Wow, you’ve never heard of AquaPazza? Noob! Nah I kid, I actually thought it was some kind of waterproof pizza until just a few days ago. Turns out AquaPazza is actually an awesome looking 2D fighter developed by Examu, and is essentially a dream matchup between characters from various visual novel series. The source material for characters and such is mainly visual novels published by Aquaplus — who also published this game itself in Japan — as well as those by Leaf, a subset of Aquaplus that focuses mainly on more adult-oriented content. Sounds like quite the combo.
Hmm, adult content… and the Japanese box art shows the game as being rated “Cero B.” I have no idea what that means, but I can only conclude that the B stands for boobs. Logic!
When it comes to gameplay there seems to be alot going on, which is definitely welcome. Players can utilize the “partner system” to select from a list of thirteen battle-buddies, who can in turn give you added skills and help break an enemy’s defense. Meanwhile, every character in the game has his or her own unique storyline, with both secondary accounts of events and alternate endings that can be unlocked as well. I’d be into it if it was just a no-frills fighter, so if these extras are as compelling as they sound then AquaPazza might be one of those random, runaway Western successes from overseas. Atlus sure knows how to pick’em.
AquaPazza doesn’t have an exact release date yet, but it is a PS3 exclusive and slated for a holiday-time release of some kind. If you hadn’t guessed or looked it up yet, the game has been out in Japan for about a year now, so even though we’ve been missing out we at least get the benefit of starting with the improved and refined version 2.1, which apparently has everything fine-tuned down to the very last skill element. It’s about half the cost of most games at $29.99, so if this seems like your thing then definitely keep your eyes peeled.