Cellphone games galore! Big titles moving to cellphones...

[War]

"Capcom hasn’t completely forsaken Breath of Fire. Like Mega Man Legends, Breath of Fire is being revived for a brand new mobile phone game based on Breath of Fire IV. Breath of Fire IV: Youseitachi to Hikari no Key (Breath of Fire IV: Fairies and the Key of Light) reunites Ryu and Nina (BoF IV versions) in an RPG / town building simulator. Right now this is only being developed for Japan, but Capcom USA’s mobile division has been making strides by releasing Phoenix Wright on mobile phones here. Who knows we might even see them release a Breath of Fire game in the future."

Source

"Rolling with Katamari looks like a Katamari game if one was made for the Super NES. In this installment you play as the pint-sized Prince and roll up junk (again?). Namco Networks doesn’t even try to fabricate a plot since the story is explained as, “The King of All Cosmos has accidentally knocked all the stars out of the sky during a crazy night out.” There is one neat looking level which looks like you’re rolling up diodes inside your cell phone, but Rolling with Katamari is basically Katamari for cell phones. It’s a shame we’re not getting the more innovative cell phone Katamari game Namco brought to Tokyo Game Show in 2007 where players titled the phone to move the giant ball of junk."

Source

"How big are cell phones in Japan? If Final Fantasy IV The After is any indication, pretty damn big. An episode sequel to Final Fantasy IV, the cell phone title has been downloaded over 2 million times and is available for Japanese carrier DoCoMo's FOMA 903i and 703i series as well as for carrier AU's WIN BREW series. It was released earlier this year in February, and new "chapters" appear on a near monthly basis."

Source: Kotaku (I'll get the link later)

 

[Gaisuto]

Wait what is with this statement here: "Like Mega Man Legends, Breath of Fire is being revived for a brand new mobile phone game..." Since when were they making another Legends for mobiles?

I'm getting sick of cell phone games. Developers are taking the series that people want proper sequels for (MM Legends, Parasite Eve) and are taking the low road and making them mobile games. How many people even get these games? Outside of the Final Fantasy IV "sequel" I've never heard of a cell phone game being that successful, especially over here.

 

[Hadrian]

They make phone games because they are really cheap to do, most companies just use a really cheap ass Asian developer and a month later they have a new game.

The do very well in Europe apparently, Gameloft make millions & million a year from them. There was a time when the games were good fun, but now they've gotten real shitty lately and even a big company like Gameloft are just using engines from previous games over and over again.

The Katamari one looks a lot better than most phone ports but for me the best mobile games there are, are the ones by Digital Chocolate, as they don't attempt to make console games just games that suit the format.

 

[gaboumafou]

Are those games playable via emulators?

 

[War]

Are those games playable via emulators?

I believe so. I think there's a Java emulator that can play mobile games, but I guess it all depends if the game is running on Java?