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Macross Ace Frontier to Ship in Japan on PSP in Fall
posted on by Egan Loo
Macross Ace Frontier, a multi-player 3D action game that will include characters and transformable fighters from 25 years and six different science-fiction anime works of Macross, will ship on the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) game console in Japan this fall. One to four players (via the PSP's built-in ad-hoc network feature) will assume the roles of U.N. Forces pilots in three-mode variable fighters in space, air, and land combat. Artdink, the team responsible for the successful Gundam Battle franchise, is 60% finished with the game's development with Gundam Battle's engine.
Although the producers emphasize that the game will not be a romance simulation or a music rhythm game, the story will reference Macross anime's signature love triangles and music. They say the game will have fast gameplay and the anime's trademark corkscrewing missile plumes. Players can adjust seven parameters of their pilot characters' skill levels and eight additional parameters for their mecha (hit points, anti-cannon defenses, close-combat defenses, speed, instantaneous boost, balancer system, maneuverability, and radar). To emulate how anime characters quickly transform their fighters by angling a joystick, player will use the PSP's analog pad to transform.
So far, players can use the all-purpose VF-1 Valkyrie (with or without the Strike Pack upgrade) from the first Macross series and film, the advanced YF-19 prototype from Macross Plus, the unorthodox VF-19 Custom Excalibur from Macross 7, and the VF-25 Messiah, the newest variable fighter from the currently airing Macross Frontier. Players can also pilot enemy mecha such as the Zentradi battlepods, Macross Zero's Anti-U.N. SV-51, and the Varauta Fz-109 Elgerzorene fighter. Other mecha such as the Q. Rau powered armor, the Destroid ground robots, and the VF-22 Sturmvogel II special operations fighter also appear in the game's pre-release images. In all, the game will have over 40 different mecha units and over 30 pilots in over 80 missions.
Bandai Namco's Yoshitaka Gotō and Kei Hirono are the game's general producer and assistant, respectively. Artdink's Masanori Yagi is a producer in the game's development. Macross co-creator and director Shōji Kawamori devised the title of the game. Due to a copyright dispute involving Harmony Gold USA, with its partner Tatsunoko Production, and the creators of Macross, no Japanese Macross game has been officially released in English in recent years.
Source: Famitsu
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