is the third main entry in the ''

Summon Night is a series of role-playing video games, mixed with elements of a visual novel based dating sim. The series is primarily developed by Flight-Plan, published by Banpresto, and owned by Bandai Namco Entertainment. The character designs are by ...

'' series of video games. The game was initially developed by Flight-Plan and released by

Banpresto (formerly Coreland Technology Inc.) was a Japanese video game developer and publisher headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It had a branch in Hong Kong named Banpresto H.K., which was headquartered in the New Territories. Banpresto was a partly-ow ...

for the PlayStation 2 in 2003. The game was later remade for the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 200 ...

in 2012. Both versions were only released in Japan, not being localized into English for any other regions.

Gameplay

The game plays as a

tactical role-playing game Tactical role-playing games (abbreviated TRPGs), also known as strategy role-playing games and in Japan as (both abbreviated SRPGs), are a video game genre that combines core elements of role-playing video games with those of tactical ( turn-b ...

. The game contains multiple difficulty levels.

Story

The game follows the male

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

Rexx and the female protagonist Aty. As with other game's in the series, it takes place in the fictional world of Lyndbaum.

Development

The initial version of the game was developed by Flight-Plan and published by

. The game was released on August 7, 2003, on the PlayStation 2

video game console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to ...

. The game was only released in Japan, it was not localized into English for any other regions. The PSP version of the game was created upon

Namco Bandai is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and ...

acquiring

, who had the rights to the ''Summon Night'' IP. The game, along with its sequel, ''Summon Night 4'', were remade in order to promote the release of a new game on the platform, 2013's '' Summon Night 5''. With Flight-Plan's closure, all three titles were developed by

Felistella is a Japanese video game developer based in Gifu. It was founded in July 2010 by former Flight-Plan employees. In April 2015, Felistella and Idea Factory have entered a capital tie-up agreement, in which Idea Factory acquired a portion of Feli ...

. The game was released on October 4, 2012.

Reception and sales

The PlayStation 2 release of the game sold over 156,000 copies it first week of sales, higher than both of the later mainline series releases.

Legacy

Main characters Rexx and Aty both make appearances in future sequel ''Summon Night 5''. Aty appears as a playable character in the crossover video game ''

Project X Zone 2 ''Project X Zone 2'' is a crossover tactical role-playing game for the Nintendo 3DS developed by Monolith Soft and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Despite the game being the sequel to ''Project X Zone'', the plot is a homage to the event ...

''.

References

{{Studio 4°C 2003 video games Felistella games Japan-exclusive video games PlayStation 2 games PlayStation Portable games Role-playing video games Single-player video games Summon Night Video games developed in Japan Video games featuring protagonists of selectable gender Flight-Plan games