With the proliferation of massive online multiplayer games on both desktops and console systems, the handheld games market has almost dried up in the West. However, game companies Gaijinworks and MonkeyPaw hope to revive the Playstation Portable niche and will be importing two role playing game titles straight from Japan.
The first role playing game is "Class of Heroes 3," released in 2010. The new title marks the return of publisher Gaijinworks, who also introduced the game's predecessor, "Class of Heroes 2," in the Western game markets in 2013. The series is a dungeon-busting role playing game where players choose their characters from three different schools and then battle different enemies in dungeons scattered across the map.
To complete the import, the publishers will also be introducing Bandai Namco's "Summon Night 5," a strategy-based role playing game on which players take on the role of a society member called the Eucross.
Since Gaijinworks is not new to directly importing games to the PSP, observers have wondered why the publishers would jump straight to the sequels and not start with the originals, just like in the case of "Summon Night 5." Responding to queries in the company's official forum threads, Gaijinworks head Victor Ireland said that it has to do with how much they can work with given the limited time they have.
He explained, "Because 5 was very recent, the code base and assets were pretty easy to collect and it's a great game that was a ground up effort. SN3 and 4 were ports, and though I would have liked to have started with 3, I'm not sure we'd have time to do 3, 4, 5 before the PSP window closes."
To make sure that not only PSP owners would enjoy the games, the publishers would also allow the titles to be available on the PlayStation Network.
Ireland added, "This will allow Vita players who don't have a UMD drive the means to enjoy the game as well, and collectors to play the game without opening the physical package."
