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The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story follows two characters named Haruka Kagami and Eiji Shijima as they try to solve four Shijima-related murders that have taken place over the last 100 years. While North American viewers missed out on this live-action video game’s reveal during the Direct, it’s still releasing in the West and looks wild. Missed this one? Don’t worry, it was only in the Japanese Nintendo Direct. The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story | Announce Trailer Live A Live will launch for Nintendo Switch on July 22. This release is a huge win for fans who’ve worked hard to preserve these lost JRPGs and gives new players a chance to experience an innovative JRPG story. Previously, the only way to play this was a fan translation from the group Aeon Genesis, and their efforts have kept this cult classic relevant since its release. I recommend watching Did You Know Gaming’s Region Locked video to get a complete sense of what this game is about and why it never came to the West. Its segmented story structure was a bold narrative choice in the 1990s and influenced the structure of many modern JRPGs. It follows seven different protagonists across different time periods, from prehistory to the Wild West to the distant future, before they all come together to fight the King of Demons. Live A Live is the next game to use the HD-2D style Square Enix created for Octopath Traveler, but it’s actually a remake of a Super Famicom JRPG that never came out in North America.
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Not only did this game lay the groundwork for RPGs like Octopath Traveller and Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, but it’s a win for the fan translation community as well.
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