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[@MUWANdo]

http://www.ancient.co.jp/~game/gotta_protectors/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWLMfltrG2A

This game was released well over a year ago in Japan and now it's finally coming to North America (and maybe Europe? the website doesn't make that clear).

It's a massively-expanded sequel to the XBLIG Gauntlet-esque brawler/tower defense game Protect Me Knight that adds new playable classes, lots of customisation systems and RPG elements, 100 or so levels with various difficulty settings and a level editor with QR code sharing. It also retains local multiplayer with Download Play, so 4 people can play with only one copy of the game.

The game is by Ancient, the studio owned and run by famous composer Yuzo Koshiro (Streets of Rage series, Etrian Odyssey series, Kid Icarus Uprising, Revenge of Shinobi, Shenmue), and he assembled several other high-profile classic composers to work with him on the soundtrack:

Hiroshi Kawaguchi a.k.a. Hiro. (Outrun, Space Harrier, Fantasy Zone, After Burner, Shenmue)

Shinji Hosoe (Dragon Spirit, Ridge Racer, Tekken)

Hisayoshi Ogura a.k.a. OGR (Darius series, Ninja Warriors, Legend of Kage)

Motoaki Furukawa (Gradius series, Castlevania; Rondo of Blood, Policenauts)

The music is NES-style chiptunes, but there's a paid DLC module that adds arcade-style FM versions of all the music.

This is one of 3DS's best download games and I'm excited people will finally get a chance to try it out. Who's with me?

 

[Sparrowhawk]

Oh my God, I used to play Protect Me Knight on 360 with a friend of mine all the time. This is amazing.

 

[RoryDropkick]

I just woke up and saw @AncientGames_JP's twitter post about it and almost woke the babies up because I was so excited. Also the webpage is frickin hilarious with the US box art parody.

 

[purseowner]

Eccentric Ninja looks gold. It's weird - for all the 8-bit renaissance these days, there doesn't seem to be much of it on the 3DS. Definitely buying.

Spoiler

What kind of title is 'Gotta Protectors' though? I mean, I get it, but...

EDIT: NA only? Europe is sad.

 

[Toadthemushroom]

NICE. Glad this is finally releasing outside of Japan.

Why no European release date though - did they submit their age rating to the IARC? That's free and should give them a rating for every other region outside of Japan?

 

[Refyref]

Hiro composed for this? Now I want it even more.

 

[Thores]

I have wanted this to happen for a long time. So glad it's finally happening!

 

[CloakBass]

Niiiiiiiice. I'm ready to 'DEFEAT F$%KIN' GOBLINS!'

 

[takoyaki]

Cool that this is still coming out, the previous one was a lot of fun on XBLA.

some info from the website:

Title: Gotta Protectors

Category: Strategic Action RPG

No. of Players: Up to 4 players

Platform: Nintendo 3DS

Price: 12.99 USD

FM Sound Pack: 7.99 USD

 

[FunkyDealer]

I'd be all over this if it had online multiplayer. Without it, I'm not so sure. Looks like a great co-op game, but my main 3DS friends don't live near me.

But then, who even knows if it'll release in Europe?

 

[CloakBass]

Hmm after seeing that trailer this looks extremely similar to the XBLIG version. Excitement kinda deflated. I'll still be willing to give it a shot I guess though.

 

[RoryDropkick]

Hmm after seeing that trailer this looks extremely similar to the XBLIG version. Excitement kinda deflated. I'll still be willing to give it a shot I guess though.

It's expanded past the XBLIG version with extra content.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

In my heart of hearts I never stopped believing.

 

[bobawesome]

Awful title aside, this game looks pretty cool. I may need to download it.

 

[RoryDropkick]

In my heart of hearts I never stopped believing.

No kidding, I was hoping and hoping for a US release.. Ancient even reassured me that it was coming when I tweeted asking about it. Well, months later here it is.

 

[Aveyn Knight]

Nice!

This looked like one of the cooler games on the Japanese 3DS eShop.

 

[sixteen-bit]

Copping this.

Any chance @ a physical release?

 

[@MUWANdo]

Copping this.

Any chance @ a physical release?

Limited Run Games or some other boutique one-off publisher might pick it up if it gets some buzz, I guess?

 

[Umibozu]

Been waiting for this. Glad I will be finally able to play it.

 

[Jinketsu]

I seem to have missed out on this at every opportunity and this looks too amazing to miss yet another time. Thanks for the heads up!

EDIT: I realize it's called "Protect me Knight 2" in Japan, but it is really a sequel, or more of a "version 2.0" of the original?

 

[HyperHip]

Sick gonna double-dip, one of my favorite eshop games with lots of stuff to do. Fans of the original will not be disappointed (outside the fps being 30 now).

 

[Camjo-Z]

Sequel to that awesome XBLIG I never got around to buying?

Collaborations with people who have composed some of the best game music ever?

DLC FM soundtrack?

Is it possible to not want this game?

 

[hoggert]

Finnnnnnaaaaaly!

 

[Gunstar Ikari]

YESSSSS

Day fucking one!

 

[RoryDropkick]

Sequel to that awesome XBLIG I never got around to buying?

Collaborations with people who have composed some of the best game music ever?

DLC FM soundtrack?

Is it possible to not want this game?

Yeah, if you are one of those "no physical no buy" type of people *rolls eyes*

 

[@MUWANdo]

I seem to have missed out on this at every opportunity and this looks too amazing to miss yet another time. Thanks for the heads up!

EDIT: I realize it's called "Protect me Knight 2" in Japan, but it is really a sequel, or more of a "version 2.0" of the original?

It's not explicitly "Protect me Knight 2" in Japan but even so, it's a much bigger game: the general combat mechanics and a lot of the sprites are the same but there are new mechanics, additional crafting/customisation systems, the levels are new, the way you progress through the game is much different, there's a proper story and a hub town and so on, the music's new, etc. I think it's fair to call it a sequel.

 

[Narras]

Nice to see this game is coming out pretty soon! Exciting!

 

[@MUWANdo]

The devs confirmed on Twitter that the game isn't yet scheduled for EU release and that they'll (maybe) start that process after the NA launch. Here's hoping!

 

[Producer]

awesome news, coming so soon too.

 

[TriAceJP]

I'm loving the 80s era character portraits.

 

[spazchicken]

Why did this take so long?

It's like they forgot about it for years and then one day was like "oh yeah, we have this, let's port it Yuzo".

 

[@MUWANdo]

Why did this take so long?

It's like they forgot about it for years and then one day was like "oh yeah, we have this, let's port it Yuzo".

Ancient is a pro studio with a decent head-count but music aside, this game is pretty much entirely made and managed by one guy, so it was always a low-priority project that would stall whenever he had to do other work or wait for money or whatever.

 

[Hero of Legend]

Ancient is a pro studio with a decent head-count but music aside, this game is pretty much entirely made and managed by one guy, so it was always a low-priority project that would stall whenever he had to do other work or wait for money or whatever.

What does Ancient even do aside from this game? Their last major game according to their site was a Reborn! game on PSP back in 2009.

 

[ohlawd]

$12.99 USD. That's almost $17 CAD. I seriously feel like we're gonna get screwed over by getting it at $20 or some shit. I'll probably get the game next month. July is 7th Dragon and MHG month.

 

[Captain Rage Quit 69]

Hooray!! I've been waiting so long for this day to come

For those wondering why it took so long, Ancient isn't a big company but they definitely haven't been sitting on their asses this whole time. If you check their twitter, they've been at it translating this game for some time now. Frankly I was expecting a Winter release but I'll happily take this

 

[@MUWANdo]

What does Ancient even do aside from this game? Their last major game according to their site was a Reborn! game on PSP back in 2009.

Same stuff as most other "wtf they're still around?!" developers: uncredited contract work, web/smartphone dev, etc. They also benefit from Koshiro retaining the rights to most of the music he writes, and I believe they also do video production in addition to audio. (promo videos and so on, not CG or anything like that.)

 

[Oregano]

I'm fairly sure Ancient worked on Smash Bros unless that credit was just for Koshiro's musical contributions.

 

[Purple Cheeto]

I need an OST stat.

 

[sixteen-bit]

I need an OST stat.

Same. So much talent.

 

[@MUWANdo]

I need an OST stat.

They've already released two OSTs in Japan--one has all the music from the base game and some new arranges, the other has the FM arranges, the music from the XBLIG game and some other extras.

 

[PixyJunket]

I had basically lost hope on this, even though there was evidence it was happening.

ONE. MORE. WEEK.

I'm not on board with the name change, but it might grow on me.

 

[Gunstar Ikari]

Ancient announced on Twitter that this will see a minor delay to July 28th.

Bit of a bummer, but a week delay is nothing at this point.

 

[djtiesto]

Oh wow, didn't even know this existed! The original is (along with Prismatic Solid and Cthulu Saves the World) one of the absolute best things to come out of XBLIG.

 

[PixyJunket]

Slight bump and reminder that this is delayed a week and to ask if anybody has |OT| duties.

My original is still up (and quite empty) from when the game launched in Japan a few years ago.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=884393&page=1

I can essentially copy/paste that if nobody has anything better.

 

[sixteen-bit]

I'd love to see Gotta Protectors released under this label.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1252812

 

[Tye The Czar]

Based Ancient and Based Yuzo Koshiro. I'm gonna get this game sometime.

I would even double-dip for a PC port with couch co-op!

 

[@MUWANdo]

Okay, so, this is a personal and somewhat complex web of nonsense involving a highly unstable individual I was friends and briefly FWBs with, but I can only assume there will be a never-ending clusterfuck on gaf now until the end of time, which inevitably involves you guys and gals on the mod team in some way, so I'm an open book here. The woman in question ended up being completely psychotic and held a grudge against me after a bizarre love triangle situation developed a few years ago between me, her, and another girl (the other girl I ended up in a long-term relationship with shortly thereafter). This NOLA story she apparently just put up on social media is a delusion of a deeply disturbed person who had a total psychological breakdown as a result of me and the other girl getting together, because she (phew, yeah...) became obsessively infatuated with the other girl (she's bi) on sight when the three of us met up. I wanted to just stay friends with the girl making the accusation and made it super super clear ahead of time that me and the other girl were interested in each other romantically and that could play out as such when we met up. Supposedly this was not a problem for her from accusation, but in reality she uhhh wanted me to die painfully after seeing me and the other girl interact. Plus she became infatuated with the other girl simultaneously to this (she's bi), which created the aforementioned bizarre love triangle that ended up causing her to implode and have an apparently very intense and long-lasting grudge. The whole story about how that love triangle thing played out is, frankly, nuts and scary, and involves this girl bringing us to a compound of dangerous scientology spinoff cultists on that same trip, who roofied us, attempted to recruit/scam me and attempted to abduct/rape the girl I ended up dating, in what was a fucking scary situation that resulted in me and the other girl and the rest of my friend circle never speaking to this girl from the accusation again.