Project X-Zone 2 is a strategy RPG starring popular video game characters from Bandai Namco, SEGA, Capcom, and Nintendo. Last time on this blog series, we looked at the characters from SEGA and Nintendo.  Today, we’ll look at the ones from Bandai Namco.

Bandai Namco is actually my favorite video game company. Well, the Namco part of it anyway. I’m not too big on the Bandai side of the merger.  But you do what you have to do to stay in business, right?  Namco isn’t my favorite game company for what they do now, per se, but they are my favorite for their arcade games from the early 80’s, many of which I still enjoy today.  Like Pac-Man, Dig Dug, and many more.  I also felt Namco had a bit of a comeback in the mid to late 90’s and extended into the 2000s on the PSOne and PS2, as they had some pretty rockin’ games during that era as well (Klonoa, Ridge Racer, Point Blank, Namco Museums, to name a few).  Bandai Namco actually published Project X-Zone 2 and its predecessors, and I was hoping they’d have more classic games and cute characters from Namco’s past represented.  But they opted for more ‘realistic’ characters in this one.  That wasn’t always the case, though; as the original Namco X Capcom had stars like Klonoa, Wonder Momo, Bravoman, and even Dig Dug!  Oh well, here are the characters on the Namco Bandai side you can play as in Project X-Zone 2.

Kite and Haseo (.hack)

This is an anime about an online game world that is very immersive. I tried to watch the anime a long time ago and had no idea what was going on.  They also made quite a few video games based on this property back in the day, and I tried to review some of those as well and that was a big mistake.  I had no idea what was going on in the games, too!  So I can’t really tell you much about these characters here, but they also have stages that you’ll fight on in Project X-Zone 2.  They were also in the first game on 3DS.

Ciel Alencon, Nana Kouzuki, Alisa Amiella (God Eater)

I don’t really know much about God Eater other than it’s Namco’s take on the Monster Hunter franchise. It was brought to the US on the PSP.  The only thing that interests me about the game is that the music was done by my favorite video game music composer: Go Shiina (Mr. Driller, Tales of Legendia).  But even that’s not enough to get me to want to try the game.  I kind of like the Alisa character, though. She seems cool.

Reiji and Xiaomu (Namco X Capcom)

These two are kind of the ‘stars’ of the Namco X Capcom and Project X-Zone games. Or at least the central characters anyway.  Reiji is a guy with half white and half black hair, and Xiaomu is a silly lady who has fox tail-like hair and always jokes around.  And they both look very anime-ish.  Even though they say they’re from Namco X Capcom, I could’ve sworn I’ve seen them from another game.  The developers of the Namco X Capcom series also worked on a series of games called Super Robot Wars, and both types of games play very similarly.  We got one Super Robot Wars game on the GBA that I’m aware of, but I think that’s it.  Anyway, I could’ve sworn I’ve seen these two in the Super Robot Wars games as well.

Yuri, Flynn, Estellise (Tales of Vesperia)

Namco X Capcom and its sequel always had older Tales characters in them, but in this game they decided to go with some more modern ones. I played Tales of Vesperia but I never finished it because it got too long and meandering, a problem I have with most RPGs.  Yuri and Flynn are kind of the main characters in the game, and Estellise is a pink-haired princess who fights alongside them.  I guess she’s kind of cool because she has pink hair, but my favorite Vesperia characters were Repede the dog and Judith.  I wish they would’ve used characters from Tales of Legendia.  By the way, some of the healing items you can use in this game come from Tales titles, such as Apple Gels.

Jin Kazama, Kazuya Mishima, Heiachi Mishima, Ling Xiaoyu (Tekken)

Tekken characters have always been well-represented in these Project X-Zone games, so here’s the batch from this one. I’m not too big on 3-D fighters, so I’m not as familiar with Tekken characters as I am other Namco franchises.  None of my favorite Tekken characters are in this lineup anyway.  If you want to know who my favorite Tekken characters are, just ask (or try to guess) in the comments section.  We’ll see if anyone actually reads this far.

Natsu (Soul Calibur)

In Namco X Capcom and Project X-Zone, Taki was the one representing the Soul Calibur series, and she’s also one of my favorite characters in that game. But in this one, they decided to go with Natsu from Soul Calibur V.  Natsu is Taki’s student and she’s a young teenage brat of a ninja, so I don’t like her that much at all.  I think that’s one of the reasons why many didn’t like SCV as much, as they replaced characters everyone liked with others that many didn’t.  I wonder if anyone will try and guess my other favorite Soul Calibur characters.

Aty (Summon Knight)

I didn’t think that Bandai Namco published the Summon Knight games, but I guess they do. Most of the Summon Knight games haven’t made it to the US that I’m aware of, and the first ones that did were spin-off games.  I remember the first Summon Knight games we got in the US were on the GBA, but they were actually spin-off games in Japan.  The Summon Knight games on the GBA were dungeon crawlers with 2-D Tales style battles and a fun weapons crafting system.  They’re actually pretty neat games and I enjoyed them quite a bit.  I played another Summon Knight spin-off game at a friend’s house, but this was an import game on the PS2.  It played like a top down adventure similar to Secret of Mana.  But from what I can tell, most of the other main Summon Knight games are strategy RPGs.  Aty is just a regular anime gal who can turn into a fox lady when powered up.  And that’s all I know!

KOS-MOS (Xenosaga)

This android lady has been in all the Namco X Capcom/Project X-Zone games. When Namco X Capcom first came out on the PS2 in Japan, Xenosaga was still popular on the PS2 so KOS-MOS was a major player in that game.  What’s funny is that my friend and I hated her so we’d never let her fight in battles.  We’d just move her to the corner of the playfield.  So mean!  But aside from her blue hair, she doesn’t seem like an interesting character to me anyway. In Project X-Zone 2, she teams up with Fiora, a similar looking character from Xenoblade.  I guess that makes sense because I think that Xenoblade and Xenosaga (and maybe even Xenogears) are all related somehow.  Maybe one of you folks could fill me in on that.  I’m not an expert on those games.

Valkyrie (Legend of Valkyrie)

I think of all the Bandai Namco characters in this game, Valkyrie is my favorite on the Namco side because she’s the most ‘classic.’ (and she’s purdy) She’s been in all the Namco X Capcom /Project X-Zone games, too.  She originally was in a Famicom game that I tried to play once and couldn’t figure out.  She then starred in an arcade game called Legend of Valkyrie that is probably her most famous role.  That arcade game never made it to the US, but you can play it on Namco Museum vol. 5 on the PSOne.  It’s a really fun game that plays like a cross between Ikari Warriors and Legend of Zelda.  She’s been in a few other console spin-offs, but most US gamers may recognize her in game cameos only.  She’s been in a few Tales games and her outfit is a common alternate costume for characters in Soul Calibur titles.  In Project X-Zone 2, she summons the Player Two character from Legend of Valkyrie to help her fight (Player Two is a green glob looking guy that looks like of like Gumby).  Oddly enough, she also summons the Solvalou spaceship from Xevious.  Anyone who makes those kinds of classic Namco references is OK in my book!

And that’s all I have to say about the Bandai Namco characters in Project X-Zone 2! Next time, we’ll conclude this blog series by going over all the Capcom characters!  Later!  –Cary

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