Samurai Pizza Cats: Blast From The Past will make its public playable debut at Tokyo Game Show, giving fans their first hands-on experience with the action RPG inspired by the cult 1990s anime series.
Publisher Red Dunes Games and developer Blast Zero will showcase the demo at the Red Dunes Games booth in Hall 7, Booth N03. The preview focuses on fast-paced platforming, combat and the ability to switch among the three playable Pizza Cats.
Tokyo Game Show Demo Focuses on Combat and Platforming
The TGS demo has been designed specifically around the game’s action mechanics. While the full release will include RPG customization, character progression and exploration, those systems will not be the focus of the public preview.
According to Blast Zero, including every major system would have made the demonstration too lengthy for the event. Instead, the team wants attendees to experience the combat, responsiveness and overall feel of controlling the characters.
The full game will feature an original adventure rather than retelling episodes from the animated series. Familiar characters and elements will return as the developers expand the established world.
Speedy, Guido and Polly Have Distinct Abilities
Each of the three playable Pizza Cats has a different combat style.
Speedy, known as Yattarou in Japan, specializes in close-range combat. Guido, or Sukashii, emphasizes platforming and aerial attacks, while Polly, known as Pururun, uses projectile attacks suited to players who prefer fighting from a distance.
Players can switch between the characters almost instantly, opening opportunities to combine their abilities and create more elaborate attack sequences.
A card-based upgrade system will provide additional customization, allowing players to develop each character according to their preferred style.
Game Director and Music Composer Sebastien Romero said, “We’re excited to see how players experiment with the cats’ unique skills, with a high skill ceiling rewarding creative character switching and clever solutions”.
Hand-Drawn Animation Recreates the Original Anime Style
Blast Zero is using hand-drawn animation to recreate the appearance and personality of the original Samurai Pizza Cats series.
Blast Zero CEO Dave Baljon said the team’s goal is to make playing the game feel like directly controlling characters from the anime.
“What we are showing this year is already spectacular, but we want to surprise visitors again next year, too”, Baljon said. “Our goal is to make players feel as though they’re actually controlling the characters from the anime. We won’t settle for anything less, and that’s how we want the game to stand out.”
That attention to detail extends to the environments. Art Director and Lead Animator Laurent Romero has collected screenshots of locations, attacks and other visual references from throughout the original series. The studio says its location reference collection alone includes more than 10,000 files.
Developers also studied how locations shown in the anime connect geographically, including consulting a real map of Japan to help determine where areas inspired by actual regions should appear within the game’s world.
Japanese and English Versions Preserve Their Original Humor
The localization strategy is another part of the project’s effort to remain faithful to the source material.
Rather than using one unified script for every region, the Japanese and English versions are being developed as distinct works to preserve the humor and characterization associated with each version of the original show.
Sultan Darmaki, CEO and Creative Director, said, “Blast Zero are doing a truly remarkable and creative job! – Their faithfulness to the spirit and tone of the original extends well beyond visuals and gameplay. Both the Japanese and English versions are being crafted as distinct works, preserving the humour and characterisation fans know from each regional release rather than creating a single unified script.”
Samurai Pizza Cats Returns as an Action RPG
Samurai Pizza Cats: Blast From The Past combines platforming and action combat with RPG progression, customization and exploration.
Red Dunes Games, an independent developer and publisher based in Abu Dhabi, is publishing the project, while Blast Zero is handling development.
The Tokyo Game Show demo will provide the first opportunity for the public to see how the studio is translating the animated series’ distinctive characters, humor and hand-drawn style into an interactive action RPG.
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