There had been a few rumors going around in recent days / weeks indicating that a company may have picked up the rights to Japanese fighting game AquaPazza: Aquaplus Dream Match – originally developed by Examu and published by Aquaplus in Japan last year.
It has turned out that ATLUS USA were the company to acquire the rights to AquaPazza and have plans to release it exclusively for the Playstation 3 this holiday season at a price of $29.99 in stores and via digital download. This is the first time in North America that AquaPazza will be available in English with localization and publishing work being handled by themselves. The North American version of the game will feature all the content through the current Japanese arcade spec of AquaPazza (ver. 2.01), which includes several new characters and improvements for tournament-grade action.
ATLUS USA are calling AquaPazza a “dream matchup” that puts the characters from developer AquaPlus’ previous titles, including Tears to Tiara, ToHeart and Utawarerumono, in a no-holds-barred fighting game. The game features 13 playable characters and an additional 13 partners to choose from as well as an additional hidden character. All characters will retain their original Japanese voice acting, with no English dub to be produced for the game.
Some promoted features of the title include:
Eclectic cast of characters: The combatants in AquaPazza are a diverse bunch – from the studious bookworm Manaka who — no kidding — attacks with a bookshelf to the lance-wielding, shield-carrying Sasara.
Partner system: Players select from one of the thirteen partners to accompany them. Partners assist players as one of three classes with one of four different actions. Players get rewarded for aggressive play styles and the partners add an additional skill element to help break defensive play.
Tournament-level competition: Developed by Examu and Aquaplus, AquaPazza has a strong backbone of fighting game mechanics with twitch response times and super attacks.
Variety of gameplay modes: Each character has a storyline of their own, which unlocks the “another story” mode and an alternate ending. There’s also a time-attack mode, training mode, and a gallery mode.
Online play: Take to the internet to challenge players in ranked, unranked, and friends-only matches.
From memory I have a Japanese copy of the game lying around somewhere which I may write up a review for prior to the games Holiday 2013 international release.
