop this month in North America:

[RoadBuster]

After thoroughly enjoying SV, I'll definitely be picking this up when it comes out on Thursday!

[Laith]

Time to scrap some money again. Ugggh.

[ItsaRandomUsername]

'bout darn time, I say.

[Nerroth]

It's now available in North America:

[RoadBuster]

It's interesting playing this after Shinovi Versus. As opposed to a more Musou feel, it's a straight up brawler, a la Final Fight/Streets of Rage (or, more accurately, like the IkkiTousen games the company made). Took me a bit to get used to it, but most of the combos and the like are still the same.

I'm having a lot of fun with it and it's great to finally be able to read what's going on. However... this REALLY drives home just how much more powerful the Vita is than the 3DS. Shinovi Verses had wide open fields and was able to handle many many more enemies on the screen at once. The graphics and framerate were both better, obviously, too.

Also, interesting to note, the 3D aspect is completely turned off during normal gameplay. I'm guessing it's because the framerate would go down even further.

[Nerroth]

A live stream introducing new entries in the SK series will be aired on the 8th of January.