Bandai Namco’s Tales-themed mobile game Tales of the Rays has been dead for more than two years. The global edition of the game shut down operations in May 2018. In its home country, though, the game lives on and even resurfaced to tease its community for April Fools’ Day 2020. [Thanks, HDkirin!]
The subject was oddly appropriate for the long-running JRPG franchise: a Tales of the Rays fighting game. Tales has been running for so long that dozens of battle-ready characters would be available to beat the snot out of each other for power and glory. Even more apropos is the fact that Tales‘ game combat systems have often mimicked the rhythm and pace of a fighting game.
That in mind, a return for the mythical “Tales of VS” is just right for an April 1, 2020 mock trailer:
Characters from various Tales games face off in 2D-fighter fashion in the new trailer, in a manner that’s actually reminiscent of older mobile and PSP-era fighters like Fate/Unlimited Codes.
That said, these days it’s increasingly unusual for April Fool’s gags to actually be teasers for future projects or game pitches trawling for public interest. This happened with such titles as Fighting EX Layer and even non-fighters like Yakuza: Like A Dragon. With that in mind, it’s not too late for Tales of the Rays to spark the fire that could lead to a real Tales-themed fighting game.
