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I have a question for anybody knowledgeable on Fire Emblem and Amazon in Japan. It seems that there are two special editions available on Amazon Japan: 1. A regular Fodlan Collection 2. Fodlan Collection with "Original Panorama Colored Paper" Does anybody happen to know what this Panorama looks like? If someone has a detailed image, I would be grateful.

In the Fire Emblem community, there is a saying that Japan doesn't like the Tellius games as much compared to the western world. What I want to know is why is that the reason ? Was it because of the artstyle, that didn't appeal to the Japanese fans? Was it because of Ike, that he doesn't fit the standard mold of a Fire Emblem protagonist? Or was it some other reason? I wish to find out the answer.

The game has been out in Japan for a month and in NA for a week, and the only languages available on the JP cartridge is Japanese and Simplified and Traditional Chinese. Why is English not an available option? Other games with international releases have all languages available and even automatically translate to the language of your native system. Why not Warriors? The game itself isn't even viewable on the eShop if you try to look at the software through the JP cartridge. While Nintendo may say that region-locking isn't a thing, in a way, they haven't changed at all. Does anyone have any insight or knowledge as to why this is or if this will be addressed any time soon?

Panel de Pon (SNES, 1995 (JP only) - Reviewed by Purple-Clad Gamer Edit: Sorry if some of the text placement looks weird, I typed this up on notepad beforehand Before we begin, here's how my reviews work: I rate each category on a scale from 0.0 to 10. Some categories will not be applied if necessary (ex. Level Design in a game like Dr. Mario) Categories: Introduction (not scored) - I start the review. Story - How well the story is written. Gameplay - How well does the game, well, PLAY? Are the controls good? Are the mechanics good? Characters - How well the characters are designed and how good they are as actual characters. Graphics - How well the game looks. Music - How good the game's music is. Difficulty - How well the difficulty is balanced-- is it challenging enough to keep you going? Level Design - How well are levels designed-- are they fun and interesting? Replay Value - Is it worth playing over and over? [Introduction] Panel de Pon is a puzzle game released exclusively in Japan in 1995 for the Super Famicom. It's known outside of Japan as "Tetris Attack", giving it a Yoshi's Island reskin, and is known to be a very good game that spawned the Panel de Pon series, which would be known as Puzzle League in the west. [Story] The only story in this game is within the game's 1-Player VS Mode, which might as well be a Story Mode. Panel de Pon's 1-Player VS Mode opens up with the game's mascot, Lip, explaining what's going on. The world has been invaded by monsters of darkness who have used magic to create an endless rainfall, putting the entire world at the brink of flooding. The monsters have also turned all the other faeries into servants of evil. Lip decides to stick up to restore her friends to normal and defeat the monsters within Death Mountain. Considering it's a puzzle game, It's a pretty good premise and has a few surprises at the end. 9.4/10 [Gameplay] Gameplay in Panel de Pon is pretty simple. If you wait on the Title Screen, Lip will show you how to play, and the game even has some built-in tutorials that you can use in the form of the How to Play and How to Improve modes. In Panel de Pon, you play on a grid of squares, each of which can be filled by a panel (hence Panel de Pon). Panels are stacked on top of each other and slowly rise toward the top of the grid, with a new row of panels being added at the bottom. The player must swap panels in horizontal or vertical lines of three or more matching colors by swapping panels horizontally, in increments of two. As matching lines of panels are made, the panels are cleared from the grid and any blocks above them fall into the gaps. Clearing more than three panels in a single swap creates a Combo, while Chains are made when falling panels from one clear cause another clear. Both score extra bonus points, and in multiplayer VS matches, these also send what are called Garbage Blocks to the other player's grid. Garbage Blocks can be transformed into panels by making a panel clear that is touching the Garbage Block. You automatically lose once the panels (and/or Garbage Blocks) touch the top of the grid for too long (only about a second or two). The goal of Panel de Pon depends on the mode. In 1-Player VS Mode, the player controls Lip, the Fairy of Flowers, to fight off the monsters of darkness and return her friends to normal, in the form of 2-Player VS matches with Lip's opponent being controlled by the computer. Lip must confront each of her corrupted friends in the Fairy Worlds, and later the forces of darkness in Death Mountain. The goal is to defeat every opponent-- there are 10 stages on Easy Mode, 11 on Normal Mode, and 12 on Hard and Super Hard Mode. The only way you can fully complete the story is to beat 1-Player VS Mode on Hard or Super Hard. Easy allows you to get a feel for how legitimate matches feel like, with Normal getting tougher, and with Hard and Super Hard being a true test of your Panel de Pon skills. Endless Mode basically serves as a Practice mode, where you can set the speed level and the difficulty. It only ends once you lose or quit. Timed Mode is basically a Score Attack mode, where you try to rack up as many points as you can within 2 minutes. If you love shooting for high scores, you'll like this mode. In Stage Clear Mode, you go through 6 stages with 5 parts each and clear the panels until the white line appears. Once the white line appears, you have to get every panel beneath it. It gets very tense at times and is pretty fun. Lastly, the Puzzle Mode gives you a panel puzzle where you have to clear every panel in a set amount of moves. Panels do not rise in this mode. Panel de Pon's gameplay is extremely smooth and a ton of fun. The gameplay is absolutely perfect for what it does-- it can get pretty tense, especially in 1-Player VS Mode on Hard or Super Hard and Stage Clear. Every mode is always pretty fun (and frustrating at times) but I always get the urge to keep going. 10/10 [Characters] First off, all of the characters look really good and very reminiscent of 90's anime. Every character feels unique in terms of design, and that creates a very good sense of variety by design standards. We don't exactly get much character development in Panel de Pon. The most that we know of the characters (sans the spoilers) is that Lip is cheerful, determined, and helpful. Yeah, granted, it's a puzzle game, so I probably shouldn't be asking for much. Regardless, it works fine given the fact that it's a puzzle game. 9.0/10 [Graphics] For SNES standards, Panel de Pon's art style and spritework are absolutely beautiful. I have nothing but praise for the graphical style used in this game. 10/10 [Music] Panel de Pon's soundtrack is absolutely marvelous. I never get tired of listening to this game's music. In the middle of actual matches, every stage's music is really good, and when you're about to win or lose, that awesome music becomes tense awesome music, and I absolutely adore it. Without spoiling anything, my favorite pieces are Lip's Theme, Elias' Theme, Stage 11's Theme, and most of all, Stage 12's theme. 10/10 [Difficulty] Panel de Pon's difficulty factors on the Game Mode you play and what difficulty you're playing on. In 1-Player VS Mode, Easy and Normal aren't that hard, except for Stage 11 on Normal. I had a pretty tough time with it my first time around. Hard Mode and Super Hard is basically a difficult test of your skills at Panel de Pon. It's tense and it's fun, but you're gonna need to practice... a LOT. Especially for Stage 12. Stage Clear Mode gets really intense towards the end-- I'd compare it to playing 1-Player VS Mode on Hard or Super Hard. Puzzle Mode really makes you think-- you'll likely spend a lot of time playing this mode to fully clear it. I have yet to play 2-Player VS Mode since I don't have any friends who play Panel de Pon, but from what I've seen, matchups like one elitist player and one above-average player-- the elitist can beat the above-average player in seconds, while 2 elitists can go at it for more than 5 minutes. Pretty crazy stuff. In terms of the difficulty's balance, it's a hit-or-miss situation. Puzzle games with a difficulty balance primarily factor on how good the player is, but from my experience with Panel de Pon, I'd say the balance was very suitable. In 1-Player VS Mode, the first 8 stages aren't that hard, but the last 4 can really give you a run for your money, as expected from final areas/levels in games in general. 10/10 [Replay Value] Panel de Pon is bursting at the seams with content. Puzzle Mode will have you playing for a long time trying to solve them all, the 1-Player VS Mode is always fun to play, and there's always the Stage Clear Mode to keep you tense and looking for more. Panel de Pon is a game absolutely worth playing repeatedly-- It's a ton of fun and many other people who have played Tetris Attack and/or Panel de Pon can tell you the same thing. 10/10 [Overall Rating] 9.8/10 Panel de Pon is a beautiful game that should be played by anyone looking to get into puzzle games or is just looking for a really fun game to try out that has a ton of content and replay value. Panel de Pon certainly delivers, and does not disappoint in the slightest.

I have a friend studying abroad in Japan and they said they'd look out for some Cipher cards. They don't know what store they'd be at and neither do I. Would any of you happen to know?

Genuinely curious question that I've had on my mind for the longest time and I only thought to ask after flipping through my copies of Knights of Iris and DNA Awakening Magnas. Why is it that Japanese books or texts often have English mixed in. Not neccessarily in the main body but for instance on the title or sections and subsections of the book? Hell the DNA Awakening Magnas actually have a full blown intro/description written in English on the front. The only reason I can figure is that English aside from maybe French is a universal language used for trade and commerce.

Just got this in the mail today. What can I say this thing is awesome. Its all in Japanese so I can't really read it but its mostly art anyways. The quality of the print is exceptional even the official character art looks better than anywhere else and the detail is stunning. It also came with the official promotional art as well as the concept, drafting, and storyboard art for every class, character, and event. The back third is the game dialogue between characters in its entirety (I can't read it but its awesome nonetheless and if it ever gets localized I'll definetely try to get one). Bottom line this thing is amazing if you can find it. Goes for about 3800 JPY I got it off Amazon Prime for $60. There are a few funny comic art pieces as well along with the Japanese popularity polls and other statististics. Oh they also have DLC character art all the Einher (Spelling?) cards. This thing is packed. EDIT: I realize this has been out for awhile and if there are any existing threads I apologize. Feel free to ask questions about it and such (aside from what it actually says). EDIT: Here are some scans from the book (I'm going to link them since there are quite a few) Chrom http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f136/armyzac42/Chrom_zpsb4af806d.png Sacred Stones DLC http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f136/armyzac42/DLC1_zps6efed8df.png Emmeryn falls storyboard http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f136/armyzac42/storyboard_zps52be9279.png Lucina http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f136/armyzac42/lucina_zpscc2d5a3e.png Character Dialogue (Japanese) http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f136/armyzac42/Lines1_zps1aa8c2a6.png Cover Art http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f136/armyzac42/Cover_zps8dc89f97.png Weapon Concept Art http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f136/armyzac42/weaponconcept_zps36285408.png Unit Concept Art http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f136/armyzac42/Unitconcept_zpsbd0d8228.png

I'd like this thread to be a place for HxH fans, or even haters, to gather and discuss the show and the individual episodes in a civilized manner. Also, don't mention manga related events please, as, while I myself do read it, some of us might not , and would prefer not to be spoiled on the coming events. If you really must, write it in a spoiler tag, and write a warning above the spoiler button. Discussion topics may range from any arc to individual episode, be it episode 1 or 130. As such, I'd like to start by writing a short opinion on the latest episode, episode 138. The episode starts with Ging talking about his motives, or rather, giving a vague answer on it. He was shown to be a calculative character so far, going by the plan with which he predicted the actions of the Zodiacs in the last episode. "Everything according to plan" is a rather silly trope, but Ging managed to keep it slightly believable at least. But anyways, he himself doesn't care about the position of chairman, all he wants is to pay respect to Netero's last will, by making his target move the way he wants to, implying he has someone in sight who he'd want to become chairman. Afterwards, we go back to the table where the Zodiacs sit at. And Pariston brings up a point I wondered about myself: that at least that short guy, and possibly some other zodiacs too, are idiots, which makes me wonder how got their rank in the first place. A zodiac, i.e. a Hunter among the best of the best, should be both smart and strong, not just the latter. Pariston however is more of an interesting guy. We know next to nothing about him, only that he behaves like a nice and charming man, but in actuality is quite sneaky and manipulative. Otherwise, the zodiacs wouldn't fear him, nor would Beans wonder about Netero's decision of making him vice chairman. And that is another interesting point, why would Netero have chosen Pariston as his vice? Surely not only to be entertained. Such hints that Pariston might actually be a good leader, or a worthy successor to Netero, despite his sneaky nature. By that I mean a leader who'd actually pay attention to his subordinates. Moving on, we come to the most important parts of the episode, Killua meeting his own family again. Thanks to his training, he managed to upen up 5 doors of his mansion, whereas before that he could only open up 2 or 3 IIRC. Then we see him meeting his father, talking about a yet unintroduced sister, Alluka. Silva mentions how she isn't human, angering Killua. Such already should be warning enough, as even the most fearful Nen users aren't refered to as inhumane. Alluka's power is quite an interesting one, even if cliche. Ofc, one may argue that such an almighty power is unnerving and unnecessary, HxH did a good job by countering the benefits of her power with an equally destructive drawback. The requests made by Alluka will be proportional to the last wish made, meaning that if Alluka grants an incredible wish, the person receiving the requests from her afterwards will have literally no chance to survive. Killua refers to it as equivalent exchange, and that term is perfectly fitting for the situation. Although, there is one thing that bothers me with the whole Alluka thing. Ofc, Killua's wish will be to remove the limitations Gon set to himself, to save his live. There are two problems with this: The first one is that saving Gon like that is a cop-out. Alluka's character was handled well so far, and she has a highly intriguing power, but if combined with Gon she quickly turns into a plot device to make Gon's sacrifice undone again. As such, one may compare it to the Dragon Balls. Secondly, the wish to save Gon is a ginormous one. In fact, I don't believe the millionaire wish can even remotely compare to it, as the wish to save Gon defies a terribly powerful limitation set to himself, and defies the concept of death itself in a way. Were Alluka to ask requests to someone after saving Gon, not only would these requests be absolutely impossible to fulfill, after denying 4 requests over a 100 people may have to die. Killua is surely aware of that, yet he decides to go through with it. And while it shows his loyalty for Gon, it is still a morally questionable course of action. All in all, the episode had a lot of interesting moments, and while I am nitpicking at some details, that is only because of my devotion to the series. Due to it being so amazing in most parts, one can't help but notice some small flaws, as they become more apparent if compared to the rest. The imlications for the future might be worrying, but so far HxH never failed at excelling in execution.

http://www.siliconera.com/2014/07/07/earthbound-figures-ness-paula-mr-saturn-coming-japan/ Just figured I'd link you huge Mother fans this, so you can prep your wallets. I like Mother and such but I dno enough for figures

So like, i was reading a thread in Awakening board (scary, i know) and was talking to another member here about it. Theres like, this weird thing with Japanese games/stories and age. 30 seems to be considered rather ancient in JRPG Worlds. In FE13, we have Cherche declare she is too old for marriage but shes not really older than 25. Gregor appears to be almost 50 but theres a solid argument for him being closer to 30. Then theres Nowi... This just happens a lot in games. 17 year old protagonist is pretty much a norm. In quazi-medieval settings, this actually does work. Due to how lifespans worked in medieval society, a 17 year old is basically a grown-up. So Chrom in FE13 as a 19 year old (estimate) would be like, right at an ideal. But when we get to more modern settings like some FF games and Ace Attorney, and this is applied, it gets weird. Is this whole thing relative to Japanese culture perhaps? Cuz Western culture paints the prime as around 30. Weebs, help a god out here.

Just posting a topic about God Eater 2. It just got released on november 14. for PSP and PS Vita, it has aleadry shipped 500,000+ copies in japan. aaaaand it's japan only for now. what if it get a american release like God Eater Burst ? Trailer/Gameplay:

So I've been thinking this, and I hope to ask you all the same. We've been getting new DLC every Thursday since the game came out, sometimes twice in one week. What happens when we catch up with Japan? Will we succumb to monthly DLC? What happens?! I must know!