Professor Layton returns to DS (in Japan)

by JC Fletcher on Mar 11th 2009 9:17AM

You guys are going to be furious about this. Now, instead of two Professor Layton sequels (and one movie) that have yet to appear outside of Japan, there are three. The latest Famitsu has unveiled Professor Layton and the Devil's Flute, a new puzzle adventure from Level-5 starring Luke and the Professor. It appears to be a new game just like the previous ones, and not a DSiWare calculator or anything.

Oh, and it's the beginning of a new trilogy, so two more are coming. Perhaps this continued support for the series in Japan will influence the decision processes of Nintendo's offices worldwide. Or perhaps we should just get used to feeling despondent every time we see a tall hat.

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Tags: DS, Nintendo, professor-layton, professor-layton-and-the-devils-box, puzzle

Reader Comments (43)

ARGH! The lack of Layton here in the States is killing me. Oddly enough, I saw a commercial a couple nights ago with the girl from friends and some other women playing Layton and the Curious Village on what appeared to be a DSi. They only mentioned Layton though and not the system.

Yeah, that's about the only glimmer of hope we have that the sequels MIGHT come out in the US yet.
...although the game sold great in Europe, so with any luck, an EU import might be in the future, too.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

ddruckers hamburgers.

DARN YOU NINTENDO!!!!! I've already played the end of Curious Villiage a billion times just to help ease the pain of the lack of Pandora's Box. Now they're just spreading salt on the wounds.

here's 1 to ease the pain. Puzzle no. 136: how much longer can you be patient?

So unfair. >:(

Please don't let Layton be the next Mother.

Pretty sure it's too late for that :\

Well, for what is worth, Professor Layton belongs to Level 5, so if Nintendo doesn't step up, they could always find another publisher.

@samfish

That's not true! THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!

Silly Zertoss, this isn't the new Resident Evil Wii game thread.

(get it? GET IT??)

Was that a Luke Skywalker quote? I was imagining Layton telling Luke he was his father o_O

@Noshino: You really think it's the *publisher* delaying this? I can't see why they would, I was assuming it's Level 5 not having bothered to localise it... or is there some inside info on this?

I'm alright with it, I like to take my time in the curious village before going down to the devils box, going on the final time journey and finishing off my devil's flute. Don't rush me.

WHY? WHY WHY WHY WHY? How freaking hard can it be to localize this stuff? It just takes a few translators! Do it already level-5! Did the original not sell well here or something?

It isn't up to Level 5, I think right now NoA has the Professor Layton publishing rights on the US, and well, whoever runs NoA just happens to be... "special"

It's actually not that simple. For the first game new puzzles needed to be created to replace ones that depended on a knowledge of Japanese culture/society/whathaveyou, that your average Japanese person would know in a heartbeat but we'd have no clue about.

Actually I've been told that the puzzles are different in Japan. Quite a few are kanji-based, so there is no real way to translate them. Also, substituting them with Western puzzles is a problem, as many are copywritten. Blame the lawyers.

Localizing puzzles is not that simple. For example, being english my second language I had a lot of trouble with the "sound of silence" puzzle, in which you had to know *SPOLIERS* when to consider a letter as silent in a word */SPOILERS*. Since I've never seen theory or anything about that I had to keep guessing till I got it right. Those kind of puzzles would have to be removed or drastically changed for a localization. So it's not as simple as translating.

Yeah i've heard that the Japanese puzzles are quite heavily based on nuances in the language and wordplay, which for obvious reasons wouldn't work when directly translated

Screw you people with your "reason" and "logic". That has no place on the internet or in my desire for more Layton games!

A few translators AND Christopher "Awesome" Miller (

A question as an aside: Did us Westerners get stiffed on the downloadable/unlockable puzzles? I thought Japan had over a hundred, and I have about twenty and they've not updated in ages.

I kompletely forgot about those. I think I had about three before I put the game in my drawer of forgotten ... stuff.

At least I have some new content to play in lieu of Pandora's Box.

you might want to check again, I had 99 on my side.

you do know that you are not actually "downloading" puzzle, they are all on the cartridge, just waiting to be unlocked.

@Guibs: I just checked again - nope, still 26.

I think they're all cart unlocks and not actually downloadable.

Arrgh! We've gotten all the Phoenix Wright games but only one Professor Layton. I don't get it. I know it's a lot of work to localize but it has to be easier than making a game from scratch, right?

I haff tvelve metchsteek.

I was just reading that PA strip last night and complaining to a friend about our lack of Layton over here.

I honestly think nintendo is trying to line their wallets as thick as possible for the next system generation. if they spend some of their savings(their incredibly HUGE savings) to make their i suppose "minimal" hardcore fans happy then they put themselves at risk when they release their next wont be as successful as wii system. I think nintendo is just making money off their lucrative crap because they want a rainy day fund...just a thought. I KNOW they have enough money to pay royalties on content in games such as Mother and Layton, but why won't they spend it? Its gotta be that theory I said...or their greedy as the McDuck family and they are trying to get the high score on filled money bins...

Well, for us Brits the second installment is coming this summer (according to ONM), so hopefully we'll have the third by the end of the year/early next year. Can't wait for the movie either!

I think they're just torturing us now.

ddruckers hamburgers.

Well, forget that attempt at replying.
On topic, I actually hope we get the sequels here in the USA. Layton is one of the rare games that actually got my parents into playing the Nintendo DS. They loved the puzzles and had sort of a competition on who was going to beat it first.

I think it's the robots telling us to learn Japanese.

As someone has said, many of the Japanese puzzles rely on nuances in the Japanese language. What they did to solve that problem. however, was to put puzzles from the second game into the first game. So to bring the second game over, they have even more work to do.

I agree 100% with everyone who says they are dying due to lack of Layton. This is the fourth game in the series! We have only the first, which sold pretty well....do you not like money Nintendo?

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW, Can I sue Japan???

I want it.

Nintendo get on the ball with the sequels already. Can't you see we are suffering from withdrawls. You give us alot of pokemon, but how about alot more Layton?

13 months since the 1st game was released. I LOVE the 1st game! I am a brainteaser lover and I really want the sequel(s). Please hurry up and release them, Nintendo/Level 5. Its unfair. And since I don't read Japanese, I can't import the game.

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Professor Layton returns to DS (in Japan)

Reader Comments (43)

Posted: Mar 11th 2009 9:32AM (Unverified) said

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