''Shiren the Wanderer'' is a

roguelike Roguelike (or rogue-like) is a style of role-playing game traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels, turn-based gameplay, grid-based movement, and permanent death of the player character. Most ro ...

video game developed by Chunsoft for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

. It was released in Japan on June 5, 2008, and in North America on February 9, 2010. A

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...

version was released later in 2010, with a readjusted difficulty, a new infrastructure mode, and shorter loading times via the ability to install the game.

Gameplay

Similar to '' Torneko's Great Adventure 3'', the level is inherited in the main story, but like past games, dungeons starting from level 1 and high- difficulty dungeons after completing the main story are also available. There are more than 30 dungeons, new monsters and a new tool growth system. The player can choose between easy and normal difficulty levels to make it easier for newcomers of the genre to play. In the normal difficulty, should the player lose in a dungeon, they will lose all of their items. In contrary, they would not lose their items in the other difficulty.

Plot

The game's plot happens one year after '' Shiren the Wanderer GB2: Magic Castle of the Desert''. Shiren and his partner Koppa reunite with his uncle, Sensei, who then leads him to embark on a journey to solve the mystery of the legendary Karakuri Mansion.

Development

Initially scheduled to be released on February 28, 2008, ''Shiren the Wanderers initial Japanese release was delayed to June for

quality assurance Quality assurance (QA) is the term used in both manufacturing and service industries to describe the systematic efforts taken to assure that the product(s) delivered to customer(s) meet with the contractual and other agreed upon performance, design ...

and bug fixes. In an interview article released by Atlus' business partner

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

, the game's developers stated that they would avoid making use of the

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's unique

motion controls In computing, a motion controller is a type of input device that uses accelerometers, gyroscopes, cameras, or other sensors to track motion. Motion controllers see use as game controllers, for virtual reality and other simulation purposes, and ...

out of a concern that they would not be in line with the original, classic gameplay of prior installments. They thus came up with two control schemes that would heavily rely on

analog stick An analog stick (analogue stick in British English), also known as a control stick, thumbstick or joystick, is an input method designed for video games that translates thumb movement into directional control. It consists of a protruding stick mo ...

s: a default one that uses the Wii Remote and Nunchuk and an alternate one that employs the

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, the latter which they recommended.

Releases

The game was released on June 5, 2008, in Japan by

, then nearly two years later in North America on February 9, 2010, by

Atlus USA is a Japanese video game developer, video game publisher, publisher, Arcade game, arcade manufacturer and distribution company based in Tokyo. A subsidiary of Sega, the company is known for the ''Megami Tensei'', ''Persona (series), Persona'' ...

. Its

port was released solely in Japan on January 28, 2010. The latter version was republished as a downloadable game in the Japanese

PlayStation Store PlayStation Store (PS Store) is a digital distribution service for users of Sony's PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 game consoles via PlayStation Network. The store offers a range of downloadable content both ...

on May 15, 2012, then once more on July 11, 2013 with the label "Spike Chunsoft the Best".

Reception

The Wii version of ''Shiren the Wanderer 3'' received mixed or average reviews based on twenty-one critic reviews, according to

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. The game received a score of 35 of 40 from ''

Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...

'' magazine. It sold 59,000 units in its debut week in Japan.

Notes

References

External links

* (archived) {{Mystery Dungeon series Role-playing video games Atlus games Chunsoft games Spike (company) games PlayStation Portable games Sega video games Wii games Video games scored by Hayato Matsuo Video games set in feudal Japan 2008 video games Mystery Dungeon Roguelike video games Video games using procedural generation Video games developed in Japan Single-player video games