File this one under didn’t see it coming. I knew when Sword Art Online aired back in 2012 that it was widely popular both in Japan and in North America. And with any extremely popular anime comes a video game adaptation or two. In most cases the video game doesn’t always make the trip overseas. But in the last few years or so, Namco Bandai has been making an effort in bringing various popular properties over for localization. These include several Gundam games, the Naruto Ultimate Ninja series, One Piece and the most recent addition, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure All Star Battle. Now add Sword Art Online Hollow Fragment. Hollow Fragment is an enhanced version of the previous SAO game, Infinity Moment for the PSP. Both games deviate from the original story line from the anime and follows a different path. What makes the game new is the new added story that deals with an area of the game called Hollow Fragment. So far Namco Bandai America have not released a trailer for the game, but here is a translated version of the first trailer that was released:
While I’m glad that more games of this type are getting English localization, it has me wondering why SAO? Namco Bandai already has a similar game to SAO that came out years before it, the .hack series. Why not just bring that series back. In any case, there is no set release date for Hollow Fragment so I’m sure we’ll get some kind of explanation before then.
