Amin Abbas

DUBAI: To celebrate the 35th anniversary of the beloved 1990s anime ‘Samurai Pizza Cats,’ a brand-new video game is officially in development. The show was first aired in Japan on February 1, 1990.

The anime is a sci-fi, action-comedy show set in Edoropolis, a city inhabited by anthropomorphic robotic animals. The series gained international recognition in the early 1990s when it was localized as ‘Samurai Pizza Cats’ and broadcast worldwide, maintaining a dedicated fan base to this day.

The new game, ‘Samurai Pizza Cats: Blast from the Past,’ is being developed by Dutch studio Blast Zero, the creative team behind Jitsu Squad. 

Designed as a 2D action RPG, the game allows players to seamlessly switch between members of the Pizza Cats, utilizing their unique abilities to solve puzzles and engage in thrilling battles within the world of Little Tokyo.

“Here in the Netherlands, it has been on television for a few years and a lot of people have fond memories of the show from their youth,” Dave Baljon, Blast Zero’s CEO, told Arab News Japan. “A few years ago, we developed a video game titled ‘Jitsu Squad,’ which was released worldwide in 2021. After the release of this game, we were approached by a party from Japan, exA-Arcadia. They wanted to make an arcade port of ‘Jitsu Squad’. We thought this was a nice idea because the game is really an arcade game at its core.”

“ExA-Arcadia always does something extra for their ports. We collectively came up with the idea of adding an additional character to the existing playable cast. At the top of the list was the ‘Samurai Pizza Cats,’ as we are big fans of the show. The characters from ‘Jitsu Squad’ are also kind of inspired by the style of the ‘Samurai Pizza Cats’ in terms of how they are drawn in proportion. We thought it was a good match,” he added. 

About the challenges of working on the game, Baljon said, “Because we said that we wanted to present the game in the exact style of the 90s show, it had to look exactly like that. In this way we set the bar high for ourselves, but we did not settle for anything less.”

The original voice actors of the show return for the game. “What immediately struck us was that they did the voices so well and with so much dedication,” Baljon said. “It was really wonderful to see the cast together again after so many years. They had so much fun together during the recordings, and so did we seeing and hearing them perform. The reactions to the announcement trailer are also very positive about how the actors still sound after all these years, and that is quite right.”

“We were able to work with original Japanese voice actors as well. We went to Japan for the recordings and were present at these recordings, which was very special. We also had the opportunity to meet the cast there. They thought it was so special and were very pleasantly surprised that the game really looked like the show from the 90s. It felt like a journey back in time for the actors,” he added. 

The show’s original story writer, Satoru Akahori, worked on the Japanese script for the trailer. “We are honored to work with him on this wonderful project and feel blessed to have all parties involved who assist and support us with such enthusiasm,”

“The reactions to the announcement trailer from Japan were really great. People immediately heard that these were the original actors from the 90s and also thought that the humor was written exactly as they remembered it,” the CEO reflected. 

Baljon shared that the game has various main features that will leave players interested, such as an open world where players can roam freely as well as an extensive RPG card system.

“The game is still early in development, but I can guarantee the fans of the show and those who like the trailer that we will come up with super cool surprises during the development of the game,” Baljon said.

The game will be globally distributed by the UAE indie game studio Red Dunes Games. “Publishing ‘Samurai Pizza Cats: Blast from the Past’ is a meaningful milestone for us at Red Dunes Game,” said Sultan Al Darmaki, Red Dunes Games’s CEO. “We see this not only as a celebration of a beloved franchise but also as an opportunity to introduce the charm and excitement of the ‘Samurai Pizza Cats’ to new audiences worldwide.”

“The development team’s dedication is remarkable, from faithfully recreating the original 90s style to reuniting the legendary voice actors in both English and Japanese. We’re excited about the journey ahead and can’t wait to share more as we get closer to launch,” he added.

‘Samurai Pizza Cats: Blast from the Past’ is currently in early development for all major platforms.