Nintendo Switch (MEGA39’s/MEGA MIX edition)

Let’s just say the thought of Project DIVA on a Nintendo console let alone the Nintendo Switch goes beyond that last year or so of what seemed like a random, out-of-place general discussion by me. Before many posts pointing at the circumstances hinting at the future we are to be living in, before Project DIVA .Wiki’s Facebook’s small celebration of the system’s launch, or even YouTube personality Blake The Nerd’s thoughts of Project DIVA X on what was then known as NX. I was thinking a core game on Wii U, (the console always confused for being a controller add-on) sketching how that might work with the system’s many features, refining those concepts, embarrassingly attempting to present and explain them online to no avail, and redoing them all over again come the turn of consoles. The journey has overall gave me an introduction to what VOCALOID in general was about, interest in game design, and diversified my taste in both music and games. Most of all gave me some type of escape looking into it while I coped with the transitions of a 17-mile move due to my family’s booming business, combined with the eerily-simultaneous loss of both the family dog and a well-loved Sapporo-born corporate president (who that legend has it, had the heart of a gamer) that happened 4 years ago as of 7/10.

Like before, I will state my opinions, the only differences being the about the game, and the current situation in the games industry, why this is a good thing, and more is probably coming: (reader discretion advised: it will be LONG, and full of hyperlinks, with a couple of Rin/Len jokes. On the bright side no more buzzwords and hypothetical ‘what-ifs’ with busted video links like before)


Mega Mix is objectively better than Future Tone.

While both are “best of” compilations, Future Tone was nothing more but a PS4 port of an Arcade Game, being a SEGA Nu deluxe port of an arcade game on SEGA RingEdge, which was a port of a PSP game from 10 years ago built on the engine of the possible 7th version of Virtua Fighter 5, a game from 2006. It’s kinda a glorious mess with 240+ songs from Project DIVA to Project Mirai DX (sorry for all you Project DIVA X fans) with a handful of original additions. The problem here is that some songs had aged poorly, (aka songs from the “VOCALOID 2” era) and videos for some of said songs looking like (no wait!) they were made in EDIT MODE. Mega Mix’s approach is to seemingly take it’s series history more seriously with that conservative 90 song number from older games with 11 originals, meaning that at least each game will have 10 of their best songs included with somewhat improved videos as a testament of the series’ history.

In terms of visuals, while it is the toon shaders used in a small handful of songs from Future Tone made evident by the use of models from said game, It looks like a situation in the case of the Legend of Zelda series in terms of comparing Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask, and Twilight Princess, to games like The Wind Waker and Breath of the Wild (aka their really nice in comparison to Future Tone’s near-hyper realistic approach). These 2 series share the same issue of inconsistent visuals, however it’s more pronounced with the visuals of Future Tone being inconsistent from other games (excluding Project Mirai’s Nederoid look), which in turn which has been used for the many MIKU EXPO, SNOW MIKU, and Magical Mirai concert events. Maybe not now; but we could see a happy medium someday.


Nintendo Switch is the PERFECT home for the series going forward.

Since the beginning, as described by AM2 in the recent Famitsu article describing the thought process to why develop the game for Switch; the series got its start on handhelds. With people wanting to play the game at home in HD with better graphics, then came the need to develop on console in tandem with handheld. Japanese gamers couldn’t afford the space for TVs or the time for consoles like the PS4 or PS3, and when the series was finally being released for westerners, they wouldn’t want to bother with portable gaming, an itch made worst for people being anything but sedentary. If you did want to have that ultimate Project DIVA playing experience, you needed both devices (a pricey endeavor, especially in the case of the PS Vita), while one copy of the game was all you need. Future Tone as a PS4 exclusive required the player be at home to play, and that worked well for Western gamers, but it left japanese gamers burned, now having to rely on streaming the game at a worse resolution, and with input lag (critical to a rhythm game) all requiring a strong internet or 3G connection that not everyone has unfortunately.

The Switch here does away with it all that by being a portable that can be docked to a TV, (ala PSP GO) it’s also the same as a console you can take out of your home and play on the go. This finally realizes that vision to play Project DIVA either on a TV, or on the go as intended as the Switch can do both without suitcases, external displays, internet or cellular connections. How successful is this concept? When I started talking about the console and the series here on ProjectDIVA.net, it was at 10 million units in January 2018, now it’s probably around (funnily enough) 39 million units. That combined with it’s rapidly growing library of games, it already has developers left and right (or Rin and Len in our case) publishing games for the console; heck even Microsoft is allowing games like Cuphead and New Super Lucky’s Tale, to make their mark beyond Steam, Windows and Xbox, all the way to approving the inclusion of what would be Fighter #73 in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

All I can say is any of Miku’s future rhythm game ventures with SEGA going forward aren’t hit the same possible high on anywhere else but Switch, regardless of one’s preferences...

Opportunities for MORE

I think future games should more with the Switch Hardware. For instance; 2 player simultaneous, competitive multiplayer [to justify comparing Rin and Len to Joy-Con] or ANY type of competitive multiplayer type modes online or otherwise. In terms of content, I feel like having some type of Nintendo themed content will ultimately have an impact in some form I’ll go into. I also think having the option to utilize the system’s Mii feature is another missed oppertunity. In terms of the song count to ever increase from the initial 101; it’s possible via DLC. (as usual with the Arcade game being supported for almost a decade in a sense) As redundant as it is; I think no DIVA ROOM here is hinting at it being a seperate game, probably via amiibo (doubling as a base of sorts for Goodsmile Nendoroids)

(To be continued, curse you 10,000 character limit)

 

(Continuing from before)

The SONY situation

As sighted by Jrharbort; SONY had a 10 year deal with anything titled Project DIVA. Honestly for bigger reasons; I think it was the best time to abandon ship. SONY has been throwing their weight and ego around; and being very messy with their plans. I can tell many were burned when there were rumblings of a successor to PS Vita, SONY being wishy-washy in their responses with either “handhelds are additives”, “or we will not give up on portable gaming” to ultimately discontinue the PS Vita along with dashing any hopes of a successor. We heard of many recent horror stories about SONY enforcing extra censorship in japanese-developed games on devs as small as Neko Works to as big as Koei-Tecmo, with SONY acting like the ratings boards CERO, PEGI or ESRB don't exist. (in spite of stuff like “Friendship Kisses”, and intense maiming in first-party software) Same can also apply to the SONY’s (future)tone-deaf response to the idea of “cross-network play”, and “cross-progression”, from Minecraft to Rocket League, to (especially) Fortnite. All that (minus the handheld nonsense) as a means to protect their “image”, and their users, combined with SONY’s intent to target Hardcore gamers with moving away from Indie games to nothing but AAA’s and in-house exclusives is saying something to me. What it’s saying is it’s SONY from the PS2-to-PS3-era again heading into PS(name subject to change)5.

It’s ironic considering Nintendo would of been suspect of most of that with stuff like the NOA licensee program from the 80’s, and 90’s, and yet they seem to be uninterested/resentful with such practice by SONY. In the words of Nintendo Global President Shuntaro Furakowa:

“Nintendo, as do 3rd-parties and their software, applies for an objective rating from 3rd-party organizations prior to release. If platform-holding companies choose arbitrarily, the diversity and fairness in game software would be significantly inhibited. We provide parental controls that can be used to apply limits.”

Considering this is a series of games where you can dress voice-synth software personafications in swimsuits and have them perform while songs with lyrics about guillotines, shotguns, the size of one’s breasts, suicide and one’s under-endowed chest play in the background, you can see why continuing with PlayStation is possibly Censored Gaming’s worst nightmare.


Hitting Pandora’s ? Block

Miku, the character’s entirety is due to collabs. Whether it be games like Cytus II, Anamanaguchi’s hit song, or THOSE textbook examples of merchandising. Project DIVA’s entire existence became more than being just a licensing deal with SEGA, and it gave people the concerts they come to know and love, and (misleadingly) labeling Miku in the eyes of many as a SEGA property.

Nintendo, after Project Mirai DX’s release, has been open to partnerships, mobile games, theme parks, and full crossovers and collaborations from developers both big and small; from SEGA (of course), to Ubisoft, to Activison, to even Brace Yourself Games. Along with a full partnership with Chinese juggernaut Tencent Holdings and Nvidia to bring Nintendo to China proper after years of government roadblocks.

The 1st thing I said in 2019 was about the little known VRM Consortium, namely the buzz about Nintendo being an observer for a 13-company organization including CFM. Not much to say here outside of “people’s suspicions about Nintendo and VR were right” with the Nintendo Labo Toy-Con 04: VR Kit being a thing…

I don’t think Nintendo is all that interested in Project DIVA having such content; but there’s no doubt CFM or SEGA would have or be interested in having content like that in future games or DLC. They know Nintendo’s consoles and/or games have had some impact in some form; like a parody of GO GO MARIO!!, or being referenced in some song’s video. With recent games having vocals in their soundtracks, there’s some opportunity for that, let alone customization like modules or the HUD.

 

Friendly reminder that Magical Mirai 2019 in Tokyo is in 10 days, and there we have a new gameplay style-yet-to-be unveiled to be well... unveiled. I figure here you can listen to and enjoy KZ Livetune’s theme song for the game; “Catch the Wave” (dat switch sound btw)



(SWITCHed for new video with proper sound source)


Still think avoiding a multiplayer mode would a bad idea!

 

Magical Mirai 2019 in Tokyo is tomorrow. (Yo) Freshly pick your home-grown onions, fetch your glowsticks, get your hearing devices ready, and get ready to witness what this Play-style is all about, and see what Megamix is like in action!

(Multiplayer mode is a no-brainer)

 

20 hours left.

[Multiplayer, you shall come]

 

about 11 hours to go.

10 P.M. PST = 2 P.M. GMT.

Gonna be a long night.

[Insert Multiplayer remark here]

 

In addition, HORI is offering an official arcade controller for arcade mode for $350 (¥ to $)

[0/10 for no multiplayer! Mix mode is cool, and I’ll still buy it]

 

"Theme Song Pack" DLC has been announced for preorder, it will contain the 1st 4 theme songs from the series.

”The Secret Garden”, Kosaki Satoru - Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA (2009)

“Look this way Baby!”, ryo - Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA 2nd (2010)

“Cumulonimbus” Graffiti”, ryo/Dixie Flatline - Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Extend (2011)

“Yume Yume”, DECO*27 - Hatsune Miku and Future Stars: Project Mirai (2012)

With the theme songs from Project DIVA F, Project DIVA F2nd, and Project Mirai DX already included, we will likely see this song show up in the base game:

“Ageage Again”, Mitchie M - Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai 2 (2013)

Not likely; but it would help with Mega Mix’s all-in-composing nature if added anyways or in future DLC:

“Name of the Sin”, ryo - Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X (2016)

[after reading this article, I take back what I said about no multiplayer mode, Mix mode is it. 8/10]

 

Yeah; even if the game itself is divisive, it should be represented in SOME SONG FORM, at least.

 

More songs for Project DIVA: Mega Mix were announced at TGS.

Hibana, DECO*27 (in-game PV)

Ohedo Julia-Night, Mitchie M (original PV)

As an aside: here’s off-screen footage of the game’s Mix Mode in action to Alien Alien (post edited). confirming yes, it will run at 60fps. (in TV Mode at least, anyone from Magical Mirai in Tokyo that played the game, let me know if Handheld mode is lesser or equal)

 

I don’t think that counts.