February Vita lineup and upcoming titles
By BlackLagoon 13 Comments
And I'm back. Another month, a new and updated list of current and upcoming Vita titles. As usual, it is focused on the North American market, with sections for Europe and Japan exclusive titles in their own sections below.
For new releases, we've got the 4th Sly Cooper game and an enhanced, dismemberment-enabled port of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 for retail, while for downloads the original Alien Breed gets a native polished up port, and Bandai releases the previously Europe exclusive Milestone developed racing game MUD: FIM Motocross Championship. As always, the list of downloadable titles tends to grow throughout the month, as many of them don't get a firm release date until the week before they're due out.
At first, January looked like it'd be a quiet month for new announcements for the Vita. We got two LEGO games - Marvel Super Heroes and Legends of Chima: Laval's Journey, more motorcycle racing from Milestone in the form of MotoGP 13, and a Lang Zone enhanced port of minimalist fighting game parody Divekick. Then the last week, Aksys revealed they're bringing over the enhanced port of Muramasa, while XSEED announced localizations of action RPGs Ys: Memories of Celceta and Valhalla Knights 3. Also a bunch of new dowloadables - Deathmatch Village, a MOBA-sounding free to play 3v3 mulitplayer game from the guys behind A-Men, while Double 11 are porting indie favorite turn-based strategy game Frozen Synapse. We were already getting the sequel, but now iOS RPG Dragon Fantasy is also coming with fully redrawn art. And Arc System Works looks to be planning a western release of Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R, given that someone found that they've applied for a German age rating for the game.
In Japan, there was a bit less news. Konami continues to support the Vita with their annual Pro Yakyuu Spirits Japanese baseball series, while Demon Gaze developer Experience are porting their PC/360 scifi dungeon crawler RPG Labyrinth Cross Blood to the platform. Also visual novel developer light has announced Kajiri Kamui Kagura Akebono no Hikari, which might be a cleaned up port of a PC eroge, or a sequel to it, not really sure.
Anyway, on to the list:
February
Retail releases
Downloads
- Bentley's Hackpack - Sly Cooper themed minigame collection
- PlayStation Home Arcade - App that lets one play arcade games from PlayStation Home on the Vita
- Alien Breed - Native Vita version of the classic Amiga top down shooter
- Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken - 2D action game
- Ecolibrium - F2P pet / ecology simulator
- Urban Trial Freestyle - Think Trials Evolution on your Vita
- MUD: FIM Motocross Championship - Motorcycle racing
Early 2013
Retail releases
- MLB 13: The Show - Sony's long running series of Baseball games
- Dead or Alive 5 Plus
Downloads
- KickBeat - Martial arts rhythm game
- Ratchet & Clank: Full Frontal Assault - Ratchet goes multiplayer/tower defense/MOBA
- Snapshot - Platform puzzler
- Picotto Knights - F2P cutesy brawler thing
- Rainbow Moon - Turn-based strategy RPG
- Dragon Fantasy: Book II - SNES style retro RPG
- Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee - HD remaster of the Xbox game
- Flying Hamster HD - The PS Minis shooter gets an upgrade
- Coconut Dodge HD - Upgraded version of Futurlab's hit Mini
- Germinator - Puzzle game from Creat Studios
- Thomas Was Alone - Indie platformer
Rest of the year
Retail releases
- Soul Sacrifice - Grotesque Monster Hunter-style game from Keiji Inafune (April)
- Killzone Mercenary - This time you get to side with the British Space Nazis! (September)
- Tearaway - Papercraft adventure from Media Molecule
- Warrior's Lair - Diablo-thing with social elements
- Final Fantasy X HD
- Dragon's Crown - Fantasy beat 'em up
- HISTORY Legends of War: Patton - WWII turn based strategy game
- LEGO Legends of Chima: Laval's Journey - New LEGO game
- LEGO Marvel Super Heroes - More LEGO
- MotoGP13 - Motorcycle racing (Summer)
- Muramasa Rebirth - Enhanced port of the Wii 2D action-adventure game (Aksys)
- Valhalla Knights 3 - Sequel to the PSP Action RPGs. (Fall, XSEED)
- Ys: Memories of Celceta - Action RPG in the long running series. (Fall, XSEED)
Downloads
- BreakQuest Extra Evolution - BreakOut-ish Mini getting upgraded to full Vita game
- Guacamelee! - Mexican themed metroidvania game.
- Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee New N' Tasty - HD remake of the PS1 game
- Orc Attack - 4 player co-op character action game
- Lone Survivor - Post apocalyptic horror action adventure. As seen on Spookin' with Scoops.
- Starlight Inception - Kickstarter funded space combat sim
- The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth - I don't care what anyone says, it's a Zelda clone not a roguelike :P
- Zombie Tycoon 2 - Sequel to the Zombie RTS
- Machinarium - Point and click adventure
- Velocity Ultra - Upgraded version of Futurlab's acclaimed Minis shooter
- Divekick - Kickstarted two-button fighting game parody
- Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R - Fighting game
- Dragon Fantasy - Enhanced port of the iOS RPG
- Deathmatch Village - 3v3 free to play MOBA with PS3 cross-play
- Frozen Synapse: Tactics - Console remake of the indie turn-based strategy title
- Superfrog HD - Remake of the classic Amiga platformer
- Hungry Giraffe - Native Vita version of the Minis title
- Hotline Miami - Port of the psychadelic indie murder spree simulator
- BitTrip Runner 2 - Indie endless runner
Unconfirmed/Vaporware
- Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2
- Zone of the Enders HD
- Battle Slots - Vita ESRB rating
- Zero Escape 3 - Development has started, but patforms have yet to be annouced
- Ant Raid - Top rated iOS RTS
- Yet to be annouced game(s) from Tokyo Majin Gakuen director
- New Sonic the Hedgehog game
- Mystery project from Just Add Water
- Several games from Laughing Jackal
Europe
(Titles out in Europe with no American release announced.)
- A-Men - Puzzle platformer
- Travel Bug - Social pet raising sim
- t@g - Augmented reality game for 3G Vitas
- WRC 3 - Rally cross
- Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge
- Doodle God - Puzzle game
Japan
(Incomplete list of Japanese titles that have yet to be announced for western release)
Upcoming
- Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus - Dynasty Warriors + boobs + destructible clothes.
- God Eater 2 - Fast paced scifi take on Monster Hunter.
- Toukiden - Omega Force does Monster Hunter
- Over My Dead Body 2 - Dungeon crawler set in ancient Japan
- Tales of Hearts R - Remake of the DS game.
- Tales of Hearts R Infinte Evolve - Dowloadable 2D companion to Tales of Hearts R
- Sei Madou Monogatari - New entry in the 90s dungeon crawler series
- Eiyuu*Senki - Turn based strategy game - conquer the world, one anime girl at a time
- PhotoKano Kiss - Dating sim with photography
- Phantasy Star Online 2
- Sakura-so no Pet na Kanojo - Visual novel
- Steins;Gate - Visual Novel
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms 12 - Historical strategy game
- Gundam Breaker - 3rd person action game based on the Gundam franchise
- One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 - Musou game based on the popular franchise
- Project Versus J - Shonen Jump crossover game
- The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Flash - Latest game in the Legend of Heroes series
- Atelier Meruru Plus - Enhanced port of the PS3 RPG
- Haiyore! Nyaruko-san - Feel your sanity slip away as 5pb brings Vitas the most moé incarnation of the Cthulhu Mythos yet!
- Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2013 - More Japanese baseball
- Labyrinth Cross Blood Infinity - Port of the PC/360 scifi dungeon crawler RPG
- Kajiri Kamui Kagura Akebono no Hikari - Visual novel from light
- Memories Off 6: T-Wave - Visual novel
- Memories Off: Yubikiri no Kioku - Visual novel
Retail (released)
- Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA f - Rhythm game with the popular vocaloid.
- Time Travelers - ...Level 5 does Heavy Rain?
- Little Battlers eXperience W - Minature mech battle action RPG thing from Level 5
- Lord of Apocalypse - Multiplayer focused action RPG
- Tales of Innocence R - Remake of the DS game.
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Battle Destiny - 3rd person action game
- Moe Moe Daisensou - SRPG with weaponized anime girls.
- Ciel no Surge - Visual novel/dating sim from Gust
- Little Busters! - Visual novel
- The Legend of Heroes: Zero no Kiseki Evolution - Enhanced port of the PSP RPG.
- Atelier Totori Plus - Enhanced port of the PS3 game.
- Nobunaga's Ambition: Tendou - Port of the PS3 strategy game.
- Fate/stay night Realta Nua - Visual novel.
- Special Reporting Division - Adventure / Visual novel from NIS
- Shin Kamaitachi no Yoru: 11ninme no Suspect - Murder mystery visual novel from Chunsoft
- Pro Yakyuu Spirits 2012 - Japanese baseball
- Jikkyou Powerful Pro Yakyuu 2012 - Cutesy Japanese baseball
- Demon Gaze - 1st person party based dungeon crawler RPG
- Monster Monpiece - Card battle game with boobs.
- Sengoku Hime 3 - Historical strategy game with anime girls
Download (released)
- Samurai & Dragons - F2P fantasy MMORPG with Sega tie-ins
- Malicious Rebirth - Enhanced port of the PSN game
- Guardian Hearts Online - 2D F2P MMORPG
- Assault Gunners - Simple mech shooter
- Box! Open Me - Augmented reality puzzle game