From our other sites
The story
A poster on 5ch’s “Hardware/Industry” (Geha) board started a thread hoping to cash in by turning the popular character Chiikawa into a video game, asking others to help figure out a suitable genre and developer. Replies were split on how to capture the original’s “poison” — some pitched a Mystery Dungeon-style roguelike or an MMO, others wanted a Pikmin-style game where the characters are treated as expendable, and others imagined a FromSoftware- or Capcom-style action game with brutally unfair deaths. Suggested developers included Furyu, Nintendo, and Bandai, and some replies pointed out that a game called “Chiikawa Pocket” already exists.
What people said
If I can rake in hundreds of millions, I can start my life over from zero
So I'm counting on your advice to make it happen
what exactly are YOU doing?
Negotiating with Nagano, finding a developer and hashing out terms, securing distribution channels, building and executing a sales strategy, building and executing a promo strategy, acting as the go-between to keep every partner company negotiating and moving in sync, lining up sponsors and negotiating with them, and if you can't find sponsors, scrounging up funding some other way — stuff like that
If you're doing this as a hobby, sure, all you have to do is make the game. But if you're doing it as a job, it's not that simple.
A slightly cuter remaster
Chiikawa Nobunaga's Ambition
Chiikawa Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Are you an idiot? You'd get arrested for copyright infringement.
That would sell like crazy.
Let's have FromSoftware make it.
On Switch it'd be a party game.
since enemies attack you even while you're just going about your normal life.
3 cards for 100 yen
it's gotta be a roguelite or survival-crafting game
one where you get unfairly wrecked and somehow have to make do.
Ah, I see — getting stomped flat by a Damagumo (a spider-like Chiikawa monster) and leaving a pool of blood.
Nagano really does love splatter.
If you don't have money, nobody trusts you
and nobody's going to hear you out.
You should've at least become friends with Nagano before Chiikawa was ever drawn.
Has to be "Sanctuarious of Smally Prittyra," obviously.
and a Chiikawa arm-wrestling machine.
Like the special attack triggers with a "Nooo!" cutscene lol
just ask whichever company makes the Tamagotchi games.
People on Geha really do have tunnel vision — I bet most of them are running their mouths without even knowing that exists.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Chiikawa is a character created by Nagano, and a hugely popular IP with a steady stream of merchandise and collaborations. The thread began as a playful thought experiment — not a live-action adaptation, but a hypothetical video game — and opinions diverged over how to translate the original’s signature blend of “cuteness” and “unreasonably brutal death” into gameplay. The popularity of Pikmin-style expendable-character concepts and roguelite pitches reflects the source material’s habit of putting its characters through terrible ordeals. At the same time, some replies pointed to the practical hurdles of actually pulling off such a project — negotiating rights with Nagano, coordinating with developers and sponsors — offering a glimpse of real-world game production difficulties even in what was ultimately a fantasy thread. As noted in the thread itself, a mobile game called “Chiikawa Pocket” is, in fact, already available.
※This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Hardware/Industry, “Geha”) thread “I’m thinking of turning Chiikawa into a video game — help me figure out the right genre and developer.”
Leave a Reply