Space Battleship Yamato 2199 Report 63

2199 activity in October was roughly the same as September with Battlefield Infinity game announcements dominating the month. There was also a pair of fan events to provide another dose of energy, and steps were taken toward new products to come in 2017. Below is all the news from this month.

Editorial note: in all past reports, the various Battlefield Infinity game announcements were painstakingly translated in full. With Yamato 2202 nearing the horizon, those efforts will be called upon to fry bigger fish. Therefore, starting with this report, the full BFI translations will be reduced to summaries. Since it’s not possible to play the game outside Japan, the limiting of information probably won’t affect your day to day life very much. Thanks for understanding.

By the way, whereas all the BFI images shown here are promotional, you can find lots of additional screenshots with character art (and more) on the BFI Twitter page here.

October 3: Battlefield Infinity news

Sports arrive in autumn! Sweat along with characters in gym clothes!

A campaign titled Autumn Cosplay Big Athletic Meet kicked off the month with characters appearing in athletic wear under the theme of a sports event. Kato and Berger took the coach roles for their respective teams, “burning your eyes with their grim figures.”

The first half of the event ran from October 3 to 11. When building their fleets, players could earn elite Yuki Mori or Melda Dietz units and space carriers were the recommended option. Cheering-section versions of Kaoru Niimi and Mizela Celestella could be won by collecting “cheering tickets.”

October 8 & 9: Doro-Off VI hobby show

This annual hobby exhibition took place in Asakusa, Tokyo and gave amateur and professional modelers alike a chance to display their latest projects. Star Wars dominated the space, but 2199 made its usual respectable showing.

See a photo gallery of the displays here.

October 11: Battlefield Infinity news

The second half of the Autumn Cosplay Big Athletic Meet continued from October 11 to 17. Niimi and Mizela appeared in more traditional cheerleader outfits, and players who used ultra-rare gym clothes versions of Rei Yamamoto and Mirenel Linke could increase their ranking points by a factor of 10.

October 14: Battlefield Infinity news

Counterattack! Rage of Thunder! The second coming of Dagarm!

You can’t keep a good villain down. Goran “The Thunder” Dagarm stepped out of Ark of the Stars into the Battlefield Infinity universe for the second time, giving players the chance to defeat the odds and win a colorful version of his Megaluda and its powerful Flame Strike Gun. It was another rare opportunity for the usual Earth/Garmillas rivalry to be set aside against a common foe. The key to winning was to puzzle out his fleet strategy, for which Kaoru Niimi and Neredia Rikke were ideally suited.

October 17: Battlefield Infinity news

The Halloween Festival of Terror ran through the second half of the month, bringing Halloween versions of certain characters into the fray. Players had to collect mines forged to look like Halloween candy to earn a version of Sanada as a vampire or Frakken as a werewolf. Ultra-rare costumed versions of Yuki and Mirenel were available to help, and those who collected “pumpkin tickets” could win Halloween versions of Misaki or Hilde.

October 21: Blu-ray box art revealed

Last month we learned that the first official 2199 box set would be on its way in January. On October 21 Yamato Crew finally revealed what the box itself would look like in this image of a wraparound painting by the great Naoyuki Katoh. The discs will have the same content as previous releases (see them in our videography here), and the box can be preordered from either CD Japan or Amazon Japan.

More bonus items were revealed on November 1: a special trading card and a metal relief panel duplicating that seen in Captain Okita’s cabin (miniaturized to about 3.2″ x 2.2”.) These are available with sets purchased from Yamato Crew (shipped to Japanese addresses only).

See a TV commercial for the Blu-ray box set on Youtube here.

October 21: Battlefield Infinity news

As the Halloween Festival of Terror continued, players could partake in a special “sniping event” to win elite versions of Yuki Mori or Mirenel Celestella. Acquiring them would open up access to additional characters in their respective circles.

UN Cosmo Navy side: Miki Saijo with her long, jet-black hair and Yoshikazu Aihara, the conscience of Yamato.

Garmillas Empire side: Mizela Celestella with a loyalty that goes beyond race, and Abelt Dessler with his young charisma that divides major powers.

October 24: Battlefield Infinity news

The second half of the Halloween Festival of Terror switched out the characters players could win by collecting candy mines. Now they could earn zombie versions of the bright and cheerful Yuria Misaki from the Yamato side or the dutiful daughter Hilde Shulz from the Garmillas side.

Elite costumed versions of Melda and Yamamoto also appeared. Players were given destroyers to fight with, and these two increased ranking points by a factor of seven.

October 25: Hobby Japan #570

As a reminder of things to come, Hobby Japan devoted a couple pages to the products we’ve recently learned about from Megahouse: a variable-action Cosmo Zero miniature and the imaginary “nose art” Yuki Mori figure from the Yamato Girls Collection. Both are promised for 2017, but exact release dates and prices are not yet known.

See enlargements of these pages here.

October 26: Star Blazers 2199 in Italy

Italy became the first country outside Japan to get the full run of 2199 on home video, a distinction that evaded the US when the release was cut short before finishing. The first of two box sets arrived on DVD and Blu-ray October 26 through a company called Dynit.

Box 1 contains episodes 1-13 (on 3 discs) with an Italian language track and a Japanese track with Italian subtitles. There are no video bonus features, but a 32-page booklet is included. Box 1 can be ordered here. Box 2 arrives December 15 and can be preordered here.

October 28: Battlefield Infinity news

As the latter half of Halloween Festival of Terror wound down, a second “sniping event” was held. This time, new versions of Melda and Yamamoto could be won, opening up access to other characters in their respective circles.

Earth side: Reliable, hot-blooded big brother in the Air Corps Saburo Kato, and Deputy commander Hiroki Shinohara, who doesn’t forget his friends despite his casual appearance.

Garmillas side: The vigorous staff officer Fomt Berger who accomplishes his mission with calm and cool, and top-notch fighter pilot Lyle Getto

October 28: Super Robot Wars V trailer

A new trailer appeared to remind everyone of the next installment in this 25-year-long game series from Bandai Namco that teams up anime robots from many different programs. This is the first time for Space Battleship Yamato to be included, which presumably brings a different kind of game play into the mix. The trailer can be seen on Youtube here. Yamato footage appears at 3:10 and 6:45.

Visit the official website here.

Robots from 26 different anime programs are included in the game, and two different editions are available for PS4 – standard, and deluxe with various bonus features. Fans who order the game from Yamato Crew will get random 2199 trading cards (shipping to Japanese addresses only).

October 30: Dengeki Hobbyweb article

Dengeki Hobbyweb continued its serialized article on the making of a scratch-built Megaluda. In this month’s installment, the core of the Flame Strike Gun took shape. See the article here.

October 30: Yamaket 8

The next phase of this fan event took place in Tokyo, a subsection of the bi-annual Torilozi convention (a smaller version of Comiket). Fans from all sectors of SF/fantasy/anime/manga/etc. come together at Torilozi to sell their latest doujinshi and craft projects. Yamaket is an assembly of Yamato fan circles, organized by fan artist Kiyo. 25 different circles teamed up for Yamaket 8.

For Yamato fans it was actually a double event with the simultaneous holding of a new Yamato Lecture, hosted by Osamu Takahashi (poster at right).

See a photo gallery here.

See more at the Yamaket Twitter pages here and here.

October 31: Battlefield Infinity news

At the end of the month, players were advised that new areas of the game environment had been opened up for exploration: the Kapteyn star system, the Kruger 60 star system, the Ross 614 star system, and the Van Maanen star system. (All the names are derived from real astronomers.)

One campaign was to collect tickets to obtain “umbrella versions” of Niimi and Mirenel from an earlier game. Another campaign was to use elite versions of Melda and Yamamoto to increase their success rate in acquiring experience points.

The campaign went through November 7 and allowed players to search for reinforcement items to strengthen their fleets for upcoming events.












Also spotted in October

Cosplay

Two cosplayers put themselves on the Twitter stage in October. The first we’ve seen before, “Imo-san” as the striking Rei Yamamoto. The other is new to the 2199 game, “mimiasu” as Yuki Mori.

See more photos of both here.

War Pirates X Yamato 2199

This crossover mobile game from Sega (covered in Report 62) was launched on September 30 and rolled through October with fans posting gameplay images on Twitter.

See a screenshot gallery here. Visit the Twitter page here.


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