In addition to the Sakura Taisen V event, Sega also hold a stage event promoting its two new Shining titles on the first public day at Tokyo Game Show. Shining Tears producer Tsuyoshi Sawada and voice actor Souichirou Hoshi took the stage, and the producer reiterated that the upcoming game will not be a strategy title like its Shining Force cousins, but rather a RPG title with very strong action elements. Players usally fight with their character and a partner. This partner can be controlled with the right analog stick, but can also be told to move around and attack your opponents automatically. Simultaneously executed pincer combination attacks by both characters can also be easily executed by one player as well. On stage, producer Sawada and voice actor Hoshi, who played the game for the first time today, had no problem in defeating several normal enemies and one boss. After this demonstration, Hoshi for the first time performed the game's main theme Shining Tears live on stage, while on the screen behind him the opening sequence was shown. After the Shining Tears event, fans were treated to a trailer of the new Shining Force title for PlayStation 2 and Souichirou Hoshi revealed that he will also work on this game as a voice actor.

While Shining Tears will be available in Japan on November 3rd, Shining Force for PlayStation 2 will only be released by spring 2005.

• GameWatch