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The new mainline Atelier game (actually given the Project A25 name) is for mobile phones along with a steam client. Probably never coming west.

If you're looking for a standard edition copy of Atelier Ryza 3, Best Buy has a $10 gift card for preordering. (Digital Deluxe extras and digital preorder bonuses are not able to be purchased Ala Carte)

Xseed is releasing a physical day 1 edition of Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed Director's Cut this summer.  They only mentioned Switch so I guess no physical PS4 version outside of Japan?

The extra content will be available as DLC on PC and PS4. According to the Japanese site, the extra character route for Kati is 1500 Yen and then a pack including new costumes & Kati is 3000 yen.

Sisters VS Sisters isn't another spinoff? I haven't really checked into this one yet, been used to the last few games in the series not being of much interest.

It's a real Neptunia game that takes place after VII. The goddesses go to help out the PC continent, while they're gone Nepgear and friends find a hidden lab and get thrown into a stasis pod thing, awakening to a world where cell phones took over and monster attacks are keeping people inside. Also Neptune didn't return from the PC continent so Planeptune fell without a goddess. There's a different battle system but the story constantly refers back to earlier games. 

Unfortunately the initial Japanese announcement called it a "Orthodox Spin-off" which was all the western audience needed to see to write it off. The Japanese term is used in media to refer to canon works in a larger franchise. The best anime example I can come up with is A Certain Scientific Railgun with it's plot running alongside A Certain Magical Index or all the Star Wars media created post-Disney acquisition.

All the Digital Deluxe editions for the niche games I play have pretty much guaranteed I'm mostly going digital. Koei Tecmo and the Atelier series has been pretty consistent with theirs and the first mainline Neptunia game in ages locks swimsuit costumes behind one. 

Blue Reflection Second Light $19.99 at BBY
Is it fine to skip the first game?  Hoping Sophie 2 drops to a similar level soon.

The game features a new protagonist and everything is seen from her viewpoint. The heroines from the anime, first game, and supposedly still upcoming mobile game all join up and have their own story arcs, but anything you need to know is explained. 

E: I say supposedly because the anime flopped so hard that the Japanese Bluray release was cancelled

So are they just not doing Directs anymore? wtf even is this half-assed treehouse thing for?

Nintendo likely doesn't have that much first party content on the horizon, so they're focusing on individual releases. Last month was Xenoblade, Splatoon has a demo and then a proper launch on the 9th, Bayonetta is October, Pokemon is November. Zelda is still a vague 2023, Metroid Prime 4 is TBA, and the only other first party title they have on their quarterly financial chart is the delayed Advance Wars remake. Plenty of rumors are around over ports of Zelda Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 1-3 collection, and a couple others just sitting and waiting for a good release date, but they just don't have anything solid to announce. 

Tokyo Game Show will likely have some good 3rd party announcements, but companies are definitely going all out for the first real in person show they've been able to do in a couple years. No need for Nintendo to announce things.

The combat is mostly SMT except the physical damage types are from Fire Emblem (Sword/Axe/Spear) and once you start getting the combo attacks you're easily able to cheese the later parts of the game.

The thing people had their panties in a wad over was a combination of Nintendo and a (Japanese) Karaoke company requesting certain themes be toned down. The Karaoke people needed the outfits to be toned down for their booths and Nintendo of America was not cool having a 17 year old (and a 16 year old colleague introduced in the following chapter that makes a cameo during a photo shoot) be introduced into the world of Gravure (sexy swimsuit) photography and the section was rewritten for general modeling instead. But at that point the Wii U was bleeding out so it was claimed as a victory for those opposed to the censorship when it didn't sell a bunch of copies.

Soul Calibur 2 HD Online was delisted from Xbox last week. Everybody was freaking out over the Persona 3/4/5 news for Switch and it kinda flew under the radar. It's still on various sites selling the code card for $19.99. Soul Calibur 1 will not work if you buy it.

https://sega.jp/mdmini2/

Genesis Mini 2 announced. They're drip feeding the 50 titles like the last time, but already include some Sega CD titles like Sonic CD, Shining Force CD, and Popful Mail. 9,980 Yen.

I figured people would be more upset after finding out the elementary school dragon girl doesn't take as much clothing damage as the other characters.

E: It's a game built in unity so the assets (such as completed puzzles) can be viewed without much work. 

FYI physical copies of Persona Q have a high failure rate. Even if you have a physical of that one, it's probably a good idea to get that as a backup.

Mine was a limited edition pack in and just decided to stop working one day. Just sitting in a case on a shelf.

FYI Microsoft has started revoking Dev Mode licenses (the one that lets you sideload homebrew emulators and such) and are enforcing a clause you need a Microsoft Store presence within 90 days of buying it.

https://www.nintendo...lassics-switch/

This game that regularly goes on sale for around $12 digital has pretty much everything in the Genesis online. The Sonic games have their own remasters and the mobile ports are coming officially* to Switch soon along with Sonic 3 (which has been in legal limbo since people noticed similarity to Michael Jackson's music)

*There's a homebrew port that extracts files from a legally downloaded free version from the android store.