Nintendo dates Solatorobo for DS

By Fred Dutton Published 4 May, 2011

JRPG swansong for aging handheld.

Handheld action RPG Solatorobo: Red the Hunter arrives on the DS on 1st July, publisher Nintendo has announced.

Developed by .hack studio CyberConnect 2 and a sequel of sorts to 1999 PSone adventure Tail Concerto, you'll take control of a teenage "anthropomorphic dog" called Red Savarin and his robot Dahak as they endeavour to kick giant mechs out of the floating islands of the Shepherd Republic.

Featuring character design by animé veteran Nobuteru Yuki and animation by Studio Ghibli collaborators Madhouse, the game features over 70 quests to complete and an estimated 20 hours of gameplay.

The title got a warm greeting from Japanese critics when it launched there in 2010. With the DS's release schedule looking increasingly barren, could it be the last in a very long line of cracking RPGs to find a home on Nintendo's last-gen portable?

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (9) Latest comment 1 year ago

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  • 5lectro #1 1 year ago

    Fond memories of Tail Concerto (except that damned platforming section in the last level).

    Let's hope the DS doesn't die too quick.

  • tomjoadsghost #2 1 year ago

    looks awesome, will buy.

  • spaceburge #3 1 year ago

    Hurrah for backwards compatibility!

  • MattEdWithCheese #4 1 year ago

    looks like my kind of game, day one

    "could it be the last in a very long line of cracking RPGs to find a home on Nintendo's last-gen portable?"

    Not if Ni No Kuni gets released over here, nintendo have said that they will keep supporting the ds with niche imports, ergo this mother

  • kenichi-san #5 1 year ago

    A little awkward with the character design, but hey! I'll give this a try :)

  • abigsmurf #6 1 year ago

    The amusing thing with this game is at the moment it's an EU exclusive and, as it is DSi enhanced (you get to attach a photo to your save file! Woo?), Americans can't import it.

    Still, this'll probably tide me over until the 3DS starts getting games worth having.

  • Cid #7 1 year ago

    Hopefully it isn't the last. I'm praying Nintendo will bring Dragon Quest Monsters J2 over.

  • mr2ange #8 1 year ago

    Hmmm, Looks awfully remenicant of Laputa: Castle in the Sky, The floating island Cities, the colour pallete, Even the Robots Arms are constructed in a near idential fashion to the soldier robots in the film.

    -Not that any of that is a bad thing, its possibly my favorite film of all time. The game itself looks very well executed and enjoyable!

  • roquey Verified Lead Quality Assurance Tester and Compliance Specialist, Universally Speaking #9 1 year ago

    the only bad bit about this is the '20 hours of gameplay' to me thats just not enough. i look at DQIX - 120 hours, NIER - 44 hours FF13 - 42 hours, Last remnant - 34 hours and thats the ones ive not even finished! I have sopme ive not started! now i know these are not all DS platforms but for me an RPG isnt an RPG if its short, and i consider 20 hours short. No doubt i will buy this though being an RPG fiend.