It’s finally happening! Natsume has announced they will bring Agatsuma Entertainment’s Sayonara Umihara Kawase to North America. The game, however, will be renamed Yumi’s Odd Odyssey. (“Yumi”…”Umihara”…close enough!)
Games in this series are definitely “different.” These games require the player to use a fishing rod to grab onto platforms and swing across levels Bionic Commando-style. In the past, these games have appeared on the Super Famicom, PlayStation, PlayStation Portable, and DS. All those releases were Japan-only and can be quite hard to find and expensive nowadays. Believe it or not, this is not the first attempt to get an entry in the series overseas. Natsume had tried to get Umihara Kawase Portable for the PSP released in North America, but it was eventually cancelled.
Here are some character art and English screenshots from Yumi’s Odd Odyssey to tide you over until a further announcement:
Yumi’s Odd Odyssey will be released early 2014 as a 3DS eShop download. No word on a European release yet, so gamers in that region eager to jump into this series will have to wait for a later announcement.
Check out Natsume’s press release on the next page.