Japanese News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

Visual novel Murder Mystery Paradox: Fifteen Years of Summer will launch for PC via Steam on December 2, publisher Aniplex and developer Fahrenheit 213 announced. It will only support Japanese as a language option. A demo will be available starting today.

Forza Motorsport for Xbox Series and PC, River City: Rival Showdown for PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC, and Rear Sekai for Switch are the highlights of this week’s Japanese video game releases.

Bandai Namco has filed a new US trademark for the name «Sparking! Zero».

With the game only two weeks from release, Super Mario Bros Wonder has started getting some promotion on television and beyond. Over in Japan, a new set of commercials has been released for TV viewers, and one of them highlights a unique feature of the game. As you’ll see in the commercial below, the player can play as Mario right from the intro screen! You’ll get to interact with the world and its characters as you wait to arrive in the Flower Kingdom with the rest of your friends. It’s a small touch, but it’s a welcome one.

Amtrak wants to bring high-speed trains to the US, a country known more for pickup trucks and planes than public transit, and has recruited Andy Byford to get the job done.

If you want to get your hands on your very own Mobile Suit Gundam, or at least something resembling it, Tsubame Industries can make it happen—for $3 million.

There seems to be a country-wide NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 & RTX 4080 GPU shortage in Japan as reported by ITMedia.

Sword Art Online: Last Recollection for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, and Detective Pikachu Returns for Switch are the highlights of this week’s Japanese video game releases.

The G-MODE Archives+ release of RPG Megami Ibunroku Persona: Ikuu no Tou Hen is now available for PC via Steam in Japanese for $15.99, G-MODE announced.

Tokyo Game Show is happening right now, and in case you missed it, Sony is celebrating with a new sale on the PS Store. As you'd expect, the offer comprises almost exclusively games made in Japan, though there are one or two outliers. Anyway, there are a lot of fantastic titles included here for both PS5 and PS4.

Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition has been listed for a release on PS5 next week by a Japanese retailer.

Phil Spencer has stated that Xbox players can see more AAA releases by Japanese studios come to the platform in the future. Speaking to Game Watch, Spencer said that Xbox will get more games described by the interviewer as “uniquely Japanese AAA titles” down the line.

There’s been a lot of talk about Phil Spencer and Xbox lately due to the leaked email issue that flooded the news channels last week. The brand and Microsoft were put under the spotlight in the worst way because of past statements that were made public by accident because of the FTC court battle they won. But even with those issues, Spencer is still taking time to build up the Xbox brand and assure gamers that big things are coming. For example, you might know that the Xbox line has never done well in Japan sales-wise.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has said players can expect to see triple-A exclusives from Japanese developers in the future.

Fate/Samurai Remnant for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC, and Ys X: Nordics for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Switch are the highlights of this week’s Japanese video game releases.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer recently claimed players could expect more Microsoft-published games coming from Japanese developers.

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer attended Tokyo Game Show 2023 in person to meet with fans and press alike. Japanese website Game Watch published a new interview with the executive just a few hours ago, and the conversation provides several tidbits worth reporting.

Global development company Virtuos has opened a new studio in Tokyo to strengthen its relationship with Japanese developers.

Studio Ghibli is going through some changes. The studio co-founded by legendary animation director Hayao Miyazaki is being bought by Japanese broadcast station Nippon Television, the companies announced on Thursday. While this may sound like bad news, it’s a very complicated time at Ghibli, and it seems that the studio thinks Nippon can make things a little smoother.

On the other side of the pond, Japan’s version of the Nintendo Direct gave us some details on the game that Onion Games has been teasing for a while now. Titled Stray Children, it looks like a return to Yoshiro Kimura’s roots at Love-de-Lic, as the style is extremely evocative of Moon: Remix RPG Adventure.

Super Bomberman R 2 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC, and Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster for Switch are the highlights of this week’s Japanese video game releases.

A Japanese man has been sentenced to two years in prison and fined ¥1 million (around $6,785) after monetising gameplay videos on YouTube.

Pikmin 4 had been consistently topping weekly Japanese physical software sales charts since its launch in July, before being dethroned last week courtesy of Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon’s impressive debut. This week, however, the Switch title has once again retaken the top spot, as per data released by Famitsu, with over 34,000 units sold.

By Ash Parrish, a reporter who has covered the business, culture, and communities of video games for seven years. Previously, she worked at Kotaku.

A Japanese YouTuber has been given a suspended prison sentence and a fine for posting video game footage.

In May this year we reported on the case of 52-year-old Shinobu Yoshida, from Nagoya, Japan, who in what may be a world first was arrested and charged for violating copyright laws, after uploading gameplay clips and other content. The prosecution was led by the Content Overseas Distribution Agency (CODA), which focuses on copyright protection, and Yoshida has now been found guilty.

Typically, Nintendo Switch Online game updates come in two flavors. There are the exciting updates that bring all-time classic titles to the service. And then there are the weird updates that add a mix of obscure titles that seem to exist as curiosities at best. This month’s update maybe veers closer to that second camp, but it’s such a crazy mix of games that I mostly feel confusion over any kind of disappointment.

The Quintessential Quintuplets: Five Promises Made with Her for PlayStation 4 and Switch, and Virche Evermore: -EpiC:lycoris- for Switch are the highlights of this week’s Japanese game releases.

Japanese gamers have continued to embrace the PC as a platform at staggering rates, jumping up 43% from 131.3 billion yen to 189.2 billion yen in 2022. That's a total size of about $1.3 billion US. The data comes from the latest report by Kadokawa ASCII Research Laboratories, an industry think tank which compiles yearly material about the performance of the gaming industry in Japan and abroad.

The Boy and the Heron, the latest film from Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, is about to get its very first trailer, nearly two months after its original Japanese release.

How timely it is that, just days after the last Super Blue Moon, a second sneak peak at the Project: Blue Moon TTRPG should arise. This upcoming tabletop game by R. Talsorian games—makers of the Cyperpunk RED TTRPG—comes from Cody Pondsmith, whose mind birthed The Witcher TTRPG. 

The NES released in Japan 40 years ago, but a new Rugrats game is on the way to Nintendo's old console next year.

Since its launch in late July, Pikmin 4 has consistently topped weekly Japanese retail sales charts, though that streak is now broken. As per the newest weekly data released be Famitsu, Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon has debuted on top of the newest charts. In fact, it occupies the two top positions, with the PS5 version selling over 115,000 units and the PS4 version selling over 47,000. Collectively, the game has sold over 163,000 units, making it the second-biggest launch for the mech action franchise in Japan, behind 2012’s Armored Core 5, though with digital sales included, it’s likely to have sold more than its predecessor.

Microsoft has appointed former PlayStation executive Mena Sato Kato as its director of partnerships for Japan.

Microsoft's games arm has hired Mena Sato Kato to head up its partnerships team in Japan.

A fresh trailer for Bō: Path of The Teal Lotus has revealed more of its combat and abilities, all of which stem from Japanese folklore.

Netflix Japan has shared a version of the live-action One Piece trailer with a Japanese dub – from the original anime voice cast.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been a decade since Final Fantasy XIV launched and grew to become one of the most successful MMOs of all time. For those of us around in the early days, it’s no secret the game was in rough shape. So much so, that developers basically nuked the 1.0 product and spun the “great reset” as an important piece of lore instead. Now, Final Fantasy XIV has made amazing strides in gameplay, story and overall aesthetics while continuing to respond positively to player feedback along the way. The title is so celebrated around the world that even brands outside the gaming industry are excited to represent an important anniversary in the game’s history.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, and D.C.III ~Da Capo III~ Plus Story for PlayStation 4 and Switch are the highlights of this week’s Japanese video game releases.

Pikmin 4 has topped the Japanese physical game charts for the third week running.

Hideki Kamiya, who you'll probably know as the creator of Bayonetta and Okami and as that guy who blocked you on Twitter, thinks «JRPG» is A-OK. The vice president of Platinum Games was asked for his take on the term—which has been the subject of a debate in the last few months—in a chat with VGC, and came out strongly in favour of it. In fact, he thinks Japan should wear it as a badge of honour: A symbol of everything unique and essential about the country's games.

Hideki Kamiya, creator of Bayonetta and Devil May Cry, believes Japanese developers should be «proud» of the term JRPG.

Hyperdimension Neptunia GameMaker R:Evolution for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Switch, and Hakuouki Shinkai: Manyou no Shou for Switch are the highlights of this week’s Japanese video game releases.

Earlier this year, Final Fantasy producer Naoki Yoshida revealed he doesn't like the term 'JRPG', explaining he's uncomfortable with its use due to the term's history of being used in a discriminatory way.

Japanese studio Kemco has released a large digital bundle containing all 50 of its Xbox RPGs in one package.

Mechanical girls action RPG CRYMACHINA for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Switch, and summer vacation adventure game Natsu-Mon! 20th Century Summer Vacation for Switch are the highlights of this week’s Japanese video game releases.