Atlus USA announces Radiant Historia for Nintendo DS.

ATLUS RETURNS FROM A TERRIBLE FUTURE WITHOUT RADIANT HISTORIA, TIME-TRAVEL RPG FOR NINTENDO DS,

WITH NEWS OF NORTH AMERICAN RELEASE IN FEBRUARY 2011

Gonna go back (and forward) in time.

IRVINE, CALIFORNIA -- NOVEMBER 22, 2010 -- Atlus U.S.A., Inc., recently returned from an expedition into the future, today announced a North American release for Radiant Historiaâ„¢, a new internally-developed time-travel RPG for Nintendo DS. Channeling the heart and soul of fan favorite 16-bit RPG classics, Radiant Historia combines a unique position-based battle system, intricate hand-drawn details, and one of the best soundtracks in recent memory as it takes gamers on a steampunk adventure back and forth through time.

"We've seen a future without a North American localization of Radiant Historia," warned a stern Aram Jabbari, Manager of PR and Sales. "That future was depressing and noticeably lacking in the 'epic handheld RPG' category. Knowing what that tomorrow would be like, we're excited to release Radiant Historia for Nintendo DS in February 2011. It's the kind of gaming experience that is really a time machine unto itself, transporting gamers back to the 16-bit era, the golden age of RPGs. Prepare to jump forward and back through time, meeting a variety of memorable characters and taking in some of the most polished, lovingly hand-drawn visuals ever to grace a handheld entry in the genre. A gaming future without all that? Not pretty," he concluded, grimacing.

Radiant Historia is currently scheduled to release on February 22, 2011 for Nintendo DSâ„¢. For more information, visit the official website (LINK).

About Radiant Historia

In the midst of an unending war for dominance between two super-powers, Special Intelligence Agent Stocke is assigned to a routine escort mission that goes horribly awry. However, wielding a mysterious book called the White Chronicle, Stocke discovers a way to travel to the intersection of time itself: Historia. With this power in his hands, he must travel back and forth through key events and an entirely alternate timeline to right the world's ill-fated course. The lives of his companions, the fate of nations, and the resolution of an impending disaster that now threatens the land all depend on Stocke's ability to discern the one "true" history.

Key Features

* Restore the True History--With the power of the White Chronicle, the crossroads of time is yours to traverse. Jump back and forth across various turning points in history in order to save your world from destruction.

* Your Choices Matter--Difficult decisions face you at every turn. Who will you side with? Who will you choose to help? Your choices progress the story and bring you to drastically different ends. Return to previous choices to initiate changes whose effects ripple throughout the timelines.

* Push Your Foes Around--Use the turn order and your special ability to manipulate the positions of enemies on the field to set up combination attacks and gain the upper hand.

You can view the official North American trailer here. Could be good. At first when Atlus Japan released some gameplay videos on the eve of the game's release over there there was much gnashing of teeth... because of a poor choice of sound effect that overshadowed everything on display. That was later relieved by first gameplay impressions that revealed that the terrible acoustic was not as prevalent as those videos had led people to believe... inconsequential, really. And there was much joy to be had at the revelation of a pretty fun and deep turn-based battle system therein. Also the concept of altering timelines at whim and experiencing forking story branches and multiple endings you can keep track of in-game is... of some interest to me.