Devil Summoner 2, the newest game in Atlus‘ Shin Megami Tensei franchise, will make its way to American shores this May, and it’ll come with a fluffy little bonus to whet fanboy appetites.
Last week Atlus teased Shin Megami Tensei fans by sending out an email that contained nothing but a cryptic image of a silhouette in front of what looked like the SMT logo. Internet detectives quickly deduced that it was most likely an announcement of a localization of Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs King Abaddon for the PS2, the sequel to 2006’s original Devil Summoner title. GameFly lended the speculation greater credence earlier today, when a listing of the game showed up in its database.
Now, Atlus has made it official, announcing the game will hit North American shores on May 12, 2009 for $39.99. Atlus claims that the game’s “improved over its predecessor in every way,” but let’s get it straight – the reason fans are going to be mashing refresh trying to pre-order this game is black, white, fluffy and adorable: Each launch-copy of Devil Summoner 2 will come bundled with a plush doll of Raiho, the Devil Summoner version of franchise mascot Jack Frost.
“Pre-order Atlus games before they’re only on eBay for double the MSRP” is common wisdom among those familiar with the company’s notoriously low print-runs of their games, but this time around there’s a free toy involved. Who doesn’t love a free toy? Atlus is not beating around the bush here: “Should there be future print runs of the game, they will ship without the Raiho collectible.” Keep in mind that they say “should there be future print runs,” implying that there might not be any. That launch run will be an “exceptionally small fixed number of units,” so it’s probably a safe assumption to think these are going to be gone fast. If you want this, make sure you put your money down with the quickness.
Plush doll aside, since Atlus has already made it official that there won’t be any kind of upgrade/expansion pack to last year’s Persona 4, Devil Summoner 2 might be the only ticket for MegaTen obssessives in 2009. Like the first title, it’s set in 1920s Japan and casts you in the role of Raidou Kuzunoha, a dude who uses demons he captures and trains to solve mysteries. Kind of like a goth Ash Ketchum meets Sherlock Holmes meets Jay Gatsby. Battles are in real-time, you can fuse demons to create custom creatures, as well as create special swords using an alchemy system. Plus, the game has the longest title ever: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abbadon.
“The longer the title, the better the game,” Atlus said.
