This Month's Most Popular Games Tagged 'Japan' on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/games/popular/month/Japan/?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss ]]> This Month's Most Popular Games Tagged 'Japan' on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/css/logo.jpg This Month's Most Popular Games Tagged 'Japan' on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/games/popular/month/Japan/?utm_source=feed&utm_medium=rss ]]> en-us Blue Dragon From IGN.Com
The first of two epic RPG projects for Microsoft by Mistwalker, the studio founded by Square-Enix's Hironobu Sakaguchi. Blue Dragon features characters by designer Akira Toriyama, and tells the story of a young boy named Shu, who battles enemies using his "Dragon Shadow."
]]> 07 Feb 2007 06:11:04 Sleeping Lion It's an FPS Game about the anti-japanese invasion in China in WWII.

Actually the war was started in 1931 and ended in 1945, during the war more than 35 million Chinese people were injured and killed. In the 4 week Nan Jing massacre, there were more than 300 thousands of Chinese people died.
]]> 18 Dec 2006 01:45:38 TENCHU RETURN FROM DARKNESS The violent rebellion and civil strife that have torn through the heart of 16th century Japan appear to be drawing to a close. Also coming to an end is the Azuma ninja clan's year of mourning in honor of the tragic death of Rikimaru. Alas, this long-awaited serenity may be short-lived.

The mysterious Tenrai has begun a quest to conquer the country by amassing an army of ninjas and lords of darkness. Your master, Lord Gohda, has called upon you, a cunning stealth assassin, to stop Tenrai and his disciples before all is lost.
]]> 02 Feb 2007 09:35:30 Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven In a time of hiatus in a period of bitter wars and great turmoil, the Azuma ninja clan ends its year of mourning for the tragic death of Rikimaru. The land of Lord Gohda celebrates the passing of the fourth season of peace since the defeat of Lord Mei-Oh. Only the Azuma ninjas knew the truth about Lord Mei-Oh's disappearance into a portal after he was defeated. It was a secret that even Lord Gohda did not know.

The Azuma ninjas serve Lord Gohda with their lives and with their honor- delivering midnight messages to neighboring states and punishment in the shadows to those who turned against him. They are a feared yet unknown group, a faceless arm of justice masked in a cloud of secrets. They are his merciless force of silent assassins.
]]> 02 Feb 2007 09:45:56 Otogi: Myth of Demons Otogi was a great action game for the Xbox that sold rather poorly. Its unfortunate, as the game was quite entertaining.
]]> 07 Feb 2007 04:48:53 DoDonPachi Sequel to DonPachi, this is an insane shooter for the Playstation 1 and was released in Japan. Establishes many of the basic themes of future shooters.
]]> 08 Feb 2007 03:55:48 Otogi 2: Immortal Warriors Bringing 5 new playable characters to the table, Otogi 2 built off of the general concept of the original game. Raikoh returned, joined by Seimei, Suetake, Kintoki, Sadamitsu, and Tsuna. Each character offered a different weapon and play style, as well as different abilities. Once again, the highly destructible environments made play exceptionally entertaining.
]]> 10 Feb 2007 02:14:44 Vandal Hearts Vandal Hearts is an original IP developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Nagoya. The game is a turn-based tactical RPG similar to "Shining Force" and "Final Fantasy Tactics". It was released for the original Sony Playstation and the Sega Saturn.


Story Synopsis:


"Thousands of years ago, the holy man known to history as Toroah the Messiah traveled far and wide across the continent of Sostegaria, spreading his teachings throughout the land. After his death, his descendants and heirs assumed absolute political power over the region, forming the basis of the Holy Ashah Dynasty and ruling through a combination of religious doctrine and military power for millennia. The kings and queens of the Holy Ashah Dynasty, however, did not always rule wisely or justly, and, as time passed, the citizenry began to resent the power of their leaders.

Fifteen years ago, this growing discontent found its ultimate expression in the person of Arris the Sage, who united the disparate anti-royal factions throughout Sostegaria and shaped them into a powerful guerrilla army. Under the cunning leadership of Arris, this Liberation Army managed to outwit and outmaneuver the Royal Army, and finally smashed through to the palace of the Ashah Dynasty itself, and burnt it to the ground.

With the monarchy dissolved, the rebels establish a ruling council founded on the principles of democracy and popular sovereignty. From the ashes of the Holy Ashah Empire emerges the Republic of Ishtaria. The leaders of the revolution naturally assumed leadership positions within the new republic: all, that is, except for Arris himself, who, the battle having been won, quietly slipped into the shadows and disappeared.

Today, the fledgling republic is in increasingly dire straits: the autocratic Minister of Defense, Hel Spites, and his elite anti-terrorism squad, the Crimson Guard, are using ever-increasing force to stamp out the last vestiges of resistance to Ishtarian rule, while they allow outlaws to roam the countryside and pirates to sail the seas. Meanwhile, Ash Lambert and his colleagues at the third battalion of the Ishtarian Security Forces begin to suspect a conspiracy at the highest levels of government. Ash's attempts to draw attention to the situation, though, only draw the ire of the conspirators themselves, leaving only Ash and his allies to foil the their plans and restore order to the nation."



Battles take place between two sides on three-dimensional maps viewed through a camera of which the player has complete control. Somewhat resembling the game of Chess the player moves their characters (think pieces) within the allowed movement squares on each turn. Once all the players characters have finished moving or have used an action - such as attacking, using potions or casting spells, the opposing side then takes the next turn until they have exhausted all movement opportunities, and so forth. Experience Points are earned by defeating enemies and casting spells, leading to characters levelling up and becoming more powerful.

The RPG element takes form in the aforementioned Experience Points system and between battles when the player is able to talk to NPC's, buy merchandise from stores, upgrade weapons and armour and even upgrade individuals within the party to a higher class of warrior.

The game spawned a sequel titled Vandal Hearts II: Heavenly Gate, which was only released on the Playstation. There is also a new Vandal Hearts game in development for the Nintendo DS.
]]> 26 Feb 2007 11:18:15 Vandal Hearts II: Heavenly Gate Vandal Hearts II: Heavenly Gate is the sequel to the Konami developed Turn-Based Tactical RPG "Vandal Hearts", also for the Sony Playstation.


"Aided by the power of a sacred sword, Nirbath led the blessed. The last of its powers used, the sword shattered into a thousand pieces, each of which is said to have become the first of every weapon known to mankind"


The story follows the life of the main character of the game, Joshua. The game begins in the country of Natra when Joshua, but a child is orphaned at a young age. His uncle, a lowly farmer, steps up for the boy and takes him to the village called Polata, where he now lives. Due to the progressive education system of Polatas Mayor Kossimo, Joshua is now able to be schooled amongst nobles. This is when he meets Adele, the niece of Kossimo, and they eventually form a close although mostly unspoken bond. As the game progresses Joshua is tricked into killing Kossimo. Realising the gravity of the situation he runs away, thus ending the prologue.

The next part of the game takes place many years later during a state of civil war when Joshua is the leader of the notorious and highly skilled bandit group called the "Red Wolves". This is when he meets Baron Pratue, and the dangerous journey to save the country begins.

The game had a similar feel to the first game despite having nothing to do with each other story wise. The combat system has changed somewhat in that it now features a Dual-Turn System, splitting the screen and allowing the player and opposition to move at the same time.
]]> 27 Feb 2007 06:53:36 Learning the Kana In this educational mini game, you can teach yourself how to identify Japanese katakana and hiragana symbols. Each symbol represents a sound, and with practice you can eventually memorize the symbols and their associated sounds. At the same time, you will be improving your typing skills!

The gameplay is very easy to adapt to. Clouds containing Japanese symbols scroll across the screen, and you must type the sound you believe is associated with any symbol on the screen. You gain points by correctly identifying the symbols.
]]> 10 Mar 2007 05:55:07 Inindo: Way of the Ninja Inindo: Way of the Ninja is a role-playing game developed by Koei. Originally released for the PC8801SR, PC9801, MSX2 home computer, it was remade for the Super NES platform, which was released in North America. The game is a non-historical account of Japan's warring states period. In that sense, Inindo can be considered as a spin-off of the long-standing Nobunaga's Ambition series.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inindo:_Way_of_the_Ninja for more details.
]]> 28 Jun 2007 01:16:15 O2Jam
]]> 06 Nov 2007 02:55:22 Valhalla Knights In Valhalla knights you start as a newbie hero who is suffering from amnesia. In addition you can hear a voice in your head telling you about a danger to the world and that you're the one who can change the fate. Strange situation, isn't it? Well, this is how the story begins...
Valhalla Knights is nice looking, decent role-playing game. It features very good realtime battle system, where you are controlling one member of the party while other members are controlled by computer. Obviously you can switch between characters at any time.
Visual side of the game is very compelling. Everyone will be amazed by beautiful character design and unique locations.
]]> 17 Jul 2007 02:25:58