The X Button

Psycho Power

Let's not rehash the controversy behind Cross Ange, shall we? The show's content aside, the concept behind Cross Ange, which unfolds in a high-tech fantasy realm where transforming jet-robots take on enormous dragons in the air, is a reasonably good idea for a video game. This Vita offering runs with that. Players pilot customizable para-mail fighters into 3-D aerial battles against immense dragons (or DRAGONs, because it's an acronym), and they can switch from their jet-like forms to their cooler, Escaflowne-ish mecha incarnations. The action resembles Artdink's Macross games, though it's not quite as fast in pacing or as smooth in controls.

Mecha-dragon dogfights fill up only party of Cross Ange: Rondo of Angels and Dragons Tr., of course. The player sees much of the game through the eyes of Naomi, a fresh recruit in Arzenal's legion of scantily clad women pilots. The second episode of the anime series shows princess-turned-pilot Ange donning a bikini flightsuit that belonged to a dead woman named Naomi, and the game works around that in apparently non-canonical fashion. Naomi meets most of the pilots from the series, and the ensuing antics involve melodrama as well as shared ice cream sundaes and costume parties. Players can also strengthen bonds between Naomi and her comrades by talking to them and tapping them with the Vita's screen. Precisely where the player touches them is a matter of personal preference.

All of this comes from Shade, a developer that started up as an offshoot of the esteemed Quintet in the mid-1990s. Shade abandoned original games like The Granstream Saga and Brightis long ago, however, and they've dealt in anime spin-offs for over a decade. Such is the cost of survival in the game industry.

Import Barrier: Lots of conversations crop up, but you won't be so confused if you're after the mecha-piloting combat and nothing else. You'll just be bored by all of the talking.

Domestic Release: Unlikely, but Sentai and Madman licensed the actual show. Perhaps it'll blossom into the next Attack on Titan...but it probably won't.

Dragons: Plenty, but they're often second-banana sights next to the mecha pilots and impractical attire.

I normally put the titles of imports in English, but I'll leave Downtown Nekketsu Jidaigeki in Japanese. The two phrases are slightly idiomatic: “Nekketsu” means “hot-blooded” and often applies to young punks, while “Jidaigeki” refers to a genre of historical dramas, specifically those set in Edo-era Japan. I could play with the phrasing and call it “Street-Smart Samurai Saga,” but that would just confuse people looking for the game. And the Downtown Nekketsu series is already confusing in a way. It's also known as the Kunio-kun series, and it includes brawlers, sports titles, motorcycle racers, and even a puzzle game where food falls like Tetris blocks. The best-known offerings in the West came along during the NES era, when Super Dodge Ball, Nintendo World Cup, and everyone's beloved River City Ransom introduced the English-speaking world to the blocky-headed thugs of the Kunio-kun canon.

Most of us remember River City Ransom fondest, thanks to its fluid controls, elaborate neighborhoods, and little shops selling karate lessons and free smiles. Technos Japan followed it up in 1991 with Downtown Special: Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki da yo Zenin Shugo, which took the concept of River City Ransom back to Edo-age Japan. It never came to North America. Technos is gone, but Million shouldered their games and marched on, and Million fashioned a sequel to that 24-year-old Famicom game. Succinctly dubbed Downtown Nekketsu Jidaigeki, it follows hero Kunimasa and his pal Tsurumatsu through the cities and countrysides of old Japan. They'll fight much like River City Ransom's leads, as they punch, kick, and pick up and throw anything they can find. It's a lot like the original game, though players now have a sword attack and the chance to add two more brawlers to the team. It also looks a lot sharper than the Famicom offering, but the blockhead characters remain in effect. Perhaps Million could do more with the Kunio-kun name, but I've seen too many once-prominent games and developers fall completely into shadow. At least this keeps the series alive.

Import Barrier: The 3DS has a pesky regional lock, and Downtown Nekketsu Jidaigeki has modest amounts of dialogue, including its own beady-eyed narrator.

Domestic Release: No Kunio-Kun games came out in English after 2010's River City Super Sports Challenge, and nostalgia for the series seems to begin and end with the original River City Ransom. In other words, don't count on seeing Jidaigeki on the 3DS over here.

Dragons: Largely metaphorical.

I enjoyed Psycho-Pass, but I'm pretty sure I had no choice. True, the series walled itself up in cop-show clichés, thoughtless exposition, and heavy-handed social commentary. Yet it hit all of my nerd pressure points with its cyberpunk future, relatively dignified heroine, and cool transforming guns capable of turning criminals into bloody vapor. So it was a foregone conclusion that I'd at least like parts of Psycho-Pass. I understand if some people didn't. And I understand if they'll dislike the first full-sized video game based on the series. Heck, a lot of people won't even notice it, since it's an Xbox One exclusive and it's only available in Japan. The Japanese public likes the Xbox One about as much as the Japanese public likes root beer or discussing their nation's World War II atrocities.

Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness goes the predictable route in being a dialogue-heavy games. That's perhaps fair, as the series had far more conversations and drama than it did crook-evaporating action. It also plays by the usual standards of anime-based games in introducing two new characters: Takuma Tsurugi and Nadeshiko Kugatachi. They work with the other officers of the Public Safety Bureau in a future where an omnipresent (and poorly guarded) computer system monitors and sorts citizens according to their mental states and criminal potential. It's all a utopia gone too far, of course, but Mandatory Happiness doesn't go the length of the anime series. Taking place around the sixth episode, it pits the two new investigators and the rest of the show's cast against a new enemy and leads them to a secluded island. One has to get away from a perfect society somehow.

Mandatory Happiness is creative not so much in its choice of genre, but rather in the way it's presented. The game uses the Kinect to track the player's motions, while a nearby tablet or smartphone can register the player's fingerprints, relay calls from characters, and overall bring a new interface to the whole equation. You can play it the old-fashioned way, of course. Psycho-Pass seemed to value the traditional.

Import Barrier: Lots of dialogue unfurls throughout the game. If you're fine with that, you'll find the Xbox One to be region-free.

Domestic Release: Psycho-Pass hasn't done bad for itself, but that might not be enough to pull a text-heavy game over here. Still, Mages set up an English website for the game, and perhaps they figure that an Xbox One title is best off heading to other regions.

Dragons: None in sight. Maybe someone has a tattoo.

You're almost set for launch, Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy. Let's just go over the last-minute checklist. Have you properly endangered Tokyo? Yes, I see that citizens and entire buildings disappear in mysterious events called Sprawl Terrors, while a strange cult absconds with students from a particular academy. All well and good. And is the only valid defense against this menace a cadre of mostly teenage agents with special abilities? Check. And do they tromp around randomly generated dungeons? Perfect. You're good to go.

Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy roots around the same bin of monster infestations and imperiled Tokyo wards that supplied RPGs like 7th Dragon 2020, Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters, and about half of the Shin Megami Tensei series. Your party of adventurers joins the Xth, the Xion Transhuman group, in their fight against the invading creatures, here called “Variants.” They're all cast as typical RPG classes: monks, knights, samurai, various mages, and assassins. Yet they're created through Blood Codes, which imbue warriors and sorcerers with the genetics of historical figures, including Florence Nightingale, Genghis Khan, and Joan of Arc. So when you plunge into an eerie warren of Shibuya hallways in search of demons, your team will be prepared to drive the English out of France or slaughter so much of the civilized world that global carbon levels drop appreciably.

Developer Experience Inc. styles Operation Abyss much like a modern hellscaped version of their fantasy-themed Demon Gaze. Your protagonist has a round of Xth comrades with actual names and personalities, but most of the dungeon crawls revolve around your customized party roaming streets and corridors of the titular, Variant-filled Abyss. The turn-based battles see characters using their class-based attacks and unique Blood Code abilities, and it's possible to combine your moves. The artwork is detailed, if not highly animated, and the game has a wealth of boxy, randomly arranged mazes for players to trek. For the dungeon-hack fan, it may well check all of the right boxes.