I've had a deep seated love for games made in Japan for a very long time, even back when I was a kid and I didn't realize when the games I loved the most were developed in Japan. It was odd, then, when I realized that this is the first generation of consoles where the majority of games I wanted to play (Assassin's Creed, BioShock, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Mass Effect, Batman: Arkham Asylum, for example) were made outside of Japan. While there were some titles from Japan I was very much looking forward to (Metal Gear Solid 4 being a notable example), they were definitely the exception. And my opinion on the state of JRPGs is already well known.
The pessimism about the Japanese game industry has been pretty pervasive, especially from Japanese game developers themselves, causing Capcom's Keiji Inafune to say before Tokyo Game Show 2010 that most Japanese developers were living off their success in the past. While Bayonetta embodies much of what I love about Japanese games, and Vanquish appears ready to rock my socks, there hasn't been a whole lot from Japan that I've been looking forward to. So I observed this year's Tokyo Game Show with thoroughly low expectations, not thinking that much would really jump out at me.
I was pleasantly surprised, then, that some games both newly announced and previously known looked pretty impressive. Falling firmly in the latter category was the Ico & Shadow Of The Colossus HD remake for PS3 – while not new games, the graphical enhancements and additions from the European release should make this the definitive version of two of the most seminal games of the past generation. And wonderful as it was to see the new versions of those games, the newest build of Team ICO's latest project, The Last Guardian, looked that much more breathtaking; if the game plays up to the developer's reputation, there's every reason to believe it will be one of the most beloved titles of 2011.
On the other end of the subtlety scale, there's Asura's Wrath. Make no mistake – this game is trying to be God of War: Buddhism Edition, but that's not a bad thing. It demonstrates that at least someone is paying attention to development trends in the U.S. and it looks pretty solid for an original IP. The collaboration between Shinji Mikami and Suda51 was also finally revealed to be Shadows of the Damned, which I am very hopeful will mix Mikami's instincts for solid, intuitive gameplay with Suda's unique style and sense of humor – the first trailer indicates the game is already well on its way.
The most pleasant surprise of the show for me, however, was Ni no Kuni (Two Lands) for PS3. A collaboration of famed animation house Studio Ghibli and popular developer Level-5, the game appears to be one to watch for judging by the first look at TGS. Aesthetically, it looks like a Studio Ghibli movie come to life with colorful environments and cel-shaded characters, with Joe Hisaishi's orchestral score sounding equal parts dramatic, epic and sweeping. The gameplay seems to be a unique combination of an action-based “pet” RPG with some user-activated caster abilities thrown in for good measure and matches the simple charm of the rest of Two Lands. When I talked before about Japanese developers doing something exciting and compelling with the RPG genre, this is what I was talking about.
Ni no Kuni, like a cartoon come to life
I'm sure for others there were different games shown off at TGS that get you equally excited, like Valkyria Chronicles 3, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Gran Turismo 5 or Project Dark. It'll also be interesting to see how the new Team Ninja fares, after the mixed reception to Metroid: Other M, with Ninja Gaiden 3 and Ni-Oh. The show also had a couple of intriguing East-West crossover moments: Capcom unveiled their new and now highly debated version of Devil May Cry called DmC from British developer Ninja Theory and Square Enix had a trailer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution dubbed in Japanese that seemed so natural, you'd swear the game was being made in Japan and not Canada.
I realize that Japan will never control the gaming industry the way it used to, for a variety of reasons. And Inafune commented after TGS that he thought that Japan was “at least five years behind” the West, and in a general sense there's probably a lot of truth to that. But, during Tokyo Game Show 2010, it was still good to see a variety of excellent looking Japanese games sure to make an impact far beyond the land of their creation.
