Treasure Hunter October 2012 –Mecha Action, Revolutionary Assassins, a Big Book of Friends, Deadmen and a Brawling Princess (Part 1 of 2)

In past years the holiday season usually meant the period of September through early December was crowded with video game releases. In recent years the release window has become smaller and smaller. This year there are a few big releases for the month of October but most publishers have saved their biggest titles for next month. This month is also surprisingly light on limited and collector’s editions of games. While the video game side is a bit sparse there are a good number of anime releases with collectables.

Fans of Guardian Heroes and fans of side-scrolling brawlers should rejoice, Code of Princess has finally arrived Stateside for the 3DS. This unique action RPG is considered to be the spiritual successor to Guardian Heroes, an action RPG released for the Sega Saturn in 1996. The story features the adventures of Solange, the princess of DeLuxia who is on a quest to take back her kingdom (and possibility save the world) after it was invaded by monsters. For this release Atlus has chosen to spoil its fans with an art book and the soundtrack on CD. The bonus goodies are limited to the first print of the game and are still available as of this writing. Code of Princess punched its way into stores on October 9 and retails for $40.

Natsume’s Book of Friends is finally available for purchase from NIS America. In this anime series Natsume Takashi has an interesting secret, he has the ability to see spirits. The young man soon comes into possession of his late grandmother’s book. The “Book of Friends” allows the wielder to form binding contracts with spirits. Natsume decides to free the spirits by dissolving the contracts. If you want to know more about this series Alex has a full review right here. NIS America’s Premium Edition of Natsume’s Book of Friends contains both seasons of the anime on DVD, a hardcover slipcase, a 32-page hardcover art book and for those who order directly from NIS, a replica of Nyanko’s bookbag. Natsume’s Book of Friends was released on October 9 and will cost you $56.

If you followed Toonami’s return to the airwaves earlier this year you might have checked out Deadman Wonderland when it aired on Adult Swim. In case you missed it or you don’t have access to Adult Swim, Deadman Wonderland is quite the series. This ultra-violent anime gets off to a gruesome start when a strange man wearing a read cloak attacks a classroom filled with students. When the dust clears everyone in the class has been slaughtered save for 14-year-old Ganta Igarashi. The young teenager is blamed for the crime, given the death penalty and is shipped off to Wonderland, a privately run prison. Here Ganta searches for a way to prove his innocence while navigating a prison filled with unscrupulous people who would gladly do him harm. Recently, FUNimation has began to include interesting extras in various anime releases. (The extras aren’t nearly as exquisite as NIS America’s but they’re better than nothing.) The Limited Edition of Deadman Wonderland ships with the mousepad pictured above. This fun but violent anime series was released on October 9 and retails for just under $50 at Rightstuf.

Games developed by Compile Heart are awfully polarizing among RPG fans. Some fans absolutely love them while others wouldn’t touch a Compile Heart game with a mile-long stick. Regardless, the games sell well enough for NIS America to keep on publishing them. Mugen Souls is the latest Compile Heart game to hit store shelves. In this PS3-exclusive a powerful Goddess known as Chou Chou sends forth a decree demanding the citizens of all seven planets in the galaxy bow down to her. Chou Chou then proceeds to each planet in order to bring them under her control. The game is said to play a lot like Disagea, although it isn’t nearly as good. If you want to take the plunge, you can’t get enough moe girls or you’re a big fan of Compile Heart’s games, NIS has you covered. For a mere $100 the Limited Edition of Mugen Souls contains a hardcover art book, the soundtrack on disc, a small hand towel and sponge (I have questions for the fans of this game), a set of figurines and a special box to hold all of this interesting swag. Mugen Soul began its conquest of retail shelves on October 16.

A few years ago Guitar Hero and Rock Band were extremely popular among many kinds of gamers. Then like a flash of fire in a really hot pan the popularity of the games burned out. Sure, hardcore fans still play these two franchises but everyone else has moved on. Despite this, Ubisoft is willing to take a risk with its newest music game, Rocksmith. What makes this game different from the aforementioned two franchises is that players must use a real guitar in order to play and they can also learn how to play the guitar. If you don’t have a guitar Ubisoft’s bundle contains one to help get you started. Whether or not the game is a good substitute for actual guitar lessons and a teacher is another matter entirely. The Rocksmith Guitar Bundle was released on October 16 and costs $200.

Exactly a year ago Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure was released on consoles, handhelds, PC and even Mac. The game (a revival of the Spyro the Dragon franchise), combines platforming with literal toy collecting. Every character in the game is introduced via a toy with an RFID chip in its base. When the toy is placed on the game’s Portal of Power the character appears in the game. Each character brings different abilities to the game and can be swapped out for other characters. With 32 characters total and many of the toys being sold separately, the price f
or Skylanders can add up. Some fans griped about the price while others enjoyed collecting the toys for their game. Either way, Skylanders was a success for Activision. Skylanders Giants is a direct sequel to the original game. It features larger characters and new types of toys for avid fans to get their hands on. The release of Giants comes in two flavors, the Portal Owner’s pack and the Starter Kit. The former is for gamers who already own the original Skylanders and the required Portal of Power. The Starter Kit comes with a number of goodies, including the Portal of Power, three new Skylanders figures, a collector’s poster and three trading cards all for $75. You can start your collecting adventure all over again when Skylanders Giants hits store shelves on October 21.

Part two of this month’s Treasure Hunter will be posted before the end of next week.