All posts tagged in Level 5
Jul 4, 2020
Level-5 have recently announced that a HD version of Professor Layton and The Lost Future launches for mobile this month. Set to release on both iOS and Android devices on the 13th July, the game is an enhanced port of the Nintendo DS version, which released over a decade ago! As a HD port, the game will have significantly improved graphics and cutscenes in comparison to the 2008 original version.
Chronology & Plot
Professor Layton and The Lost Future is the third game in the first Professor Layton game trilogy. However, the first trilogy chronologically takes place after the events of the three games in the second trilogy. A little confusing, but the puzzle games are enjoyable nonetheless.
Just like the chronology of the Professor Layton games series, the plots can also be slightly confusing initially, albeit very clever. However, the mystery of each game always becomes clear by the end of each game, owing to the sharp-witted Professor Layton.
In a nutshell, Professor Layton and the Lost Future starts with the professor receiving a letter from his apprentice, Luke. This may not seem strange, but the ‘Luke’ writing the letter claims to be from ten years in the future. He initially thinks that Luke is playing a trick on him, until he recalls the events of a week ago. At an unveiling ceremony of a supposedly fully-working time machine, a disaster occurs. The time machine explodes, and a number of people have disappeared, including the Prime Minister.
Deciding to follow the instructions of Future Luke, The Professor and Luke head to a clock shop on Midland Road. After a seemingly small earthquake-type experience whilst inside, the duo are dumbfounded upon exiting the shop. To their utter disbelief, their surroundings are entirely different, and they discover multiple things that suggest that they have travelled into the future.
Dubious as ever, the Professor is determined to uncover what exactly is going on. He’s certain that he is not in fact in a future version of London. However, he is not certain of who he can trust.
A more in-depth plot synopsis as featured in the official Level-5 ‘The World of Professor Layton’ book. Key Features
- HD cutscenes
- An intriguing and captivating plot
- Numerous puzzles that span over time
- A plethora of interesting characters to meet
- Three unloackable mini-games that can be accessed via the Professor’s trunk
Some of The Main Characters
- Professor Layton
- Luke
- Future Luke
- Flora
- Dimitri
- Celeste
- Bill Hawks
- Don Paulo
- Inspector Chelmey & his assistant Barton
The Three Minigames
- The Toy Car Minigame
- The Parrot Minigame
- The Picture Book Minigame
A brief explanation of the three Minigames you can play. This was also featured in the official Level-5 ‘The World of Professor Layton’ book. Whilst no price has yet been confirmed, the two previous games in the series to get HD mobile ports both cost £9.99 each.
Artwork Competition
In celebration of the HD remake of the game, Level-5 are hosting a competition. You can create a piece of artwork relating to Professor Layton and The Lost Future and then post it to Twitter with a short sentence on why you chose to create that specific piece of art. The winner will receive a diorama of Professor Layton’s office, alongside a pure gold Professor Layton art card. Five runners-up will also receive a pure gold art card. The competition closes on the 31st July. You can find out more about the art competition here.
- Feb 13, 2020
Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold is an endearing action RPG that releases on Nintendo Switch on Valentine’s Day, 2020. Level-5, who are notorious for the highly regarded Professor Layton games, Yo-Kai Watch franchise, and Nintendo 3DS game Fantasy Life, are both the developers and publishers of this game.
About The Snack World franchise:
The Snack World is a multimedia franchise created and developed by Level-5. The franchise consists of a ‘rogue-like’ RPG that was initially released under the name ‘The Snack World: Trejarers for the Nintendo 3DS in August 2017 in Japan. An expanded Nintendo Switch port of the game under the same name was released in Japan on April 12th, 2018. Android and iOS versions have been confirmed, but are yet to be released.
Fast forward to November 2019, when Nintendo announces that the game will be released in the west, where it would be re-titled Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold.
Two manga adaptations of the game have been released, and an anime television series which aired on Cartoon Network in Australia from 2017-2018.
The game also has a toy line by Takara Tomy in Japan.
About Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold:
Described as a dungeon-crawling adventure with ‘real bite’, the game offers players the option to play solo, or to join forces with up to three others (either locally or online). The aim is to save the world from being swallowed whole, so no pressure, right?
Plot:
You are found unconscious at the gates of Tutti-Frutti and have no recollection of who you are. Bummer. Then to make matters worse, it seems that an evil sultan could be resurrecting a mighty deodragon to eat the entire kingdom. Great!
King Papaya and his demanding daughter, Princess Melonia, enlist the help of you and the other heroes of Tutti-Frutti to save the day. With numerous dangerous dungeons (I guess it’s in the game’s title) and plenty of menacing monsters to face, you’re going to have your work cut out.
Features:
- Numerous randonly-generated dungeons to explore (and loot), which contain rare treasures and new equipment. Remember: the more you achieve during a quest, the more chests you’ll attain, each packed with loot.
- The ability to change your hairstyle, facial features and body shape before setting out on your adventure.
- Find and equip jaras (the most important loot-hunting equipment around) to arm yourself with weapons, shields, healing tonics, and status-enhancing colognes. Each of these have their own unique skills, abilities and passive powers.
- craft your own gear by merging materials gathered from dungeons into jaras, clothing and armour. Additionally, you can merge any doubles you find or make to improve their stats.
- Obtain ‘Snacks’ (plastic cards of monsters and characters) by taking their photograph with a device called a Pix-e Pod.
- Defeating monsters and taking their snack shot and lending characters a helping hand are both ways to obtain snack shots.
- You can add Snacks to your party before venturing forth, or summon them in battle to give yourself an advantage.
- Play with up to three other people (either locally or online) and team up to defeat dastardly dungeon-dwellers.
- All downloadable content released for the original Japanese version are included, free of charge.
For more information about the game, click here
Want to buy a physical copy?
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- Jan 6, 2020
Netflix is on fire where video game movies are concerned at the moment. With the release of Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us on Netflix on New Year’s Day, 2020 is already off to a good start. However, another video game movie is also set to hit the streaming platform. A listing for anime movie Ni No Kuni has recently appeared on Netflix and will release on January 16th.
For those who haven’t heard of Ni No Kuni, it is a series of JRPG video games that are developed and published by Level-5 in Japan, and published by BANDAI NAMCO worldwide.
About The Movie
The movie tells an original story, but is is based in part on the very first game of the Ni No Kuni series. The film’s description on Netflix says the following:
Two average teens go on a magical quest to save the life of their friend and her counterpart from another world. But love complicates their journey.
The film was directed Ghibli animator Yoshiyuki Momose, who worked on ‘Spirited Away’, ‘Porco Rosso’ and ‘Grave of The Fireflies’. Yoshiyuki Momose also worked on both Ni No Kuni games. Having had a talented animator on board and being a Level-5 production, the film is likely to be beautifully animated.
The film was originally released in Japan on the 23rd of August last year. Unfortunately, it struggled at the box office with ticket sales. However, the film’s western release on popular streaming platform Netflix could improve its ratings.
If the movie is as good as the switch port of Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, it’ll definitely be worth a watch.
(An English version of the trailer can be watched on the film’s listing on Netflix)
Will you be watching the Ni No Kuni movie?
- Nov 20, 2019
I have eagerly been awaiting news on Snack World getting localized, and then for there to be a release date! Now we can all crawl through dungeons in search for rare treasure, and battle bosses on the Nintendo Switch February 14th, 2020! This adventure RPG from LEVEL-5 is playable locally or online with up to 4 players. Find out more about the game below and check out the new trailer, with a snazzy soundtrack and spunky cute characters dancing along, below.
About SNACK WORLD: The Dungeon Crawl
Become a heroic adventurer in this roguelike RPG, crawling through dungeons in your search for rare treasure, on a mission to seek revenge against the villainous Sultan Vinegar that violated your village! You can even tag along in teams of up to four to take down tenacious tyrants!
Key Features
- The Story…Flop, inches from being a stiff, at the gates of Tutti-Frutti. You remember nothing…but at least you have fabulous new friends to adventure with!
- You Are the Crawler of Your Own Dungeon! Customize your hair, eyes, mouth, body, EVERYTHING into an avatar that best suits you, before heading out on your adventure!
- Jiggle your Jaras! Outfit yourself with “jaras”—weapons, shields, healing tonics, and status-buffing colognes with randomized parameters that can be shrunk down for ease of carrying—and switch them on the fly based on the baddies you’re battling!
- Lookin’ like a Snack! “Snacks” are snapshots of quirky creatures and kooky characters that you can summon to your side in battle. Collect and trade snacks and jaras with your real-life friends…if you have any.
- Bag Booty to Be the Star of Tutti-Frutti! The more you achieve on quests, the more you’re bequeathed with chests! Each quest has varying conditions, with ultra-rare items up for grabs!
- Lend a Hand to the Locals. Wake up Sloe White; aid the girl group Spicy Galz; help out a…vegetabulldog or a crock ness monster?!? Be the all-around good guy in side-splitting side quests!
- A Deliciously Meta Adventure. High fantasy and high tech collide in this fourth-wall-breaking RPG with a modern twist for gamers of all generations!
- What’s With the GOLD? The GOLD version includes both expansion packs and other downloadable content from the original Japanese release of the game, free of charge!
- Oct 11, 2019
Since the initial release of Professor Layton and The Curious Village for Nintendo DS back in 2007, Level 5’s Professor Layton crime-solving puzzle games have become a firm favourite with gamers worldwide. It’s therefore no surprise that Level-5 decided to port their most recent spinoff game, Layton’s Mystery Journey to the Nintendo Switch console.
The game’s full name, Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy – Deluxe Edition (what a mouhtful!) will be released on November 8th of this year; right in time for the magical holidays. It will be available to purchase both digitally and physically.
On October 9th, Nintendo revealed the following charming box-art for the Nintendo Switch deluxe version on Twitter.
About the game:
In the 3DS version of the game, The notorious Professor Layton is absent. Layton’s Mystery Journey stars the Professor’s previously unmentioned daughter Katrielle as the Protagonist. Katrielle has undoubtedly inherited her father’s intelligence, but sometimes has people dubious due to her ‘gut feelings’. She is also a little more outspoken and disorganised than her gentlemanly father.
The Professor has been missing for quite some time, and Katrielle is starting to become worried. Nevertheless, she decides continue her father’s legacy and sets up the Layton Detective Agency. Alongside her talking dog (Sherl), her infatuated assistant (Ernest Greeves), and her rival (Emiliana Perfetti) she tackles various difficult cases presented to her by fellow Londoners. The mysteries are often odd, with unexpected culprits, which makes the game unpredictable and interesting.
The game is similar to previous games in the series due to the ability to find and solve puzzles, explore surroundings, collect items, and play minigames. It differs in that instead of having one main storyline with chapters.
The Deluxe version for the Switch however, has a few added features to enjoy. To read more about these, click here.
- Oct 1, 2019
Christmas is arriving early for lucky Switch owners in Japan, who will be able to get their hands on an improved version of Yo-Kai Watch 4 as early as December 5th.
Yo-Kai Watch 4++ is an improved version of Yo-Kai Watch 4, which was released for Nintendo Switch in Japan on June 20th. The upcoming enhanced version of the game includes features such as multiplayer, new areas to explore, and a variety of new Yo-Kai to catch.
Players who already own a copy of Yo-Kai Watch 4 needn’t miss out, as they can purchase Yo-Kai Watch 4++ for just 1,650 yen (approximately US$15).
For those unfamiliar with the original Yo-Kai Watch 4 game, here is a summary:
Yo-Kai Watch 4 is an RPG game developed for Nintendo Switch by Level-5. The game, like its three predecessors, features a boy named Nate. Nate possesses a ‘Yo-Kai Watch’ which allows him to see, befriend and summon creatures called Yo-Kai.
Yo-Kai Watch 4 takes place in three different worlds. Each world is associated with one of the game’s protagonists:
- Natsume (set 30 years after the first three games)
- Keita (contemporaneous with the first three games)
- Shin (set 30 years prior to the first three games)
Additionally, players can unlock a fourth Yo-Kai World where the Yo-Kai live.
Whilst no official release date for a western release of Yo-Kai Watch 4 has been announced, hopefully it will be soon!
- Sep 16, 2019
Level-5 is known for amazing games such as the beloved Fantasy Life series. Ni no Kuni is another game developed by Level-5 and published by Bandai Namco that will be coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PC this fall! Today Level-5 has released the Ni No Kuni Launch trailer!
Level-5 continues its mission to bring all of their major games to Nintendo Switch. Ni No Kuni is an anime adventure RPG where the player follows young Oliver on a quest to bring back his mother after a tragic incident. The charming art style and highly praised storyline make No No Kuni Switch a must play!
A gorgeous game in the style of Studio Ghibli, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch first released in the west on PS3 in 2013. Now, almost 7 years later, we can play it on Switch! PS4 and PC will also be receiving new, enhanced versions of the game on the same day. Keep in mind that the Switch version is not enhanced.
Ni No Kuni will release on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PC on September 20th. It is currently on sale on Amazon and can be pre-ordered here.
Take a look at the cute Ni No Kuni Launch Trailer below! For more new game releases this moth, check out our Most Wholesome Game Releases in September!
- Sep 9, 2019
Level-5 released Snack World in Japan a while ago and it had gained in popularity quickly. Back in April we heard that the game had received an age rating in Australia leaving fans hoping for a western / English release sometime this year. Now more evidence of a western release emerged!
Today Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl received another age rating and this time by no other than the North American ESRB. Level-5 has already confirmed that Snack World is coming to Nintendo Switch, but has not provided a release date.
The recent news about an age rating in North America could lead to a release of the game sooner rather than later. We have reached out to the company for more clarification on Snack Worlds release date.
Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl takes place in a typical RPG fantasy style setting. With shops, markets, housing, towns, cafés friendships and more! It is often compared to Fantasy Life, check out some of the cute gameplay over here.
Level-5 announced that Professor Layton will be coming to Nintendo Switch as well. For more upcoming games, check out the latest on Rune Factory 4 Special and its beautiful Archival Edition!
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