Square's Video Blowout

TOKYO - Unquestionably, Square had one of the best booths at the show. Playable versions of Einhander, Front Mission, Front Mission Alternative and Xenogears were definite attractions, but a number of videos showcasing a newer set of Square titles were also a reason for the booth's tremendous turnout.

Videos were shown for all of the playable games, as well as three new titles: Parasite Eve, Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon, and the newest title Soukaigi.

Parasite Eve's video unfortunately showed nothing in the way of gameplay, but still did wonders for the audience's already high opinion of Square's 3-D rendering prowess.

Based on the book of the same name by Hideaki Sena, the game follows detective Aya Brea's efforts to defeat a plague of sinister parasites attacking the organisms of New York City.

The incredible movies showed the parasites attacking and twisting cells, the patrons of an opera house bursting into flames, and the military's ultimately futile efforts to tame the biological menace. Parasite Eve is expected to ship more than a million units in Japan and over two million in the United States.

It's currently slated for a winter '97 release in Japan. No US release date has been announced yet.

Probably the most exciting video in Square's booth was for Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon. Developed by Chunsoft, Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon chronicles the exploits of an adorable young Chocobo in an ever-changing dungeon filled with monsters.

Along the way, our heroic Chocobo will fight many cutified Final Fantasy monsters in action RPG style, summon precious monsters to fight for him, and cutely waste many monsters with devastating spells.

As one would expect, the graphics and spells effects are incredible and very...yes, cute. To promote the game, Square commissioned a Chocobo coin bank from toy company Banpresto and gave them out on a first-come, first-serve basis. The same coin banks are also likely to find their way into the many prize machines that litter Japanese arcades around the time of the game's winter release. There are currently no plans for a US release.

Chunsoft, it should be noted, had produced two Mysterious Dungeon titles for the Japanese Super Nintendo (the second of which was voted the second best game on the system by Famitsu magazine).

The Soukaigi video, a newly announced action/adventure title, showed off the game's impressive 3-D visuals and some of the rendered movies. The game will be a fighting action game with a deep story like that of an RPG. The action itself was in 3-D, fighting monsters with fighting style moves, magic spells and varied weapons like swords and bows. No release date was available at press time, nor was GS News able to explore the possibilities of a US release.

Of the three, only Parasite Eve is confirmed for US release. Hopefully, all of these superb titles will make it to US shores someday.

Check GS News in the future for updates on these titles and news regarding US releases.