Ludography
79/100
Players9 ratings
64/100
Critics6 reviews
More scores
Metacritic4 critic reviews
53/100
Metacritic usersuser score
74/100
GameFAQsEasy-Just Right
3.81/5
Player reviews
55% positive289 reviews
Steam Deck
Playable
Runs on
Windows
Price
US$2.99

Where to get it

Code of Princess cover

2012 · Bones · Action role-playing · Adventure

Code of Princess

Nintendo console exclusive

Code of Princess offers players an exciting yet unconventional experience, deftly blending the combo-heavy fighting gameplay of beat ‘em ups with the stat-boosting character customization of RPGs.

Released
19 April 2012
Platforms
Nintendo 3DSWindows
Genres
Action role-playingAdventureBeat 'em upRole-playing
Developers
Bones
Publishers
—
Modes
MultiplayerSingle-player
Perspective
Side view
Themes
Action
Country
Japan
Age ratings
CERO BPEGI 12ESRB T
Languages
English, Japanese
Time to beat
5hmain story15hcompletionist

About

Code of Princess is an action role-playing video game developed by Studio Saizensen and originally published by Agatsuma Entertainment for Nintendo 3DS. It was released in Japan in April 2012 by Agatsuma Entertainment, and in North America by Atlus USA in October 2012, Agatsuma Entertainment also published the game in Europe and Australia in March 2013, exclusively as an eShop title. A version for Windows was released in April 2016.

An enhanced port entitled Code of Princess EX launched for the Nintendo Switch between July and August 2018, courtesy of Nicalis worldwide, and Pikii in Japan.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Code of Princess is a hack and slash video game that features several game modes and over 50 playable characters. In single-player mode there is a story-driven campaign mode with several scenarios where only 4 characters (Solange, Ali, Zozo and Allegro) are playable, a "free play" mode that allows playing any campaign scenario with any available character, and a "Bonus Quests" mode where additional scenarios are unlocked and must be beaten with specific requirements. The game also has RPG elements, at the completion of a scenario, the player receives experience points, money, and sometimes equipment to use on the playable characters. When a character levels up the player can allocate status points freely. There is also a multiplayer mode that supports local and network play where players can play several scenarios cooperatively, or they can fight each other in a Versus Mode, up to four combatants in a fight.

Story

In a world populated by humans and monsters, Princess Solange Blanchefleur de Lux is exiled from her home Kingdom of DeLuxia after it is attacked by monsters, and the royal family is blamed for the attack by the Distron army. Armed with the Sacred Blade DeLuxcalibur, Princess Solange sets out to find the cause of the monsters' violent behavior while also avoiding the Distron Army, who are looking for the DeLuxcalibur. On her journey Solange meets several people, including female thief Ali Baba, zombie-like Necromancer Lady Zozo, bard/sage Allegro, martial artist Master T Drakkhen, blind samurai "Shooting Star" Tsukikage, business-driven cat Marco Neko, and warrior/nun Sister Helga "Hel" Wilhelmina. Zozo, Tsukikage and Master T join Solange because they feel "drawn" to the DeLuxcalibur.

Zozo also explains that she isn't currently in her real body, but rather created a body for herself because her real body was stolen. Solange and her team eventually learn that Distron's leader Queen Distiny is behind the monster attacks, and then fight the generals of Distron, which include ninja Baku Juppongi, a former acquaintance of Ali; sorcerer Alchemia, and General Liongate, who actually is Solange's brainwashed brother Schwartz.

Development

The game plays very similar to the Sega Saturn title Guardian Heroes. Guardian Heroes' director and character designer Tetsuhiko Kikuchi and lead programmer Masaki Ukyo worked on Code of Princess. Both of them served as contractors for the title.

Atlus USA provided a full localization for the North American release on the Nintendo 3DS, including English voice acting. Agatsuma Entertainment adopted this localization for the PAL region release. Albeit the PC version of the game was released worldwide, the game's new publisher Degica did not retain the English voice-acting, keeping only the translated text from the original 3DS version.

Reception

Code of Princess and its enhanced port, Code of Princess EX, garnered "mixed or average" reviews according to review aggregator site Metacritic.

Legacy

In 2013, the team behind the first game has expressed interest in developing a sequel to the game for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Solange, Ali, Liongate and Master T all appear as playable characters in the 2018 crossover fighting game Blade Strangers. Solange also appears as a playable character in the 2019 puzzle game Crystal Crisis.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Nintendo 3DS19 April 2012Japan · North America 9 October 2012 · Europe 28 March 2013
Windows14 April 2016Worldwide

Editions and related releases

Ported as
Code of Princess EX
Built on it
Code of Princess EX

Games like this

Collections5 collections

Years

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.