Curse you all for resurrecting the thread on this game. I may have to go home and play it now. And then I shall lose 2 weeks of my life in a culdcept card-acquisition trance. Again.
So apparently there was an expansion to Culdcept (PS2) called something like Culdcept Second Expansion. Which did so well in Japan that it was also released again under “The Best” (ie greatest hits) label.
Am I right in assuming that not only did this never come out in the US, there’s no chance of this actually ever happening, and thus I better just suck it up and buy an Xbox and Phantom Dust?
I never saw a Culdcept sequal offered for sale over here… I don’t think the original sold well which is a shame.
I believe what you have is Culdcept Second Expansion, in fact I’m quite sure of it. Unless NEC picked another Culdcept game and ported to the PS2 in order to translate for the US market (I don’t think so…).
You see, first there was Culdcept for the Saturn. Then there were two expansions released during that era. When the Dreamcast hit, the sequel Culdcept Second came out. This got ported later on to the PS2 with some additions, making it Culdcept Second Expansion. This is the version you have, I believe, as its really the only one out for the PS2. (Yes, as I’ve mentioned before The Best version probably contains a few nice tweaks, fixes and updates, but probably so minor most of you wouldn’t notice anyway.) Add to the fact that I don’t think Sony tolerates as much in North American versions of released copy as they do in Japanese versions and you might just have the best version of Culdcept released. (Though I remember hearing of a PC version…)
Also, The Best isn’t a Greatest Hits (that would be the Mega Hits line). You don’t have to be a good seller to belong to the best. Plenty of games that never hit 100K are part of the line. Titles in The Best line are decided on other factors. :)
Sad part is, I think Japanese companies were thinking of bringing more games like Culdcept over (the genre is really prolific over here and somebody else decided to bring over Top Shop) but Culdcept tanked just a little too hard for that. Hopefully somebody tries again someday and brings over a remake of Shadow of the Tusk or Ludo or a real Dokapon game, not that stupid GBA dungeon hack drek. They did bring over Metal Gear Acid though, which I know isn’t the same thing at all as those other games I mentioned, but it shows hope!
-Kitsune