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Vanillaware has been something of an darling among consumers for upwards of a decade now. And who can blame anyone that gravitates towards what this studio puts out? With unique visuals and an interesting catalogue of games, we've created a list of what we think are some of the best Vanillaware has to offer. And feel free to let us know what you think and other titles you'd recommend in the comments!

I am divided between Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Odin Sphere (the Leifthrasir re-release in particular). While both are excellent and unique games, in of both gameplay and tone, I have to go with Muramasa. The environments and vistas in that game are especially stunning. It's a real shame that Muramasa is currently trapped on the Wii and PS Vita. Maybe if it appeared on modern platforms and PCs, more people could play it? Hey, Vanillaware? — Daniel

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is a work of art, both from the actual classic Vanillaware visual standpoint and the incredible storytelling as well. The massive cast of playable characters are all memorable with some poignant moments and shocks throughout. I will it the combat is forgettable and the ending was really disappointing for me, but I still think fondly about this game quite often. — Cody

For me, the answer is pretty cut and dry. I loved playing Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow of Mystara, so naturally my favorite Vanillaware game has to be Dragon's Crown. It's a great 80's-esque side scrolling beat'em up, only made better by Vanillaware's signature painterly art style that lends itself so well to the atmosphere of the game. I'm personally a huge fan of the character designs in Dragon's Crown because I'm a big "sword and sorcery" fan, but outside of the impressive visuals I'm a sucker for co-op. So being able to dungeon crawl with friends meant I dedicated around one-hundred or so hours to this simple but exciting title. — Kazuma

Listen, I'm going to come here and be the weird one. I liked Kumatanchi on the DS, and I still die a little inside every time I think about how I let someone borrow it and didn't go full bounty hunter on them to get it back. (It is going for $200 on eBay, last I checked.) It's a fun life sim about a bear-girl hybrid named Kuma-tan. You look after her at the zoo, ensuring she's well cared for so she performs well, while also seeing her interact with the other people-animals there. It's not an artistic achievement like 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, but I consider it one of the best Vanillaware games. -- Jenni

The post Which Vanillaware Games Do You Like Best and Recommend? appeared first on Siliconera.

Odin Sphere and 13 Sentinels developer Vanillaware celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2022, but this year will see the launches of a commemorative Vanillaware art book and merchandise. Pre-orders for the celebratory goods are now open, via the Japanese online retailer Ebten. [Thanks, Famitsu!]

The main item in the 20th Anniversary celebration is the Vanillaware Official Art Book -Assortment of VANILLA-. The book can be pre-ordered on this page, with an expected release date of June 30, 2023. The book will cost 13,200 Yen (about $96 USD). Pre-orders on Ebten will include several additional items, including a B3-sized wall scroll, a tote bag featuring Vanilla Boy, the studio mascot, key chains featuring the logos used by the studio, and a laser-engraved "3D crystal" that shows Vanilla boy. No previews of the included material in the Vanillaware art book are available on the store page at the moment.

Besides the Vanillaware art book, dozens more items are available as part of Ebten's Vanillaware 20th Anniversary offering.

One set includes framed reproductions of key illustrations from various Vanillaware titles. The illustrations on offer include the designs used as box art for games like Muramasa: The Demon Blade, 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, Dragon's Crown, Odin Sphere, GrimGrimoire, Grand Knights History, and Princess Crown, which technically predates the Vanillware name. Even Vanillaware's lesser-known DS-based life sim, Kumatanchi, has a print up for order. 13 Sentinels character designer Yukiko Hirai also created a special 20th anniversary picture for the occasion.

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Each framed print costs 33,000 Yen (about $240 USD), and is expected to ship by August 2023.

Other items include tote bags, acrylic standees, soundtracks, and other goods based on Vanillaware games. The main selection is listed on this page, but here's a gallery of some of the more notable items.

[gallery size="medium" ids="954327,954328,954329,954330,954331,954332" link="file"]

The Vanillaware art book and other 20th anniversary goods are available via retailer Ebten. The studio's games are available on various platforms. The newest game, GrimGrimoire OnceMore, arrives on the Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PS5 on April 4, 2023. A playable demo is available now.

The post Vanillaware Art Book and Merchandise Sold for 20th Anniversary appeared first on Siliconera.

Vanillaware President George Kamitani talked about Dragon's Crown, how it was in development for Wii, and more in this week’s issue of Famitsu  magazine. [Thanks, Ryokutya2089.]

On Muramasa: The Demon Blade 6l6j3f

• “It didn’t  with Sega or Atlus. Thinking rationally, all I could say was ‘Hello, this is Kamitani from Princess Crown, the pre-launch of Fantasy Earth: Zero, and the to-be-released GrimGrimoire and Odin Sphere’ at the time.”
• “The company was close to shutting down around the time Odin Sphere released, but Marvelous told us they liked the project and made it a reality.”

On Dragon’s Crown 6450g

• Dragon’s Crown was initially a project for the Wii.
• “It was well-received when I presented it to a senior at Capcom, but supposedly one of the higher-ups asked ‘But can it sell like Monster Hunter?’ and the project didn’t go through.”
• “That’s where we met Ignition.* They immediately gave us the OK.”
• “Ignition had no complaints. The target was Xbox since we wanted to develop for a worldwide audience, or something like that.”
• “Dragon’s Crown is a title that wasn’t meant to sell that much. The publisher wanted the next game before sales started. Our goal is to continue making games and the sales come as a result of that, but if we were to flip that around then…”
• “I’m glad it sold well, but I personally thought it was bad as a strategy.”
• “As work becomes more readily available but that set higher hurdles. If we were to fail on a 4-5 year course… then what would we have done?”

*Ignition would go on to transfer all rights and duties of publishing Dragon's Crown to Atlus in 2012.

Check our previous report for more from George Kamitani on Princess Crown and other development stories. You can also check here for a new project teaser from earlier this year.

Dragon's Crown on Wii never happened, but it went on to release on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. It also got an enhanced port on PlayStation 4 as Dragon's Crown Pro in 2018. Muramasa: The Demon Blade released on Wii and later the PlayStation Vita.

The post Dragon’s Crown was Initially Planned for Wii, Capcom ed on Muramasa Pitch appeared first on Siliconera.

Dragon’s Crown Pro will release for PlayStation 4 on May 15, 2018, and Atlus announced that the currently available PS3 and PS Vita versions will be receiving an early patch on March 22, 2018, for cross-play and cross-save compatibilities.

The post Dragon’s Crown For PS3 And PS Vita To Receive Patch Ahead Of Dragon’s Crown Pro Release appeared first on Siliconera.

Dragon’s Crown is getting a new 4K port with newly orchestrated music for PS4 in Dragon’s Crown Pro early next year, and its Sorceress is getting a new 1/7 scale figure in June 2018.

The post Dragon’s Crown Busts Out A New Sorceress Figure Releasing In June 2018 appeared first on Siliconera.

A banner has shown up for Atlus’ Tokyo Game Show 2017 NicoNico live stream page showing pre-orders for a limited edition version of "Dragon’s Crown Pro" on PlayStation 4.

The post Dragon’s Crown Is Headed To PlayStation 4 According Leaked TGS 2017 Banner appeared first on Siliconera.

People in Europe won't find Dragon's Crown in the PlayStation Store. NIS America's license expired, which means the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita game has been removed.

The post Dragon’s Crown Removed From European PlayStation Store [UPDATE] appeared first on Siliconera.

Hitoshi Sakimoto, composer for Final Fantasy Tactics, Final Fantasy XII, and more, has released his 3 disc soundtrack for Dragon's Crown.

The post Official Dragon’s Crown Soundtrack Now On iTunes appeared first on Siliconera.

Amazon's muscles may not transfer so well to 3D.

The post New Dragon’s Crown Figure Is A Nightmare Of Muscles appeared first on Siliconera.

Atlus announced that they’re releasing an original soundtrack disc for 2013 side-scrolling action RPG title, Dragon’s Crown.

The post Dragon’s Crown Is Getting A 3-Disc Original Soundtrack This Fall appeared first on Siliconera.

Dragon’s Crown sales have reached 940,000 copies worldwide, developer Vanillaware say.

The post Dragon’s Crown Sales Reach 940,000 Worldwide appeared first on Siliconera.

Sony are holding a “Superhero Sale” on PlayStation Network.

The post Batman: Arkham Origins, Dragon’s Crown And More On Sale On PSN In U.S. appeared first on Siliconera.

Sony Computer Entertainment Japan Asia announced the top selling items on the PlayStation Store and Dragon's Crown dominated the lists. The Vita version was the number one top ed game. Dragon's Crown for PlayStation 3 was number two followed by Super Robot Wars: Operation Extend, Namco Bandai's episodic SRT game for PSP.

Also interesting to note is the Game Archives list which is where PsOne Classics and TurboGrafx-16 games are categorized. Square Enix's games took nine out of the ten spots. Of course, a Final Fantasy game is number one, but take a guess which one is on top.

Overall top 10

1.) Dragon's Crown (Vita)
2.) Dragons Crown (PS3)
3.) Super Robot Wars: Operation Extend – All 8 packs (PSP)
4.) God Eater 2 (Vita)
5.) Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus (Vita)
6.) Toukiden (Vita)
7.) Soul Sacrifice PlayStation Vita the Best version (Vita)
8.) Earth Defense Force 2025 (PS3)
9.) Demon Gaze PlayStation Vita the Best version (Vita)
10.) Summon Night 5 (PSP)

PS3 top 10

1.) Dragon's Crown
2.) Earth Defense Force 2025
3.) Terraria (unlock key)
4.) Dynasty Warriors 8
5.) Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
6.) Gundam Breaker
7.) Terraria
8.) Power Pros Baseball 2013
9.) Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F
10.) Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Vita top 10

1.) Dragon's Crown
2.) God Eater 2
3.) Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus
4.) Toukiden
5.) Soul Sacrifice (PlayStation Vita the Best)
6.) Demon Gaze (PlayStation Vita the Best)
7.) Muramasa: The Demon Blade
8.) Persona 4: The Golden
9.) Monster Monpiece
10.) Valhalla Knights 3

PSP top 10

1.) Super Robot Wars: Operation Extend (all 8 packs)
2.) Summon Night 5
3.) Sword Art Online: Infinity Moment
4.) God Eater Burst (PSP the Best)
5.) 7th Dragon 2020-II
6.) Dungeon Travelers 2
7.) Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Tag Force 6
8.) Fate/Extra CCC
9.) Monster Hunter Portable 3rd
10.) Danganronpa (PSP the Best)

Game Archives top 10

1.) Final Fantasy IX
2.) Final Fantasy VII: International
3.) Final Fantasy VII
4.) Final Fantasy VI
5.) Final Fantasy V
6.) Chrono Trigger
7.) Chrono Cross
8.) Legend of Mana
9.) Final Fantasy Tactics
10.) Super Robot Wars Alpha

Exclusive Games top 10

1.) Super Robot Wars: Operation Extend (PSP)
2.) rain (PS3)
3.) Journey Unlock Key (PS3)
4.) Skullgirls (PS3)
5.) Castlevania: Harmony of Despair (PS3)
6.) Malicious Rebirth (Vita)
7.) PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (PS3)*
8.) PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (Vita)*
9.) Super Robot Wars: Operation Extend 1st Chapter (PSP)
10.) Vividred Operation: Hyper Intimate Power (PS3)

* We're not sure why PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is on this list since it was released in retail as well as a in Japan.

Free to Play Games top 10

1.) Phantasy Star Online 2 (Vita)
2.) Tekken Revolution (PS3)
3.) Dust 514 (PS3)
4.) Mobile Suit Gundam: Battle Operation (PS3)
5.) Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur (Vita)
6.) PowerPros Stadium (PS3)
7.) Samurai & Dragons (Vita)
8.) PowerPros Stadium (Vita)
9.) Spartacus Legends (PS3)
10.) Joysound Dive (PS3)

DLC Items top 10

1.) Mobile Suit Gundam: Battle Operation (sortie energy)
2.) Samurai & Dragons (10,700 at a 50% off discount)
3.) Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur (3000 MC)
4.) Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur (1000 MC)
5.) Mobile Suit Gundam: Battle Operation (blueprint boost Lv. 2)
6.) Joysound Dive (30 days)
7.) PowerPros Baseball 2013 (powerstone x 10)
8.) Mobile Suit Gundam: Battle Operation (sortie energy reserve)
9.) Battlefield 4 ( service)
10.) Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (revolution)

The post Dragon’s Crown Tops PlayStation Store Charts In Japan appeared first on Siliconera.

The fifth Dragon’s Crown update patch, which was released in Japan yesterday, is coming to now available North America, too. See below for the full set of patch notes:

[Bug Fixes]

• Gameplay stability is improved.

[New Features]

• Clearing the ninth layer in the Labyrinth of Chaos unlocks a new "Ultimate" difficulty level. This difficulty can be selected at the Temple.
• When in Ultimate difficulty, a new randomly generated dungeon named the "Tower of Mirages" is added.
• Ultimate difficulty raises the level cap from LV 99 to LV 255.
• Item shortcuts can now be assigned and used separately by holding L1 and the Up directional button.
• Damage values can now be displayed as a running total instead of per-hit.
• To help increase player character visibility, characters can be shown with transparencies when they are on top of one another. This feature is available in the Options menu and can be toggled on or off.
• Save files that have cleared Story mode can skip the first quests leading to the Talisman collection when creating a new character.
• Guild Quests that have already been cleared may now be skipped in subsequent playthroughs.

[Feature Modifications]

• Character class skills have received a number of adjustments.
• NPC behavior has been adjusted.
• Rules and effects regarding equipment, items, and skills in the Colosseum have been adjusted.
• Other tuning and minor improvements to various gameplay elements have been made.

Atlus say this is the final update that will be made to Dragon’s Crown.

The post Fifth Dragon’s Crown Update Now Available In North America, Too appeared first on Siliconera.

Vanillaware made a major update for Dragon's Crown. If you clear floor nine in the Labyrinth of Chaos you can unlock Ultimate difficulty. This mode increases the max level from 99 to 255 and opens a new area, the Sky Tower of Dreams. This has randomly created dungeons for players to fight through.

Dragon's Crown will also get some tweaks like an item shortcut (L button + up on the d-pad) and total damage numbers. Vanillaware also adjusted skills, NPC behavior, and how items work in the player vs. player arena. The update is available in Japan right now.

The post Dragon’s Crown Gets Ultimate Difficulty, Bumps Level Cap To 255, And A New Tower appeared first on Siliconera.