SEGA unveils yet another Nintendo DS RPG exclusive

July 5th, 2008, 23:08 Posted By: wraggster

SEGA has been on a roll lately, bombarding both the Nintendo DS and Wii with numerous exclusive titles. We have already seen a slew of home console Wii revivals published / developed (House of the Dead, NiGHTS, Samba de Amigo), plus recent announcements of Platinum Games’s gory MadWorld, whilst the Nintendo DS has the former Clover Studio team’s Science Fiction RPG ‘Infinite Line’, as well as Image Epoch’s RPG ‘World Destruction’. But it seems Nintendo’s previous fierce rival has plenty more to offer fans.


This new role-playing game, exclusive to the Nintendo DS, is called Blazer Drive and since the official website has now opened, the first firm details have emerged. Rather than relying on outside developers as in the case of Infinite Line and World Destruction, this appears to be an internally-developed game based on a fresh new manga show in Japan, an anime that apparently is actually linked with SEGA and its development team. The manga is written by Seishi Kishimoto, who is actually the twin brother of Naruto artist Masashi Kishimoto, and an accomplished manga creator himself.

In this game translation, players will take on the role of Shiro, a young, trendy teenager who uncovers his hidden Blazer skills after actually being personally attacked by a Blazer. Shiro, along with his long-time friend Tamaki, who is also a Blazer, is asked by an unusual man called Kuroki to team up with the Guardians to help them make the Tokyo of the future a much safer place.


As 1UP.com states, from the early information released so far:

In the near future, Tokyo has been radically redeveloped to become an “enviro-friendly” city, one where nature and man-made structures freely intertwine, and everyone presumably drives water cars and eats gluten-free soy hamburgers. The main energy source in this reborn city is Mystickers, odd sticker-like objects developed by the Next corporation that can summon energy from whatever they’re attached to. Mystickers are a part of normal life in Tokyo, and while they’re normally harmful if you’re silly enough to stick one on your arm, some people (called Blazers) have the ability to do just that — they can control the Mystickers’ power and use them to make themselves super-strong or able to wield magic-like abilities. Blazer crime has naturally become a problem, and a group of good-hearted Blazers called Guardian has been formed to fight them. And now you’re about to join the Guardians.”

Blazer Drive sticks very closely to its anime roots in terms of appearance, but its battle system is definitely something different. “Before battle, you must decide which Mystickers you want to equip your characters with, similar to setting up a deck in a card-based RPG. During the turn-based fights, you’ll use the stylus to drag Mystickers onto your party members’ arms to unlock attacks and unleash combos and special skills, making your choice of Mystickers a vital part of every conflict in the game.”

http://www.nintendic.com/news/2614

There are 3 comments - Join In and Discuss Here