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Siliconera had a chance to talk with Natsume president Hiro Maekawa about their plans for the year and because it's been discussed here quite a few times we made sure to ask about Medabots. Natsume developed and published several Medabots games before Rocket Company started making games for the Nintendo DS. Since then Rocket Company continues to make Medabots titles including the most recent game, Medabots 8 which kind of feels like Level-5's Little Battlers eXtreme series.

"At this point, we do not have a concrete plan for future Medabots titles, but we are carefully listening to fans voices and we know the team over there and would love the opportunity to bring a new Medabots game to the U.S. one day. Once again we have spent time, money, and love on that franchise, and we want to see it move forward just as much as our fans do," Maekawa explained an interview with Siliconera. "I know this isn't the answer Medabots fans wanted, but stay tuned, because there will be some Medabots news in 2015. Keep an eye out!"

Natsume has worked with Kemco to release Alphadia Genesis for Wii U as well as Mystic Chronicles and End of Serenity for PSP. Kemco has a large library of 16-bit style JRPGs and since the two companies are working together we asked if Natsume has any plans to make an original RPG with them.

"We maintain a very close relationship with Kemco. We work very well with them and they make RPGs that fit so well into our "niche and unique" model. I have always been fond of RPGs and we continue to look for ones that fit with Natsume," said Maekawa. "Are we working together on a co-developed RPG? We have definitely talked about it! You will be one of the first to know if we have some news to announce."

The post Natsume President Comments About Medabots And Making RPGs With Kemco appeared first on Siliconera.

Kemco RPG Alphadia Genesis will be launch on Steam on January 12th, Marvelous Europe have announced.

The game will launch at an introductory price of € 11.99/£8.79 and is the first Kemco RPG to be available on Steam.

You can find Alphadia Genesis’ Steam page here. The game is also available on Wii U, iOS and Android devices.

The post Alphadia Genesis Travels To Steam On January 12th appeared first on Siliconera.

Alphadia Genesis, Kemco’s iOS/Android/Wii U RPG, is coming to Steam, courtesy of Marvelous Europe. The game will be available this January at an introductory price of €11.99/£8.79.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to be delivering Alphadia Genesis to the Steam community,” says Steven Tarry, Marketing Manager, Marvelous Games.

“We know that a significant number of PC gamers are craving more exciting and engrossing Japanese titles, as well as cool throw back games, and that’s exactly what we’re going to provide with Alphadia Genesis!”

You can find a story summary and system requirements on the game’s Steam page.

The post Kemco’s Alphadia Genesis Is Coming To Steam appeared first on Siliconera.

Kemco are holding a Christmas sale on their iPhone games in North America. Eight of Kemco’s games will be available for $0.99 on the App Store until Christmas. The following titles are part of the sale:

• RPG Alphadia Genesis
• RPG Fanatic Earth
• RPG Soul Historica
• RPG Chrome Wolf
• RPG Chronus Arc
• RPG Bonds of the Skies
• RPG Fortuna Magus
• RPG Link of Hearts

You can access the sale via this page.

The post Grab A Bunch Of Kemco’s iPhone RPGs For $0.99 Each appeared first on Siliconera.

Natsume are publishing one of Kemco’s RPGs, Alphadia Genesis for the Wii U, in North America. This morning, they shared profiles for some of the game’s characters, and also touched upon its story. Let’s start with that:

Alphadia Year 1092: Fifteen years have ed since the end of the terrible Energi Wars, where clones were used as weapons. Two kingdoms, after nearly destroying each other and the natural resources of Energi, signed an important peace treaty, and have been co-operative neighbors ever since: Augustine and Archleign, where the story of Alphadia Genesis begins.

And now, on to the cast of characters you’ll find in the game:

Fray is a member of the local guild in the Kingdom of Archleign, and a skilled swordsman; though he’s been invited to the national army, he prefers the freedom of working on his own schedule.  He has a younger sister, Aurra.  His primary element is Fire.

Aurra, an early addition to the party, is an Energi researcher and an expert on clones from the recent Energi Wars. She worries about her brother, and wants to name clones after food. Her primary element is Light.

Enah, a clone accidentally activated by Fray, is a Model 2000, and more stable than the Model 1000.  Wielding a deadly chakra, don't get between her and her master!  Her primary element is Water.

Corone may look meek and demure, but her soft exterior and manners hide a core of steel! From the Kingdom of Augustine, she has been sent by her king to discover the mystery behind clones who have begun murdering their masters – but does she have an ulterior motive?  Her primary element is Light.

Walter is the other member of the Augustine Kingdom investigation squad. He looks down on guild like Fray, believing anyone with real talent should their nation’s army. He’s very hot tempered and will squabble frequently with other party . His primary element is Water.

"We have been waiting for an opportunity to launch a Wii U title since the system's release in late 2012," said Hiro Maekawa, President and CEO at Natsume. "Alphadia Genesis provided us with a fantastic opportunity to bring our fans an RPG we're sure they're going to love!"

Alphadia Genesis will be released on Wii U in North America this Fall.

The post Meet The Characters Of Alphadia Genesis For Wii U appeared first on Siliconera.

At E3, Natsume announced a bunch of games that they’re localizing for U.S. release over the next several months. This week, they provided an estimated release window for each of these games and others. Here’s what their schedule looks like:

• Gabrielle’s Monstrous Duel (iOS) – Summer 2014
• Reel Fishing Pocket 2: Ocean (iOS) – Summer 2014
• Ninja Strike (iOS) – Fall 2014
• Reel Fishing Master’s Challenge (Vita) – Winter 2014
• Alphadia Genesis (Wii U) – Winter 2014
• Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley (3DS) – Fall 2014
• A-Train: City Simulation (3DS) – Winter 2014

Earlier in the month, Natsume also confirmed that they would be bringing Harvest Moon 2 for Game Boy Color and Lufia: The Legend Returns to the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console, although they haven’t said just when the two can be expected.

The post Natsume Announce Release Windows For Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley And Other Games appeared first on Siliconera.

Pat yourself on the back if you guessed that Alphadia Genesis was the Wii U title Natsume were teasing for E3—they just announced it.

Alphadia Genesis is developed by Kemco, and is a 3D role-playing game that was originally released for smartphones using Unity. Kemco later revealed to Siliconera that they were bringing the game to consoles, and began porting it to Wii U.

Alphadia Genesis is already available in Japan via the Nintendo eShop. Natsume have not announced a release window for the game yet.

The post Natsume To Publish Alphadia Genesis For Wii U In North America appeared first on Siliconera.

Just last year Siliconera was talking to Kemco's Mobile Business Development manager Masaomi Kurokawa about bringing Alphadia Genesis to consoles. Their 3D JRPG was made with Unity, which made it easy to port. Kurokawa said to Siliconera that they would consider a port after testing it.

I guess the test went well because Alphadia Genesis is out for Wii U in Japan now. The console version costs 1,944 yen (roughly $19), quite a bit more than the usual $9.99 price on Android.

Right now, the console version of Alphadia Genesis is just for Japan, but Natsume localized Mystic Chronicles for PSP. Perhaps, Natsume will pick this up later on?

The post JRPG Maker Kemco Is Bringing One Of Their RPGs To Wii U appeared first on Siliconera.

To ring in the new year last month, we brought word of the localization of Alphadia Genesis, Kemco’s big bet on a melding of 3D and 2D RPGs. We’ve now got word that the game is available in English on Android.

Alphadia Genesis features Japanese original voiceovers. While in the overworld, the game plays out in 2D, but battles are in 3D utilizing the Unity engine.

To recap, the story’s about the two kingdoms of Archleign and Ghalzabine. Once at war with each other and having used clones to fight them, these Energi clones are now repurposed to serve society peacefully, Isaac Asimov “Three Rules of Robotics” style.

Until a murder that shouldn’t have happened... well, does.

Fray’s the man charged with looking into it alongside Corone. Along for the investigation is emotionless clone Enah who Fray discovers and becomes master of. Other classic RPG stereotypes like energetic loli Aurra or old man Grande. Once you’re done, you could then go on to Alphadia 2, which is the sequel set 200 years later. Enah, apparently, is still kicking it there.

Alphadia Genesis is out now on Android and coming soon for iOS.

The post Kemco’s 3D RPG Is Out Now In English appeared first on Siliconera.

Developers Exe-Create Kemco are going out on a limb with Alphadia Genesis. Costing double the budget of their other mobile JRPG titles, it’s their big attempt to meld classic sprite-based JRPGs from “ye olde era” with 3D graphics during battle, therefore mixing the best of 32bit graphic games with slightly more modern styles. Stick around for a special extra at the end of the video, too.

The tale stars Frey, who’s been put in charge of looking into the mysterious murder of a master slain by his clone servant. These clones are relics of the past, during the Energi Wars where man fought to control life energy. In order to conserve resources, we created mindless clones with only one command: Kill the other side. Now that the war’s over, they’ve been re-programmed to become peaceful and live alongside us. Or so we think. ing him are allies such as Frey’s love interest Corone, emotionless Ena (Who reminds one scarily of Arpeggio of Blue Steel’s Iona), super energetic loli Aura and others.

As the video shows, overland and story segments will feature classic sprite-based characters and static images, but during battle, the Unity-driven engine will give players a 3D battle system. This allows them to add plenty of whiz-bang effects, and one gimmick will be an assist system. Energi looks like a separate magic system, and it’s possible to Overkill enemies for possible bonuses. Just like in other Kemco games, there’s actually a surprising amount of depth despite being a mobile title, so don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.

All of this is being voiced, and as we mentioned in our previous interview with them, Kemco did say they were planning to localize this game into English with Japanese voiceovers (which we’re sure no one who enjoys such games actually minds that much, right?).

Alphadia Genesis is available on iOS and Android.

The post Exe-Create And Kemco Released A 3D JRPG, And It Looks… Good appeared first on Siliconera.

Kemco is known for developing JRPGs for Android and iOS that capture the spirit of the Super Nintendo era. Alphadia Genesis is a technical leap forward since the game feels more like a PsOne title. The world map uses sprites, but the battle system has 3D character models and dragons.

I played an early build of Alphadia Genesis and the game uses a standard command battle system. Players can choose to do melee attacks, skills, or spells like using fire magic. The story takes place after the Energi War where mankind has been fighting to control life energy. Instead of sending souls out, countries created clones to fight battles. With the war over, clones were reprogrammed to live alongside humans and without a will to fight. But, one day a clone kills its master and the protagonist Frey has to figure out why clones are suddenly attacking people.

Kemco found a nice little niche as the developer of retro RPGs with simple stories. Alphadia Genesis is being made by Exe-Create, the developer of Infinite Dunamis. Masaomi Kurokawa, Manager of the Mobile Business Department, estimates the development cost for Alphadia Genesis is double the budget of other RPGs, which makes it a risk. The reason why Alphadia Genesis costs more is mostly because of 3D graphics.

Alphadia Genesis is in development for iOS and Android devices. Kemco plans to localize the game in English too and this version will include all of the Japanese voiceovers.

I asked Kurokawa if he thought about bringing it to consoles too since the game is developed with Unity, a popular video game engine designed for multiplatform development. "I hope so," said Kurokawa. "Since Unity s other consoles we will try to test it first. If that works well maybe we will bring it to Vita, Wii U, and if PlayStation 4 s it." Another one of Kemco's RPGs, Mystic Chronicles, will be available on PSP later this year care of Natsume.

The post Retro JRPG Maker Moves From 16 Bit RPGs To PS1 Style Games appeared first on Siliconera.