#having a limited run of this artbook!

[cinderoo]

introducing my PROMARE Artbook: Through Smoke and Fire 🔥🔥 my PROMARE fanart from 2019 - now is available as an A5 size unofficial artbook with a galolio lean. 68 pages of content with 70+ retouched and remastered illustrations. each book will come with two mini prints. check it out here!

[deankarolina]

wait hold on the art and making of Control book is out of print now???

[witnesstheabsurd]

[ Between Sky and Earth - Between the petrified cities of The Earth, the base reality, and the caustic, blinding freedom of The Sky, the virtual reality, the cyberspace absolute that governs all existence. Between Sky and Earth, a thousand heavens are at war. ]

ANNOUNCING THE KICKSTARTER FOR MY NEXT ARTBOOK!

CLICK HERE

My name is Francine Bridge - also known online as Witnesstheabsurd. I've worked as a freelance illustrator in the games, music and fashion industries, most recently having worked as Art Director on the upcoming "Slave Zero X" . I've also published two artbooks - the Occult Supergiant Primer and Ars Goetia, both of which were funded via Kickstarter. It's been several years since my last, and i'm excited to announce my next self-published artbook - "One Thousand Heavens: A Cyberspace Bestiary".

It's planned to be an 80-page artbook featuring paintings of cyberspace Avatars and the Pilots that control them - an assortment of monsters and cyberpunk weirdos battling for control over the Throne, a mysterious entity that will permit one Pilot to become God and redefine existence. I'm launching a new Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for printing a 300 copy run and also funding the completion of the book itself!

Backers will be able to reserve one of these copies for themselves in physical and PDF format - after the KS ends, they will never be sold at this price again, and only a limited number will be printed for this first run! Shipping anywhere in the world!

Tumblr was where I got my start and everything I have flowed from the support I received on this site - it means so much to be here again, able to share my work with you all. To anyone who chooses to pledge, to share, or even look at this art i've made - thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart.

LINK HERE

[republicsglory]

i think the faeries of cookie run kingdom in general are a waste and that's really sad </3

okay, face it. faeries are already a banger concept, and kingdom's twist on them is really unique! and very ironic — fae are often depicted to be allergic to silvers. really fun spin on it.

but god..... head in hands.... what did you DOOOOOOOO. it's no secret that the beast yeast arc was (and still is) a mess. but i think it's really sad how these sick ass concepts just.. get executed so poorly??

the thing is, in the 3rd anniversary, devsisters was trying to bite off more than they could chew. the introduction of the beasts was sudden, they felt pretty shoehorned in. i COULD say shadow milk is exempt from this — he's got some decent foreshadowing! can't say the others have it going for them...

okay, sure, introduce the beasts. introduce the faerie kingdom with them. these two things of course go hand in hand. BUT HOLD YOUR HORSES WITH THE BEASTS???

it's okay for crk to introduce new nations! but the faerie kingdom was out of the BLUE. nothing leading to it whatsoever. how are we supposed to deduce anything from what, white lily's prologue asset?

it's very possible to introduce a new nation and do it right. dare i say the créme republic? there were previous mentions and hints to it ingame, making its introduction decent. see — if executed correctly enough, the faerie kingdom may not have needed too much of that.

let's say.. i dunno... two beast yeast episodes are equal to two days of odyssey. in two days of odyssey past ch1, that'd give us enough about the créme republic and time to learn about it! the good parts, and the gritty. BUT in the 3rd anniversary they were obviously trying to make it a little TOO big...

it'd have been nice to see those two episodes focus around the faerie kingdom, its traditions, its denizens and general environment and culture. there could've been problems without too much of a big bad, hell we could've had an almost beast escape. but then again, it WAS the anniversary, but was releasing lily not enough?

now don't get me wrong here — shadow milk had a spectacular introduction! he kind of saved the story i can't lie LOL but was his releasing from the seal..necessary so soon? of course, we'd just be delaying the inevitable, but it'd be nice to just..explore our surroundings a little first.

most information on faeriewood and the silver kingdom are in the LIMITED artbook </3 which kinda. sucks.

we should've also had time to meet the characters more. elder faerie dying is chill with me, nice to know devsisters aren't afraid to kill someone permanently. the problem is, his death was notably supposed to have impact. but like most people felt nothing... because elder faerie is more or less a plot device. give him a character, traits we can attach ourselves to!

there's a Lot more i could rant about actually, but my wrist hurts and i'm tired. i've posted stuff about the silver knights before. just had to let some of this out. tldr the faerie kingdom and faeries are a cool concept but dear god they were executed AWFULLY

[simplyender]

A man(?) and his supercollider: Creating yourself through your creations.

So, I rbed this post by @eebie just now about how pieces of the collider turn on when Spot/Abyss arrives, and I put some thoughts in my tags, but I decided to make my own post to expand on them:

So, interestingly enough, there's actually a deleted scene of what could have been the second fight between Miles and Spot(starts at 20:30), where this happens:

So, it's implied that Spots powers arent just holes, but actually can expand to straight up reality-warping.

Which brings me to the collider, and some of the stuff it does, which Spot has been shown to be able to do.

But first, for the unitiated: The supercollider was designed by Johnathon Ohnn, AKA the Spot. Olivia just took the credit for it. (source: the ATSV Artbook)

The collider apparently runs on dark energy (like Spot) and, as ya'll know, warps reality to bring things from other dimensions to 1610. Spot got his powers from a combo of a container of the dark energy from the collider breaking on him when the collider itself exploded.

To put it simply: Spot created the collider, the collider created Spot.

So it's no real surprise that this effect looks like Spots powers, considering it's the same material doing the same thing.

But what's more interesting is that once Spot becomes absolutely livid, he starts warping reality too, making things float as the collider did.

And this is all before he becomes the Abyss. The power of his collider has always been in him, he just got rid of his limit.

Idk what else to say, I just like how his powerset mirrors what the collider can do :)

[kayleerowena]

✨ store open! one week only! get your haunted goods here! ✨

i've got prints! books! zines! comics! tote bags! sticker sheets! enamel pins! mysteries! ghosts! and more, maybe! who knows! quantities of most of these items are super limited, so if you want something, go grab it before it's gone.

most excitingly, this will be the first time HAUNTS, my 50+ page haunted house artbook, is available physically online outside of the original kickstarter! i'm limiting it to 20 copies to make sure i have leftovers for the conventions i'm doing later in the year.

💖 you can find the store here! 💖

it'll be up for a week (until friday july 21) or until i run out of items, whichever comes first. supporting my store goes towards helping a small lgbt artist afford rent, pay for travel costs to comic conventions, and make more cool haunted items like these. (also, in either very bad or very good timing, my phone broke yesterday, so if this sale goes well i'll be able to afford to fix that.)

reblogs are super appreciated to spread the word! thanks so much for your support, and i hope you have a lovely day!

[the-eeveekins]

While I'm on a roll, I'm going to go off on a little bit of a personal rant (continuing something I mentioned earlier), that's been on my mind due to some comments I've seen made about G-Witch and Sulemio in recent days. I normally try to avoid writing rants like this but this one has been grinding my gears a bit.

Yes, in the grand scheme of queer media, Sulemio's relationship can definitely come across as underwhelming. No one would deny that you can get more explicitly and textually queer stories out there, especially by queer creators. But that absolutely ignores some of the circumstances surrounding the show.

First, it's been made pretty obvious by now that the staff wasn't allowed to be very explicit in their depiction of Suletta & Miorine's relationship. The company that censored an interview and released a tone-deaf statement that their relationship should be "up to interpretation" because a VA said they were married obviously wasn't going to be cool with Suletta and Miorine kissing, saying I love you and getting married on screen. They would've put their foot down well before we got to the ending. And even then the staff did enough to make Suletta & Miorine explicitly married by the end of the show. They found ways around whatever limitations Bandai put into place to try and make Sulemio subtext, and made them a canon couple within the show itself. I get tired of people saying the show didn't explicitly and textually confirm their relationship and marriage because it does, just in a roundabout way via the "sister-in-law" line because they couldn't do it in a straightforward manner.

Seriously, by all accounts, it's not like the people making this show wanted to end Sulemio with "just handholding" and half-assed the relationship, they wanted to do more but couldn't. Just look at how some of the staff members depicted them in the artbook once they were off Bandai's leash: with multiple wedding pictures.

Second, it's actually a big deal that they ended the show married, even if they had to do it in a roundabout way. Yes, the yuri genre is generally going to have more explicit lesbian relationships than what we got with Sulemio, but the yuri genre isn't exactly mainstream. Dedicated yuri anime isn't airing in primetime and ending with the main couple married, it's usually late-night, niche and usually only gets one season that introduces the couple, maybe gives you a kiss, but forces you to finish the story through the LN/Manga. Mobile Suit Gundam is a popular, mainstream multi-media franchise that has been running for 44 years, and G-Witch was airing on prime time. The fact that a mainstream franchise like Gundam aired an anime series that was centered around a queer woman and a sapphic relationship that ended with the couple married is huge, especially considering the legal status of same-sex marriage in Japan. Niche yuri anime airing in the middle of the night can probably get away with a lot more gay content than a mainstream franchise airing in primetime can, especially when the franchise is owned by a bunch of old, conservative dudes.

As an anime fan, it's amazing to see a mainstream animated series like The Witch From Mercury focused around a queer woman and a sapphic relationship (and make it TEXTUAL, not relying on subtext to carry it), especially a series not specifically adapted from a yuri LN/Manga. And as a lesbian and a long time Gundam fan, seeing a major franchise I love like Gundam, that has always been dominated by male characters, air a series focused around a queer female MC and her relationship with another woman is a much bigger deal to me than a lot of random yuri series would ever be.

Reducing Sulemio to comparisons between other queer media or yuri series and how it's "inferior" to those because it lacked certain elements ignores and disregards the unique challenges and situation of The Witch From Mercury, and the way the staff fought to overcome those issues to deliver an explicit sapphic story ending in a married couple.

[shinigami-striker]

Limited Run Games x Shadow Generations | Monday, 08.19.24

We'll have between today (Monday, August 19) through October 6 (Sunday) to pre-order the Collector's Edition of the upcoming Sonic X Shadow Generations game, courtesy of Limited Run Games.

Featured Content:

an official artbook

an official Sega Dreamcast jewel case

certificate of authenticity

Chao figurines of Dark Chao, Hero Chao, and Neutral Chao

official soundtrack

Sonic & Shadow Dreamcast statue

Sonic, Shadow, and Classic Sonic shoes keychain

steelbook

Sonic X Shadow Generations releases on October 25, 2024 on Nintendo Switch, PC (via Steam), PS4, PS5, and Xbox.

[bk-179]

The Evolution of The Witch in the CookieRun Franchise- a research paper conducted by Bkay179

hello everyone!!! About a month ago, I revealed that I was writing a research paper on Cookie Run; specifically about The Witch and her evolution within the franchise. THIS IS THAT PAPER!!! I finished it! And now that my teacher graded it, I can share it here without fear I’ll get an email about plagiarism lol.

Some notes below the cut :3

Once again, special thanks to @lotusflowersgoweeeeee for sharing pictures of The Art of CookieRun: Kingdom and THE ART OF CookieRun: Witch’s Castle. This paper wouldn’t have worked without you‼️‼️‼️ Ur hella based fr!!!

I apologize if the ending analysis is lackluster or unfulfilling; I was on a major time crunch and it was 11:45 pm 💀

Also, other than the artbooks, most of my sources were the cookie run wikis. It’s the best I could do for The Witch cuz so info abt her (esp 2009-2012 era) is limited and most wikis hate citing sources (I’m no stranger to this of course (GUAMPEDIA), it’s just frustrating Yk?)

the personal info has been edited out of this version; as such, the intro page doesn’t exactly follow APA 9 format. The added authors notes probably also don’t? Idk.

anyways yeah other than that the paper is the same one that I submitted and I got a 94 out of 100 for it so that means something I think!

[catgirlcrisis]

arknights 4.5 anni stream recap

haven't seen anyone put a full recap anywhere, which is a shame because there's so much going on in this one! so i'll be posting everything you might have missed in text-form, for anyone who wants that kind of summary.

credits to @AK_CN_Shitpost on twitter and Kazdel Team on youtube for translations/hosting, community members in my discord, and my friends on twitter so i know whats going on. putting this under a readmore because it'll be long:

stream starts off with 4.5 anni congratulation messages from several CN VAs, including:

Kal'tsit

Passenger

Chongyue

W/Frostleaf

Ho'olheyak

Myrtle

Ifrit

Mudrock

Ines

Executor

we get a PV featuring Viviana and Arturia about a new event taking place in Leithanien. we're getting several new ops, including:

Bassline, a 5* Guardian Defender

Lessing, a 6* Dreadnought Guard

Viviana, a 6* Arts Fighter

and Arturia the Virtuosa, a Limited 6* Ritualist Supporter.

her e2 art, like all other limited operators, will have Live2D.

the new event will be called Zwillingstürme Herbst (roughly something to do with the fall and possibly the twin empresses)

new skins for several operators! it's an epoque line this time. theme is "Life," and keywords are "Past/Story".

Gwiazdcytro (Meteor), Noon Twilight (Absinthe), Lances Off (Ashlock), Royal Guard (Bagpipe)

two new animated Live2D skins:

Wdali (Mlynar); the text says "'Fear neither hardship nor darkness'... Ah, an era that is not worth remembering, a dream which is too awake." (credit to @/lingtranslates on their twitter for this translation)

Wingbreaker (Texas the Omertosa)

there's a new QoL update: players will now be able to auto-farm stages up to a maximum of 6 times per run

new red cert shop operators

new archive drops for operators, including:

rosa

arturia

diamante

czerny

santalla

shalem

new operator modules:

mudrock

penance

vulcan

lessing

nearl the radiant knight

bassline

bagpipe

new themed furniture sets:

there's a brief overview and explanation of the new operator skills and gameplay, but i won't go over that here because there's still a lot to get to. however, gamepress usually releases a review on these operators after release, and youtubers like kyostinv will upload showcases pretty quick after they drop, for people who are curious about them

there's a very cute PV about kjerag! it goes into the history of the country and some cultural celebrations about kjeragandr, as well as development of the country and such. it's pretty cute (and sorta wes anderson-ish)

AK is adding a german and russian dub for their lethanien and usran characters, respectively

we'll be getting a new event in rim billiton with amiya and the dr

new sargon-related teaser

we're getting more reclamation algorithm! this time you'll have the ability to "save" and not have to restart from the ground up every time it seems

we got a teaser about the next sui sibling! from @AK_CN_Shitpost:

Next spring event will take place in an agricultural production city, Zuo Le who is sent to rest got involved in farming issue. So the next spring event will involve Zuo Le and possibly the agriculture Sui brother?

there will be another R6S collab. supposedly we're also getting a rerun for Operation Originium Dust, but this will also involve a new collab event.

other assorted notes:

new trailer about a cute, comedic series that involves ceobe, popukar, ethan, bubble, and mountain update: it is called kay's daily doodles! a translated trailer has been uploaded to the official EN AK account here

perish in frost trailer (CN dub)

AK artbook announcements: Arknights Animation Artworks Vol. 1 and Arknights Official Artworks Vol. 3 are being released, with Vol. 3 being teased with an art of the 3 abyssal hunters(!!!)

release of a book that seems to be about the in-universe lore and worldbuilding of Terra, including maps and wildlife

a new manga about Silverash and Gnosis's pasts

release of the first 123 Rhodes Island?! volume, along with new merch featuring Kal'tsit, Rosmontis, Amiya, the Doctor, Blaze, and Ch'en

official boardgame. looks like you will be able to collect supplies, build or move shelter?, and there's various cards with different operators on them (we were shown Liskarm, Kal'tsit, Silverash, Dorothy, and W cards). it is called Nomad City: The Founders.

new figures: 1/7 scale figures of Angelina and Mostima (Fitness Time Ver.) prototypes, 1/7 scale Kal'tsit figure, THRM-EX figure prototype, mini figure prototypes of Lessing, Virtuosa (Arturia), and Viviana, as well as 6 more designs of those character-in-a-recruitment-bag figures of- rhine labs edition! featuring Muelsyse, Magallan, Dorothy, Silence, Ifrit, and Saria.

IchibanKuji x Arknights collab Gunfire in Darknights featuring Amiya and Ch'en (Londinium sprites) on the promotional artwork.

AK Cafe with Chongyue, Ines, and Goldenglow on the promotional artwork in Shanghai and Chengdu next year (AK X PrismLand), called Sweet Zone

AK collab with the Nanyue King Museum (yes, really)

new merch promo that shows what looks to be different plushies (originium slug, chibi nian in dragon(?) form, bunnies), character-in-a-recruitment-bag sora, and figures of Eyjafjalla (swimsuit skin ver.), Shining, and Amiya (these are not new, it's probably a sale or a re-run of some kind)

lowlight breaks eggs with the lethanien icon on them. with a giant hammer. yeah

promo for something that's called My First Story, looks like it's an animated song PV featuring W, Amiya, and Kal'tsit

lore about The First Catastrophe and a timeline of Terran history. the twin empresses are revealed to be Hildegard and Lieselotte (yes, really); the witch king is Herkunftshorn

there's some more extra goodies (like a Monster Siren Records promo, what looks like a new season of CC, a new Joint Action banner with Mizuki, Suzuran, Surtr, and Pozyemka, new ops now available in recruitment like Flint, Eunectes, and Acid Drop, a new free skin - maybe from a record restoration? - for Flamebringer) but i think i'll hit tumblr's picture limit if i include all of those.

that's a wrap!

(shoutout to discord user @/nobowo) who also gave a short stream recap in my arknights LGBT discord server)

[furinana]

Reviewing SMT's 30th Anniversary Event in Yokohama

In 2023 (the year of Nanashi's birthday!) I spent some months in Japan so I lucked out when they announced a Megaten concert right before my departure.

This is a compilation of thoughts from tweets and messages I sent to friends that I decided to turn into a public post for archival purposes.

Disclaimer: unless stated otherwise, none of the pictures I'm using here are mine. Most of them were taken from the event's official account.

May 6th. From Kyoto (the city I was staying) to Yokohama was approx. two hours by Shinkansen. Like how a close friend of mine says, "The thing about Japan is that you ride one train and you just become the biggest car hater immediately".

[I ended up taking an overnight bus for the back trip however, took around 7 hours. Cramped on your legs but your pockets hurt way less]

How is Yokohama at the moment? A bright sunny noon and like this user illustrated, windy as hell (my cap came off once and I had to run in the middle of the street to rescue it).

[KT Zepp Yokohama]

I arrived 4 hours before the concert's schedule so I fucked around Yokohama's cozy Chinatown for a bit, among other places I don't remember. I didn't take into account that you could arrive hours prior to the event to purchase the limited merch line and stare at concept art of mainline games in an exhibiton placed in the entrance. The merch would get sold out in a matter of minutes in the gap between the opening and when the concert would start! Don't underestimate scalpers, folks.

A beginner's mistake, this is how life teaches you to be smart.

[For every 5,000 yen you spent, you got the chance of receiving a colored bookmark of one of the protagonists. A lot of items involved abysmal luck to get. Fortunately I was able to grab what I set my eyes on in the later online raffle so things turned out fine on my end (although I'm currently having to deal with a lot of dupes much to my annoyance. But hey, I have official merch of Flynn and Nanashi now)]

Regarding the exhibition: Not a lot of stuff to comment on. They made a timeline of sorts for each mainline title (except the NES games because fuck 'em I guess) and pretty much most of it was available in official artbooks published previously. Nocturne for example, they displayed the writing process & how they sketched cutscenes and attacks prior to making them 3D etc, which was no-news if you browsed the Ayakashi Monthly book before.

[We weren't allowed to take pictures so I can only show the previews from the official account. We had to stay at a long line to look at each piece in a chronological way so it felt particularly... uncomfortable. I don't like the feeling that I might be slowing down other people so I end up rushing what was supposed to be a serene activity]

The actual exclusive never-seen-before art was regarding beta character & demons concepts from SMT4A:

[Top: Drawn from memory by me. Bottom: The "mermaid" is a reference to the Starbucks logo that interestingly, is also present in Nanashi's room (which could mean there was an intention of Nanashi's only reference of a mermaid being the logo of a cafe that wouldn't exist in-universe anymore. For those unaware, the mermaid in question is actually a siren!]

Here are the descriptions I typed on my phone right after I exited the exhibition (and would use as base for my own sketches a day later):

Chironnupu had two beta forms with the face as it is now where one walked on four legs and the other his legs faded out in a ghost-like manner. He also had a third and more distinct from his current design where he was dressed in Ainu attire on 2 legs and was smiling to the viewer (a Youkai Watch sort of vibe, very cute).

Nanashi had an unseen sketch where Doi drew him with a suspiciously big waist. Yeah, I know it's minor but I wanted to comment on how unhinged Doi is in drawing girly boys. Go off king

Cleopatra had a form where she had dark skin, dark green hair and emerald green eyes (...huh? I just realized I painted her hair with brown instead of green lmao I became fixated in making her look similar to Maria Torres from Trauma Team). Considering how some demons get color variations (such as Vishnu or Moh Shuvuu), some even getting darker skin in adaptations (take Rama in the Devil Survivor 2 anime), perhaps Cleopatra getting an alt that is closer to this beta depiction isn't an impossibility. I can dream

Vishnu-Flynn had a version where his face was the same as how Flynn normally is.

Mermaid had a form where she was supposed to resemble the Starbucks logo where her palette was red&other color (I don't remember if it was blue or green) and showed an alluring evil smile.

Now let's talk about the concert. The structure of how it went was basically alternating between the band playing remixes of soundtracks with gameplay videos on the screen and then pausing for the hosts to talk with the audience and share some free-talks with the musicians that worked on the titles.

Fans used this menorah they sold in the booth as a glow stick (the ones you see in idol events).

[Event announcers Mafia Kajita and Chiaki Matsuzawa in day 1 and 2]

At the end there was a little quiz with gameplay-specific questions, for example what a certain skill does. You had to answer with this little cardboard thing that had a Jack Frost in one side and Black Frost in the other.

Regarding the free-talks, a summary of what I was able to get (take those with a grain of salt):

Kozuka never played any Megaten before composing for the games (he thought they were too dangerous)

SJR composer played all of them

Tsukasa said the songs for the SNES games were a lot longer and better-sounding but unfortunately they had to chop off a lot

Meguro makes sound effects before making the music, finished SMT2 before starting composing but doesn't play games anymore

By the end, Kajita wishes Megaten games were released more often so events like this could happen frequently and Matsuzawa says she's a big Digital Devil Saga fan.

By the way, you could easily recognize the western fans from the audience from how louder and cheerier they were compared to the local ones. Japanese fans are the types that respect silence to a scary degree. For another example, I was able to watch The Boy and the Heron right in the opening week and nobody from the session I went to laughed or made any perceptible reaction to other viewers. The only one laughing in the entire room was my, notably, non-JPN roommate.

When the concert was nearing its end however, the hosts allowed everyone to be as loud as they wanted to thus letting the atmosphere at long last turn closer to the spirit of Megaten... chaotic.

[Going personally to the concert was a totally unique experience compared to seeing it from a screen with diluted audio. You truly had to be there to have your stomach twisting from the echoes coming from the band's instruments]

My personal favorite remixes:

SMT1's Ginza

SMT2's Disco Theme

SMT4's Boss Theme & Map theme

SMT4A's f6 Godslayer (when they showed Vishnu-Flynn on the big screen... 😳)

[satoshi-mochida]

Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song Remastered International announced for PS5, PS4, and Switch - Gematsu

Red Art Games, in cooperation with Square Enix, has announced Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song Remastered International, a new edition of Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song Remastered with English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish localizations for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Switch. It will launch both physically and digitally in early 2025 in North America and Europe.

The physical edition will be available for PlayStation 5 and Switch in North America, and for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Switch in Europe. The standard edition will be available at multiple retailers at launch, while limited and collector’s editions will be exclusive to Video Games Plus in North America and RedArtGames.com in Europe.

Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song Remastered International will also be playable at Gamescom 2024, which will run from August 21 to 25 at Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany.

Get the details below.

■ Physical Special Editions

-Standard Edition

A copy of the game

Deluxe Edition (500 PEGI-rated copies per platform, RedArtGames.com-exclusive)

A copy of the game with a reversible cover

An exclusive sleeve with alternate cover art

A manual

A PVC keychain

Special Edition (500 ESRB-rated copies per platform, Video Games Plus-exclusive)

A copy of the game with a reversible cover

A PVC keychain

Collector’s Edition (1,000 PEGI-rated and 1,000 ESRB-rated copies per platform, RedArtGames.com-exclusive in Europe, Video Games Plus-exclusive in North America)

A copy of the game with a reversible cover

A box with retro-inspired cover art (Switch and PlayStation versions have different boxes)

A Steelcase

An artbook

A manual

Three postcards

■ Fact Sheet

About

The gods created man and man created stories. The primordial creator Marda brought forth the land of Mardias. In ages past a mighty battle rocked this land, when Elore, the king of the gods, fought three malicious deities: Death, Saruin and Schirach. After a long and drawn-out struggle, Death and Schirach were sealed away and rendered powerless, with the final deity Saruin also trapped through the power of the Fatestones and the noble sacrifice of the hero Mirsa. Now 1,000 years have passed since that titanic battle. The Fatestones lie scattered across the world and the gods of evil are resurgent once more. Eight heroes set off on their own journeys, as if guided by the hand of fate. What tales will these adventurers weave across the vast tapestry of Mardias? You are the only one who can decide! The original Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song included many of the SaGa series trademark elements, such as the Glimmer and Combo mechanics and was considered to be the epitome of the series when it first released. The free scenario system that lets you create your own storyline remains at the core of the game, letting you select one of eight protagonists with completely different origins and backstories, then set off on a unique journey. This remastered edition has evolved in all areas, featuring upgraded high-definition graphics and numerous enhancements to improve playability. And for the first time ever, the game will be fully playable in French, German, Italian, and Spanish. This makes it highly recommended for both fans of the original and newcomers to the SaGa series.

Key Features

Brand new localization in French, German, Italian, and Spanish. (English also included.)

Full high-definition graphical update.

Schiele, Marina, Monica, and Flammar can now be recruited.

Enhanced and more difficult bosses.

High speed mode.

Mini Maps.

New Game+ mode.

■ Staff Comments

Akitoshi Kawazu, SaGa Series General Director

“With the support of Red Art Games, we’re now able to release a new version of Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song Remastered that includes localization into French, German, Italian, and Spanish languages. We are finally able to grant this desire of our loyal fans! We know there’s a big SaGa fanbase and community in the west, so releasing a new localized edition of the game to more of our fans has long been a dream of mine. I hope to continue to fulfill the wishes of our fans, as well as creating opportunities for even more people to play the game.”

Masanori Ichikawa, SaGa Series Producer

“The opportunity for this release all began when Michael Binkowski (CEO, Red Art Games) and Romain Mahut (business development and communications manager, Red Art Games) contacted me directly. Thanks to them, a long-time dream of ours is coming true and I’m so grateful. From visiting the Red Art Games office in France to all the discussions we’ve had on this project, it’s been an amazing experience from start to finish, and I can’t wait for SaGa fans to get their hands on this beautiful game.”

Hiroyuki Miura, Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song Remastered Producer

“Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song Remastered International is a title that allows players to enjoy a great many of the characteristic mechanics of the SaGa series, including the Freeform Scenario system, Glimmer, and Combos. The addition of new localization into French, German, Italian, and Spanish is particularly impactful for the freeform scenario. Now, players globally will be able to experience the story on an even deeper level, in their native language. I’m excited for more people to discover the SaGa series thanks to the additional language support and the physical release of the game. I’m delighted to be partnering with Red Art Games on this collaboration.”

View a new set of screenshots and box arts at the gallery.

[hermitroom]

some info about the various organizations in coe, as seen from the artbook (please let me know if you see any errors, i was a bit careless with romanization as you can tell & this is very rough)

Otowa Detective Agency They do business as Otowa Search System, LLC (kk otowa search system). A privately-owned detective agency in Nagoya managed by Genshi Otowa. When they expanded and moved their main office to Tokyo, the Nagoya office became their country one. Because they've been trustworthy at handling their jobs, they've gotten more and more customers, and because they listen to the will of their employees, they've managed to recruit and keep a lot of talented people on staff. Despite the fact that they're a small-scale company now, the requests haven't stopped. They have six people at the Nagoya branch, and about 30 at the Tokyo one. Path to Empireo

It started as the self-improvement group 'People of Akasha', and became a new organization with a new religion based on Catholicism. It wasn't a very large-scale group- around 2015, there were only about 300 registered believers in the country. The incident where the Tokyo and Chuubu branches exploded claimed many of their lives, completely destroying the organization itself. It seemed like the remaining survivors died natural deaths around the same time as well. They said they're researching the path to 'guide humanity to Empireo'.

Ice Cooler

A pharmaceutical company founded by the son of a pharmacist, Rangiri Utsugi. The position of president is inherited, so Rangiri passed it down to his son Keiichi, and he passed it down to his son Uenari. The company grew rapidly after WW2, with their main product being OTC medications. They were very famous for how well their medicines worked, but gradually said medicines started to work less and less. At the same time, there started to be a lot of 'suspicious' things about their medicine, as well as 'incidents' related to it, leading to public loss of trust in them. Before long, they were bought out by a foreign investor, their leadership was completely changed, and in 2016 the Ice Cooler name was no more.

Tranzykid Institute

An integrated sciences institute based in the American state of Kentucky. It's produced many Nobel Prize winners and candidates, and has quite a bit of influence as a research institute. However, all the departments act extremely independently of each other, and there are some laboratories among them that haven't revealed what they're actually working on.

Theosophy University

It was originally founded as a Catholic institution, but currently the management (Theosophy Institute of the Arts and Sciences) runs it as a private university. The curriculum focuses on raising students to be talented and successful in a global environment, with a strong focus on linguistics. It's not limited to Catholic-only students, either. There are people from all over the world attending, and many graduates have become famous in their own right. It's well-known enough as a university that everyone's heard of it. Other than their Tokyo campus, they have a Nagano campus as well.

Fondazione Riddle

Founded by Beniamino Riddle. Based in Italy. The current heir is the president's son, Rodney Riddle. They mainly provide financial support to organizations doing R&D in the field of science. Tranzykid is one of them. Their aim is 'For the world, and for the peace we have now' (but...).

A/Z/MA

Founded by Shirou Azuma. Their base business was Azuma Bookstore, a publishing company, but they're a corporation that handles all sorts of things in the entertainment industry. They've expanded into publishing, animation, movies, and various content services. Currently, no one working at the company besides the president is from the Azuma family themselves, but the current president, Wadachi Azuma, is a direct descendant of Shirou.

Nanamidou Bookstore, LLC

A bookstore chain under the Igarashi group. They used to only sell books, but they've branched out into music, videos, various media sales, and rentals, too.

Gojo Corporation/Igarashi Group

They're a business group that's made a name for themselves by expanding into every area. Despite the Gojo Conglomerate breaking up during WW2, they reorganized afterwards, and succeeded greatly. A major contractor in Tokai, Gojo, is also part of their group. Their most recent large-scale construction work is the commercial building in front of the Nagoya station. They've also done remodelling for A/Z/MA (LLC)'s Chuubu Branch office.

PMSC/GrassRod

A PMSC based in America. It recruits personnel from all sorts of countries, and there's a rumor that they'll send mercenaries who 'aren't afraid of death' anywhere. They're currently active, but the only thing that can be confirmed about them is that there is someone actually managing and controlling them. No other details are known.

[cupcakestreets]

I got this idea to do a cookie run rainbow artbook next! I draw small portraits of my favorite cookies with limited color pallets. I'll experiment and try to make a sample of what i mean next time... i will have to see~

[doamarierose-honoka]

Update [Thu 25th Jul, 2024 01:35 BST]:

Pix'n Love Games has now shared a first look at the Collector's Edition and Deluxe Edition of SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos.

The Collector's Edition is limited to 1000 copies for Switch and PS4, and includes a copy of the game, reversible cover, an official Neo Geo case, 64-page artbook, 3 lithographs, and original soundtrack with digifile.

The Deluxe Edition includes all of this as well as a special reproduction of an illustration created by artist Eisuke Ogura on an aluminum plate. There'll be just 100 copies of these Deluxe Edition, with pre-orders scheduled to go live this week on 25th July 2024.

Original [Wed 24th Jul, 2024 01:35 BST]:

SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos arrived on the Switch eShop earlier this week, but if you would prefer a hard copy of this 2003 fighting crossover, you're in luck. The European distributor Pix'n Love Games and Limited Run Games in the US will both be offering physical versions for the Nintendo Switch.

Limited Run will have more details to share about its version soon, and Pix'n Love has already teased its release (which comes in three variants: standard, collector's, and deluxe) with pre-orders opening tomorrow on 25th July 2024: It has a reversible cover, too.

The legendary SNK VS. CAPCOM SVC CHAOS returns in an ultimate version on #NintendoSwitch & #PS4! SNK’s masterpiece will be available in three variants: Standard, Collector's and Deluxe. Preorder on July 25 at 4 p.m. (UK time) on http://pixnlove.com

This latest version of the 2003 arcade hit includes 36 iconic characters (including the hidden characters Athena and Red Arremer), brand-new rollback netcode and tournament modes, a new hitbox viewer, and a gallery mode - all while retaining the classic visuals and controls of the original game.

[claire-starsword]

Hello! It's the owner of the Phantastical-Force blog, if you haven't come across it already on here (I run it off this empty main account, or at least when I have time to haha). I just wanted to say that I'm both very happy and very appreciative for all of what you're doing to find SF stuff right now! And also even moreso that I actually own a copy of Eternal bg SUEZEN if you're still looking! Let me know how to more get in contact with you since tumblr asks limit things heavily! 👀 👍

oh this is such a great thing to wake up to. I love your blog, been following it for a long time!

My DMs are open so feel free to continue talking there, I can also share my discord there if it's better for you. And yes, I am still looking for the Eternal artbook! I will temper expectations here, I think it's unlikely that there will be big new stuff there, as I've seen multiple forums claim that all Shining Force images from there have already been scanned and floating around the internet. I expected at most the occasional undocumented caption or something. But, I've been surprised before! And even small trivia is still nice to have.

And you're welcome for all the SF content here haha, I'm having a blast with it and it's always good to know others are appreciating it as well! Sadly things are still a bit messy as I haven't moved everything to the website yet, so be sure to check both the website and the masterpost here for all the content.