Light novels are big in Japan these days. Not only are they generally good reads that have spawned a legion of fans over the years, but they serve as the source material for all kinds of spin offs, adaptations and crossovers between different stories and characters. We’ve already seen a good deal of publisher Dengeki Bunko’s crossover fighter Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax, which crosses over many of their characters with Sega characters. Nitro+ ( pronounced ‘Nitroplus’) got in on the fun with their own light novel character crossover brawler with the release of Nitro+ Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel to Japanese arcades back in April of this year. Developed by fighting game veterans Examu (Arcana Hearts), Nitro+ Blasterz is coming home this holiday season on both Playstation 3 and Playstation 4 and we couldn’t be more thrilled to get our hands on this one.
Even better than including a whole gaggle of Nitro+ IPs, Nitro+ Blasterz is also going to have characters from other properties that their writers have worked on. So in addition to, say, Ruili from Kikokugai: The Cyber Slayer and Sansei Muramasa from Full Metal Demon: Muramasa, you can expect to see characters like Saber from Fate/Stay night, Homura from Senran Kagura and exclusively for home consoles, the lovely and talented Super Sonico from, um, Super Sonico! The game is a traditional 2D one on one fighter with support characters a la Marvel vs. Capcom and sporting a gorgeous hand drawn look that recalls the very best of the fight scene from the 90s and early 2000s.
Marvelous’s Japanese Youtube consumer channel has released a few brief snippets of gameplay showing some special moves and combos. Take a gander for yourself to see what the buzz is about.
And in case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the official announce trailer for the home release in Japan.
Nitro+ Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel , is slated to launch for Playstation 4 and Playstation 3 on December 10, 2015 in Japan and sometime this winter in North America, and will be brought stateside by XSEED Games. This is really great news, as it’s just one more indication that niche gaming still has a strong enough presence in the hearts and minds of the marketplace to ensure the continued releases of obscure titles that have loving and loyal fan bases.
