Do you need the actual cards to play that DB Heroes 3DS game

[PhoenixEX]

?
My cousin gave me a Japanese 3DS since he knows I've been wanting to play that Attack on Titan game for a while now, but now that I own one, should I import that DB Heroes game? Can it be played without the cards or do you actually need the cards?

[VegettoEX]

No, the 3DS games do not require anything external to play. You unlock digital "cards" within the game itself by playing, completing missions, etc.

The real-life, physical cards are for the arcade version of the game.

[theoriginalbilis]

Hmmm. Then I wonder what has caused Bandai Namco to decide to not release this internationally?

Is it because the "Heroes" brand isn't established here? Or is it simply a financial factor? Too much money/work to translate and localize the text for them?

I'd love to give the game a shot someday, but not without a translation.

[VegettoEX]

It's definitely a lot of text. Significantly more so than their average fighting game, that's for sure.

I don't think it's an issue of the Heroes branding not being worldwide. They call all sorts of games all sorts of dumb/unknown things. We see Heroes as a title or branding, but anyone else would just see it as part of the name and not give it a second thought just like all the haphazard game titles we've gotten over the years.

It's probably a matter of the amount of translation combined with the performance of non-fighting games (see: Harukanaru in particular) combined with the install base of the 3DS (which is great, mind you...) combined with the demographics of who they would hope to buy the game on that platform. I'm not sure I'd make a different decision from them if I were in their shoes. It's a costly endeavor, and the "well just put it out digital, then!" mindset doesn't work when you consider the majority of the development costs would still be in raw translation, not physical production, and they'd probably want to go after a younger audience (who presumably isn't buying things online without parental consent).

[theoriginalbilis]

It's definitely a lot of text. Significantly more so than their average fighting game, that's for sure.

I don't think it's an issue of the Heroes branding not being worldwide. They call all sorts of games all sorts of dumb/unknown things. We see Heroes as a title or branding, but anyone else would just see it as part of the name and not give it a second thought just like all the haphazard game titles we've gotten over the years.

It's probably a matter of the amount of translation combined with the performance of non-fighting games (see: Harukanaru in particular) combined with the install base of the 3DS (which is great, mind you...) combined with the demographics of who they would hope to buy the game on that platform. I'm not sure I'd make a different decision from them if I were in their shoes. It's a costly endeavor, and the "well just put it out digital, then!" mindset doesn't work when you consider the majority of the development costs would still be in raw translation, not physical production, and they'd probably want to go after a younger audience (who presumably isn't buying things online without parental consent).

Solid points being made here.

I'll admit I don't follow the all of the logistics of the gaming industry. I do know for a fact that you're right about every single non-fighting Dragon Ball game not performing nearly as well internationally. Heck, I bought the US release of Harukanaru of release day, and I could never find it in me to finish the game (between the sluggish, tedious gameplay and the unfriendly save system, that is.)

[VegettoEX]

I don't think I played beyond the first stage of Harukanaru... both in Japanese and then again in English. I really should.

I kinda forgot to mention in that post above, and it's rather important, if not completely obvious: Heroes in Japan is its own marketing institution. Yes, they advertise the 3DS game (and pretty heavily at that), but they have a whole MACHINE surrounding it that kinda runs on its own. The 3DS game acts as advertising for the arcade version, and vice versa. All those companies are in bed together, so V-Jump gets all the little spreads about the game and exclusive unlock codes.

There's nothing like that over here. There's the Viz Weekly Shonen Jump, but it's digital and probably not hitting the demographic Bandai Namco would need.

[theoriginalbilis]

I kinda forgot to mention in that post above, and it's rather important, if not completely obvious: Heroes in Japan is its own marketing institution. Yes, they advertise the 3DS game (and pretty heavily at that), but they have a whole MACHINE surrounding it that kinda runs on its own. The 3DS game acts as advertising for the arcade version, and vice versa. All those companies are in bed together, so V-Jump gets all the little spreads about the game and exclusive unlock codes.

There's nothing like that over here. There's the Viz Weekly Shonen Jump, but it's digital and probably not hitting the demographic Bandai Namco would need.

Agreed. The demographic that seems to buy most Dragon Ball games seem to be in the 18-30-something range (i.e., the folks that grew up with it in the 90's/2000's). Definitely not the target group "Heroes" is aimed at. And considering the state of anime/manga/video gaming magazines in America, as well as Bandai Namco's local marketing strategies, a "Heroes" game would most likely never get the kind of push needed to make it a modest success here.

This is why I envy the One Piece and Naruto fans, even they're getting the mediocre games released here.