Timeless Classics “Space Invaders” and “Arkanoid” Heading “Instant Games” on Messenger and Facebook News Feed
TOKYO (November 29, 2016) – Starting today, TAITO Corporation (Main office: Shinjuku, Tokyo, President: Koichi Ishii, hereinafter TAITO) will distribute “Space Invaders” and “Arkanoid” for Facebook with “Instant Games” on Messenger and Facebook News Feed.
Facebook is the most popular social networking site in the world, with over 1.7 billion users, and the Facebook Messenger app is used by over 1 billion people worldwide.
Now, those billion-plus people will be able to play the classic games “Space Invaders” and “Arkanoid” on “Instant Games” on Messenger and Facebook News Feed anytime, anywhere.
“Space Invaders” is widely considered to be the origin of all Japanese video game culture, and has been enshrined in the World Video Game Hall of Fame in New York’s The Strong National Museum of Play1. Upon its original release, “Arkanoid” was nothing less than a social phenomenon. Both have long been thought of as timeless, beloved classics by people all over the world, from their debuts in the 1970’s and 1980’s to present day.
TAITO has brought its games to numerous platforms over the years. Now, with “Instant Games”, older players can relive the fun of the 70’s and 80’s, while newcomers can experience the charm and challenge of “Space Invaders” and “Arkanoid” for the first time.
TAITO is dedicated to producing innovative, original games across all platforms, tailored to each platform’s inherit strengths. Be it smartphones, tablets, or something completely new, you can count on TAITO to keep evolving, and continue entertaining gamers around the world.
| Title | 『SPACE INVADERS』 |
| Date | November 29, 2016 |
| Price | Free |
| Territory | World Wide |
| Copyright | © TAITO CORPORATION 1978, 2016 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |
| Title | 『ARKANOID』 |
| Date | November 29, 2016 |
| Price | Free |
| Territory | World Wide |
| Copyright | © TAITO CORPORATION 1986, 2016 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. |
About “Instant Games”
“Instant Games” is a new feature from Facebook that lets people play games within seconds on Messenger and Facebook News Feed. This helps people easily discover, share and play games instantly.
About Space Invaders
“Space Invaders” was first designed, developed, and sold by TAITO in 1978, spurring a worldwide explosion in the popularity of arcade games. The “Space Invaders” character is TAITO’s corporate mascot and the characters that appear in-game continue to be licensed widely in various mediums globally to this day. “Space Invaders” has appeared everywhere from New York’s Museum of Modern Art to high-class fashion brands. It remains a popular, beloved franchise across the globe.
As the sole owner of all intellectual property rights related to the “Space Invaders” brand and characters, including copyrights and trademarks, TAITO continues to proactively develop and market the classic game today.
About Arkanoid
“Arkanoid” was first designed, developed, and sold by TAITO in 1986. It quickly became a breakout hit, ushering in a huge boom of block-breaking arcade games. “Arkanoid” continues to appear on today’s newest gaming platforms, 30 years after its initial release.
As the sole owner of all intellectual property rights related to “Arkanoid”, including copyrights and trademarks, TAITO continues to proactively develop and market the classic game today.
About TAITO Corporation
TAITO Corporation (TAITO) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. With headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, TAITO operates core businesses such as game arcade operations, coin-operated game machines, and mobile phone content services. A seminal part of gaming history, TAITO caused a worldwide sensation with its arcade legend, SPACE INVADERS®, and developed such fan favorites as PUZZLE BOBBLE® (BUST-A-MOVE®) and ARKANOID®. Today, TAITO continues to thrill game lovers of all generations by offering both classic and new family-oriented titles on the latest gaming platforms. TAITO delivers a wide range of entertainment experiences with the goal of providing consumers with fresh surprises and new discoveries.
About Square Enix Co., Ltd.
Square Enix Co., Ltd. develops, publishes, distributes and licenses SQUARE ENIX®, EIDOS® and TAITO® branded entertainment content around the world. The Square Enix group of companies includes a global network of leading development studios and boasts a valuable portfolio of intellectual property, including: FINAL FANTASY®, which has sold over 115 million units worldwide; and DRAGON QUEST®, which has sold over 68 million units worldwide; TOMB RAIDER®, which has sold over 46 million units worldwide; and the legendary SPACE INVADERS®. Square Enix Co., Ltd. is a Japan-based, wholly-owned subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.
Despite the trauma that many of them faced in the original game, Kirito and the rest choose to return to this game, called Sword Art: Origin set in the world of Ainground. With the ability to start at level 1 and not face the threat of death if they happen to fall in combat everyone takes kindly to the new MMO but it seems that things quickly become rather strange as Kirito comes across an unknown AI and begins to investigate.
It is worth noting that, outside of certain character interactions that players can end up unlocking by raising affection levels with your friends and even random NPCs if you so choose, almost all of the story content is presented through character portraits while the aforementioned scenes simply use the character models. Occasionally a cut-scene will play for a highly important part but almost everything else is told through a visual novel style that, while entirely voiced in Japanese, can be a bit slow going at times as certain scenes do drag on thanks to this presentation style.
Venturing outside of the beginner’s town that serves as the game’s central hub players will find that the world of Ainground is surprisingly huge and although every area is divided up with loading screens these areas still feel rather large and most locations will contain a number of different monsters to hunt, field quests to complete, and even the occasional random spawn that can challenge the player by throwing a tougher than normal enemy at them.
Players can also make use of various party commands that allow for them to dictate how their party, of up to three characters, will react in combat as well as give them direct orders that allow them to chain up team skills that can be quite devastating. In fact, there are many time that a higher level foe can be easily toppled by playing as a cohesive unit though don’t be too discouraged if the absolutely massive amount of options and menu screens thrown at you is too much to handle for a while.
By traveling in the field with your companions and complimenting their fighting style players not only encourage certain actions to be taken by their allies but also build up their trust as well. This relationship building is carried into the aforementioned romance options and interactions that allow Kirito to ask characters out for walks, out to lunch, and more to grow close with and end up bonding with them, regardless of who they might be as Asuna isn’t the only character available for this option should players choose to go after their favorite girls, or guys, if they so please.
It is also worth noting that there are quite a large number of CG scenes that are well-produced and appear during certain events. As mentioned before, the game has been given complete Japanese voice work for almost every element of the game, including side events. This is a nice plus especially since the voice actors have all returned to reprise their roles in the game. The soundtrack is unfortunately fairly standard and rarely stands out in any way.
The girls of Hanzo Academy, Homura Crimson Squad, Hebijo, and Gessen are all included in this release and Hanzo couldn’t be happier as he is able to not only enjoy some delicious cooking, but also quite a show. Each of these characters is given her own unique story mode that will unlock special accessories and costumes as well as some visuals. These story modes range from ridiculously funny to just plain funny as none of them are meant to be taken seriously. Each story is told through a visual novel type narrative though only a few actual dialogue scenes populate each of the girls’ story modes as most of it is simply setting things up and then delivering a punch line at the end.
The food that is being prepared is determined by your opponent so players will find that some characters will vary wildly in difficulty depending on the songs that accompany each dish. This can create some rather unusual difficulty spikes, especially with this entry offering songs and characters that weren’t in the base version of the PS Vita release. That being said, the game is still played in the same manner as before with players needing to match the button prompts on the screen to the music in order to successfully build up combos and create a perfect dish.
It is also worth noting that doing well in the earlier rounds will fill up a heart meter that, when full, appears as an extra note in the song that, if activated, will zoom the camera around your opponent as she continues to cook. The camera puts emphasis on your opponents “life and hometown” and while there are two angles that the camera can take, it appears to be random which one will trigger.
This is continued into the dressing room where players can unlock countless different accessories, outfits, and underwear to dress up their favorite girls. There is so much to unlock in the game and so many different combinations to put together that fans will have a lot to unlock.
The cooking sequences change depending on the item that is being made at any given moment and some of the creations that come out of the final round are quite ridiculous looking and they match perfectly with Hanzo’s euphoric reactions to eating the winner’s food.
Once she manages to find its exact location, IF witnesses a falling star that turns out to be a girl in distress. After rescuing the girl, IF learns that she is named Hatsumi Sega, or Segami and that she suffers from amnesia. To make matters worse, when the pair arrive at the library and meet Histoire, entire shelves filled with books of history begin to vanish. With the help of Histoire and Segami, IF is tasked with traveling through time (via her modified motorcycle) in an effort to resolve the problems in the worlds history and try to return things back to normal, or as normal as it can get in this series.
The main plotline does allow for players to have quite a bit of freedom thanks to the way the missions are structured. Players will be given various missions they can attempt to complete and depending on what you select there are various endings that you can begin to travel towards. With the Goddesses battling against one another and potentially destroying the world and only IF and Segami attempting to put a stop to things, this is a highly entertaining entry that will keep fans laughing along with the story but might be a bit much for those who haven’t jumped into the series yet.
After selecting a mission and traveling through time, players will find that Superdimension Neptune VS Sega Hard Girls plays very similar to past games though the field exploration has been upgraded a bit. IF and her allies have the ability to run quickly through dungeons, crawl through holes, climb certain walls, and more while traveling which is a nice addition rather than simply running and jumping through the same dungeons and fighting enemies as you encounter them.
Since IF is the main character of this entry, she has been given her own transformation form for the first time in the series. When IF enters her “Flame Awakening” state she will be given a large stat boost and given a number of bonuses that allow her to become a real force to be reckoned with on the battle field. With these little additions to the standard combat Compile Heart has thrown a little bit of extra life into a series that is always trying to refine itself bit by bit.
The soundtrack for the game will also feel quite familiar as many background tracks are re-used from previous titles but considering the quality of these tunes, most players will feel right at home rather than annoyed at the recycled nature of the music. The voice work for the English cast is also handled quite nicely with the new girls being voiced well enough and the old fan favorites voicing returning characters.
