Project X Zone (pronounced “Project Cross Zone”) will release Summer 2013 in North America, Europe, and Australia as revealed by various tweets and press releases.

Why should you care about this piddly 3DS game? It’s a crazy turn-based strategy mashup featuring characters from Capcom, Sega, and Namco Bandai properties. That means you can see Mega Man square off with Heihachi from Tekken. Over 200 characters are included in the game, which should satisfy just about any fan (though, to be fair, not all of them are playable).

Also, I feel like it’s time to dust this ol’ girl off, and thanks to NeoGAF for reminding me it exists:

While we’re on the subject of pictures, check out this gallery of screenshots and concept art from the game:

Aside from simply being an awesome-looking game that more people get to play, this is a great sign of health for the 3DS in general. While a game like Project X Zone would have some guaranteed sales in the enthusiast market, it’s becoming less and less financially viable to release what are ostensibly cult favorites in regions outside of Japan. I’m guessing Namco Bandai saw that game sales for 3DS were healthy enough to warrant a worldwide release, and that’s awesome.

[via  Twitter]

All of a sudden, thanks to Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, we’ve got A TON OF IMAGES from Project X Zone, the Nintendo 3DS game made through a partnership of Sega, Namco Bandai, and Capcom. As we reported the other day, it features pairs of characters from each of those companies’ franchises, all slapped together in a weird strategy RPG thing.

Still no word on whether or not this game will ever make it to the West. I’m guessing it’ll stay in Asia, but after getting a look at these screens and the madcap weirdness they contain, I kind of hope they decide to bring it over here. It looks NUTS IN THE BUTTS.

Take a look at the images from the game in the slideshow below. Hopefully this thing works right—let us know in the comments if it makes your computer have a stroke or whatever.

Via Famitsu

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