Readers may recall yesterday (May 21, 2008) Gamertell reported on a curious DS pet game mystery. Hana Deka Club: Animal Paradise was scheduled to be released in North America, but two companies both were listing the localization as one of their projects. O3 Entertainment was supposedly releasing the game as Pocket Pets and Empire Interactive was supposedly releasing it as Animal Paradise.

After talking with a representative from Empire Interactive, the truth was revealed. Originally O3 Entertainment was supposed to localize and release Hana Deka Club. Pocket Pets was supposed to be out in December, 2007. Since it was never released, Empire Interactive was given the opportunity to release the game in North America because it had published the European release as Animal Paradise. So expect to see Animal Paradise in stores this summer.

I think we’re at something like 35 DS pet games now, but who’s counting. A press release from Empire Interactive reveals that it will be bringing Animal Paradise to North American Nintendo DS owners. I guess representatives from the company walked into a GameStop, looked at the DS game wall and decided that there’d be plenty of room for one more pet title.

There’s an interesting twist here, for those who care enough to look. Empire Interactive says that the game will feature Yoneo Morita’s HanaDeka pictures and 18 different pets. There was a Japanese DS game with these features called Hana Deka Club: Animal Paradise. You’re probably thinking it is no big deal – so another Japanese game is being translated and localized. Except O3 Entertainment is already reportedly localizing and releasing this game in North America according to Gamefaqs – as Pocket Pets. Pocket Pets was supposed to be out December 4, 2007, but retail sites like Amazon and Wal-Mart are listing it as a pre-order item that should be available in June.