Posted Dec 01, 2006 at 06:59AM by Ian C. Listed in: Off Topic Tags: Japan, Square Enix, Sony, Sony BMG, Baseball, GBA
Ó

When games play themselves


Squeenix (pardon me for using such a childish contraction) is best known for making games that have your character level up in some form or another. Be it in an Action-RPG setting in Kingdom Hearts II, or in a turn based strategy game like say Front Mission. That's why people's eyes rolled when they heard that Squeenix will be making a basketball game for Nintendo in the form of Mario Hoops, and understandably so.

Squeenix making a basketball game? Why? Can they? Will they somehow have Mario use gambits or something? Apparently, Mario Hoops was not that hot review-wise. A lot said it was good, but they're hesitant to attach the word "great" beside the game. Maybe it was too weird for some?

Speaking of weirdness, here's the latest WTF game creation by Squeenix. Gamasutra reports:

Square Enix and Sony BMG have announced "mobile dance game" Destiny's Child Groove due later this winter, featuring images of vocalists Beyonce Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams as well as versions of the popular group's songs.


Beyonce plus Square equals what?! Apparently the game is supposed to be a back-and-forth dance battle in which users compete against dancing AI, and the game should feature a bevy of Destiny's Child hits.

Why Squeenix why!

But if you thought Mario Hoops and this latest one by Square-Enix weirds you out, just take a look at this list of non-RPG/non-Strategy games that Squeenix has made through the years. You tell us if they're any good. (Note that games released only in Japan have JP on them)

X360

  • Project Sylpheed - X360 - Shoot-'Em-Up - TBA
PS2
  • Gekikuukan Pro Baseball: The End of the Century 1999 - Basketball Sim - 2000 (JP)
  • All Star Pro-Wrestling - Wrestling - Jun 08, 2000 (JP)
  • The Bouncer - Beat-'Em-Up - Mar 5, 2001
  • Dance Summit 2001: Bust A Move - Rhythm / Music - 2000 (JP)
  • All-Star Professional Wrestling II - Wrestling - Nov 22, 2001 (JP)
  • Nichibeikan Pro Baseball: Final League - Basketball Sim - Apr 25, 2002 (JP)
  • World Fantasista - Soccer Sim - Jun 06, 2002 (JP)
  • Super Galdelic Hour - Action - Mar 29, 2001 (JP)
  • Front Mission Online - Sci-Fi Shooter - May 12, 2005 (JP)
  • Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII - Fantasy Action Adventure - Aug 15, 2006
PS
  • Bushido Blade 2 - 3D Fighting- Feb 28, 1998
  • Ehrgeiz - 3D Fighting
  • Bust A Groove 2 - Rhythm / Music - Mar 31, 1999
  • Chocobo Racing - Kart Racing - Jul 31, 1999
  • Parasite Eve II - Adventure - Jan 12, 2000
  • Rakugaki Showtime - 2D Fighting - Jul 29, 1999 (JP)
  • Soukaigi - Adventure - May 28, 1998 (JP)
  • Super Live Stadium - Basketball Sim - Jan 01, 1998 (JP)
  • IS: Internal Section - Action - Jan 28, 1999 (JP)
  • Racing Lagoon - Racing - Jun 10, 1999 (JP)
PC
  • Will - PC98 - Adventure - 1985 (JP)
  • Online Striker - Soccer Sim - TBA (JP)
  • Front Mission Online - Sci-Fi Shooter - TBA
N64
  • Wonder Project J2 - Adventure - Nov 22, 1996 (JP)
NES
  • JJ - Tobidase Daisakusen Part II - Shoot-'Em-Up - Dec 07, 1987 (JP)
DS
  • Egg Monster Hero - Action - TBA
GBA
  • Chocoboland - Puzzle - Dec 13, 2002 (JP)
MOBILE
  • Aleste - Shoot-'Em-Up - Sep 01, 2004 (EU)
  • Brave Shot - Shoot-'Em-Up - Dec 17, 2003
  • Actraiser - Beat-'Em-Up - Sep 01, 2004 (EU)
  • Final Fantasy VII Snowboarding - Snowboarding - Apr 8, 2005
  • Hexcite Fusion - Puzzle - TBA
  • Brave Shot 2 - Shoot-'Em-Up - 2006
  • Portpia Serial Murder - Adventure - TBA (JP)
  • Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode - Final Fantasy VII - Fantasy Shooter - Q4 2006

Ignore the games that had TBA on their date. Focus on the ones released already. Do you have any fond memories of those listed games? Did you hear from people about how good those games were? Yeah, I thought so too.

So should Square just stick to the Strategy/Puzzle/RPG games or should they try to diversify and continue work on games like Destiny's Child Groove?


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19 Comments


Sort by:
   by ttt (Unregistered) - 2006-12-01
 » ttt

Parasite eve II is awesome, ehrgeiz wasn't too bad either

   by me (Unregistered) - 2006-12-01
 » wtf

why would they want to disgrace their name with ***** like that. get back to rpgs and make some for the friggin wii

   by Blaze (Unregistered) - 2006-12-01
 » .

Final Fantasy is still a shooter/RPG
Role Playing means like, playing a role in a story. You're playing vincent valentine's story, so that makes it RPG

   by kiko (Unregistered) - 2006-12-01
 » hmmmm

YOu Idiots must not know that Square-Enix devolped one of the first and most loved music games of all time, the Bust A Groove Series...


Go Beyonce!

   by lolzomg (Unregistered) - 2006-12-01
 » source

You need to source your image, its from penny arcade, pretty sure posting that with out permission is illegal. Also your useing it out of context which it was intended to insult ffxii.

   by rolly poly (Unregistered) - 2006-12-01
 » squeenix??

wtf, how lazy do you have to be to avoid typing 2 letters and a hyphen?


   Re: tomlin1 - 2006-12-01
 » Agreed

secondly, Square-Enix abreviation is SqEx (pronounced Squex). Ask anyone that works there.

   Re: stuff (Unregistered) - 2006-12-01
 » nope

Not agreed, the official internet abbreviation is Squeenix, it was chosen not because it's the correct abbreviation but because it sounds silly.
   by Advertising -
   by bargle! (Unregistered) - 2006-12-01
 » the fhuk?

THIS IS OLD NEWS. Of course they made that B-Ball game!


   by arrangedinsanity (Unregistered) - 2006-12-01
 » missing something

you guys forgot einhander. that game was awesome


   Re: yep (Unregistered) - 2006-12-01
 » you said it

einhander was pretty sweet, in fact, it was really sweet. it always made me mad i could never beat it in hard mode, maybe ill give it another try some time soon...

   Re: reverend tweek (Unregistered) - 2006-12-01
 » thank you

i was going to mention that, it was a fairly glaring omission, considering how awesome it was.
   by Mike (Unregistered) - 2006-12-01
 » .

You guys do know that Square (Squaresoft at the time) made the Super Mario RPG for SNES right?

   by Someguy (Unregistered) - 2006-12-01
 » Why the hell are subjects required for comments?

You also forgot a racing game on the NES called "Rad Racer"

That was Square Co., ltd

   by Stikz (Unregistered) - 2006-12-01
 » Bad info FTL

Einhander was awesome.
Bust A Move/Groove 1 & 2 were awesome.
Actraiser was an action/sim-action, shooter. It was in no way a beat-em up. It too was awesome and still has a killer soundtrack.
Yo missed the whole Snes list completly.

Your point for this article fails.

   by photoboy (Unregistered) - 2006-12-01
 » Penny Arcade

A more appropriate Penny Arcade to show for this article would be their one on Mario Hoops: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/09/19

It was a great game let down by an unfairly difficult final team. If it weren't for them I think it would be remembered much more fondly.

   by fotoguy (Unregistered) - 2006-12-01
 » Bust-a-Groove

Bust a groove was a dancing game by Enix, maybe they are just doing a section that has nothing to do w/ RPGs

   by Advertising -
   by c-fan_kek (Unregistered) - 2006-12-02
 » hehe, "nice" article..

Saying squaresoft only makes rpg/strategy realy shows what kind of gamer you are...

the unenlightend one.. silly :p

   by phil (Unregistered) - 2006-12-05
 » forget some

I'm certain you forgot loads of games on that list. Here are the ones that I own and can definitely confirm that are missing.

PS1
Parasite Eve 1 (you listed 2 but not 1, wtf?)
Front Mission 3

PS2
Driving Emotion Type S



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