ESRB Reveals Shmups, Fighter in MonkeyPaw Lineup

In a week where the ESRB has started to reveal games like wildfire, the famed ratings board has inadvertently revealed three new games in Japanese Publisher’s MonkeyPaw PlayStation 3 exclusive lineup: Outlaws of the Lost Dynasty, GaiaSeed and Cho Aniki.

While their first two reveals, Magical Drop F and Blockids, were puzzle games the newest reveals provide a little bit of variety in the lineup. For those of you who once owned a Sega Saturn, you may remember Outlaws of the Lost Dynasty as a fighting game that was originally released in 1995, while the 2d side-scrolling shmups GaiaSeed and Cho Aniki will be making their first appearance overseas.

Outlaws of the Lost Dynasty
Platform: PlayStation 3
Rating: Teen
Content descriptors: Animated Blood, Partial Nudity, Violence

This is a 2D arcade-style fighting game in which players compete in one-on-one battles with a cast of selectable characters in feudal China. Players mostly kick, punch, and use weapons (staffs, knives, sabers, etc.) to drain the opposing player’s life meter. Special attacks (fireballs, pixie dust, jumps and leaps, etc.) can also be initiated. Damage is indicated by flashes of red blood and cries of pain. One male character is depicted wearing a loincloth, which sometimes exposes his buttocks during matches.

GaiaSeed
Platform: PlayStation 3
Rating: Everyone
Content descriptors: Mild Fantasy Violence

This is a side-scrolling space shooter in which players pilot a small ship in battles against waves of enemies. Players shoot out laser beams and special attacks (e.g., “intense fire”) to defeat small enemy ships and robotic bosses. Bright explosions are frequently displayed when enemy ships are destroyed.

Cho Aniki
Platform: PlayStation 3
Rating: Teen
Content descriptors: Crude Humor, Mild Fantasy Violence, Suggestive Themes

This is a side-scrolling shooter in which players control characters that fire energy beams and bombs at an assortment of mechanical creatures. The game depicts photo-realistic muscle men in tight Speedo underwear who defeat several fantastical enemies: giant man-powered vehicles, floating disembodied heads and noses, animal-man hybrid creatures that explode in fiery bursts. Some sequences depict muscle-bound men forming human pyramids, cradling each other, and posing in provocative positions (e.g., heads submerged near characters’ crotches). One boss character fires lasers from a phallic-shaped rod that extends from his hip. Another giant boss character shoots out gas clouds from his buttocks.