Rise of Mana to be ported to PSP Vita in Japan

[Wolf Kanno]

Looks like Rise of Mana, which is an iOS/Android game released earlier this year in Japan is getting a PSP Vita port according to Square-Enix's Tokyo Game Show Lineup. Hopefully we may see this game get a Western release in the future especially since Square-Enix has been slow to give the Sony handheld any love.

[Bolivar]

Just what the Vita needs, more iOS and Android ports!

JK but seriously, take a chance, SE make a damn native game wtf.

[Wolf Kanno]

I think they are waiting for the Vita to start doing better. One of the reasons why Type-0 is being put on the PS4 instead of the Vita.

[Bolivar]

Despite the PS4 tanking in Japan when the Vita version would be a #1 Japanese debut guaranteed. I can see them looking at the Western audience who never got to play it but why put it on the XBox One when the Vita is performing better than that worldwide? I guess because it's so similar to the PS4, what the hell, why not?

It's the Chicken or the Egg problem I guess - Square will wait to release a game for it until more people buy it, meanwhile more people will wait to buy it until Square makes a game for it.

[Vyk]

That makes no sense. If the Vita is doing great in Japan, that should apparently be all that matters. Considering if you complain about a Final Fantasy game, they tend to think it's just because Western gamer's "just don't understand". Look at how popular Lightning is in Japan and only because she was popular in Japan, she got 2 more games and threats of putting her in future games. They didn't care about our opinion then. Why do they care about our opinion of the Vita? Then again, it's probably simply because they want to make sure we can't import it and patch it this time...

[Wolf Kanno]

While it is true the Vita has sold more units than the X-Box One, it's not doing better than it. Considering it has one million more units sold but has been on the market for almost three years as opposed to the X-Box One which isn't even been around a whole year I wouldn't call that "success". The Vita is doing pretty terrible and frankly I don't feel like Sony is doing much to make it feel like a viable game system as much as an expensive peripheral for the PS4.

I agree it needs games, and an original IP by Squenix could help it, after all, the original PSP wasn't doing great either until Crisis Core was released but I kind of just feel like Sony also doesn't really know how to manage a portable system looking back on their stint with the PSP, it doesn't help that it lacks a killer app like Pokemon to ensure no matter how troutty a handheld does in its first year, millions will flock to it when the game they want launches. It doesn't sound like Squenix is going to bother with the system for awhile considering Type-0 passed it over in favor of the better selling PS4.

To bring this back to topic, I am happy to see a new Mana game get released. It may not have been made for an ideal platform initially but hopefully being released for the Vita will allow it to reach its full potential. It looked pretty good to me in the videos so here's hoping we see a Western release. I hope it does well because I would love to see Mana return as a major franchise for Squenix.

[Bolivar]

The last quarter results showed that Microsoft shipped 1.1 million 360/One consoles and Sony shipped .7m PSP/Vitas, with no specific breakdown for each system. When Gaf looked at the history of how those system families apportion out to each console, the number crunchers concluded that the One is now likely tracking behind the Vita worldwide. So yeah, I really think Type 0 is a blunder on Square's part.

Honestly I feel it's failing because Sony handhelds are stigmatized; it has far and away the most diverse and innovative library of any current system, with more games getting announced all the time. Hopefully Rise of Mana opens the door for Square but I think TGS really solidified that the Japanese RPG community is doing a great job supporting the Vita without them, much like RPGs in general these days.