The doors are wide open for PlayStation 2 publishers. We’re seeing all kinds of games thought to stay in Japan only like Shining Dragon. Women’s Volleyball, which is coming out from Agetec in August, is one of them. This might be the first time most of you have seen the game, but it is a localized version of Volleyball World Cup: Venus Evolution. Spike got the license to the FIVB Volleyball World Cup last year, which Japan has hosted since the late 70s. Their goal was to make a realistic volleyball game by including actual players from Japan’s home team and adding exhaustion as something to manage. The top screenshot is from Volleyball World Cup: Venus Evolution.
This is a screenshot from Agetec’s game. The in game Fuji Television ads have been replaced with the Agetec logo. Actually, it doesn’t look like Agetec acquired any of the licenses that are associated with the game so you might be playing with renamed women volleyball players that vaguely resemble professionals.
The localization for Women’s Volleyball is similar to NES sprite swaps back in the 80s. Remember Dragon Power for the NES? That was a modified Dragonball game. Agetec isn’t making as many changes to Women’s Volleyball as Ninja Kid (note: this was a Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro game), but it’s interesting to see how products can be altered for American consumption.
Images courtesy of Spike and Agetec.
