E3 is a big show with tons of games, but the unfortunate result is that Japanese games are neglected by big sites, like Giant Bomb, because anime is for jerks etc. etc. etc...
However!
There were quite a lot of cool Japanese games at E3, so I thought I'd round them up here. First of all: Props to @marino for uploading trailers for everything. It's usually not something that happens here, by virtue of the front page getting rapidly spammed if that was to happen on a daily basis, but it really helps to bring every game into the limelight, so thank you for that. Here we go!
Persona 5
The one big Japanese game on the showfloor is obviously Persona 5. There's already a trailer on the site, but 12 minutes of gameplay was also shown to E3 attendees. There are several off-screen recorded footage videos, but Gamespot's seems to have the best mix of audio and video quality.
Nioh
It's like Dark Souls, but good. That's what I think at least, but it's certainly up to personal preference, if you prefer the esoteric and bizarre storytelling of From Software's game or something that is slightly more cohesive like this. Things are certainly still mysterious, but it looks to be more story-heavy.
Attack on Titan: Wings of Freedom
While feedback to the Japanese release hasn't been overwhelmingly positive, since it's apparently pretty easy, you can't deny that it doesn't look cool. A story trailer is already on the site, but there's also this gameplay trailer showing the game in action.
Yakuza 0
If you are looking forward to Shenmue 3, you should definitely check out the Yakuza series. Again, a story trailer is on the site, but Toshihiro Nagoshi was on the showfloor and showing off the game to several outlets. PlayStation has a nice video showing off a typical sidestory and side activity. From a historical standpoint I'm super interested in this, because while Anime and games have given us a view into how contemporary Japan looks, I don't think I've ever played anything that explore the 80's.
Nier Automata
While the first Nier was weirdly Zelda-like in it's structure, Nier Automata seems to be more in the vain of a character action game like Bayonetta, but still with some open world stuff to it. Check out this nice, smooth gameplay!
Then check out these open world shenanigans.
Wild Guns Reloaded
I think this is one of the biggest, small E3 games and I've been excited to see it in action, ever since it was announced a month or so ago. It was thrilling to see that Natsume hasn't gone the weird 3D route, but instead kept to the classic pixelart of the original game, but with the stages in 16:9 and support for 4 players. According to their press release, there's not only new playable characters, but also new stages. The E3 demo only had the first stage from the original game, but it looks amazing. Check out this gameplay and also check the trailer for a glimpse of the two new characters.
River City: Tokyo Rumble
Natsume also brought River City: Tokyo Rumble for 3DS to E3. It seems like a mash-up of the various Kunio-kun games, with added guest characters from Double Dragon.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
Igarashi was on set to show off the progress of his Kickstarter success story. It looks like it's coming along nicely.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
I swear that I have to look up the name every time I think about this game. It wasn't super well received in Japan, pleasing neither Shin Megami Tensei fans or Fire Emblem fans, but I think it looks super cool. Nintendo Treehouse showed off 30 minutes of gameplay.
Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse
Slightly darker than Tokyo Mirage sessions is SMTIV: Apocalypse. It was announced a few months ago that Atlus were going to localize it, but they brought this nice trailer to E3.
Final Fantasy XV VR Experience
Several trailers for Final Fantasy XV showed up during E3 and can be found on the site, but on the showfloor there was also a VR experience where you get to fight Bahamut as Prompto. The demo ends with a nice car ride with Cidney/Cindy and according to YouTube personality Patrick Klepek, everyone playing the demo leaned in to oogle the graphical fidelity of her character model. Video of that below!
Let it Die
Suda 51 was also at E3 to show off Let it Die. In this gameplay demo with Twitch, he talks about how he went back to the drawing board and started working on gameplay first and then build a story around it second. It looks very cool, but one snag is that it's a F2P game...
Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity
A while ago, Sony announced that they were bringing Touhou games to PlayStation. Weird thing; it's none of the SHMUPS. Instead we are getting this action RPG. Hey, that might be cool too.
Qurare: Magic Library
Card battling RPG makes it's way from Android to PS4. It seems to have some endless runner segments as well? Real curious to see what this one is about.
7th Dragon III Code: VFD
This sounds like a title they came up with by mashing the "suggested words" on an iPhone message, but the gameplay looks cool and it doesn't seem like your average dungeon crawler.
Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star
I like myself some musou and it looks like this next Fate game has that in spades. The only gameplay that seems to be floating around out there is this blurry phone recording, but it definitely put the game on my radar.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II
The first Trails of Cold Steel was very well received, so there is a bit of hype for the sequel, even if it is just a PS3 and PS Vita release.
I Am Setsuna
If you were missing the classic 90's JRPG, Square Enix is promising to deliver with this game.
These were just the games that I personally found most interesting. Noteworthy mentions that might be worth checking out also are DragonBall Xenoverse 2, Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X (which will get PSVR support at some point), Yokai Watch 1 & 2, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, Rabi-Ribi, Fault -Milestone One- and Kingdom Hearts II.8: Final Chapter Prologue (go home Square Enix, you're drunk).
Video Games! Still happening, even if the E3 showfloor seems spacious!
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