Koutetsu Teikoku/Steel Empire remake coming to JP 3DS eShop

[HydrogLox]

Supposedly you can still make purchases on any country's eShop in your region as long as your 3DS doesn't log into the eShop with an NNID. However without an NNID there is no Miiverse, no free demos, no wallet sharing etc. The issue arises because eShop purchases under an NNID are registered to that NNID. Deleting the NNID from the device de-authorizes all the content that is associated with that NNID. eShop purchases made without an NNID are registered to the device itself - so those don't get de-authorized when you switch to a different country's eShop. Because the 3DS is a portable/personal device Nintendo feels justified to only support one single NNID per device.

[GSK]

You can;t actually log into the eShop without a NNID anymore, though, can you?

[HydrogLox]

Just updated (7.1.0-16U) my 3DS XL yesterday. No NNID on my device and I can browse through the US store (Kokuga was the last thing I purchased). Now I haven't tried to buy anything yet (I need to get some more Nintendo US currency for that). It wouldn't surprise me if - for the time being - non-NNID Nintendo handhelds can still operate the old way though they will be denied access to NNID services (Miiverse, free demos, etc.). It also wouldn't surprise me if sometime in the future Nintendo will put a stop to that ("you've had long enough to adjust your ways (i.e. get yourself an NNID)").

Right now I'm staying with the US Store because I'm half expecting that Steel Empire is going to "miss" Canada just like Kokuga did. Hopefully I'm wrong.
I'm suspecting that in Kokuga's case Nintendo didn't communicate to G.rev the exact requirements to publish Kokuga to all the eShop countries in the NA region (for example Kokuga doesn't have a French manual). Who is to say that won't happen again to Starfish? By population the Canadian eShop doesn't rank that high:

• 313.9 million United States of America (California is the top state with 38.0 million)
• 198.7 million Brazil
• 120.8 million Mexico
• 34.9 million Canada

Out of curiosity I changed the language to French and I checked the manuals of my Canadian eShop downloads:
French Manual found on:

• Gradius (2012-Oct-18)
• Liberation Maiden (2012-Oct-25)
• Summer Carnival '92 Recca (2013-Sep-05)

No French Manual found on:

• 3D Classics TwinBee (2011-Sep-22)
• 3D Classics Xevious (2011-Jul-21)
• Chain Blaster (2013-Jul-25)

Chain Blaster was released after Kokuga (2013-Jun-27) - so either the missing French manual had nothing to do with it or (a month later) somebody wasn't paying attention.

[HydrogLox]

Nintendo Life: Matters Of Import: Steel Empire Is Flying High On Nintendo 3DS

[Phellan Wolf]

Has someone tried it already??? I wonder how it finally turned out.

[GSK]

Update: while it hasn't been officially announced, it seems that a publisher called Teyon will be releasing Steel Empire 3DS on the NA/PAL eShop. No word on how much it'll cost.

For those who happen to own a JP 3DS, they released a free demo a few weeks ago.

EDIT: NA release will be out on July 31, $29.99.

[Necronom]

Update: while it hasn't been officially announced, it seems that a publisher called Teyon will be releasing Steel Empire 3DS on the NA/PAL eShop. No word on how much it'll cost.

For those who happen to own a JP 3DS, they released a free demo a few weeks ago.

EDIT: NA release will be out on July 31, $29.99.

Sounds great, thanks for the heads-up! Hope the publisher doesn't expect too much from it, for 30 bucks this will sell to shmup lovers only...

[GSK]

Out today, Americanos!

[Darkseed]

Anyone play the 3ds version yet? If I'm looking for impressions since I found the original one a real stinker but if the game play is revamped to acceptable levels then I'll bite if anything to show support for shmups on 3ds. But only if it's at least decent. I'm also a sucker for parallax scrolling in 3d

[nosorrow]

Anyone play the 3ds version yet? If I'm looking for impressions since I found the original one a real stinker

Agreed, the Genesis original is pretty bad. Initially, I liked the first level and shelved the game for a while, but when I came back to it and delved deeper into the game, I realized I really didn't enjoy my time with it (same thing happened to me with another Genesis/Sega CD shooter, i.e. great looking but shallow Android Assault).

Now back to the topic at hand

[Oniros]

Now that the game is been out for a while, what are the impressions? I read that it doesn't feature online leaderboards but I really didn't expect them given how crappy the online infrastructure on the 3DS is.

[HydrogLox]

If you can swallow the price and manage your expectations its entertaining enough.

Serraxor:
Steel Empire MINI-REVIEW (3DS) - Bullet Heaven Mini, Episode 6

[BrianC]

If you can swallow the price and manage your expectations its entertaining enough.

The price is a little easier to swallow this week since it's on sale for $15.99.

[cham0mile]

The price is a little easier to swallow this week since it's on sale for $15.99.

Agreed, I just picked it up and had a pretty good time with it. My genesis cart was still cheaper haha.

[Oniros]

If you can swallow the price and manage your expectations its entertaining enough.

The price is a little easier to swallow this week since it's on sale for $15.99.

The main reason why I finally got it. Anyways, the game is definitely on the easy side as I 1cc'd it on normal on the first try. While most of the levels aren't very remarkable, stage 2 and the final boss were very enjoyable, albeit very long though. One run is around 45 mins. One thing that it hadn't occurred to me, is that Wii U and 3DS shmups that have access to Miiverse allow you to take screenshots of your scores and post them online, which is an ok workaround for the lack of online leaderboards.

[Darkseed]

Picked this up now that it's on sale. Definitely entertaining and worth it at the sale price. Solid gameplay, nice graphics, good controls. Nice art style. Good music. Why not?

[eatdogs]

I agree it's a great game.

Has anyone here tried the 3DS Karous game?

[Oniros]

I agree it's a great game.

Has anyone here tried the 3DS Karous game?

I haven't but Sakura Flamingo Archives includes similar modes with different ships, and if that is telling then the 3DS game must be awful. Is not even a boss-rush like Ketsui DS, it's like a shitty tower defense game.

[eatdogs]

I agree it's a great game.

Has anyone here tried the 3DS Karous game?

I haven't but Sakura Flamingo Archives includes similar modes with different ships, and if that is telling then the 3DS game must be awful. Is not even a boss-rush like Ketsui DS, it's like a shitty tower defense game.

Well that helps. And here I wanted to try and import it along with Kokuga and see if eventually I can mod my 3DS but I guess I'll pass. I might just try kokuga on the eshop when it drops in price perhaps someday.

[spadgy]

Any news on a PAL version of this coming to 3DS? I wish, but I expect to be disappointed!

[GSK]

The JP version got a permanent price drop to 1500 yen. I have no idea if the NA release will follow suit, and it's still not and probably won't ever come out in PAL territories.

Any news on a PAL version of this coming to 3DS? I wish, but I expect to be disappointed!

The company that published the game in NA says they don't have a license to publish in PAL territories... despite being located in Europe.

[M.Knight]

Could the company have actually meant they couldn't get the rights to publish the game in Europe from the Japanese publisher/developers?
For instance, Teyon has published Rinkou no Lantse on the European 3DS eShop under the ultra-generic "Iron Combat : War in the Air" name, so it is not like they don't have a license to publish games on the PAL store, is it?

[GSK]

Could the company have actually meant they couldn't get the rights to publish the game in Europe from the Japanese publisher/developers?
For instance, Teyon has published Rinkou no Lantse on the European 3DS eShop under the ultra-generic "Iron Combat : War in the Air" name, so it is not like they don't have a license to publish games on the PAL store, is it?

That's exactly what they meant, I just explained it poorly.

I suspect the real reason might be "the NA version sold like crap and we don't think it's worth the effort to publish it in PAL regions".

[theclaw]

They're not the only ones. Korea took over a year to get it, says September 2015.
http://nintendo.co.kr/3DS/eshop/steelempire/index.php

[M.Knight]

I suspect the real reason might be "the NA version sold like crap and we don't think it's worth the effort to publish it in PAL regions".

That's probably true.
Given the crazy, borderline suicidal price tag ($30), it wouldn't be surprising to learn the game bombed.
IIRC, the price was permanently decreased to $15 or $20 a few months ago but that was too little too late by then.

[GSK]

Steel Empire has (finally!) been rated by Teyon for a PAL release.

[Domino]

And it still cost $30 on NA eshop. Waiting for this to drop forever since I missed the 50% off sale on this......

[GSK]

The PAL version will release on December 17 for €15.99.

The NA version will be $15.99 from December 24 to January 7 (no, I don't know why it's not a permanent discount).

[Necronom]

The PAL version will release on December 17 for €15.99.

The NA version will be $15.99 from December 24 to January 7 (no, I don't know why it's not a permanent discount).

Wow...better late than never

[GSK]

The PAL version is out today (maybe even now, I haven't checked).