Street Fighter IV - New Import, Partial Early Shipment

«©NCSX» An unexpected early shipment of the Japanese version of Street Fighter IV arrived today and roughly 2/3 of our customer preorders will ship this afternoon. Tracking numbers will be emailed before 6PM EST today. The remainder of our SFIV shipments are scheduled to arrive tomorrow and the remaining 1/3 of our preorders will ship on Thursday.

First impressions: Addictive game with solid controls as expected. SFIV plays nicer with the HRAP3 but the Dual Shock 3 isn't bad at all. It's tempting to sit down in front of the HDTV and play the game all day but alas, we have mass orders to process and shipments to dispatch. Last summer, Japanese coin-op suppliers sold the arcade version of SFIV in complete 4-unit kits for roughly US$25,000. It's a beautiful thing when gamers can get an arcade masterwork for under US$100. NCS is guessing that productivity will take a dip in Japan this week as salarymen, students, and even sushi chefs devote themselves to properly breaking in their copies of SFIV. We'll get down to breaking in our own copies after work.

Mario & Luigi RPG 3 - New Import, Restock on Friday

«©NCSX» Life in the Mushroom Kingdom is generally idyllic although Bowser raises a ruckus from time to time. As the third Mario & Luigi RPG opens up, contagion has come to the Kingdom. The population of toads has been infected by the Metakoro sickness which causes them to bloat up like beach balls. To address the emergency, Princess Peach assembles a meeting of the minds to find a cure. While the Princess is holding court, Bowser gets himself under the control of Fawful who suffers from little-man complex. By controlling Bowser and bestowing upon him the ability to vacuum anything and everything into his mouth, Fawful manages to capture everyone at Peach's meeting including the Mario Bros. Players get to control both Bowser as well as Mario and Luigi who are wandering around inside Bowser's body in an adventure of differing proportions.

Tenchu 4 - New Import, Restock on Friday

«©NCSX» Rikimaru and Ayame are back as stealth assassins under the employ of Lord Gohda who skulk in dark places and attack with sword slashes and one-hit killing blows. Tenchu 4 emphasizes the use of stealth and the game provides a bevy of shadowy places to hide, wait, and attack from. The environments are darkly lit which also attend to a ninja's need for stealth. Unsuspecting enemies who approach Rikimaru's general vicinity but are unaware of his presence may be killed with a single critical stroke. For example, when a hapless victim draws near, Riki can grab him and then perform a powerful blow to the head which kills him instantly. Rikimaru can also topple an enemy from afar by throwing a single shuriken which causes the victim lose his balance and fall to his death. Another killing attack allows Rikimaru to choke someone for about a second but that single second is all that it takes to induce the long sleep. Dead bodies may be stored in large urns or pulled behind bushes to hide them from view. That way, they won't alert any other guards to Riki or Ayame's presence.

As the story goes, a rival of Gohda has kidnapped his daughter Kiku-Hime and spirited her away to an unknown domain. Rikimaru and Ayame are charged with venturing forth and rescuing the Princess. Tenchu's original developer Acquire returns to the franchise that they built and Tenchu 4 was recently released on the Nintendo Wii. The port to the Playstation Portable takes away the Wii Remote functionality but the ninja skulking experience remains the same.

Ar Tonelico 2 Chroche 1/8 Scale Figure - New, In Stock

«©NCSX» The Ar Tonelico games on the PS2 introduced the world to "Reyvateils" who are songstresses that use music to attack their foes. One of the Reyvateils in AT2 was a gal named Chroche who's a tall blonde draped in a bird-like outfit. Max Factory brings her to life with a 1/8 scale sculpt by Takamaki Busujima which measures 23cm or 9.05" tall.

Chroche wears a circular head ornament that may be mistaken for a sundial and possesses a magnificent amount of blonde locks that protrude outwards like a mass of billowing taffy. Just below her shoulders is a wing-attachment that gives her the appearance of an angel (maybe the sundial is a halo) and Chroche wields a sword with a crimson handle. NCS didn't check but we hear that her skivvies feature a bow design on them. Preorders are shipping today and new orders are welcome.

Street Fighter IV - New Import, Restock Soon

«©NCSX» An unexpected early shipment of the Japanese version of Street Fighter IV arrived today and roughly 3/4 of our customer preorders will ship this afternoon. Tracking numbers will be emailed before 6PM EST today. The remainder of our SFIV shipments are scheduled to arrive tomorrow and the remaining 1/4 of our preorders will ship on Thursday. Please note the Japanese X360 version of SFIV is region-protected like all other Japanese X360 games and cannot be played on a vanilla USA Xbox 360 console.

First impressions: Addictive game with solid controls as expected. SFIV plays nicer with the HRAP EX but the standard Xbox joypad isn't bad at all. It's tempting to sit down in front of the HDTV and play the game all day but alas, we have orders to process and shipments to dispatch. Last summer, Japanese coin-op suppliers sold the arcade version of SFIV in complete 4-unit kits for roughly US$25,000. It's a beautiful thing when gamers can get an arcade masterwork for under US$100. NCS is guessing that productivity will take a dip in Japan this week as salarymen, students, and even sushi chefs devote themselves to properly breaking in their copies of SFIV. We'll get down to breaking in our own copies after work.

Hori Real Arcade Pro EX SE - New Import, Sold Out

«©NCSX» Hori opened up preorders a mere two weeks ago for the www.horistore.com exclusive Hori Real Arcade Pro EX SE which uses genuine Seimetsu buttons and a Seimetsu lollipop-style joystick. That means you won't have to mod a standard Hori RAP EX stick with coin-op quality parts to get that special tactile arcade feel. Besides, modding a joystick can potentially lead to fatigue, wayward solder, a broken joystick, and consequently a broken heart. Why risk it?

The new Hori Real Arcade Pro EX SE is based on the same form-factor as earlier RAPs and sports a 3m (9.83') cord. All preorders are shipping today but please note that we're completely sold out of our allocation. If we're able to stock another batch, we'll update our product listing accordingly. Due to the heavy weight of the joystick, NCS is only shipping by UPS Ground within the United States.