The X Button

Missing Inaction

SAGA 2 HIHOU DENSETSU: GODDESS OF DESTINY
Released in Japan: September 2009
Square's SaGa series has a rocky relationship with North America, where the most prominent SaGa games are the widely loathed SaGa Frontier and Unlimited SaGa. But there's another side to the series, and it started with the three GameBoy SaGa games that were rebranded as Final Fantasy Legend titles over here. SaGa 2 is perhaps the most ambitious and cohesive of the three, as it presents a sprawling, multi-world quest for characters that include robots and monsters alongside more standard RPG humans. So it was Saga 2 that received a DS remake in 2009. Built along the same lines as the DS versions of Final Fantasy III and IV, Goddess of Destiny turns the original game into 3-D, albeit with a cel-shaded cartoon look. The battle system also adds in a lineup of combat muses to aid the main characters, and the game's elaborate dungeons now let players see enemies before they attack. SaGa 2 still has the same mix of locations, with Greek gods giving way to Japanese fantasylands as the characters evolve their way through a war between heaven and humans.
What happened? Square Enix's plate is usually pretty full with other RPGs that don't have quite as much baggage as the SaGa titles. The DS revamp of SaGa 2 might've turned that reputation around in the West, but it's not likely to get that chance now.

7TH DRAGON
Released in Japan: March 2009
The dungeon-hack is alive and well here, at least when it comes to a subculture of fans who enjoy rummaging through brutally designed and often randomly generated mazes. Sega and imageepoch's 7th Dragon is very much a product of this minor craze, and it really takes after Etrian Odyssey in its cutesy, customizable characters and the influence of director Kazuya Niinou, who oversaw the first Etrian adventure. The game's distinctly patterned off old RPGs, with a menu-driven battle system and randomly occurring combat. As in Etrian, there's a limited storyline, and 7th Dragon just slaps players with its premise of humans trying to survive in a dragon-dominated world. The character classes come in seven basic flavors, but their appearances can vary widely. And for that last bit of RPG atmosphere, the soundtrack's a part-perky, part-operatic mixture from Yuzo Koshiro of ActRaiser, Ys, and Protect Me Knight.
What happened? Well, the dungeon-hack isn't all that alive. It's still the province of publishers like Atlus and XSEED, and 7th Dragon is apparently Sega's child to neglect however they choose.

TALES OF HEARTS
Released in Japan: December 2008
Has Namco given up on the Tales series in North America? No, it's just that Namco's picky about what it releases here, as the last Tales game to make it here was the Wii follow-up to the relatively popular Tales of Symphonia. Besides, it's a bit much to expect Namco to release every Tales game over here, as a new installment of the series launches in Japan every nineteen days or so. Of the recent passed-over Tales titles, though, Tales of Hearts would've suited the American DS market. That's because it tries to cram in all manner of RPG conventions. It nearly succeeds: there's a socializing Soma Link system, a weapon-evolving system, a psychic-diving system, and a battle system that takes combination attacks to reckless new heights. The story is…well, a mishmash of living weapons and ancient secrets swirling around a hero named Shing Meteoryte. Fans of previous Tales might care more about the in-battle cameos by characters from just about every game in the series.
What happened? Tales games tend to be heavy on voice acting, anime atmosphere, licensed music, and other things that make for somewhat complex localizations. And, well, Tales of Hearts sounds like a Care Bears RPG.

Despite the question mark in its title, we know exactly what Ivy the Kiwi? is about: a young flightless New Zealand fowl is separated from her mother, and the player guides her home by drawing vines across the screen. Not that the game is a simple dot-connecting affair. These vines can be used to swing Ivy around, bounce her across levels, and even turn her into a drilling, enemy-mauling kiwi machine. It's a simple mechanic turned into complex gameplay by Yuji Naka, who did much the same thing back in Sonic the Hedgehog. Ivy the Kiwi? doesn't play it graphically simple, either, as the game's backgrounds are lush with tapestry-like detail. There's also a four-player mode where players draw vines to block each other from helping their kiwi friend, and that sounds more fun than bird-tormenting should.

Somewhere out there lives a Harvest Moon fan who remembers the games not by their storylines or minor differences in gameplay, but by the stuffed animals given away with pre-orders. That fan will be glad to know that Grand Bazaar comes with a plush horse to add to the menagerie. As for Grand Bazaar's actual content, it plays up the merchandising angle of the typical Harvest Moon. Players can raise crops, tend animals, race horses, marry, start a family, and play as either a male or female entrepreneur. Yet they can also take their goods to market and herd in customers, not unlike the recently localized Recettear. As usual, this is all part of reviving a failed farming village, only now it's also about bringing the blessings of commerce and retail drudgery to a cute little Harvest Moon town. And you get a free horse.

It must be said that noisy, short, arcade-bred gun games like Gunblade NY and L.A. Machineguns lose a little something when they're brought to home systems. Perhaps it's the fact that you're not paying for each credit with a few quarters. Or perhaps it's the lack of a big, boxy, manhood-reinforcing plastic assault rifle mounted on the cabinet. In the Wii ports of Gunblade and Machineguns, players can use Wii remotes clipped into gun-like frames, but it's just not the same. That doesn't keep either game from being a satisfyingly destructive experience. Both titles hurl the player through cityscapes full of terrorists and robot enemies, all of which must be liberally sprayed with gunfire. Granted, these are '90s arcade games, so they don't look particularly great next to, say, House of the Dead Overkill, but they're good examples of the sturdy Sega craftmanships that worked so well in arcades over a decade ago. With any luck, Sega will consider some other light-gun arcade games for Wii ports, including Let's Go Jungle!, a 2006 release that didn't get half the attention a dating-shooter deserves.