Meet Your Nopon Party Members In Xenoblade Chronicles 3

The official Japanese Xenoblade account is spoiling us again today with some more juicy details on the upcoming Xenoblade Chronicles 3. Today, we’ve got a few more details on the two lead Nopon characters from the game — Riku and Manana.

Nopon’s are the adorable (or annoying, depending on who you ask) mascot characters for the Xenoblade series — and they’re back again for the third entry. And just like heropon Riki from Xenoblade Chronicles and maid mechanic Tora from Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Riku and Manana will be able to join you in combat, but instead of fighting separately, the pair team up to take down enemies.

The information on these characters has been translated by Perfectly Nintendo, so let’s find out a bit more about them!

Riku

A Nopon from Colony 9 in Keves (like Noah and his friends), who sports some rather thick eyebrows. Back at the colony, he’s a mechanic in charge of both item crafting and the maintenance of the Iron Giant. He’s a keen Nopon who always keeps his cool, no matter the situation, and the advice he provides Noah and the others is well worth heeding. Weapons need some maintenance? Riku is your man Nopon!

Riku sounds like an interesting character, and a more serious take on the Nopon than we’re perhaps used to. But the most important thing about Riku right now is that he’s from a place called Colony 9. Fans of the first game will definitely remember that place, but it seems to be the name of somewhere else on Keves. If there are links there, we’ll find out soon enough. Also, that hairdo? It just adorable.

Manana

A Nopon who hails from Agnus and a companion of Mio and the others’. If her chef toque wasn’t clear enough, her specialty is cooking. Her skills are without pair, which is why it’s no big surprise she was in charge of cooking back at her former colony. Manana is literally obsessed with food, so if you come across something that could be used as an ingredient during your adventures, make sure to give it to Manana so that she can whip up one mouth-watering dish! Manana is bound to brighten your travels with her cheerful personality.

Ahh, there we go — a Nopon with sensibilities that we’re a bit more familiar with. Sprightly and talkative, with a real passion for food? Sounds like the ideal travelling companion to boost your mood. She hails from the rival nation of Agnus. Female Nopon have mostly been regulated to side characters throughout the series — until Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition‘s Future Connected gave us Nene.

This pair of Nopon will team up in combat to fulfill the Attacker role. Their key skill is to weaken enemies with status effects and help do damage. How this pairing work in-game, we’ve yet to see, or even what the seventh party member does — as the other six are all partnered up with another person in the group — so whatever it is, it’s sure to be something unique.

Regardless, it’s great to see Monolith Soft doing something different with the Nopon characters. Often they are there as the main source of comic relief — though Riki often parted with good wisdom, and Tora’s brains and mechanics savvy often served as a huge boon to Rex and Pyra throughout their journey. Given that Riku and Manana are from different nations, we’re interested to see what their dynamic is like.

Nintendo also shared some new official art for the pair, which shows them having their game faces on. You’re not making them look any less cute by giving them a serious face, Nintendo — you can stop trying.

Don’t forget, Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is out on 29th July for Switch. You can browse all of your pre-order options down below. Disappointingly, Nintendo revealed over the weekend that Collector’s Editions in Europe won’t be shipping until later in the year.

If you’re in the US, don’t forget you can also you can grab a $50 eShop card for 10% less from our store using the code NLIFE10:

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What do you think of these two Nopon? How will they compare to the others in the series? Let us know in the comments!