I have a fairly large game collection and the pride of this collection is certainly my complete set of Atlus USA published games. However since I acquired the final missing title last March their release schedule has been downright crazy. 21 games (Well, 19 if you don't count the Wii/PS2 Baroque and Dokapon Kingdom as two games). Considering Baroque released in week 15. That is ~20 titles in 37 weeks, or a game every two weeks. Only the GBA-heavy 2006 came remotely close with 17 releases.

So after such a hectic year, it was quite surprising to see the trend carry into 2009 with 9 releases already planned for February - May. So imagine my surprise when I read about another leak of forthcoming Atlus games, this time from Amazon.ca.

While it is likely legitimate, it has yet to be confirmed (nor denied). The titles, save one, are viable Atlus pickups, though the release dates are far too soon to be realistic.

Devil Survivor is not a surprise, nor is the dropping of the Megami Ibunroku prefix for the far more recognizable Shin Megami Tensei. It has been awhile since an Atlus Japan game wasn't localized by Atlus USA and I did call for it as well as the just announced this week Raidou 2 in my last post.

Knights in the Knighmare is not a surprise either. Atlus has published all of Stings recent games except for this one and...

Dokapon Journey. While I don't think Dokapon went over that well last fall and the reviews were quite mixed, Atlus may very well have picked up the license for the DS version at the same time as the Wii/PS2 version. All 3 were released on the same day last July in Japan.

Crimson Gem Saga (Garnet Chronicles) is not an expected title. It is not, however, a surprising title and fits well with Atlus' recent portable focus and just came out last fall in Japan. I'm not very familiar with this game expect that it is also know as Astonishia Story 2.

The only real surprise is Super Robot Taisen OG. Known in Japan as Mugen no Frontier: Super Robot Wars OG Saga, it doesn't follow the SRPG format of the other two SRW games to make it stateside. Instead it uses timed button presses and is similar to Namco x Capcom. Which should be no surprise since it was co-developed by Banpresto and Monolith Soft (which did NxC). Several issues would make this game an unlike target for localization. First, Banpresto was acquired by Namco Bandai and this was often cited as the reason for the long delay on NISA's Ar Tonelico II. How often does Namco Bandai let someone publish their property. It's why we'll probably never see a Tales game Namco doesn't want to publish. And second, the game includes both KOS-MOS and T-elos from Xenosaga and several original characters created for Namco x Capcom (likely a lesser point). Atlus has previously avoided crossover titles. And like why only the OG titles of Super Robot Wars as they (until now) did not include the crossover characters that appeared in the main series. Perhaps with O3's publishing of Chaos Wars and NISA's forthcoming CrossEdge, crossover games aren't quite legal mess of licensing they once were.

Or the leak is a hoax. Time will tell on this one. Either way my wallet is still hurting.

Love you anyway, Atlus. Do keep up the great localizations and I'll keep buying.

EDIT: 29 January - Found this link from last September saying Namco Bandai had trademarked Endless Frontier (Mugen no Frontier) clearing the way for a English localization and stating Atlus owns the rights to Super Robot Wars. I no longer have any reason to doubt the veracity of this leak.