I do not want to write Limited Print Articles.
I do not want to write Limited Print Articles.
I do not want to write Limited Print Articles.
I do not want to write Limited Print Articles.
I do not want to write Limited Print Articles.
With that line repeated ala a Simpsons intro, you may be asking “…So why are you writing a Limited Print Article. Didn’t you already get a bit carried away with First Press? Despite being done with Limited Print stuff yourself?” Well, yeah, that writeup for FPG was more of a warning instigated because I got pissed a dev I liked got screwed over by the company, and me putting out a very firm “DO NOT BUY” warning is more simple and effective for a reader, and less in need of worrying about fallout or arguments with a pub/dev than a limited print article.
I could start this writeup by reminding people that I got so much stupid shit for my prior, ramble-length articles despite a lot of people viewing and liking them, and giving the many examples leading to why I will not write another article about other limprint companies or the market in general, but since I’m wanting this to be the last one yet again. (And am only writing this one out of necessity to highlight a major issue/pattern I’ve seen others notice) I’ll just sum it all up as “if you like the company still and like what they put out, cool, hope they improve and don’t shoot the messenger (AKA, me) warning you about a bad pattern”.
Seriously, one of my earlier limprint articles led to a weird nerd on discord accusing me of tanking the value behind a Star Wars game, of all things, and the whole “collect as an investment” mindset is just one of many reasons I shifted from trying to collect limprint in general, to just collecting my favorites and getting retro stuff for more of that complete set experience I missed. People get mad if you attack the fact that their games won’t get them rich, or that they should maybe have the companies in charge of such releases improve quality control so you don’t end up with messes like what led me to quitting my collection to begin with.
Anywho, Strictly Limited. I mentioned I liked these guys a lot on my report cards, and I like the niche stuff they get. I picked up a few things from them over the years, and their parent company ININ puts out a ton of stuff I’ve legitimately liked and covered for this very website in review format before. They’ve had delays before, (Turrican is a long tale that could be an epic, but mostly sums up to them cramming the collections full of bonuses that took too damn long to incorporate that they opened preorders before the collections even finished development, which… yeah, is a big nono) but generally I noticed they tend to come through in the end and put out standard editions in reasonable time, with CE/retro carts taking a bit longer, but still coming out generally good. I’ve been satisfied with most of what I own from them, though their Dragonbox retro carts could use a bit better build quality so they don’t feel like I can snap the plastic in half.
So why am I making this article? What’s the “production issue” you’re seeing in the title? Aren’t these sorts of delays normal in the industry, especially Limited Print? Aren’t you being too entitled for wanting to know where your cash is going and the status of your preorder? Well, after observing lots of recent discussions in online communities, looking at the calendar for manufacturing and recently released games, and noticing some titles and how they performed, I have a pretty OK theory as to why, and one that seems increasingly more likely the longer this wait continues, which is why I threw my hands up and decided to write another kind of article I said I wouldn’t ever want to write again.
Everything with Strictly Limited lately screams “We do not have the funding”. I feel they’re on the verge of collapsing. I hope I am wrong.
One Year Later, Still No Games
I’m not one to keep tabs on limited print companies and the rate of which they get products in. I’m especially not one who tries to keep track of the very first day a product shows up on a customer’s doorstep after a preorder period ended. (People have tried to do with with LRG for ages, and it just gets immensely confusing) But based on several reports I’ve read from buyers from SLG, my own examinations of their stock and what games ended up at other outlets like VideoGamesPlus and such, I think I can safely guesstimate that the current most recent Switch cartridge Strictly Limited manufactured was Drainus. In fact, as I was writing this, someone in the Switch collecting community made a sheet showing when games got put up for preorder, and when they started to ship to customers, with Drainus indeed being the most recent SLG Switch cart to date.
This was put up for preorder sometime around 2022 and shipped out to customers around the early part of 2023, which seems to be near late March or April. Even the CEs rolled out surprisingly fast, and having played a bit of it on Steam, I can vouch it’s a fun gem from Team Ladybug, and it makes sense that the whole thing sold out pretty quickly and was a popular game. It also got a JP retail release that shipped a bit before this Strictly print, but both the EU/JP prints got made with their CE. All sounds good, right? If that was the last game they manufactured, then what about the others they put up since then..?
Well, if we can place Drainus shipping out at around the March/April 2023 point… And look at neighboring games still up in preorder status, the standard edition wait times become a lot more alarming. Take Ray’z Arcade Chronology, that fun collection of shooters I reviewed early last year. Preorders for this opened up all the way back on July 31 2022, aiming to ship around the digital release. As of this article, not even standard editions have been sent out. That means it has taken this company around two entire years to manufacture PS4 discs and a manual for a game that already hit the PSN and eShop around a year back. Considering the pace of their standard releases until around April 2023, this was one of the first red flags for me, since it was one of arguably their biggest releases in quite some time!
The download version came out a few months after the Japanese release digitally, and you can easily go and buy the chopped up, Rayforce-less retail release off of Amazon this very minute, so somehow their parent company, ININ was able to manufacture those discs with no problem, but not the limited edition ones they opened orders for nearly a year before the game was completed? And almost a year since the Japanese release of the game in March 2023, we still have no solid ETA or idea on if they even sent this one into manufacturing?
Yeah, this one really ticks me off, since you don’t just go from making standard editions at a pretty decent rate for months on end, to abruptly not being able to seemingly make any standard edition games for nearly a year, with one of the first ones impacted being your biggest shmup release in a long time. They can’t even use an excuse about the R-Gear exclusive on the disc being not ready yet, since Japan also got the R-Gear content last year via Amazon Prime day, and at the current rate we’re going, Taito may just throw it out themselves on the Japanese eShop for people to buy before the SLG physicals ever make the light of day. It doesn’t help that very recently, Taito dropped that aforementioned Raystorm X Crisis combo on the JP eShop seemingly outta nowhere, which just makes me ponder why the chronology is still in manufacturing limbo. No public statements on if this went to manufacturing yet or not that I can find, but the wait for a standard edition copy of this is so absurd, I had to highlight it here.
In fact, it gets even crazier; during the making of this article, someone who’s been waiting and poking about for a status update on Rayz got confirmed from Strictly Limited Support recently that… The game hasn’t even been put into production yet.
Yep.
A year after Digital launch.
Not even ordering the carts or discs.
Almost a year after the final content update.
Not even an order placed.
Yet it was given an ETA of “early 2024”. Yeah I’m pretty sure Nintendo doesn’t make games that fast if they were to start production tomorrow. Very alarming. It also is very ironic, considering in late 2022, SLG themselves shared a graphic showing just how fast they were at putting out standard editions; clearly, something really bad happened to make them grind to a halt.
Snow Princess and Bubbles, Wow!
The other surrounding SLG preorder I noticed something off about, was Snow Battle Princess Sayuki. I reviewed this one too, years ago. It sucks. The game is not very good. But some people have a fondness for it due to the PS2/Wii release, so I assume that’s what SLG and meibus were aiming for here with a recent physical. Likewise, this went up October 2nd, 2022 for preorder, and as of now… Also hasn’t shipped anything from Strictly Limited, not even the standard edition. It should be noted this got a PS4 version added, that currently does not exist on digital stores, but that still doesn’t excuse the nearly year and a half wait for standard editions of the Switch version, since that release came out years ago! If anything, it should have shipped out as quick as Cannon Dancer did, since that went up for order roughly around the same time, and even the collector editions for that shipped! Meanwhile you can’t even get a darn switch cart for a poor Kiki Kaikai clone out the door, and yet again, no communication on where this game went.
Oh, but this one gets even funnier. See, while the PS4 version being in limbo may explain the long delay here, this game did get a recent physical! …In Japan, for the Switch, in Early January 2023. Roughly around the same time Strictly Limited would have had their versions made, don’t you think? Yet somehow, a year past that, no word on the Switch standard editions, and no word on the PS4 version at all. Yet another, year long wait with no communication, weird dodgy responses, etc.
But here’s the one game I’ve constantly pointed to for every instance on forums for why Strictly’s recent production delays are pretty alarming and laughably bad if they cannot get this one produced. It’s probably the most absurd thing to be delayed from them that has next to no reason to actually be delayed, since in essense, it’s already out… Kinda. Puzzle Bobble: Everybubble was a big favorite of mine last year, and I truly dug it! It’s a fun game everyone should play and if you wanna pick it up, you can go to any store in the US/EU and nab a retail copy. Super easy, and it came out when the digital version did from ININ, no problem.
Except Strictly Limited also put up standard editions of this game, with the main gimmick being that the Switch cart they were manufacturing would include the decent port of the SNES Puzzle Bobble thrown in as a bonus. This port also came out digitally around the same time as the main game, so it’s not like SLG are waiting for it to be completed. Everything about Everybubble is done. All the patches are out. The SNES bonus is done. There’s zero reason it shouldn’t be in customer hands by now… And yet, even this game, going up for preorder on November 6th, 2022, has not shipped to any Strictly Limited Buyers. Yes, this fun, easy and cheap game you can buy on amazon is not somehow capable of being manufactured in small amounts for the PAL region, because apparently putting the SKU of a SNES ROM rerelease on the cartridge is so difficult we’re nearing ten months post launch with no status to the product of this game.
Ten. Months.
For a game that hit retail ages ago.
For a game that’s content complete.
For a game where the bonus is completed.
Ten. Months. No communication, no ETA. The closest anyone got was a batch of emails sent out late last year delaying everything to early 2024, while also touting SLG planning to be more communicative and moving to a new warehouse, but even now, we’re nearing the end of winter, and the start of spring, none of that has happened, outside of a lone CE getting manufactured which i’ll touch on a bit later. The last SLG Cartridge to have been printed as of writing, was Drainus in early 2023, despite Everybubble, Jitsu Squad, Taito Milestones, Air twister and Rayz getting retail releases through ININ just fine. Speaking of Air Twister…
Wait, but what about “Speedruns?”
Around the time Strictly Limited came out to announce the big wave of delays, they also touted that they’d be doing a new method of releasing games quicker: “Speedruns”. It sounded like what they should have done to begin with; print the games first, then sell them on the site. The first game to be done as part of that initiative was Air Twister, which was an alright shooter. PS4/5 and Switch Standards went up for sale, sold out, and shipped to customers in pretty good time. The CE was the usual wait until this thing actually exists routine that SLG normally would do, and by all accounts that CE hasn’t been up long enough to be worried about it making it out or not.
Except for well, the fact everything else hasn’t been made in a year. And that Air Twister is the only “Speedrun” game, with recent SLG releases going for the older pre-order method. So how did Air Twister get shipped super quick? The answer; Air Twister was printed by United Games Entertainment, AKA, the EU Retail branch of SLG (SLG and ININ are basically owned by this company). Despite not being a partner store release, photos of the cartridge show that this is indeed, a retail or retail-like cart, stuffed into a box with a SLG-made manual. The PS4 version didn’t make it to EU retail (being an SLG exclusive), so there’s a slim chance that might actually have the SLG branding, unlike PS5/Switch copies.
So yeah, it makes sense why Air Twister was a one and done “speedrun” deal; it repurposed PAL carts from the retail version, just with an exclusive cover and box. These likely were ordered around the same time as the retail versions. My guess for this venture is that the Speedruns are just meant to be for games that have simple retail releases so they can further repurpose PAL retail carts for future games already slated for retail, but considering how Shadow of the Ninja Reborn would be a viable candidate for this approach yet they’re doing the old preorder routine with that release anyhow, who knows what SLG were going for with the Speedrun method.
In my opinion, I’m pretty confident Air Twister only happened this way to save face after announcing a bunch of delays, yet the fact nothing more has been made since just continues to show the slowness of SLG’s production and quite frankly, the abhorrent communication with buyers waiting years for their preorders. I saw this game before with Dispatch, and then First Press Games, and now it seems Strictly is falling into the funding hole a lot of these ambitious limprints eventually discover.
So… How did this happen? & the Awful Mask
It really does seem like around March or April of 2023, something bad happened to ININ/SLG that made them way tighter on money than they were previously. Enough to still put out their games at retail, (probably due to the fact those releases would have a higher chance of selling more in general than limprint stuff) but not enough for their SLG stuff. Every game, even ones that got retail releases through ININ, have been completely missing from the production line since last April. Not a single game has been manufactured. Per the email Gojiguy got about Rayz, it seems like none of them, or at least stuff like Rayz or Dariusburst, were even ordered for manufacturing.
You don’t just go from printing out lots of standard editions month after month, to just grinding to a sudden halt and getting no product in whatsoever. That’s just stupid and asking for future buyers to see new preorders and not bother with them until they’re in-hand anyhow. And the utter lack of communication besides an apology that already has been proven to be false and inaccurate, just boggles my mind. I can’t believe they’d be tone deaf to realize not communicating with your buyers and hoping they forget the long delays without communication will end up well. But again, I’ve seen this twice before with other companies that previously made stuff only to go ghost, so maybe we’re seeing another repeat. So what the hell could cause such a downturn, and what should you do if you have pending orders?
Well, I honestly don’t know. I just think it’s a bunch of factors combined together. Decreased interest in limprint. Overly saturating the market. Stuff that was in-hand barely selling any units at all. (indeed, a lot of SLG’s current inventory consists of product that just never sold out, and didn’t seem to do well at all. The Blue Egret II they made was especially bad about this and pretty much rotted on their site before it moved to Amazon US along with a bunch of accessories for it.) Burnt trust from prior delays. (This delay is easily the worst in terms of communication, but I get why a lot of people went through the Turrican stuff and never wanted to deal with SLG again based off that wait alone)
Needless to say, when a bunch of the stuff you burnt money on doesn’t end up selling out much at all, and you now have to constantly do monthly discounts, free shipping promotions, bundles, and print on demand merch to get rid of the products you made years ago, that is a very bad sign. The fact no communication or any sort of public reassurance has been made that these games are in production, nor any sort of announcement of “hey things hit a snag but here’s a photo of the game disc in the factory getting ready for kitting, or a CE component we just got in the mail!” to reassure buyers, really has me agreeing with the community on this one. I feel more than ever, that SLG is eating a huge loss, and is on the verge of going broke unless they get a buyer or some big flow of cash coming in. There’s no reason to have not started manufacturing games that went up for order in 2022 by now. None.
Of course this doesn’t mean they aren’t doing anything new at all, since they’re still publishing some stuff digitally… Like that bad Irem collection, a Jajamaru RPG set with broken magic spells, or a Steel Empire 3DS port that’s pretty cut and dry. Yeah, if the quality control with in-house stuff like that is slipping, (seriously I cannot stress enough that Irem Volume 1 should not have launched in the state it came out in, or is even currently in right now, as they have not fixed it. Nor have they fixed Jajamaru.) I can see why Irem Collection Volume 2 got stealth delayed from its digital release. And why we don’t know where Parasol Stars, Over Horizon or PS4 Snow Princess went. Sooner or later, this house of cards is just gonna collapse, either with them being stupidly stubborn and not communicating to buyers until the very end, or with them coming clean.
Oh, and the one major item from SLG they did finish up in recent months, was the CE components to the Zombie Nation double pack, which was delayed for many years to “perfect” the tengu mask that was included with it due to concerns about quality.
Here’s the quality of the final mask per a youtube unboxing I linked above.
Yeah. A rather huge cut corner. So much for delaying until it came out right…
What now?
Want my two cents on what you should do with your SLG preorders?
Cancel them. Every last one. Unless there’s concrete, hardcore evidence of how they’re being funded, how far along each game is, (and if indeed, they are in the works or truly not anywhere in manufacturing whatsoever) and what the status and reasoning for the 2+ year wait is, I strongly advise my readers with pending preorders to just request a cancelation by contacting SLG support.
They should be pretty good at it, as they did well with canceling my orders quickly in the past. But who knows how long that’ll last; better to be safe than sorry. They should be fine to buy an item in-hand from for the time being, and you can even have support cancel just the preorder items and ship you the in-stock stuff. But having gone through a disaster of them sending me the wrong art plate, me sending it to germany, only for it to be bounced back due to them not paying EU customs, maybe if you’re outside of PAL regions you should buy from a reseller like Videogamesplus. After all, it doesn’t look like much of their inventory on the site is moving that much to speak of.
We need better communication.
We need info on why it’s taking so long, and why they haven’t manufactured a single new game in a full calendar year.
And most importantly, I need to drink more V8. Sorry for the long ramble, but with how I saw this unfold, I couldn’t let this stand for much longer, I just had to condense and showcase just how absurd these delays are, and how these aren’t even typical delays ala LRG; they still get new product in every month, even with their awful warehouse in-hand delivery times, some games taking years to be made now, and lack of communication. When somehow the hecking Embracer Group is outdoing you with communication and seemingly having enough funding to make product… You messed up.
Seafoam Gaming 
My Puzzle Bobble: Everybubble! preorder is like my love life… forever unfulfilled. :’) I, too, shall cancel my preorder. This is absurd.
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I’m desperately waiting for my Puzzle Bobble Everybubble and 2 Bub and Bob plushies.
it’s beyond ridiculous and hugely frustrating how long this is taking.
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They didnt even ship the plushies out? I thought those at least got made… Guess that means their earlier update about sending in hand items first was bunk then.
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