Mysterious Mystery Project from Three Publishers Revealed as Project X Zone

A post over on Andriasang has the scoop on just what the heck that weird Sega/Namco-Bandai/Capcom game is for the Nintendo 3DS. Citing the latest issue of Famitsu, the post explains that the game is called Project X Zone (pronounced “Project Cross Zone”), and the game is a strategy RPG featuring famous characters from each of the three companies’ franchises. The characters are grouped into pairs who team up when fight scenes occur.

Here’s the reported list of characters and pairs:

Capcom

• Ryu & Ken (Street Fighter), X and Zero (Mega Man), Demitri and Dante (Darkstalkers and Devil May Cry), Chris and Jill (Resident Evil)

Sega

• Shinguji Sakura and Ogami Ichiro (Sakura Wars), Pai and Akira (Virtua Fighter), Kurt and Riela (Valkyria Chronicles), Ulala and Touma (Space Channel 5 and Shining Force EXA)

Namco Bandai

• Sanger Somvold (Super Robot Wars), Jin and Ling Xiaoyu (Tekken), Kos-Mos and T-elos (Xenosaga), Yurie and Estel (Tales of Vesperia), Kaito and Black Rose (.hack)

The post notes that the first trailer for the game will come out later this month. A post on Eurogamer about the project has a few more details, noting that the game is being produced by Namco-Bandai’s Kensuke Tsukanaka, a producer who only seems to have two games to his name. No word yet on whether or not this game will ever make its way West—and my money’s on “probably not.” This all sounds like it might be a bit too weird (and also features a few too many less recognizable characters outside of Asia) for Western audiences. Not a judgment, just a guess. What do you think? Would you buy this based on what you know now?

Andriasang via Eurogamer