Professor Layton's New Look Tied to Time Travel

[Tom Goldman]

Professor Layton's New Look Tied to Time Travel

Puzzle expert Professor Layton will indeed be getting a new look for his 3DS debut, but he isn't exactly the next Dante.

When Level-5 president Akihiro Hino said that exactly the same as before [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103809-Professor-Layton-Getting-Makeover-for-3DS-Debut]. At the recent "Level-5 Vision" press conference, the company revealed what Hino meant by his earlier comments.

Layton won't be swapping out his hugely collared coat for a leather jacket, or his top hat for a mohawk. Mask of Miracle will instead put players in the professor's shoes during two different time lines. Puzzles will evidently have to be solved both in the present and the past, long before Layton's current apprentice Luke was even born. Fortunately, Layton still appears to have help from a young, bespectacled fellow wearing a purple coat and a neckerchief.

The younger Professor Layton is too cool to wear a jacket, but he still keeps it classy with a vest and tie. The height of his locks are nearly a replacement for the modern-day Layton's top hat, as they also reach wildly towards the heavens. I guess we know what Layton's keeping under that hat: a massive do.

Mask of Miracle also brings the present-day backwards a little, as the story takes place one year after Layton meets Luke. The game will feature motion captured animation, 3D characters, and a daily puzzle system planned to release a new challenge every day for an entire year. Japan will get to hang out with the more virile Layton in spring 2011, while other markets' release dates are still to be announced. Professor Layton and the Unwound Future [http://www.amazon.com/Professor-Layton-Unwound-Future-Nintendo-DS/dp/B003O6E7DI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1287515207&sr=8-1], the third game in the franchise, was released just one month ago in North America, so ideally Nintendo and Level-5 won't skip out on releasing the fourth before it moves on to the 3DS next year.

Source: Andriasang [http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2010/10/19/l5vision_2010_live_blog/]

Permalink

 

[ProfessorLayton]

I... am certainly excited to see how this turns out, though extremely confused. Honestly, I don't think it looks that bad, though many crazed Layton fans will inevitably be furious.

 

[Sartan0]

Yeah well it does say he will send the other half of the game in his normal duds so I am not that worried about it. I am more worried about the 3D requirement.

 

[Hman121]

He looks pretty chill with the new duds he's sporting. Sadly, I forersee an uproar in the fanbase about this.

 

[subject_87]

While I've never really played the Prof. Layton games, for some reason he reminds me of the Gentle Manne of Leisure from TF2. I think it's the hat.

 

[vivadelkitty]

He's regenerated! ...no wait, that's Doctor, not Professor...

OTefinitely an interesting look for the character.

 

[standokan]

I was hoping to see the story go farther in too the future instead of the past but hey, a good ol layton and luke, and his hair is shown in the last one and thank god he lost that afro.

BTW Does anyone know anything bout the layton movie?

 

[Buchichu]

Why would fans be pissed off? If the game takes place in two timeframes naturally he'd look younger; wouldn't people be quicker to point out the lack of logic if he looked exactly the same?? This is why fanboys piss ME off. they have no idea what they're mad about, they just took for reasons to whine.

Shut up and play the game or move on.

 

[mr_rubino]

A CHARACTER LOOKS DIFFERENT NOW THAN BEFORE I SHALL NOT STAND BY SUCH LEWDNESS!
Sound the larm! Hoisten down the mainbatches! Get me my bitching cap!
I'm off to the internet to spread my disillusionment to anyone who will listen.

 

[oreopizza47]

Professor Layton and the Attack of the 80's? I think he looks pretty rockin', or however you kids say it nowadays... ignoring the fact that I'm still a kid myself. Looks like I need to get back into these games.

 

[Tom Phoenix]

Haha, that picture is hilarious. It seems like Level-5 might have taken a pointer or two from Waterboy:


What is even funnier is that he doesn't really look younger. Just more retro. XD

 

[blalien]

But a gentleman always wears a hat! What's he going to do next, raise his voice to a lady? Use the wrong utensil? Refuse to solve another damn block sliding puzzle?

 

[BobisOnlyBob]

Yeah well it does say he will send the other half of the game in his normal duds so I am not that worried about it. I am more worried about the 3D requirement.

I doubt puzzles will be 'required' to be in 3D; likely the majority of puzzles will have optional 3D effects, which make solving them easier if they're spatial-awareness puzzles, and that otherwise you can set the 3DS into its 2D mode and try and solve it the hard way of looking at a 3D object on a 2D screen, rotating it with the stylus.

If any puzzles do REQUIRE 3D, it's partially discriminating against those with partial sight, but I believe the game series already discriminates against the colour-blind... however, I suspect such puzzles would not be on the 'main path' as it were, but optional, and like I said above I suspect that they won't truly 'require' it, just be a damn sight easier to understand.

 

[RandallJohn]

Layton had a Jewfro?

I have no objections to this.

 

[Semudara]

No actual fan of Professor Layton is going to complain, I guarantee it.

Why? Because we've already seen him with a different look. In the Unwound Future, we see how he got his hat. So, no real fan would be surprised or angered by this new reveal of an even younger Layton.

Glad I could clear things up.