One Piece: Romance Dawn

One Piece: Romance Dawn (ONE PIECE(ワンピース) ROMANCE DAWN(ロマンスドーン) 冒険の夜明け, Wan Pīsu: Romansu Dōn - Bōken no Yoake, "One Piece: Romance Dawn - Dawn of the Adventure") is a role-playing video game based on the One Piece manga and anime series, released in Japan and other parts of Asia for the PlayStation Portable on December 20, 2012, via retail and the PlayStation Store. A port for the Nintendo 3DS was released in Japan on August 8, 2013, via retail and the eShop. It was also released in Europe on November 29, 2013, and February 11, 2014, in North America.^[2]

One Piece: Romance Dawn
Japanese PSP cover art, featuring "Red Haired" Shanks and Monkey D. Luffy
Developer(s)	Three Rings^[1]
Publisher(s)	Namco Bandai Games
Series	One Piece
Platform(s)	PlayStation Portable (PlayStation Store), Nintendo 3DS
Release	PlayStation Portable JP: December 20, 2012 Nintendo 3DS JP: August 8, 2013 AU: November 28, 2013 EU: November 29, 2013 NA: February 11, 2014
Genre(s)	RPG
Mode(s)	Single Player

The game covers the first half of the series from Luffy's early adventures in the East Blue to the battle at Marineford.

Gameplay

The game is an RPG; it uses turn-based battles and action commands that help guide the player. The player commands the protagonist Luffy and other characters that are in his crew. The characters level up, and the player can strengthen attacks by obtaining points. All characters and enemies are from the One Piece series and play the same roles as seen in the source material. Cutscenes are told in a manga style.

Development

Namco Bandai Games announced in July 2012 that they would be developing their first One Piece game for the PSP, which would be pure RPG. The game features 30 minutes of newly animated cutscenes by Toei Animation.^[3] A port for the Nintendo 3DS was released on August 8, 2013. Namco Bandai Games announced the 3DS port would be released in Europe in November 2013, later revealing there are also plans to release the game in North America.^[2] The main theme song is Eternal Waves by Hyoue Ebata, which is replaced with an original piece in the Western releases due to licensing issues.

Reception

It has a score of 42% on Metacritic.^[4]

MyM gave the game a negative review, with a ranking of 3 out of 10. Reviewer Martin Wharmby wrote: "Hideous, slow, repetitive and downright boring, Romance Dawn does a disservice to the One Piece franchise when it should have excelled."^[5] GamesRadar gave the game 1.5/5 stars, citing barebones RPG elements and bland, maze-like environments.^[6]

IGN awarded it a score of 5.0 out of 10, saying "One Piece: Romance Dawn tries hard to tell the Straw Hats’ story, but you'd be better off just watching the anime."^[7] Destructoid awarded it 4.5 out of 10, saying "If the presentation wasn't so horrible, One Piece: Romance Dawn would be a decent way for a JRPG fan to spend an afternoon after they've exhausted their library of other more innovative titles"^[8] Nintendo Life awarded it 3 out of 10, saying, "Frankly, it’s difficult to ascertain who would glean any semblance of enjoyment from One Piece: Romance Dawn."^[9] Pocket Gamer awarded it 4 out of 10, saying "It's really difficult to tell who One Piece: Romance Dawn will disappoint more: long-time fans of the franchise or newcomers."^[10] Slant Magazine awarded it 1 out of five stars, saying "they've put forth a product so systematically undercooked as to make even the most unflappable One Piece zealots question their faithfulness."^[11]

Due to strong sales Namco Bandai have confirmed future One Piece games coming to the West, including One Piece: Unlimited World Red^[12]

Gamestop Limited Edition

Namco Bandai Games America announced in November 2013 that One Piece: Romance Dawn will be getting a limited edition in the US and Canada at Gamestop, Club Namco and EB Canada. The limited edition consists of the game itself in a special holographic package. Namco Bandai have confirmed to produce 16800 limited edition versions of the game. Due to the limited nature of the release, One Piece: Romance Dawn is very difficult to find in retail stores.^[13]

References

1. nbgi (September 30, 2012). "Ｐｓｐ「ワンピース Romance Dawn 冒険の夜明け」第２弾ｐｖ". YouTube. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
2. Spencer (2013-09-19). "One Piece: Romance Dawn Will Make It To North America [Update". Siliconera. Retrieved 2013-10-14.
3. "One Piece: Romance Dawn PSP Has 30 Minutes of New Anime". Anime News Network. 21 June 2023.
4. "One Piece: Romance Dawn". Metacritic.
5. Wharmby, Martin (January 24, 2014), "One Piece: Romance Dawn", MyM Magazine, no. 22, p. 51
6. Pino, Nick (14 February 2014). "One Piece: Romance Dawn review". gamesradar.
7. "One Piece: Romance Dawn Review - IGN". 17 March 2014 – via uk.ign.com.
8. "Review: One Piece: Romance Dawn". Destructoid. 11 February 2014.
9. "Review: One Piece Romance Dawn (3DS)". Nintendo Life. December 5, 2013.
10. "One Piece Romance Dawn". www.pocketgamer.com. 12 February 2014.
11. LeChevallier, Mike (27 February 2014). "Review: One Piece: Romance Dawn". Slant Magazine.
12. "One Piece: Unlimited World Red Gets PS Vita Retail Release in N. America". Anime News Network. 21 June 2023.
13. "GameTrailers". YouTube.

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
• One Piece: Romance Dawn - The Dawn of the Adventure at GameFAQs
• One Piece: Romance Dawn - The Dawn of the Adventure at siliconera (part 1)
• One Piece: Romance Dawn - The Dawn of the Adventure at siliconera (part 2)