Japanese Mobile Games: A Source of True Innovation
If you look at the Top Grossing 100 Mobile Games of the US Apple App Store, you’ll see a wide variety of game genres; match-3 games, RPGs, sim-builders, battle sim-builders, casino & poker games, hidden object games, dress up games, endless runners, etc. However, that does not mean that all those games are innovative. Often, games with somewhat successful BMs get re-skinned with popular IP to create a game with massive success. For example, Glu Mobile’s Stardom was in the Top 150 Grossing in the US App Store for some time and was later re-skinned to Kim Kardashian: Hollywood raking in over $200 million dollars within a single year. Other re-skinned top grossing games include The Hobbit: Battle for the North (re-skinned from Kingdoms of Camelot), Heroes Charge (re-skinned from a Korean mobile game, Dot Arena which used DOTA 2 hero skins and hero abilities), Candy Crush Soda Saga (Candy Crush Saga), etc.
In the US App Store, re-skinning somewhat successful games is a corporate strategy to hedge risks and safely replicate marketing campaigns to increase the success rate and adoption of a game. It makes sense, but does not advance the industry forward. This begs the question, where will we see the next wave of innovative games?
My thoughts: “Japan”
Puzzle & Dragons and Brave Frontier
The first thing when you think of Japanese mobile games is the wildly successful game Puzzle & Dragons (P&D) which has become the first mobile game to single handedly make over 1 billion dollars in lifetime revenue as of 2014. Gumi’s 8-bit RPG and Brave Frontier has stayed on the US Top Grossing chart since its US launch in Dec 2013.
These two Japanese games provided gameplay that Western mobile gamers haven’t seen before. For P&D, it’s unique drag and swap gameplay layered with its Monster battle elements incorporating collection and team strategy formation brought a new layer of depth in the puzzle genre. Brave Frontier took the P&D business model, but used more of a “Final Fantasy”-like gameplay allowing players to create crazy combos and activate powerful special with just a few swipes and taps. This was truly a step above the TCGs such as Rage of Bahamut from DeNA that flooded the US market in 2012 in terms of quality and gameplay.
Japanese App Store
If we take a step back and look at the Japanese App Store, you’ll see a ton if not most of the Top Grossing games are RPG games all utilizing some form of gatcha mechanic. You must be thinking, if most of the games have the same kind of UI layout and gatcha mechanics, how is that more innovative than the current Western mobile games?
I’ll leave you with gameplay or trailers of what I’m talking about:
White Cat Project
White Cat Project developed by COLOPL currently been in the Top 10 Grossing in Japan since it’s July 2014 release. Most ARPGs have trouble with reaching the Top 100 Grossing ranks for long periods of time, but the White Cat Project is different. I can’t think of any ARPG that allows you to play in the following ways:
- Game is in Portrait mode
- You play with only one hand
- Using native gestures to move, dodge (yes, dodge), and attack
In my opinion, it is an ARPG crafted specifically for mobile users in mind and explains why it is so accessible to the casual RPG user. I personally think that using virtual joysticks and virtual attack buttons are very antiquated way of pushing the ARPG genre forward. Why use that extra screen space for virtual buttons when you can compartmentalize and use native gestures for various commands?
I also forgot to mention you can go through dungeons with others in real-time and complete your team member’s side story quests for additional bonuses.
Dragonball Dokkan Battle
Dragonball Dokkan Battle, developed by Bandai Namco and released at the end of January 2015, is currently an exclusive on Google Play and has already reached the Top 50 Grossing.
The main premise of this game is that Trunks has traveled back in time and you’re now assisting him to find Goku. (Don’t worry, it doesn’t follow the DBZ storyline persae.) You encounter and fight many of the supporting DBZ characters such as Krillin, Tien Shinhan, Piccolo, and others who all want to test your skills.
What’s interesting about this game is the unique puzzle gameplay utilizing lines of colored balls to power-up various characters’ attacks against the enemy and the strategy involved to defeat powerful enemies. Also, if you power up your heroes enough during battle, you can unleash characters’ signature moves such as Vegeta’s “Galik Gun” or Goku’s “Kamehameha”. You essentially assemble a team of heroes and foes from the DBZ universe (up through the Cell Saga) all with their own leader skills and unique traits. You can partner with certain types of teammates for additional bonuses (for example, when Android 16, 17, or 18 paired together, they receive a power boost as long as they are next to each other).
The action scenes tend to get repetitive, but the sound effects and the fighting animations definitely bring a unique nostalgia that keeps me entertained. The story mode also leaves something to be desired, but the unique gameplay, elemental strategy and character bonuses, and well executed Dragonball-theme keep me playing this game. Strangely enough, I was expecting the Gatcha and overall complexity of the game to be much higher, but it’s actually one of the easiest Japanese games I’ve ever gotten into.
Conclusion
Even with just these two games, you won’t find gameplay like this in the West for any of the existing genres. Japanese games are doing a superb job of combing RPG elements with pretty much any other casual mobile gaming genre. There are many reasons why these types of games won’t come out to the West, but that will be covered in a future article. For now, I’ll continue to cover new and innovative Japanese mobile games that can truly advance how mobile games can be played.
