(Thanks to Darius fan Bryan for the tip!)
You asked for it and it seems that Taito has listened. Highway Entertainment, which is a part of the Highway Group and imports games into Australia, has a listing for an English version of Darius Burst Another Chronicle, with availability listed as “Coming Soon”. Bryan, who sent this tip in also e-mailed HE about it where they confirmed the entry but did not get into any detail about it. So for now, there are no other details about this version but the simple fact that they have done a translation for the game indicates that we’re going to see it outside of Japan. The price tag of nearly $13k (and it will be higher after shipping but it’s worth noting that prices vary among distributors and Taito could always change it to their liking) is going to limit availability, it’s also unclear how Taito will handle distribution worldwide. Also we don’t know how the online features will be handled yet. But if you’ve been interested in this game at all, this should be welcome news for those who wish for a chance to see and play it without having to make a trip to Japan.
In the meantime I’ve decided to add the game to our Arcade Release list for 2011 in the non-Asian markets, in anticipation. 🙂
UPDATE: I sent an inquiry to Taito about this and they have confirmed that this is indeed happening as they have had “many direct requests” for the game!
UPDATE: Just for fun, I found this video of the Chronicle Mode, in case anyone was curious to see that in action
OK I like the game and all but 13000$!!!!!!! Are they crazy? It’s a 2D side scroller for crying out loud. Surely the development costs cannot be as high as to warrant this type of price.
How about also offering a more affordable cabinet and\or kit for the arcade operators? They would surely sell more units if more operators could afford to buy it……
These prices never seize to amaze and bewilder me.
Agreed, it would be awesome if they could release it at a lower price. It is a little baffling as it’s an enhanced port of a game they already had on the PSP and it uses PC hardware that should be pretty cheap on their end by now. The cabinet and quality parts being used are certainly going to be a part of the price as is the translation but at the end of the day I wish I knew how much of the price tag is cost and how much is profit. I don’t begrudge the profit part at all, I would just like to know these things as I think if the profit margin on each unit sold is high (let’s say $5000 for fun as I honestly don’t know what it is), you could lower that and push more units and make up for it in the long run. But it is possible that this is just a preliminary price and it could change. But it is in the same realm as what they charge for it in Japan right now.
As far as selling these, many operators will see it as risky because of the side-scrolling format and it uses joysticks – two things that will make it a tough sell already in today’s market as we haven’t seen a hit in those categories for a long time. If there is any game which could be a hit using this format though, I think it’s DBAC. The other features will help the game stand out and earn in arcades but that won’t matter if you can’t get it on location. At least there are some fans of Darius out there already which are dedicated enough to support a machine on location but still, at that price it’s going to have bring them out in droves to pay itself off in a timely manner. From my understanding of the Chronicle mode, it sounds like the game is deep enough to keep people coming in for a long time and the four player format can drive replay value as well.
EXCELLENT NEWS!!
But the lower the price, the better…
Now NESiCA Live for USA PLEASE!
wonderful news but in a way it only makes sence to release a sequal when all its prequals have sold all over the world. I bet if it was something that was brand new then it would only see a japan release but because first other games have been sold then thats probably why. although taito really needs to work on the pricing of the game, maybe release it in a cheaper cabinet model might help lighten the load or rey convert the game onto a cheaper platform etc. anything that will make up for lost earnings and keep the players coming back
Just when I send a message to the Taito global support e-mail address, pushing them to release DBAC internationally, I find this blog post. I guess I’m just fashionably late. Or maybe my contribution traveled backwards in time. Yeah, I like the sound of that.
You could say that your contribution could help them out in case they get cold feet on the idea. 😛