Today French publisher Red Art Games announced that it will take care of the Western release of the anime game Macross: Shooting Insight by Bushiroad.
The game will be released for PS5, PS4, and Nintendo Switch in 2024. For the moment, no specific release date has been announced, but many will be excited to know that it'll come both digitally and physically.
The game launches on March 14 in Japan, but it appears that Western fans will have to wait a bit longer
If you're unfamiliar with the game, it's a shoot 'em up that includes content from several Macross series, originally announced in January 2023.
It's developed by Tokyo-based studio Kaminari Games, known for Raiden V Director's Cut, the Switch version of Caladrius Blaze, and Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid Burst Forth!! Choro-gon Breath.
The game includes all three scrolling styles, horizontal, vertical, and 360 degrees, and it'll come with Japanese voices (and songs) and English subtitles.
As we previously found out, the western release of the game will include characters and content from five Macross series: Plus, Zero, 7, Frontier, and Delta.
The Japanese version also includes content from the original Macross series (more specifically its beloved movie, Do You Remember Love), but this content appears to have been cut from the version for North America and Europe.
The game is also coming to Steam, but today's press release does not make any mention of the PC version and the listing on Valve's storefront mentions it won't include an English localization.
The whole Steam version has been delayed with no new release date due to "operational issues" so we'll have to wait and see whether an English localization will be added at a later date.
We reached out to Red Art Games and Bushiroad to inquire about this and about the reason behind the lack of the original Macross content.
Likely, the reason for the cuts is because the deal between Bigwest and Harmony Gold that opened the gates to Macross content in the West still assigns the exclusive rights for the characters included in the original Macross series and its movies in the Western market to the latter.
Unfortunately, Macross fans have been suffering Harmony Gold's nefarious influence on the series for 40 years and there appears to be no end in sight to that ordeal despite the deal with Bigwest. We'll keep you posted if we hear anything official about this.
If you're wondering how characters from so many Macross series have come together, here's a summary of the story.
After coming to, Maximilian Jenius, captain of the Macross 7 fleet, tried to wrap his head around what had happened.
Something massive had struck his ship, the Battle 7. Upon regaining consciousness, he discovered that the rest of the flagship's fleet had vanished. Adrift nearby instead, was an older class vessel with weaponry of decades past, seemingly belonging to the New U.N. Military era. Also spotted were vessels outfitted with state-of-the-art technology that he'd never seen before.
"If I'm not mistaken, it would appear that we've somehow been transported into the future."
It was an astonishing conclusion, one that the Captain had come to only after assessing all the information at his disposal. Further investigation, however, would soon uncover something even more incredible.
Sara Nome: Mayan priestess and Guide of the Wind.
Myung Fang Lone: Producer of Sharon Apple, the galaxy's most popular virtual idol.
Mylene Flare Jenius: Member of the rock band Fire Bomber.
Sheryl Nome: The Galactic Fairy.
Ranka Lee: Super Dimensional Cinderella.
Freyja Wion and Mikumo Guynemer: Members of the Tactical Sound Unit Walkure.All have deep connections to "Songs." All are known as being "songstresses." And all have gone missing.
Their whereabouts and safety are unknown and there are few clues as to where to start searching.
With the situation becoming more dire by the minute, Shin Kudo, Isamu Dyson, Gamlin Kizaki, Alto Saotome, and Hayate lmmelmann, all ace pilots from their respective time periods, team up to find them.
The mission to rescue the songstresses from all across the galaxy is about to begin!
Of course, the Japanese version also includes Hikaru Ichijyo as a pilot and Lynn Minmay as a songstress.
Bushiroad has been focusing on games portraying popular anime IPs for its console label Bushiroad Games, including Danmachi, Goblin Slayer, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, and Hunter X Hunter.
At the moment of this writing, we don't know if Red Art Games will help the Japanese publisher bring any more of these games to Western audiences.
