Bangai-O Spirits

[Nester the Lark]

Last week, Treasure announced that it's developing a sequel to it's N64 and Dreamcast game Bangai-O. Bangai-O Spirits (Bangaioh Tamashii) is scheduled to be released in Japan sometime next year. There doesn't seem to be plans for an international release at this time.

For those of you unfamiliar with Bangai-O, it's kinda like a mix between Smash TV and Rampage, except different. It's a multi-directional shooter with a wacky, self-conscious sense of humor. And like many Treasure games, it relies on a gimmicky game mechanic. You see, it rewards you for putting yourself into reckless and dangerous situations by giving you a special weapon that's much more effective when you're surrounded by bad guys, bullets and missiles. Read this for a slightly better explanation. Or watch this review (language warning) for an even better one.

There's not a lot of info in the DS version yet, except that it contains a multiplayer mode and a level editor.

Cross your fingers for an international release!

Source: 1up.com

[Nester the Lark]

I guess no one really cared about this game. I don't know why not. It was a Dreamcast game for cryin' out loud! And it was on the N64 before that! And it was developed by Treasure! What's not to like?

GameTrailers has added a whole bunch of Gameplay videos, as well as the Japanese trailer, and it all looks really good!

It looks like the Bangai-O now has a sword (or a bat?) that it can use to attack and deflect bullets. Cool!

[TV Eye]

Any screens? The videos take too long to load for me...

[Nester the Lark]

IGN has screenshots here.

Oh, and I forgot to mention a couple of things. According to Kotaku, Bangai-O Spirits is being released in the US sometime this spring by D3Publisher. It has a four-player mode and a level editor. Most interesting of all is the bizarre way that you can transmit custom levels to other people. The game converts the custom level into a sound file that can be played thru the DS's speakers. Other DS's can pick up this sound thru their mics and re-interpret it back into a custom level. It's strange, but I guess this means that people can upload these files online, and then play them back through PC speakers.

[Nester the Lark]

There's a new English trailer for this game that looks pretty cool. I like how it says "From the creators of Ikaruga & Gunstar Heroes..."

And there's 160 levels. Wow. The Dreamcast version only had 44. And there's a level editor on top of that, and you can download new levels from the Internet via Sound Load. Awesome.

The Japanese version has been getting outstanding reviews so far, including a 9/10 from Edge.

[Da Robot]

BUMP!

Here's a video of the game in action and also the level sound transfer feature (at around the 5:30 mark on the video).

[Da Robot]

BUMP!

Just informing anyone here interested in Bangai-O Spirits that there is like 1 copy left on Amazon for $4.43 (save 78% off the $19.99 price) from Sayda. Unfortunately there only seem to ship to the US and that was the reason why I couldn't get it.

Oh F*&#nuts . . .