As if Namco Bandai’s Klonoa remake isn’t incentive enough for you to get your Nintendo Wii modded, now there’s even more reason to do so. Vanillaware, the development house behind Princess Crown, Odin Sphere and GrimGrimMoire, have set April 9th as the Japanese release date for their Wii exclusive action RPG, Muramasa: The Demon Blade.

A US release date has yet to be set, but you can bet that it will be later this year.

[Siliconera]

While uncomfortably quiet about Oboro Muramasa Youtouden, Vanillaware has released a preview trailer for their upcoming casual DS title, Kumatanchi. The trailer shows Kumatan’s interactions with some additional characters, all a throwback to character designer Shigatake’s Habanero-tan roots. What’s eerie about the trailer is how similar the sprites look in action to Odin Sphere and Grim Grimoire: Fantastic.

The preview doesn’t throw any particularly thrilling scenes our way, though, and it’s looking like this title won’t be for fans of Vanillaware’s previous works. No mention of the game stateside so far by Atlus, so we may have to hold our breath for the Wii title before we get to play any more Vanillaware works.

Those who appreciate the wonderful-if-slightly-repetitive beat-em-up RPG Odin Sphere will be pleased to know that developer Vanillaware released footage of their new RPG with the working title “Oboro Muramasa Youtoden” for the Nintendo Wii. From the looks of it, it’s yet another beat-em-up RPG, only it’s set in Ancient Japan entrenched with a heap of Japanese folklore. Vanillaware’s trademark “big 2D sprites meant for showing off” is apparent: just look at the size of the spider and one-eyed dude at 1:17. So far, there’s no release date set, so don’t expect to play this anytime soon. I say that with the deepest of regrets.

Since people love salivating over pictures of games they’ve yet to play, here’s a couple courtesy of [Siliconera.]

Technorati : 2d, feudal japan, oboro muramasa youtoden, rpg, vanillaware, wii

(Missed me? This was originally suppose to be a two-parter, but due to work and health issues, I merged both to make up for last week’s lack of update on my part).

Picking up a controller, one does wonder: do you control the hero, or does he control you? Do you feel like you are in control, or does it seem like as if the developers pigeonhole you to follow a certain path to complete a game, thus making the hero seem more like an icon rather than a real character? Good Playable Characters (or PCs) in a game make you resonate with his or her action and emotions. Not many developers can see this. Rather, they would treat a main character as a means to an end (i.e: a tool), rather than someone they can feel a connection with.
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