Idea Factory International announced Neptunia Virtual Stars in the west, launching in physical and digital in 2021 on PS4. Neptunia Virtual Stars is the officially localized name of VVVtune, announced back in November 2019 in Japan. It’s a rhythm-based action RPG, with different characters, each using short-range or long-ranged weapons. Most of the playable characters use guns, giving the game a TPS-like gameplay.
Neptunia Virtual Stars is also a crossover game, featuring the main girls from the Neptunia franchise: Neptune, Noire, Blanc, Vert, and dozens of guest Virtual YouTubers. Examples include Sifir Esirer, VTubers from the Asano Sister Project, Horror Academians, Wactor, Holo Live, or ReVdol!.
Neptunia Virtual Stars has over 60 guest VTubers in total. Obviously, they’re not all playable, but randomly appear in battle to help. Heart from Hokuto no Ken is included as well, seeing he debuted in 2018 as a official VTuber for the 35th anniversary of the manga.
Jin/Shizen no Teki-P, known for his Vocaloid songs called the Kagerou Project, is handling the OST of Neptunia Virtual Stars.
Neptunia Virtual Stars will not be dubbed in English and only include the original Japanese voiceovers.
Neptunia Virtual Stars official story pitch and key features:
In a dimension called Virtualand, the virtual planets that exist within it contain an extraordinary ability to produce a commodity known as content. Of these celestial bodies is a tranquil planet known as EMO. This was the latest target of a nefarious group whose sole purpose is to destroy content created by virtual planets… Anti. Their decimation of EMO has left its citizens hopeless.
Just then, VTubers, popular live-streamers from Earth, were suddenly transported to Virtualand. Because VTubers possess an affinity for creating good content, they were obvious targets for Anti, who quickly captured them and turned them into data pockets known as V Cubes.
Fair, the Virtual Goddess and leader of Planet EMO, sent out a distress signal to multiple dimensions in the hopes of a miracle. Two groups received the signal -the rising VTuberstars, Mi and Yu, members of MEWTRAL, as well as the Goddesses of Gamindustri: Neptune, Noire, Blanc, and Vert. Both parties, now entering unfamiliar terrain, decide to team up to duke it out against Anti! Can they band together and save planet EMO from complete destruction?
Switch On-The-Fly – Seamlessly switch perspectives between melee and ranged shooter characters in fast-paced hack ‘n’ slash battles. Get the right combos for more bonuses and greater damage!
Feel the BeatTik Rhythm – Team up with real-life Virtual YouTubers and get fans riled up in BeatTik rhythm game performances to save the planet!
BGM got me going! – Background music can help or hurt you in special boss battles, changing battle conditions and even unlocking coordinated finishing moves.
Cheer up with VTubers – VTubers can randomly join you during battle to help! With their support, they can cheer you on during play and even provide you with a special prize if you make their dreams come true!
Note that “Anti” is how we call “haters” on Japanese internet. This is the typical meta plot of Neptunia if you’re used to the series.
Neptunia Virtual Stars Opening Movie
Neptunia Virtual Stars gameplay
Neptunia Virtual Stars Screenshots, logo and artwork (Japanese version)
Neptunia Virtual Stars is one of the projects celebrating the 10th anniversary of Compile Heart and Idea Factory’s Neptunia franchise. Neptunia Virtual Stars, known as VVVtune in Japan, was supposed to launch there on PS4 on July 2. However, VVVtune was recently delayed to August 8, 2020. Mary Skelter Finale, another Compile Heart game coming to PS4 and Switch, was similarly delayed from August 27 to October 8, 2020.
In Japan, the release of Neptunia Virtual Stars will be bundled with this free DLC costume to make up for the delay. It’ll probably be revealed later in the western version along with more DLC costumes.
Personally speaking, as I mentioned in the past, while I love Japanese-stylized games in general, I’ve never been interested in the Neptunia franchise. Though I enjoy writing about it, as I’ll always be amazed the Neptunia series actually managed to survive its very rough start. I’m not hugely into VTubers either, so I highly doubt I’ll be grabbing this game. With that said, I’m happy those who enjoy the Nep or VTubers will be able to enjoy the game in English. 2021 is a pretty long wait though compared to the August 2020 Japanese release.
We covered VVVtune in past articles here and here. And remember that as a Fifa-only writer TM, I sure did enjoy EA doing something for Black Lives Matter. Jokes asides, shout out to Idea Factory International for standing with Black Lives Matter.
Please visit the Black Lives Matter website to learn how we can come together to address this problem.https://t.co/cv6t0ymzi3
— Idea Factory Intl (@IdeaFactoryIntl) June 1, 2020
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