''Steal Princess'', known in Japan as , is a

puzzle A puzzle is a game, Problem solving, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (Disentanglement puzzle, or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at th ...

-based

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

developed by

Climax Entertainment was a Japanese video game development company. It was a small company, with just 20 staff in 1996. Climax got its start during the 16-bit era, primarily developing games for the Sega Genesis console. During the 32-bit era, some members of the t ...

Gameplay

The game is divided into larger areas that are subdivided into multiple levels. Levels are short and generally only take a few minutes to complete. The goal often involves defeating a set of enemies and activating switches in order to gain access to the level's exit. The puzzle elements in the first few levels combine to form more complex puzzles as the game progresses. There is also a level editor feature to allow players to create their own puzzles and share them on the

Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection (WFC) was an online multiplayer gaming service run by Nintendo to provide free online play in compatible Nintendo DS and Wii games. The service included the company's Wii Shop Channel and DSi Shop game download ...

network.

Plot

Anise, a master thief, accidentally triggers a booby-trap in the palace of the Ancient Demon King. She barely escapes and is knocked unconscious. A fairy named Kukri rescues her and takes her to Albyon Castle. Kukri claims that Anise is a descendant of the Legendary Hero of Albyon and thus, the king commands her to save the prince who was captured by the demons in the Demon King's palace.

Development

In December 2008, the

ESRB The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games in the United States and Canada. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Asso ...

leaked the announcement of three games which

Atlus is a Japanese video game developer, publisher, arcade manufacturer and distribution company based in Tokyo. A subsidiary of Sega, the company is known for video game series such as ''Megami Tensei'', ''Persona'', ''Etrian Odyssey'' and ''Trau ...

would be releasing in North America, including the announcement of ''Steal Princess''. A week after the leak Atlus jokingly said in a press release that all future release announcements would be made via the

website. ''Steal Princess'' was officially announced on January 15, 2009 with a release date scheduled for March 24, 2009. Three of Atlus's game's releases were rescheduled in February 2009, including ''Steal Princess'' whose new release date was for April 21, 2009. Atlus announced in May that they would be delaying ''Steal Princess'' by a few weeks, until May 19, to allow more time to advertise the game. To appease gamers that were counting on the April 21 release, a free mini-poster was packaged with the game.

Reception

The game received "mixed" reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. In Japan, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' gave it a score of 28 out of 40.

References

{{Reflist 2008 video games Atlus games Marvelous Entertainment games Nintendo DS games Nintendo DS-only games Platform games Puzzle video games Video games developed in Japan Video games featuring female protagonists