Today, a demo for Rhythm Thief and the Emperor’s Treasure hit the 3DS eShop. It’s a charming game, a combination love letter to Sega’s Dreamcast-era music games and Professor Layton clone. Strange mix, sure, but a good one.
Today, Sega also announced that it’s cutting off a huge chunk of the company, focusing on only four biggest franchises. Needless to say, Rhythm Thief doesn’t factor in there. The game’s out in a few weeks here in the U.S., and I’m pretty sure no one’s going to buy it. But I bet a lot of people who don’t buy it will complain, a few months down the road, about how publishers never put out fun, interesting, original niche games anymore — oblivious to the fact that they had a chance to pick one up when it counted and…
…well, it’s probably too late to make a difference. But still, what if it wasn’t? What if enough people bought this game to make Sega say, “Hey, maybe there’s actually some money yet to be made in exploring the spirit of our classics”? Wouldn’t that be weird? Isn’t that a feat worth considering?
Anyway, the demo is free, so there’s no harm in downloading it and seeing what you think for yourself.
Well, crap, and here I just ordered the silly FF rhythm game because it pushes my fanboy buttons and I’ve heard it’s at least decent. I don’t think I’ll regret it too much, but it’s not like the FF franchise needs my help staying alive. :|
Hard to justify shelling out for two new portable rhythm games at once, but I will sure as hell download the demo anyway.
Oh man, so I played the demo, and the third playable level has you basically fighting off the armored goons from Castle of Cagliostro. A lot of this game may consist of borrowed elements, but they sure are borrowing from some good stuff.
But… but, maybe us all buying Theatrhythm will convince Square to release Final Fantasy Type Zero in the west!
SEGA doomed themselves by releasing poor products (and maybe some mismanagement, I don’t follow all that). They always knew this would be a niche game anyway, I wouldn’t kid myself. That’s like hoping that if everyone bought JGR on PSN that we’d get a proper sequel. Not enough people care.
By the way, I’d kill for a new JSRF. Or even just a port for my Vita! Smaller digital downloads seem more realistic, and I don’t think SEGA will give up on those. So games like Rhythm Thief might still be feasible in the future, one can hope.
I downloaded the demo yesterday and it was a blast! I’m certainly going to pick up the full game when it comes out, especially since I get the feeling it might be hard to find down the road…