Yuji Naka's Studio Reveals Rodea

via 1up


Japanese publisher Kadokawa Games released the first info today on Tenku no Kishi: Rodea, the latest title from Yuji Naka's Prope studio and the first to be released on the Nintendo 3DS.

Rodea, which will be hitting both the 3DS and Wii systems, offers flight-based gameplay that's a bit like Naka's 1996 classic Nights, except with more emphasis on shooting enemies and taking down enormous bosses. Control on the Wii version is handled entirely with the remote -- instead of directly controlling Rodea, you point to onscreen locations and tap the B button to direct him over there. A, meanwhile, is the attack button; you can press it down to fire at will, or point to objects or enemies and hit A to target them.

"I've always wanted a game that captured the wonder of flying through the air, the sort of thing everyone's dreamed about at least once in their lives," Kadokawa producer Hitoshi Hasegawa told Famitsu magazine. "The idiosyncracies of player and camera control have always been a problem with that, but with his unique perspective and experience, Naka has been able to find a solution for us."

Rodea's story and world design is being handled by Takumi Miyajima, a game-industry veteran who's worked on RPGs like Tales of the Abyss and Arc Rise Fantasia. The game is set in a fantasy world where two kingdoms compete for natural resources. The titular character, an android who's just been woken up after 1000 years of stasis, is thrown into the midst of this conflict and has to figure out which superpower to side with as he fends off his pursuers.

"The developers wanted a story that both kids and adults can identify with," Miyajima said to Famitsu, "and so I wanted to emphasize the bonds and other feelings that people have for those they encounter in their lives. Seeing how Rodea, this mechanical creation with a very pure emotional outlook on the world, interacts with the other people in his world is something I think players will really enjoy."

No release date has been given for either version of Rodea yet.