Capcom on Star Force 3: Noise Kaizou Gear is Out, DLC is in

So Star Force 3 has been out for a bit, and I’m certain many are enjoying this vastly superior entry in the series (I know I am). However as some who have played the Japanese version may know, certain things are not available in this game, notably the Noise Kaizou Gear, Rezon Cards andSecret Satellite Server Brothers. These features were much like Wave Command Codes in that you could input a series of taps on the Touch Screen to power yourself up in various ways. For reasons “unknown” these were omitted from the North American release of the game and not surprisingly, there was great rage among the fandom (somewhat justified since this’ll have been what, the 3rd time that a game in the BN/SF series had some major things removed from the North American release).
Long story short, this was brought up on the Capcom Unity forums in a thread that Seth has graciously taken the time to not only answer, but look into things regarding the manner. After a few days he was able to give us some answers;

Here is the info I received from Japan. It’s a bit of a game of “telephone” where my original questions have mutated a bit in translation, but hopefully you can get the gist of it.

– Noise Kaizou Gear
This is a set of licensing item (cards), so it’s not available in US territory.

* But, we’re distributing “White Cards” (one specific kind of cards available in this Noise Kaizou Gear) on our official website.

– Rezon cards
This is a part of “Noise Kaizou Gear”, so it’s not available in US territory.

* We’re not planning to distribute them on our official website.

– Secret Satellite Server

This is a booklet published by Capcom Japan, and it’s not available in US territory.

* But, we’re distributing some of the “Cipher Codes” (which are included in this booklet) on our official website.
– Meteor Server

If this means the “Meteor Server” which the powered up boss appears after collecting certain number of stars on title menu, it’s available in US version, too.

For the record, nobody on the US side made a decision to remove any content–it seems to be a licensing issue. There will be some additional free content coming to Wii-ware soon, as well as more website content, but that’s the best info I could get at the moment.

best,

Seth

He also mentions that there will be extra cards coming to the Nintendo Channel that you can download using your Wii.

There you have it. Capcom of America didn’t remove these features out of pure spite, but didn’t have any choice in the matter due to Licencing issues. They are however going the extra mile and giving downloadable content, though I imagine this won’t be quite satisfying to some people. Reminds me of the missing Boktai features of BN6 (Konami of America wanted them out, so Capcom removed them and as compensation inserted side quests that required the use of an E Reader in Japan), but nowhere near as drastic.

Keep in mind however that NONE of these features are required to finish the game or access hidden areas. You can visit each map in Star Force 3 provided you meet the conditions for them (Standard Complete, etc). That said, get off their backs already.

LanceHeart