3DS:
- Puyo Puyo Chronicle (Sega): This is a full priced Puzzle RPG that reminds me of P&D or Monster Strike when they were turned into full RPGs with the puzzle mechanic as the gameplay. There's 3D graphics, a plotline, cutscenes, a world and towns you wander around in, and more. It's the 25th anniversary title.
- RPG Maker Fes (Enterbrain): It's RPG Maker, but for 3DS. It will have all the game sharing type functionality you would expect to make that actually useful.
- All Kamen Rider: Rider Revolution (Bandai Namco): It's a sidescrolling action game featuring all the Kamen Riders.
- Megami Meguri (Capcom): This is a game where you scan your train card and then the characters in the game talk to you about your riding history. I'm kind of surprised this isn't a mobile game, but I'm guessing the train companies are hoping to make riding the train more exciting for children. This game is f2p.
- Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball Heroes (Konami): This is an easy to play PowaPro baseball game for 3DS, presumably to target kids who aren't playing either the mobile or PS4/PS3/Vita game given we haven't had a 3DS version in a while.
- Sega 3D Fukkoku Archives 3: Final Stage (Sega): This is a 3D-ified retro game collection with After Burner II, Super Hang-On, Streets of Rage II, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Gunstar Heroes, Turbo Outrun, and Thunder Force III. There are also two more games coming. Given the name, this is presumably the last collection for 3DS. There will also be a compilation release containing all three games.
- Kunio-kun Nekketsu Complete Famicom Series (Arc System Works): This is a collection of all Kunio-kun games from the original Nintendo.
- Tank Troopers (Nintendo): This is a class based, competitive third person shooter where everyone is a tank and you can't play online.
- Super Mario Maker 3DS (Nintendo): This is a 3DS adaptation of Super Mario Maker. There are some limitations like not being able to upload courses online or pick courses from the store by course ID. Not all Wii U stages work on the 3DS version.
- Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World (Nintendo): This is an enhanced port of Yoshi's Woolly World for 3DS that has every single level from the Wii U version, plus new exclusive levels where you play as Poochy. There are also 30 animated shorts with Yoshi and Poochy being added to the game, and a Poochy amiibo is being released.
- Mario Sports: Superstars (Nintendo): This is a Mario Sports title featuring Soccer, Baseball, Tennis, Golf, and Horse Riding. Each game has a singleplayer mode along with local and online multiplayer. It's probably the first Mario Sports title this generation where I felt the value proposition actually made sense in the modern era, so I'm curious to see how it does.
- Pikmin for Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo): This is a 2D sidescrolling Pikmin game where you use Pikmin to help Captain Olimar progress through the levels. They intend to give it a new name later.
- Momotaro Dentetsu 2017: Tachiagare Nippon!! (3DS): The rumors are true, and Nintendo is now publishing the Momotaro Dentetsu series instead of Konami. This is the first new entry in a while, and the last one had a huge popularity surge when it was on some TV show, so this will probably be quite successful.
- Miitopia (Nintendo): We got a logo with a fantasy vibe about it. That's... about it.
- Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 Professional (Square Enix): This is the enhanced re-release of Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 similar to how games in this genre have historically worked.
PS4:
- Metal Gear Survive (Konami): This is a $30 four player co-op zombie shoooter that takes places between MGS: Ground Zeroes and MGSV, and probably represents the type of games we'll be getting out of the series going forward.
- Miko Gakkou Monogatari: Kaede Episode (xinoro): This is a $10 indie game port.
- Arcade Archives: I'm re-bolding this and editing the entry to reflect that there are basically a variety of older arcade titles for this program announced at TGS and I feel they make more sense as one lump entry.
- * Project Awakening (CyGames): Once upon a time, the director of 3D Dot Heroes (Silicon Studio) started a new company with CyberAgent and CyDesignation called CyGames. He proceeded to make billions of dollars with endlessly successful mobile games, and now he's seemingly directing his own "High End Console Game" along with a bunch of staff he poached from Square Enix, Konami, and related studios.
- * Project Re: Link (CyGames/Platinum Games): Platinum Games is working with CyGames on what appears to be a four player action RPG based on the Granblue Fantasy series. It looks pretty ambitious for what it is. Technically the only platform hinted at so far it the PC, but given it looks like a co-op game instead of an MMO (they noted it was imagined for multiplayer but you can play it in singleplayer as well), I'd be really surprised if it wasn't on PS4, so I'm putting it here for now. Feel free to pelt me with stones if it doesn't show up on PS4.
- Birthdays The Beginning (Arc System Works): This is a new game from Harvest Moon's creator. It's like an old God Game on PC where you shape the environment and related things and the world grows up and evolves based on the various conditions present.
- SkyRide (Mutan): This is some kind of $15 3D shmup.
- Monster Hunter Frontier Z (Capcom): This is the newest update to Monster Hunter Frontier, and the game is getting ported to PS4 to coincide with the update.
- M2 ShotTriggers (M2/Various): This is similar to arcade archives, but for classic shmups from various publishers and developers.
- SG/ZH School Girl/Zombie Hunter (D3/Tamsoft): This is the newest game from the Onechanbara people. It takes place in the same universe, but is a shooter and stars school girls instead.
- Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 Road to Boruto (Bandai Namco/CyberConnect2): This is a re-release of the game with all the DLC and the new Boruto expansion pack (which is also available as DLC) included. I felt it was worth including since it's a deviation from the approach of release Ultimate Ninja Storm Revolution.
- Last Labyrinth (Tayutau): This is a VR escape-the-house style adventure game.
- Rewrite (Prototype/Key): This is a port of the visual novel with all the bonus content included.
- Headbutt Factory (Gemdrops): This is a VR game about headbutting balls that fly in from various angles.
- V! No Heroes Allowed! R (Sony): This is effectively Sony's newest Badman game, but it's a 3D VR game now.
- Gundam Versus (Bandai Namco): The newest Gundam Versus announced, and this time it's for PS4. This one is not a home port of an arcade game, but rather a new title. The graphics are pretty competent for what it is, and Namco was pretty heavily hinting they intend to do a worldwide release this time around.
- Earth Defense Force 5 (D3 Publisher/Sandlot): Earth Defense Force is back, and is pretty much what you would expect, but with the general additions new hardware can bring.
3DS/PS4:
- * Megaton Musashi (Level-5): To note, these are platforms "under consideration". The game might not come out for several years, at which point it might drop the 3DS version in favor of the NX. Hino noted he wants the game to appeal to both older Super Robot fans, as well as new children, and that he wants it to be on a portable and "as large as a screen as possible".
PS4/Vita:
- Story of the Good Old Days (Daidai): Simulation RPG, budget title.
- Blue Reflection: Sword of the Girl Who Dances in Illusions (Koei Tecmo/Gust): This appears to be a magical girl RPG starring school girls by the Atelier character designer. The actual graphical quality looks surprisingly good for Gust, though everyone looks like a doll.
- Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon (Koei Tecmo/Gust): It sounds like an iterative sequel to the last game.
- Re:Zero -Starting Life in Another World- Death or Kiss (5pb): This is a visual novel based on the light novel.
- Sengoku Shura Soul (Lions Film/Creek and River): This is a real-time battle, Sengoku based f2p smartphone title that's being ported to PS4 and Vita. It received over 1 million downloads on mobile and has had okay but far from astonishing performance there, though I imagine for whatever studio Creek and River has set up for the purposes of getting into gaming, it's probably quite healthy, hence the expansion.
- Touhou Koubuto V (Touhou): There were a bunch of Touhou games that had release dates announced for PS4/Vita recently, but I think this is the only new announcement for the time frame Road to TGS covers. It's $30, is a fighting action game, and will support PSVR. The PS4 version has online multiplayer while the Vita one has ad-hoc multiplayer.
- Musou Stars (Koei Tecmo/Omega Force): This is a Musou game starring all your favorite Koei Tecmo characters like Hajime Arima and Opoona. This was a pretty hilarious announcement, but I'm not sure how much broadbase appeal this has versus more so being Koei Tecmo celebrating the fact they have enough IPs to even consider making something like this.
- Itadaki Street: Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary (Square Enix): The newest Fortune Street is coming to Vita and PS4. This was probably one of the more surprising announcements during Road To TGS, but Square Enix seems rather committed to supporting the PS4. The game itself is sort of like Monopoly and it's big among families.
Vita:
- The Princess is Money-Hungry (Nippon Ichi): This feels sort of like a retro-inspired indie game though it costs $60.
- id: Rebirth Session (Entergram): Visual novel.
- Valkyria: Azure Revolution (Sega/Media.Vision): This is also on PS4, but a Vita version of the game was just announced.
- Twin Star Exorcists (Bandai Namco): This is a "battle and adventure" game based on the manga of the same name, centering around an original story.
- Drive Girls (Bergsala Lightweight): It's a game about girls who turn into cars and fight insects.
NX:
- I'll include that Dragon Quest XI (Square Enix) was reconfirmed to be coming to NX, and that all three versions are aiming for simultaneous release. When this game is formally shown, I might change up how this one is written to match the other formatting.
PS4/PS3:
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms 13 with Power Up Kit (Koei Tecmo): This is an expanded re-release.
3DS/Mobile:
- Lady Layton (Level-5): This is pretty similar to a traditional Layton title, but brought into being a mobile era service game. It's probably one of Level-5's most interesting experiments and it will be a good one to follow in terms of performance and Level-5's statements about how it's done.
Mobile:
- Lost Order (CyGames/Platinum Games): Yasumi Matsuno (Final Fantasy Tactics, FFXII) is back and directing a new Real Time Tactics game developed by Platinum for CyGames. Akihito Yoshida is the art director and character designer on the title. The game is fully 3D, and is Platinum's first mobile title. This game is a good example of what I mean by mobile games in Japan targeting older core gamers a lot more than you see in the West, along with the increasing complexity you see in Japanese mobile titles. Taking a look at a screenshot, this is also the type of game you would have expected as a Vita title in a world where mobile hadn't risen to its current heights. Mind, CyGames is also making significant investments in console games at this point.
- Yo-Kai Watch (Level-5): Enhanced port of original game.
- Yo-Kai Daijiten (Level-5): Quiz RPG, looks high effort for what it is.
- Yo-Kai Watch Geraporhythm (Level-5): Rhythm game, similarly looks high effort for what it is.
- Otome Hero (Level-5): Otome RPG.
- Kamitsuri (Square-Enix): Puzzle RPG.
- Princess Connect Re: Dive (CyGames): It's not really clear what this game is yet, outside of them signing some famous studios and people to handle the anime scenes and plotline. Its genre is "Anime RPG".
- Sevens Story (CyGames): CyGames is rebooting/remaking a 2013 turn based tactical RPG into a new game more fit for the modern mobile market. Based on the screenshots, it looks more like what you'd expect out of an actual tactical RPG, but I'll have to see gameplay to be certain.
- Astro Boy: The Edge of Time (Active Gaming Media): This is a collective card game based on Astro Boy. It has a Kickstarter that looks like it will fail, but as far as I can tell, they're making the game anyway.
- Kingdom: Seven Flags (Bandai Namco): This is a mobile game about simulating battles from the warring states era based on the Kingdom manga.
- Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia (Square Enix/Koei Tecmo/Team Ninja): Team Ninja is making a command/turn based RPG based on Dissidia where you play as popular Final Fantasy characters and fight various monsters with mechanics as inspired by Dissidia. This one has potential to do well, though there's a lot of games of this nature on mobile already. To some extent, I imagine they're trying to cannibalize themselves before someone else does.
- Starly Girls: Episode Starsia (Kadokawa): This is some kind of waifu collection simulator about flying around a spaceship and piloting mechs.
- Akashic Re:cords (Square Enix): We don't know a lot about this yet, but it appears to be one of Square Enix's big mobile reveal for TGS along with the Dissidia game.
- Kakuchou Shoujokei Trinary (Koei-Tecmo/Gust/Toei): This is a mobile game and anime hybrid project where the anime shows the main story and the mobile title is about the combat and dating aspects of the game, and what happens between each episode of the show. I'm not convinced Gust is a big enough player to make this work, but it is an interesting attempt at cross media on mobile.
- Super Mario Run (Nintendo): The day has finally arrived, and Mario is headed to iOS (and later Android) as a level based autorunner. It will be a free demo app where you make a one time in app purchase to unlock all of the content, at least at launch. I could go into more detail about why this is a very prominent announcement, but I don't think anyone needs me to.
- Guardian Codex (Square Enix): This is the newest game by the Guardian Cross team and was announced from day one as a worldwide release. All the announcement information was even in English, including the promotional website and the assets in the game. I don't think Hiroyuki Ito is involved in this given they didn't bother to put him on the website (he was involved to an extent in Guardian Cross), but you never know.
- Akiba's Trip: Festa (Gung-Ho/Acquire/DMM): This is a new browser and mobile game where you play a guy who goes around stripping a bunch of girls in Akihabara. It's fully 3D and looks like a regular mobile game despite also being on browser.
- God Eater Online (Bandai Namco/Asobimo): This is an MMO-ized version of God Eater for smartphones. It plays the same as the God Eater games, but with a lot more people. You can solo missions if you like, though NPCs join you to simulate having other players, presumably for difficulty concerns. I watched some videos and it looks like a fully featured game and probably Namco's most ambitious mobile game to date.
- Egglia: The Legend of the Red Cap (DMM Powerchord Studio/Brownies): This is a new RPG helmed by Kameoka Shinichi, who worked on the Seiken Densetsu series, Magical Vacation series, Mother 3, and Fantasy Life. It looks like it plays like a board game where you roll dice to move along a hex grid and can do actions based on the grid you land in. The battles are also dice based, and you can build a town with the various resources you collect. The art direction is also nicer than you'd normally associate with a mobile RPG like this.
- Toukiden: Mononofu (Koei Tecmo/Omega Force): I'm breaking one of my rules and including a game that was announced (with zero details) a day before Level-5 Vision happened. After watching the TGS trailer, this appears to be Koei Tecmo's equivalent of Monster Hunter Explore, but it looks like it's better designed than that was. I felt this was worth including on the off chance it actually ends up doing better than Monster Hunter Explore.
- Flame x Blaze (Square Enix): This is Square Enix's new 3v3 smartphone MOBA. On the one hand, I think Square Enix has correctly assessed that the MOBA audience in Japan is still available, and that the most likely place to court them is on mobile. That said, I'm not convinced this will be the product to do it. Presumably this is part of Square Enix's initiative to be the biggest eSports company in Japan. The game is produced by the Kingdom Hearts mobile producer, directed by Yuji Abe, who was a battle director on the FFXIII series except for Lightning Returns where he was the #2 director after Toriyama, and has character designs by Gen Kobayashi of TWEWY fame.
- Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress (DMM/TriFort): This is a smartphone and browser game based upon Attack On Traintan. It's a turn based RPG.
- King's Knight: Wrath of the Dark Dragon (Square Enix): Made by Square Enix Division 2, the team behind such games as Final Fantasy XV and Justice Monsters V, is at it again with this new, definitely Final Fantasy XV related game that's actually a re-imagining of Square's 1986 NES/MSX game. The original was singleplayer, but you can play this one in four player co-op. Noctis and friends play the game during FFXV to help advertise the product similar to Justice Monsters V. As a warning, people didn't seem overwhelmed by their previous mobile game.
- Monster Hunter Stories Drop (Capcom): This is a match-3 RPG tie-in for Monster Hunter Stories that seems to share all the art assets from the main game.
Unspecified:
- Inazuma Eleven Ares (Level-5): I'm going to guess 3DS, smartphones, and maybe the NS, but this one isn't hinted heavily enough to include in a category above.
- Chaos;Child Love Chu Chu!! (5pb.): It's the newest Chaos;Child visual novel. They didn't bother to announce platforms yet, but you can probably guess.
- God Eater 3 (Namco Bandai): All we know is that this is a console title and that they put out a teaser with improved looking graphics that may or may not be representative of the game.
- Nobunaga's Ambition (Koei Tecmo/Kou Shibusawa Productions): Zero details at all except that a new one is in development.
- The Great Ace Attorney 2 (Capcom): This is the sequel to the previous Ace Attorney spin-off game. There was no platform announced. It's probably 3DS and maybe NX and/or smartphones as well.
Cancellations:
- Crows: Burning Edge (Bandai Namco) had its Vita version canceled and is now only for PS4.
Oddities:
- Kai-ri-Sei Million Arthur VR Game (Square Enix/GREE VR Studio): Announced for "the HTC Vive and others", this is a VR game based on the world of Kai-ri-Sei Million Arthur. Square Enix noted they were considering releasing on "other platforms" and even a global release for the game. It's coming in Spring 2017. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that it's also for PSVR, but they want to wait until Sony's pre-TGS conference to confirm that.
Nirolak's opinion as of this week:
- While there was a ton of small game and lower-mid tier titles announced during the TGS period, the larger and upper mid-tier content were pretty sparse. I get the sense that the PS4's support was largely announced years in advance to try and build confidence in the system, while the NX is suppressing a lot of the Nintendo handheld output. Given the scenarios surrounding this year, I think this was about the best that could be expected, but I can't help but feel at least some disappointment. It will be interesting to see next year, since it has a chance for strong recovery as the announced PlayStation games release, and the NX will most likely be unveiled by then. The two also have a strong chance of sharing much of their library, which could help generate more investment in larger titles given the larger potential audience.
