Konami crown Shaman King

News - New anime outing planned

Newly relocated to trendy entertainment-obsessed LA, Konami today announced it has acquired the rights to develop new videogames based on the popular Japanese anime series Shaman King in North America and Europe. Hiroyuki Takei's popular opus will arrive on digital formats in the summer of 2004, with initial products for the PS2 and the GBA planned.

In Europe the launch of these new products will be timed to coincide with the arrival of the TV series itself. The premise of the cartoon is based around an 'ordinary' student, Yoh Asakura, who has the unique gift of being able to communicate with spirits - and when he teams up with a ghost, Yoh enters a tournament held every five-hundred years to be crowned Shaman King. Geddit?

Konami offered this on the new titles:

Shaman King for PlayStation 2 blends the elements of strategy, battling and role-playing games (RPGs) to deliver an exciting gameplay experience for players of all ages. Gamers will battle against numerous enemies and a nefarious organization that plans to stop the Grand Tournament from taking place.
Shaman King for Nintendo Game Boy Advance thrust players into an exhilarating side-scrolling adventure where gamers will use Yoh's inherent ability to control ghosts and spirits in order to defeat his enemies.

"Shaman King follows Yu-Gi-Oh! as the second franchise that we have licensed from Shueisha and developed into videogames for the European and the North American markets. We are very proud to be expanding our licensed game catalogue and anime content with the addition of the popular Shaman King series," enthused CEO Mr. Kitaue. "Our mission is to listen to our consumers and deliver entertainment appropriate to the target markets. At KDE, we plan to continue to acquire licensed properties that resonate with our consumers, such as we have done with Yu-Gi-Oh! and now with Shaman King."