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7. Beyond the Labyrinth
Despite being a single player experience, the beginning of Beyond the Labyrinth sets you in a fake 8-bit online dungeon crawler with NPC party members acting as real people that type out messages as you progress. However, once you hear the cry of a woman’s voice, the screen starts to flicker and everyone is transported to the beautiful world that she inhabits. In this world, you and your party members are transformed into cubes that can talk to each other, but not the mysterious woman. She knows that your party is actually human and explains that she has fallen down from above, so she asks you to assist her in climbing a tower while fending off vicious monsters along the way. The game was released in Japan on January 19, 2012, and was published by Konami.
Why it should be localized: Beyond the Labyrinth is possibly one of the best looking 3DS games I have ever seen and has an interesting rock-paper-scissors mechanic within its turn-based combat that serves as a unique gameplay twist. Also, there is a market for dungeon crawlers in the west, as evidenced by games like the Etrian Odyssey series on 3DS.
The odds of it being localized: It’s unlikely that we’ll ever see this game outside of Japan, thanks to the game’s poor sales.
I’m definitely a Game Center CX fan, and I love that there are a group of fans so dedicated to getting the shows translated into English when they come out. I don’t own Retro Game Challenge, but I followed the development of both the first and second game, and I thought the team did a fantastic job of capturing the era of gaming featured so often on the show.
It’s a shame that the game didn’t sell well in the west, but the fact that games like this exist warms my heart.
I’ve wanted to play Beyond the Labyrinth since I first saw a trailer a few years ago. I suppose the only hope is that someone concludes that the cost of localization will be covered by sales in the West, and that Japanese sales might not be the best predictor.
Here’s hoping! These all look interesting in one way or another, but Beyond the Labyrinth looks especially appealing to me.
…Well, that and Dragon Quest VII. :^)
Very, very good list Anthony.
Nice list of games! Some were already on my personal watch list, others I’d heard about then forgotten, and a few were complete unknowns for me. Great to see them get some exposure in the West. With software like this, it’s no surprise that 3DS has become a “must own” piece of hardware.
Thanks for the comments everyone! I had a lot of fun writing this one up, and I genuinely hope that these games get localized! More software on the 3DS is never a bad thing :)