The 7 Biggest Announcements From Tokyo Game Show 2017

Shin Megami Tensei News Coming Soon

While speculation about a Catherine sequel announcement didn’t materialize, Atlus did at least vow to give us an update about Shin Megami Tensei for Switch in the very near future. It might not technically be a big announcement in its own right, but the prospect of Shin Megami Tensei on Switch is a huge deal and could very well have a big impact on the console’s continued success moving forward. The franchise is, of course, a best seller on 3DS, and now looks to make its new home on Switch. From what we saw back at E3, the upcoming new entry in the series looks very intriguing, with its mysterious character art and foreboding music.

Atlus teased the forthcoming news during its “Atlus Live Special #1: Megaton Feature.” After showing the same teaser image that was released back at the Nintendo Switch stage reveal back in March, an image appeared confirming that new information about the upcoming Shin Megami Tensei game will be shared on October 23. It’s worth noting that Atlus did mention that the game had only just entered development at the time of Switch’s reveal, so it’s fair to assume that the game isn’t too far along and perhaps explains why there isn’t much to share at this time.

Coincidentally, the “Shin Megami Tensei 25th Anniversary Live – Chaos Side” concert will also be held on October 23. The event will feature special guest performances by Atlus composers Shoji Meguro and Ryota Kozuka.

Dragon’s Crown Pro

Dragon’s Crown was rumored to be bound for PS4 in the build up to Tokyo Game Show, and it turns out the leak was accurate. An HD remaster of the PS3 and Vita hack-and-slash title from the developers behind Odin Sphere is indeed on the way. The gorgeous art style certainly hasn’t lost any of its charm and it looks stunning running in native 4K resolution on PS4 Pro.

For the uninitiated, Dragon’s Crown is a 2.5D side scrolling action RPG. Players can choose between six different characters from six different classes. It is a game with deep mechanics and and role-playing systems, but since certain character classes are much simpler and more accessible to play than others, newcomers to the genre shouldn’t be intimidated, even if it is technically geared more towards the hardcore RPG player.

The updated version supports cross-play with PS3 and PS Vita. The Japanese release also includes the English language voices, and the soundtrack has been re-recorded with a live orchestra. Dragon’s Crown Pro will be released on January 25 in Japan. There’s not yet any word on an international release, though.

Noctis Joins Dissidia Final Fantasy NT’s Roster

Final Fantasy has had some subpar spin-offs, it has to be said, but the Dissidia series is not one of them. The series brings together iconic characters from the Final Fantasy universe together, battling out in fights of insanely epic proportions. The upcoming Dissidia title, NT, is PS4 port of an arcade title that is set to launch early next year, and it was announced at Tokyo Game Show that one of the latest protagonists, Final Fantasy XV’s Noctis, would be joining the roster of characters.

According to Square Enix, Noctis will use “familiar attacks and arsenal of weapons” in battle and rounds out the roster of more than 20 characters featured in the game. And, indeed, recently revealed gameplay footage from Tokyo Game Show has shown off Noctis’ trademark warp strike ability. Developer Team Ninja is clearly focused on making Noctis look as close as possible with his moves and play style. He certainly appears every bit the deadly prince we’ve come to know from Final Fantasy XV.

Dissidia: Final Fantasy NT is set to launch on January 30, 2018. Last month, Square Enix held a closed beta for the game.

Final Fantasy IX Released on PS4

Having already released the PC version of Final Fantasy VII last year on PS4, Square Enix has decided to skip Final Fantasy VIII entirely and re-release Final Fantasy IX. Although it didn’t perform commercially as well as either VII or VIII, Final Fantasy IX is retrospectively considered one of the best, if not the best game in the series, and its appearance on PS4 is nonetheless a welcome addition.

The newly released version of the game isn’t a lazy port by any stretch of the imagination, either. The visual updates include the HD character models and cutscenes seen on the iOS and Android release, but there are other quality of life improvements that might well tempt you to replay the game. These include auto-leveling, the ability to turn off random encounters, and speeding up battles sequences, which is a nice touch for those that just want to replay the game for its story. Trophies have also been added for the completionists out there, though one is proving to be a bit of a tough ask. 

Monster Hunter World Release Date

Monster Hunter World, the action role-playing game that is best known for its success on PSP and 3DS handheld systems, will arrive on PS4 January 24th 2018. The game continues to look utterly beautiful in gameplay footage shown off at Tokyo Game Show, which gave us another detailed look at the hunting gameplay loop, and even some fishing downtime, too.

What impresses, in particular, is the sense of scale to Monster Hunter World’s environment. The gorgeous backdrop of the rugged terrain and the variety of the huge monsters that inhabit it really make the player avatar feel tiny and insignificant in comparison. Monster Hunter’s migration to home consoles has really allowed the developers to build a detailed and immersive world that wasn’t possible due to the limitations of handheld hardware. World has several different areas for players to hunt in, divided into a set of numbered zones, and PS4 facilitates seamless open world traversal, unlike the 3DS titles before it.

The Monster Hunter series has managed to find immense success limited to the east and Japan, but there’s every possibility that World, with its more western flavor and higher production value, could see its popularity explode when it arrives early next year. You can find more of our thoughts on the game in our hands-on preview from the Tokyo Game Show showroom floor.

Zone of the Enders: Anubis Mars for PS4 and PSVR

It’s been a long time since we’ve heard anything about Zone of the Enders, but Konami announced at Tokyo Game Show that is would be releasing a remastered version of the game for PS4, and it will feature PSVR support, too. The game is scheduled for release in Spring 2018.

Zone of the Enders was originally written and directed by Hideo Kojima. Ironically, the game first garnered attention because it featured a demo for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty inside the case. But despite many people buying it just to get their hands on a sneak peek of Snake’s (in the end, Raiden’s) new adventure, the game did end up forging its own legacy, and was especially well received in Japan. It was, however, not until the second game, 2nd Runner Mars, that Zone of the Enders really earned critical acclaim. The sequel’s stages were on a much grander scale, the mission structure more varied, and the story given an extra dose of quirkiness that all Kojima games are best known for. Replaying in HD on PS4 will be a treat, and in PSVR, we can’t wait to see what sort of a new dynamic it brings to the experience.

Notably, this remaster marks the first Konami property linked to the director set to release after his very public and much talked about dismissal from the publisher.

Brand New Square Enix Game, Left Alive

Arguably the most exciting news out of Tokyo Game Show was Square Enix’s announcement of a brand new action game for the PS4. Called Left Alive, the game is described as a “Survival Action Shooter,” and it was later confirmed as part of the Front Mission universe, taking place between the tactical RPG series’ fifth entry and Front Mission Evolved in the year 2127. Interestingly, Front Mission is a role-playing game that has typically employed turn-based strategy gameplay, so this will be a big departure from its usual format.

You might have recognized the awesome artwork for the game, reminiscent of the Metal Gear Solid franchise, and that’s because it is the work of none other than Yoji Shinkawa, the director of art for the Metal Gear Solid series. Shinkawa isn’t the only big name game developer taking part in Left Alive’s production, either. In fact, it’s quite the star-studded collaboration, with Armored Core director Toshifumi Nabeshima involved, as well as Final Fantasy brand manager Shinji Hashimoto, and Xenoblade Chronicles X mech designer, Takayuki Yanase.

There are scant details about the nature of its gameplay, scale, or story. All we do know is that the game is headed to PS4 and PC in the near future, so we’ll certainly be keeping our ear to ground for more information on this one.