Yesterday the 30th of April, our very own Japan correspondent RyuuTamotsu had the pleasure of attending character1 to check out the demo of Little Busters! English Edition on the Microsoft Surface! After chatting with VisualArt’s staff Ryuu went to check out the Prototype booth and was even given a tour of Little Busters! English Edition’s new features by Prototype CEO Toshio Tabeta! You can check out the footage above for all the details, but here’s a list of things that came up (some of which weren’t explicitly mentioned in the video). Keep in mind that this is still an alpha and some things are subject to change, but it looks mostly complete!
- It is running on a completely new engine in 720p, very similar to the console/handheld ports of Key’s games by Prototype with all the features you’d expect.
- It has been designed with the clear intent of being played on a tablet. All functions can be accessed through different touch gestures. That said, mouse and keyboard are also supported.
- There is a function to jump back and forward between choices by swiping left and right.
- Tapping with two fingers or pressing L on the keyboard changes the language between English and Japanese instantly.
- You can fast forward (and fast-backward) by swiping across the text box left and right. The further you swipe the faster it skips.
- A quick-save function is now available for the first time on PC.
- Batting Practice is in, and can be played with touch controls or mouse by dragging Riki around and letting go to swing the bat. Runs very smoothly.
- Saya’s minigame is also based on the 3D-rendered PS3 version. However, it is worth noting that no subtitles were present in this demo.
- It is possible to resize/zoom the game window to display in whatever aspect ratio you prefer. Should please readers who are worried they are missing the top and bottom of a particular CG when running in 19:6, so everybody wins!
- The menu can be accessed by swiping up and the backlog can be accessed by swiping down. You can click any line on the backlog and the game will wind back to that line so you can experience it again.
Hopefully, this will get people a little more excited to get their hands on this release. Don’t forget to vote on Little Busters on their Greenlight Page, and be sure to check out our Hype Van for lots of giveaways, including the chance to win a copy of Little Busters in time for release! The time is almost here at last.
Thanks to RyuuTamotsu and Glenn Irish for attending and recording the footage, and thanks to HeliosAlpha and Khsellhu for translating the video! Make sure to stick around til the end of the video for a special message from Baba-shachou.
