A pixel artist has gone viral after recreating various Studio Ghibli films as cozy video games.
Twitter user @cloudtrumpets, aka Amour, shared their JRPG take on the beloved 1989 movie Kiki’s Delivery Service with the caption, “What if Kiki’s Delivery Service was a cozy video game?” The tweet included images showcasing what one might see if this game really existed, including a title screen, some dialogue with her friend (and now NPC) Tombo, as well as a cute baking mini-game. The final image depicts the protagonist, Kiki, running through the town of Koriko with her feline friend Jiji running alongside her. It appears that the game would also include the ability for Kiki to switch between traveling on foot and flying on her broom. The tweet has received an overwhelmingly positive response, with over 222k likes and 37k retweets at the time of writing.
Twitter users flooded the replies with praise for the colors, UI and little details, like Kiki’s iconic red radio shown to be playing the opening song of the film. One user shared how they think the mini-games would work, commenting, “I feel like there’d be mini-games at certain people’s houses, like at the old lady’s house you’d have to do chores around the house, blow into the mic to start the fire (imagining this on like a DS or something.).” Another user commented, “I’m so disappointed there’s not a ‘wishlist here’ link,” to which the artist responded, “Someday there will be (maybe…).”
If Secret World of Arrietty Were a Video Game
In response to the positive reception, Amour linked to a previous tweet made in May 2022 of another JRPG reimagining for the 2010 Ghibli film The Secret World of Arrietty. The images show a title screen and dialogue snippet like with the Kiki’s Delivery Service JRPG, but this time includes an apparent boss battle with a large cat and a page from a journal for tracking players’ progress. Amour also created an original character named Bolt into the game concept, which many users loved. One commented, “I absolutely love how you’ve crafted the speech here! It’s so lifelike and brings a lot of character to Bolt, bless. What a good idea!”
Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio best known for its feature films. Founded in 1985 by directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and producer Toshio Suzuki, the studio has released 23 films, five of which are among the ten highest-grossing anime feature films made in Japan. The 24th film will be Hayao Miyazaki’s final film, titled How Do You Live?, which was revealed in October 2022 to be nearly finished. As well as a new feature film, the long-awaited Ghibli Park opened its gates on Nov. 1. Visitors will immerse themselves in the many worlds Studio Ghibli has created through their works.
How Do You Live? has no set release date.
Source: Twitter, via NextShark
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