Tokyo Game Show Report (Part 2)
Here's the second part of the Tokyo Game Show Spring 2000 report! In case you've missed part 1, you can read it here. 
  Enix
Of course Enix was there to show off their extremely anticipated Dragon Quest VII: Warriors of Eden. This time, Enix had gameplay footage to show TGS visitors as well as the usual Dragon Quest goods. Visitors could also play a demo of the game, causing long queues to form near the Enix booth, where people would wait up to an hour just to play a few minutes of Dragon Quest VII. Surprisingly enough, Enix still hasn't announced an official release date for the game, which still has a tentative May release. Several game retailers have stated unofficially that the date might be May 18th, but Enix has yet to comment. The newest installment in the Dragon Quest series, which is as popular as Final Fantasy in Japan, is certain to sell at least 3 million copies, regardless of delays.       Square
RPG juggernaut Square was present, of course, showing off some media of Final Fantasy IX and Final Fantasy XI. A short gameplay movie was shown, although most of the images of this movie were already seen in the Square Millenium Conference movie (which you can go see here). No playable demo whatsoever was available, to the great disappointment of fans. Final Fantasy IX is scheduled for a July 19th release in Japan. As for Final Fantasy XI, a conceptual movie was displayed, showing some images of FFVIII and FFX.  Kadokawa
Kadokawa presented the first pictures of their upcoming RPG adaptation of the famous anime series Record of Lodoss War: Demons' Advent. The Dreamcast game is set for a June 29th release for a price of 6,800 yen.    Kadokawa also announced a yet-unnamed Playstation 2 RPG, by the team that worked on Marie no Atelier and Linda³ again. The character designer of the game is Kohime Ouse, who also worked on Marie no Atelier and Kouklo Theatro.  Capcom
Capcom presented their next isntallment in the BOF series, Breath of Fire IV, as well as Rockman Dash 2, which should be known as Megaman Legends 2 if it reaches the States, and is due out this summer in Japan. Compile
In addition to a "Jewel Master Tournament" on Arle's Adventure, Compile's booth had sung performances of their composer, Mr Tanaka. Surprisingly, the director of Compile, Moo Niitani, joined him to sing on stage, for the pleasure of his fans! Compile was showing their latest RPG, Arle's Adventure: the Magic Jewels, which came out on March 31st (see our previous report about it here). Compile also presented their newest Puyoman store, one more store selling the Puyo-shaped cakes.   
    Banpresto
Super Robot Taisen Alpha was of course Banpresto's expected title. The Banpresto booth featured talk shows with Robot Taisen developpers such as Mr Terada and Mizuki. The game is now scheduled for a May 25th release.    Namco
The third installment in Namco's Tales series, Tales of Eternia, made its appearance at the TGS. Talk show involving the game's voice actors were held during the three days of the show. On the 31st, Omi Minami and Hiroshi Isobe, the voice actors of Meredy and Reis, were there. On April 1st, it was the actors of Keel, Farah and Quickie, respectively Souichirou Houshi, Yuuko Minaguchi and Yuuko Sumitomo; and the last day, once again Yuuko Minaguchi/Farah and Yuuko Sumitomo/Quickie, along with Akira Ishida/Rid.     The booth held a fan art contest and presented various media and goods of the game. Namco also started a campaign on their webpage for the readers who couldn't attend the convention and want to get the goods!                 Miscellaneous companies
The following RPGs were also displayed at this TGS : From Software's Evergrace, Quest's Ogre Battle Gaiden: Prince of Zenobia, Hudson's Rune Jade, Sega's Rent a Hero, From Software's One/Fourth, etc. Take a look at the chart below, it sums up all the RPG titles each publisher presented this year, along with their expected release date.
This semester's Tokyo Game Show featured an exceptional number of RPGs, with 14.2% of the total game showing being RPGs, and action games close behind at 12.1%. It's been a great event for RPG fans even though it had a relatively disappointing number of visitors. Thanks a lot to all of our sources who made this report possible!
Lastly, let us conclude this report with a few cosplay photos :)      
| Tokyo Game Show Spring 2000 RPGs |
| Publisher | Game title | Release date | | Ascii | RPG Maker GB (GB) | March 17th | | Wizardry - Dimguil (PS) | April 20th | | RPG Maker 4 (PS) | Summer | | L,O,L ~ Lack of Love ~ (DC) | June | | Metal Max (DC) | Summer | | RPG Maker 2000 (PC) | April 5th | | Atlus | Shin Megami Tensei Devil Children - Red Scripture (GB) | 2000 | | Shin Megami Tensei Devil Children - Black Scripture (GB) | 2000 | | Persona 2: Eternal Punishment (PS) | Summer | | Bandai | Senkai Taisen (PS) | May | | Pocket Digimon World (PS) | June | | Hunter X hunter: Heir of the will (WS) | Late May | | Digimon Adventure 02 Digital Partner (WS) | Late May | | Time Bokan series: Legend of Bokan (WS) | April 27th | | Kuroi Hitomi no Noir: Cielgris Chronique (WS) | Late June | | Banpresto | Super Robot Taisen Alpha (PS) | May 25th | | Capcom | Breath of Fire IV: Utsurowazarumono (PS) | - | | Rockman Dash 2 (PS) | Spring | | Eldorado Gate (DC) | - | | Compile | Arle's Adventure: The Magic Jewels (GB) | March 31st | | Enix | Star Ocean Blue Sphere (GB) | Summer | | Dragon Quest VII: Warriors of Eden (PS) | By the end of May | | Epoch | Gauntlet Legend (N64) | March 17th | | From Software | Eternal Ring (PS2) | March 4th | | Evergrace (PS2) | April 27th | | 1/4 ("One fourth") (PS2) | Winter | | Hudson | Daibaijuu Monogatari: Poyon's Dungeon 2 (GB) | Spring | | Idea Factory | Sand's Embleus (PS) | Summer | | Imagineer | Medarot 3 (GB) | Summer | | Might and Magic (PS2) | Winter | | J Wing | Dungeon Savior (GB) | June | | Kadokawa | Record of Lodoss War: The Advent of Cardice (DC) | June 29th | | Sorcerous Stabber Orphen (PS2) | Summer | | Konami | Reiselied ~ Ephemeral Fantasia (PS2) | Early July | | Day and Night of Walpurgis (PS2) | - | | Elder Gate (PS) | - | | EVE ZERO (PS) | March 30th | | Namco | Tales of Eternia (PS) | 2000 | | NEC Interchannel | Black/Matrix (PS) | - | | Mermaid's Stigmata (PS) | Summer | | Favorite Dear ~ Immaculate Prophet (PS) | mid 2000 | | Sega | Grandia II (DC) | - | | Animastar (DC) | June | | Phantasy Star Online (DC) | Summer | | Eternal Arcadia (DC) | - | | Rune Jade (DC) | - | | Napple Tale ~Arsia in Daydream~ (DC) | Summer | | Rent A Hero N°1 (DC) | May 25th | | Bikkuriman 2000 (DC) | Autumn | | SNK | Ogre Battle Gaiden: Prince of Zenobia (NGP) | June 22th | | Shinki Sekai Evolution: Hateshinai Dungeon (NGP) | February 10th | | Gauntlet Legend (PS) | - | | Square | Final Fantasy IX (PS) | July 19th | | Taito | Monkey Puncher (GB) | March 24th | | Takara | Bakudama Renpatsu!! Super Beedaman (GB) | March 24th | | Brave Saga 2 (PS) | May 2nd | | Tommy | GB zoid (GB) | July |
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Date Updated:
April 5th, 2000
Time Updated:
5:39 PM
Feena
Related Links:
• CESA
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