Unboxing [JP]: Phantom Breaker: Extra (PS3)

Another Japan-only fighting game joins my collection, as part of my big haul of PS3 games to acquire. I figured I would buy the game from Solaris Japan since it was pretty cheap for an import.

Phantom Breaker: Extra (ファントムブレイカー:エクストラ) is a fighting game developed by 5pb., Delta Factory and R.U.N. 5pb many will recognise for their Science Adventure visual novel series. This version is actually the latest iteration as the original was an Xbox 360 exclusive. Quite a fair amount of Japanese games were exclusive to Xbox in an effort to help promote the console, however a majority eventually moved to other platforms due to the console's poor sales in Japan. 5pb was one of the few that kept their deal to the platform for a fair amount of time with many titles released first on 360 and One.

Anywho the Extra version was released in 2013 and adds some additional content to the game. New characters are added while the gameplay has been re-balanced. In terms of gameplay content there are new techniques, a new fighting style (Extra), new stages, background effects redone and even an online spectator mode. It's been a while since the game has been released so I wouldn't be surprised if the online multiplayer is dead at this point, but it's a neat feature nonetheless.

In case people are wondering, here's the character roster:

Mikoto Nishina (仁科 美琴) - VA: Nana Mizuki.

Mei Orisaka (折坂 芽衣) - VA: Yukari Tamura.

Yuzuha Fujibayashi (藤林 柚葉) - VA: Aki Toyosaki.

Waka Kumon (九紋 稚) - VA: Miyu Matsuki.

Ren Tatewaki (帯刀 蓮) - VA: Kenichi Suzumura.

M (影霧) - VA: Satomi Moriya.

Itsuki Kōno (神埜 唯月) - VA: Akiko Hasegawa.

Ria Tōjō (東條 莉亜) - VA: Ryōko Shiraishi.

Tokiya Kanzaki (神崎 刻夜) - VA: Eiji Miyashita.

Cocoa (心愛) - VA: Ai Matayoshi.

Fin (フィン) - VA: Tomoko Kaneda.

Infinity (インフィニティ) - VA: Akeru Semi.

Rimi Sakihata (咲畑 梨深) from Chaos;Head - VA: Eri Kitamura.

Kurisu Makise (牧瀬 紅莉栖) from Steins;Gate - VA: Asami Imai.

A list of the characters exclusive to Extra's version:

Sofia Kalganova (ソフィア・カルガノワ) - VA: Sumire Uesaka.

Shizuka Saejima (冴嶋 閑) - Ayaka Suwa.

Ende (エンデ) - VA: Yū Kobayashi.

Gaito & Rin (ガイト & リン) - VA: Kentarō Itō (Gaito) & Yuka Ōtsubo (Rin).

Yep, we even have special guests from the Science Adventure series available for the game.

Format: PlayStation 3 (also available on Xbox 360)

Version: Japan

Exclusive: No

Local Players: 2

Online Players: 4

Resolution: 480p/720p

HDD Space: 21MB

Trophies: Yes

The game is entirely in Japanese but the menus and character names are in English to help navigate. Given this is an arcade game I suspect this was intentional. The gameplay itself will also be simple to understand since it's a fighting game.

There is local multiplayer and online multiplayer as mentioned earlier so there are some replayability elements. The game is also available on Xbox 360 but the PlayStation 3 version is region free (since Xbox 360 is region locked). The original version was once planned for a North American release by SouthPeak Games but eventually it was cancelled.