Mastiff imports Gurumin for PSP

Niche publisher Mastiff has made a name for itself by catering to narrow audiences with under-the-radar games. When Nippon Ichi's Disgaea: Hour of Darkness became a cult hit on the PlayStation 2 in 2003, Mastiff brought over La Pucelle: Tactics, an earlier game from the same developer. When Sega passed on bringing a sequel to its PS2 shooter Gungrave to North America, Mastiff picked it up and released it with a suggested retail price of just $15.

Add another niche import to the publisher's catalog, as today it announced that it would be bringing Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure to the PlayStation Portable. Released earlier this year in Japan, the 3D action role-playing game was developed internally by Nihon Falcom, a company known in the West primarily for another action RPG series, Ys.

Gurumin follows the story of Parin, a young girl who befriends monsters that are invisible to adults. However, when menacing spirits abduct most of the monsters' village, she sets out to obtain the legendary drill, a powerful weapon that can destroy the spirits. Mastiff expects to release Gurumin in the first quarter of 2007.