New Little King's Story for the PlayStation Vita will be coming to Europe in 2012. The game is a sequel to one of my favorite games hardly anyone played, 2009's Little King's Story for the Wii. Often compared to Pikmin, the game cast players as king of a fantasy realm who commanded a variety of different subjects in an action rpg-strategy hybrid. Intriguing as the prospects of touch control on the Vita may be, it could be a moot point for me and the rest of North America. When contacted, a Konami representative told Shacknews, "There are no plans to release the game in North America at this time."

Described in the release as, "a roaming role playing title," the new game follows in the footsteps of its predecessor. Players will again become king and face a mysterious enemy named 'the nightmare.' Series creator Yoshiro Kimura is no longer with the game's original developer, Marvelous Entertainment, but the studio is said to be working in conjunction with Konami to create the game.

As the first screenshots show, New Little King's Story takes advantage of the Vita screen for a more detailed visual look. Whether that can still evoke the charm of its predecessor remains to be seen. Game mechanics seem to be the same, though, with the release describing the ease of arranging recruits and sending them in to battle with the touch screen.

I'm not getting my hopes up for a North American release, though. If Operation Rainfall can't convince Nintendo to bring over the critically-acclaimed Xenoblade Chronicles, I can't imagine what it might take to get New Little King's Story here.