This Week in Games

Pirate Things, Dancing, and the Robot Boy Who Couldn't

Welcome back, folks! I don't know if this relates to my adblocker, but Nintendo's eShop website is always so twitchy for me. Whenever I try to make a purchase, it asks me to log in and then throws up a wonky error page. It's annoying since I'll have to make the purchase on Switch, which is a lot more time-consuming. There is a lot we can hope for concerning the Switch's successor, but one of my higher priorities is that the services related to that console actually work.

I'm not at all comfortable with how casually people joke about gacha games putting them into debt. There has been a lot of talk about gambling addiction in America, and while much of the focus is on sports gambling, we would be very remiss in not including loot boxes and gacha games as part of that. Especially with how much money people will sink into gacha games to roll their favorites. While I do play a few gacha games (Goddess of Victory: NIKKE and Path to Nowhere are my current ones), and have been known to sink a few bucks into them in the name of supporting the game, my opinion on gacha systems is nevertheless negative: they're predatory, plain and simple, and no amount of boozy oni or seven-foot samurai women drawn by Raita will change that for me.

That said, it's very rare for a gacha game to put you in debt in-game. The house might always win, but the name of the game is making sure folks at least feel like they're getting their money's worth. That is, however, how the paid system works. Things are a bit different if a gacha game includes free currency. On that note, let's talk about Fate/Grand Order...

A few of my readers pointed out that in honor of Type-Moon character Arcueid Brunestud's birthday this past December 25, Fate/Grand Order premiered a new playable character: Phantasmoon (Arcueid's magical-girl alter-ego). There was also a holiday event where people had to steal everyone's Christmas presents from Neco-Arc (they're lucky that's all she took). Now, whenever you clear missions in these holiday gacha events, you earn a bit of free currency. It's just a courtesy, a way of maintaining the vague truth that you don't need to invest actual money to roll the gacha. There was an unfortunate glitch in the event, with players finding a way to gain the rewards over and over, granting them theoretically endless currency (in the case of Fate/Grand Order, it's called "Saint Quartz"). This means theoretically limitless chances at rolling FGO's notoriously stingy gacha. I imagine these folks fully uncapped Phantasmoon this holiday.

The catch is that the devs found out and corrected the glitch. And once they did, they started cracking down on the accounts that abused it. If you didn't go through the trouble of scamming free Saint Quartz from the event, nothing happened to you. If you did, though—like Fate/Apocrypha/Grand Order artist Ototsugu Konoe up there—then you logged into your account to find your Saint Quartz amount in the negative. Fate/Grand Order's devs logged the number of times you recouped the glitched rewards and deducted them from your account. You can't just buy yourself back into the black, either—Fate/Grand Order logs "free" Saint Quartz and paid Saint Quartz separately. If you're in the negative, you'll have to grind your way through the game until the gacha debt is paid. For the record, Fate/Grand Order is one of those games where you need 30 SQ for a 10+1 roll, so something like 90 quartz like Konoe-san up there would represent more than a few months' worth of dailies.

I view gacha mechanics very negatively, but this might be merited. It completely ruins an in-game economy and any semblance of balance—especially if there's PVP mode. It might also be extremely unfair to the people who played the game honestly; it reminds me of the days when you'd try to battle against Pokémon players who hacked a whole party of invincible Legendaries.

The situation is oddly reminiscent of what happened to Taimanin RPG Extacy, the American release of the Adult gacha game. Taimanin RPGX also put its players into debt early on, but that was after realizing that they had set the rewards for fully bonding with units far too high; players were penalized and put into debt within the first few weeks of the game's release over a mistake made by the developers. That was one of the many factors that led to Taimanin RPGX failing, but the situation is still different. For one thing, Taimanin players had no way of knowing they weren't supposed to be earning that many gems; the studio could have simply issued a correction and issued new accounts a few 10-roll tickets going forward to balance things out without making people feel like they had been ripped off. My concession to Fate/Grand Order is that you had to go out of your way to take advantage of the reward glitch: apparently, it involved uninstalling and reinstalling your game.

I think gacha games need a reckoning, and I long for an era where mobile gaming isn't synonymous with rolling for PNGs of characters that you can't even keep once the game goes offline. Until then, don't try to cheat the system. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Nine years out from Mighty No. 9's 2016 release, Amazon has finally started refunding people their pre-orders for the 3DS port. A game beset from all sides with mismanagement, a crowdfunding campaign that was too successful, and the looming shadow of its creator (the disgraced Keiji Inafune), the sun has set on a would-be heir to Mega Man's throne that never could be.

Sing, O muse, of the fate of Mighty No. 9, son of Inafune, that brought countless ills upon the crowdfunders! Mighty No. 9 was one of the highest-profile spiritual successors from one of the highest-profile walk-outs besides Hideo Kojima's departure from Konami, overshadowing even Koji Igarashi and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. Keiji Inafune, who had styled himself "Mega Man's papa," took his ball and went home after the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 on the 3DS. Following that, he started the company Comcept Inc. to do what CAPCOM seemingly didn't want to: give "the fans" a proper successor to the Blue Bomber in the form of Mighty No. 9. All the pieces were there: a winsome blue robot made by a kindly professor, a sister with whom he had shared punny name ("Beck" and "Call," much like "Rock" and "Roll"), and eight toyetic robots with iconic weapons to defeat and redeem. Inafune started a Kickstarter campaign to fund Mighty No. 9's development with endlessly-ambitious stretch goals. Ports of the game on (then) every console! Co-op modes! Extra playable characters! Alternate soundtracks! Extra levels! It was the most successful Kickstarter campaign in history, earning $3,845,170 USD from 67,226 supporters. With Inafune at the helm, finally freed from the eeevil CAPCOM's dogmatic corporate chains, the support of the fans, and all that money, what could go wrong?

Anyone who's been around for more than a few years knows that a lot went wrong. As unveiled by Mat McMuscles, Inafune hadn't accounted for all of the fees that would come in after earning the US$4 million (from Kickstarter and PayPal), nor the expenses of producing all of the lavish physical rewards attached to the game (like the game boxes and the instruction manuals that were too big to fit in them). That left Inafune and his teams at Comcept and Intercept... a lot less than US$4 million, which had to be used to make a game that could run on nine different platforms (Steam, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PS4, Xbox One, PS Vita and Nintendo 3DS). Plus, with all of the stretch goals unlocked—the extra levels, the co-op mode, New Game Plus, extra story modes, the works.

The result was extremely disappointing. Mighty No. 9's main gimmick—stunning enemies then dashing into them to instakill them while gaining temporary boosts—wasn't that engaging. While I won't give them heck for the game not looking like the lavish concept art, Mighty No. 9 nevertheless came away looking like it had gotten all-around thrashed by an Ugly Stick. Make no mistake, this can be chalked up to poor planning, poor logistics, and a studio promising far more than they could ever deliver. The result was a fall from grace that would leave even Lucifer sucking air through his teeth; fans everywhere disavowed Inafune, who (after some folks did their homework) was revealed to not even be Mega Man's original creator (that would've been Akira Kitamura—Inafune just did the art). Inafune never shrugged off the reputation of having scammed folks, which I think is a little unfair—Mighty No. 9 was bad, but pledging to a Kickstarter isn't a pre-order. You're taking the investor's place, which means the investment loss is passed onto you. We weren't scammed any more than Beyond Good & Evil's investors were scammed when that game failed to make bank. Mighty No. 9 was certainly not "better than nothing," as declared by translator Ben Judd in a post-launch Twitch stream.

Part of what did lend the vibes of the game being a scam was that certain ports—specifically, the PS Vita and Nintendo 3DS ports—were never finished. Was anyone dying to play Mighty No. 9 on the PS Vita? Probably not! And the same probably goes for the 3DS port (which might have sold a smidge better, given its widespread popularity). Still, Amazon has kept up a pre-order page for a possible 3DS release. I'd ask why they had kept the pre-orders up for so long, but considering GameStop honored decade-old Duke Nukem Forever pre-orders, we should count our lucky stars that they were willing to do so.

With the dust settled on Mighty No. 9, what can we say came of all this? It gave the gaming community a degree of skepticism that nobody has ever been able to shake off. Hideo Kojima is the only name big enough to get a license to do anything after leaving their corporate benefactor—and even then, it took folks a while to warm up to Death Stranding. In the wake of Mighty No. 9's failure, people are far more skeptical of crowdfunding campaigns for games. Similarly, studios have learned to reign in their promises for crowdfunding. WayForward famously crowdfunded the production of Shantae: Half-Genie Hero but kept their rewards very restrained, mostly focusing on alternate costumes or alternative playable characters. They also kept their focus on consoles similarly restrained, preferring to start with a limited release and work on ports once the game was finished.

As for Beck and Call? Well, they never managed to wash off the poor reputation of their own game. IntiCreates, who helped with the development of Mighty No. 9, would follow up on the game with MIGHTY GUNVOLT, an 8-bit de-make of Azure Striker Gunvolt. Ironically, this also proved to be Beck's actual debut: a retro-styled 8-bit action platformer where he still had his dash attack alongside Gunvolt himself and Ekoro from Gal*Gun. Beck and his sister, Call, would last appear in Mighty Gunvolt Burst, an expanded follow-up. Beck and Call never had a chance and are now a monument of Inafune's hubris.

As for Inafune himself, his reputation has never recovered from the failure of Mighty No. 9. Many still believe him to have scammed pledgers and sworn him off entirely. It doesn't help that his historical legacy has been reexamined; Inafune was known to have been a major figure in a short-lived push for Japanese games to more closely mirror Western games (especially since, at the time, Western properties like Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty were all the rage). This was one factor that led to several years of the Japanese game industry seemingly lagging, which didn't entirely end until Dark Souls was ported to PCs in 2012. Turns out, Japanese games didn't need to be more like Call of Duty; Japanese developers just needed more time to get used to developing games in high-definition. Inafune's attention was split in the latter parts of Mighty No. 9's development as he tried to develop Red Ash, which would've been a spiritual successor to Mega Man Legends. The game itself was never funded, but an animated short was produced. Comcept, the studio Inafune founded to produce Mighty No. 9 and Red Ash, was bought out by Level-5.

While CAPCOM didn't do too much with Mega Man in the years following Inafune's departure, they eventually did produce Mega Man 11. Following that, we've mostly seen the Blue Bomber brought back via lovingly-produced compilations of the various series: collections for classic Mega Man, Mega Man X, Mega Man Zero/ZX, and Mega Man Battle Network have all released to the delight of Mega Man fans everywhere, leaving fans itching for the announcement of a possible Mega Man Legends collection. Some people still hold out hope that maybe we might get Mega Man Legends 3.

This past week, Platinum shared the news that they'd be celebrating Bayonetta's 15th anniversary in 2025 (Bayonetta released in 2009 in Japan; presumably, they're celebrating the United States release). Platinum extended a hearty thank-you to worldwide fans who supported the studio over the years, and promised to continue developing "games that surprise and delight our fans."

Bayonetta was the first big-name project undertaken by Platinum Games following their formation. Hideki Kamiya spearheaded the game, designing it as a spiritual successor to Devil May Cry. In those days, "character action games" didn't quite exist; Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe mostly stood on their own in terms of their unique action mechanics and emphasis on stylish performance, with subsequent action games taking some subtle cues from their design (see: the earlier God of War games). It was a legacy that certainly took a bit for the rest of the industry to live up to—heck, even in-series! With the results of Kamiya not working on Devil May Cry 2 (widely regarded as the black sheep of the series), people were looking forward to the advertised "non-stop climax action" promised in Bayonetta.

It helped that it had the protagonist it did, thanks in no small part to Kamiya's strict insistence on her character (i.e., "no man can touch her") and Mari Shimazaki's eye-catching art (and her decision that Bayonetta never takes off her glasses, which would be like taking off her underwear), Bayonetta herself was every bit the head-turning, impossibly-cool protagonist needed for this kind of stylish adventure. Dante was the wacky woohoo pizza man, and Bayonetta was the woman that would end all men: never a hair out of place, living her whole life like she was on a Paris runway. She was an Umbra Witch, the last survivor of a cult of women who traded their souls to Demons in their endless battle against the Lumen Sages that pursued them. This also meant Bayonetta fought angels and did so the only way she could: with four guns (two on her heels), fancy katanas, and several outlandish weapons. Dante was 2000s buttrock made manifest; Bayonetta was 60s go-go dancing distilled into a living, breathing, seven-foot-tall woman (with a few Audrey Hepburn references tossed in).

Bayonetta was the game that served as Platinum's mission statement. While games would have levels that served as setpieces, every "level" in Bayonetta would have several showstopping fights. Now you're fighting a giant monstrous angel on a bridge it just demolished. Now you're dodging a barrage of holy swords. Now you're riding (not flying—riding) a fighter jet in a level inspired by Sega's Afterburner (with a jazzy remix of the iconic Afterburner theme, of course). Just when you think the game has shown you the craziest thing ever, it somehow ups the ante further. And it did it while chaining an angel to a Chevalet as punishment for losing the dance-off.

And for folks who still missed Platinum's works while they were named "Clover," Kamiya left plenty of cheeky references around for folks. Luka had several pets named after the women in previous Clover games. Bayonetta could turn into a flower-sprouting cat as she ran, reminiscent of Amaterasu's gait leaving flowers in her path. Also, Waka's laser sword, Pillowtalk, was an obtainable weapon.

Sadly, while Bayonetta was critically acclaimed, it didn't sell quite as well as either Microsoft or Sony would have liked. In a 2013 interview with Eurogamer, Platinum president Tatsuya Minami applauded Bayonetta for being their best-selling game—but it nevertheless sold below expectations. Microsoft and Sony must've thought so, too, because when Platinum shopped around for a possible Bayonetta 2, they both passed on the title. This left Nintendo primed to ride in on a limousine, a fur coat stuffed with cash, a spot on the Super Smash Bros. roster, and a promotional photoshoot in Playboy Magazine in exchange for exclusivity. A lot of people shook their fists at Nintendo over this, for some reason, but like the good woman said, if Microsoft or Sony wanted it then they should've put a ring on it. Crazier still, the Wii U release of Bayonetta 2 paved the way for a port of the first Bayonetta, which featured several unique Nintendo-themed outfits for Bayonetta based off of Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Link, and Samus.

It's a shame that the whole "Platinum never tarnishes"-thing never bore out; there was a lot of love put into Bayonetta 3, and it's definitely a good game. But it wasn't up to the series par, and by the time it came out, other action games had caught up to Platinum's stylings. Devil May Cry 5 loomed over Platinum, and many of Bayonetta 3's decisions were undoubtedly made to capture its lightning in a bottle. I don't think it's necessarily over for the series, but with the massive brain drain Platinum has gone through, I'm curious how the series can continue. In the meantime, folks need to check out Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon. It's a prequel for the Bayonetta series, and while not an intense, high-flying character action game, it certainly lives up to the series' standard for artistry. Who knows, maybe we'll see some cheeky Bayonetta references in Okami 2!

In the meantime, folks looking for feelies to celebrate Bayonetta's fifteenth anniversary can start with this neat little music box from Wayô Records! It's US$240, but it plays a cute version of Mysterious Destiny, Bayonetta's theme from the first game. We'll keep you posted on any further occurrences.

Many people love the suave, violent, and complicated men of the Like A Dragon series. While the Like A Dragon Direct that came out this week was cutting it really close to the deadline... I figured, let's go the extra mile for these folks. I might love the Like A Dragon memes, but my experience with Like A Dragon is nevertheless quite surface-level. While I do agree that Yakuza Kiwami might be a rough entry to the series, I walk away from a Like A Dragon game happy with the time spent with Kiryu Kazuma and friends. Fun fact: I was working on a review for The Man Who Erased last year right up until I had my accident, I was quite looking forward to telling folks "It's fun."

Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza! ,like The Man Who Erased His Name, is a canon spin-off to the main games. While Ichiban Kasuga is schmoozing with Kson in Hawai'i, Goro "Mad Dog" Majima washes ashore on Rich Island with a case of amnesia. He, of course, goes into the piracy business, galleon, and everything. The Direct mostly went over most of the features we'll be seeing in-game, though disappointingly, it mostly focused on combat. A lot of customization was on display: tons of it for your personal ship and Goro himself (and yes, you can play as Goromi and even give her the appropriate pinked-out ship). These games are a glorified old man sim for people with a taste for well-seasoned men; lean into that some more, man! Don't just gloss over the karaoke and the available mini-games! For the record, yes, there is karaoke, golf, and baseball, and you'll be able to play a Virtua Fighter game at an arcade in Hawai'i.

In terms of combat, Pirate Yakuza takes a few fun notes from The Man Who Erased His Name while making things appropriately hectic for Goro. To wit: you can swap between "Mad Dog" and "Sea Dog" styles on the fly in combat. "Mad Dog" focuses on precision, with all the typical break-dance fighting you expect from Goro (plus the ability to pick up detritus on the road and whack people over the head with it). "Sea Dog" functions like a tokusatsu transformation for Goro, giving him a pair of cutlasses and sweeping slashing moves. I'm getting the vibe that "Mad Dog" is good for one-on-one fights, while "Sea Dog" is better for groups. Regardless, the possibility for wild combos is there. The combat opens up plenty during sea battles. Whenever you board an enemy ship, you and your crewmates effectively turn the game into a Musou battle, with Goro leading the charge against the enemy captain. It's all wilder and wackier than what I expect from a Like A Dragon game, what with the summoning giant sharks with instruments and Goro summoning shadow clones... but it wouldn't be Goro Majima if it wasn't a little wacky.

Speaking of your ship and crew, the customization for your ship isn't just aesthetic. It also includes the kinds of artillery you pack for all sides of your vessel. Think of this as a far more arcadey take on Assassin's Creed: Black Flag: you navigate your ship around enemy vessels, flanking them for quick barrages of canon fire, beelining towards them while pelting them with Gatling guns, or dancing out of their range while dousing them with flamethrowers. All the while, you need to be aware of any damage your ship takes—fires starting on deck or things like that. Selecting your crew is also essential, as these serve as your party members during fights. There are all kinds of things you'll have to do to buff up your crew members, like exercising with them or having One Piece-style dinners. It feels like a far-better-realized version of the crew systems in Skies of Arcadia or Infinite Space, only with even weirder goofs serving as your crewmates (I think one of the party members is just an ersatz ASIMO). No word yet on whether Kson will join, but I think she's busy making goo-goo eyes at Kiryu in Infinite Wealth.

There's a sense of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios learning from past mistakes with Pirate Yakuza. The ship boarding mechanic was infamously absent from the recent "AAAA" pirate game, Skull and Bones, for one. But more notably: the Direct presentation was very keen on informing folks that New Game Plus will be available for free. Infinite Wealth got dinged pretty hard for barring its New Game Plus as DLC, especially since many of its achievements were gated behind New Game Plus. New Game Plus is a basic feature for many games; trying to nickel-and-dime your audience for it felt especially bad, so it's good that Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios took the heat and agreed never to do that again. I'm not sure I'm any happier with their tiered pre-orders; they still have Digital Deluxe (which includes exclusive outfits and crewmen) or other premium tiers (including a "Collector's Edition" that includes a replica of Goro's eyepatch). Still, at least they're not doing the "AAA game" thing of an "early access" a few days before the actual release date (and I hope they never do).

For now, Pirate Yakuza wants to be as silly as Goro typically is, and this being a Like A Dragon game, this will invariably include some painful tear-jerkers along the way. Longtime Goro fans know that there is a lot of sadness in Goro's backstory; I can't pretend to know how much Pirate Yakuza will delve into it, but for now, it feels good to know that Pirate Yakuza is taking a jumble of assets from Infinite Wealth and making a brand new experience from it all that looks good, looks fun and even gives us the long-awaited return of Goromi. Embrace recycling assets!

Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza is the name of the treasure on the Grand Line. Set sail for it this February 21 on Steam, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. Wouldn't it be interesting if this game came out on Nintendo's new console...? I mean, we finally got Yakuza Kiwami on the Switch and everything...

Team Ladybug, the creators best known for the creation of Touhou Luna Nights and Record of Lodoss War -Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth-, have announced a new side-scroller: Blade Chimera. It's currently available for pre-order on the Nintendo eShop and releases on January 15. Look out for it if you love pretty Metroidvanias.

The Pokémon Company has called 2025 "The Year of Eevee" and will be selling a lot of Eevee merch this year on their website. For now, that means a lot of really neat plushies.

CAPCOM has two beta tests for Monster Hunter Wilds; look out for them from February 6-9 and from February 13-16!

In case you're genuinely interested in playing Hello Kitty: Island Adventure on Switch and PC and not just repeating the memes, it arrives this January 30!

That'll do it for this week. I'd like to extend a request to my readers that they keep their thoughts with the people of Los Angeles currently running from the Palisades fire. It's a terrifying time for them, and many people have already lost their homes in this disaster. Whenever possible, please help these folks. If you're in the area, take care, pay attention to the evacuation notice, and try to help anyone you can during the evacuation process. For those outside of Los Angeles: keep your eyes open for any fundraisers for the Los Angeles refugees. Now, once again, is a great time for folks to band together and extend a hand to each other. Be good to each other; I'll see you in seven.

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This Week In Games! is written from idyllic Portland by Jean-Karlo Lemus. When not collaborating with Anime News Network, Jean-Karlo can be found playing JRPGs, eating popcorn, watching v-tubers, and tokusatsu. You can keep up with him at @ventcard.bsky.social.

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