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90smagicalgirl · 5 months

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Where are all the magical girl games?

This is something that I thought about recently since I remembered Sailor Moon drops for the app store and how sad I still am that it shut down. It was a cute and simple puzzle, match 3 type of mobile game where you would collect the characters from Sailor Moon and use their move sets when you did combos or as special "attacks" to clear out parts of the puzzle. It even had the show's villains and side characters included. What made me love it was all the detail it had from the different costumes to even the free content we would get like phone wallpapers. Sadly it did shut down in 2019, but it was going since 2016 so not too short of a span. ( ｡ •̀ ᴖ •́ ｡) </3

Something I realized while thinking about this game was how there hadn't been a single other Sailor Moon similar or even simple app/ game to come out. Which is odd because usually with popular franchises of any kind, they get at least a few more games at the same time or one right after the other shuts down. Since the new Sailor Moon Crystal came out in 2015 it made sense when the game popped up. Even though it's been some years since then (which is crazy to think about honestly), anime as a whole has only gotten more popular and mainstream leading to many other anime franchise app games to come out. Some games to think of as an example would be One Piece Treasure Cruise, Naruto x Boruto Ninja Voltage and Pokémon Masters EX. I included these specific titles because they've been consistently updated to include content from the newest episodes or game releases as we speak.

Sailor Moon is no less relevant than these other titles, it's still just as popular as it was in 2015 and 1992. The merchandise collaborations, like the Jimmy Choo collection or even just going into any big store and finding Sailor Moon graphic tees is a showcase of how big this franchise is still is. Even if it's no longer ongoing, that still doesn't diminish it's popularity. So then.. Why haven't we gotten a new Sailor Moon app game? Or actually.. Why haven't we gotten a Sailor Moon video game at all since 2001 when it was only a Japan exclusive anyway? Or the biggest question of all that strikes me as weird -

Where are the magical girl games? (at least for western audiences)

( ;´ - `;)

Sailor Moon isn't the only big magical girl show that had a revival recently. We saw Cardcaptor Sakura come back as Carcaptor Sakura Clear in 2018 and Tokyo Mew Mew came back in 2022 (last year!). But none of them got so much as an app game, let alone a video game. And these are just my personal top 3, but Magical Girl anime are a HUGE untapped market as a whole!

If you look up "Magical Girl Anime" in Anime-planet.com for example, you get 11 pages showcasing about 21 (if you include movies of course) of magical girl content - of which vary in different eras, starting as early since the 60s. And I'm just talking about anime I'm not talking about manga, because that is an even BIGGER untapped market.

You might be thinking by now, "Well surely there are plenty of games that were created before for the genre." And you're right! There were releases that were made in the past, but it's been such a long time since many of the bigger franchises that are still popular today, got a full release of a game or even an app game.

Let's look at a list of video game release dates for each of the top 3 franchises I listed earlier as an example to get idea of the time frames. I will be listing Western and Japanese releases, but not any collabs with other games. Also, I won't do this perfectly in chronological order, it's only organized by the year it first debuted in Japan. Lastly, I don't read Japanese so I don't know which ones are re-releases so obviously expect to see the same games just on a different system in another or same year. Good? Good. Let's go!

(づ๑•ᴗ•๑)づ♡ ~ (My sources will be linked at the very end of the post)

Sailor Moon

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon - 1992 (Gameboy) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon - 1993 (Super Nintendo) - Japan and EU

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon R - 1993 (Super Nintendo) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon: Kessen Dark Kingdom - 1993 (Sharp X68000) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon - 1994 (Sega Genesis) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon R - 1994 (Gameboy) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Jōgai Rantō!? Shuyaku Sōdatsusen - 1994 (Super Nintendo) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon S - 1994 (Sega Pico) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Quiz Taiketsu! Sailor Power Ketsushuu - 1994 (Playdia) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor V - 1994 (Sharp X68000) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon - 1994 (Turbo CD) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Kotaete Moon Call! - 1994 (Terebikko) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon Collection - 1994 (Turbo CD) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon S - 1995 (Game Gear) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon SuperS - 1995 (Sega Pico) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon S Kurukkurin - 1995 (Super Nintendo) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon: Another Story - 1995 (Super Nintendo) - Japan

Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon S - 1995 (3DO) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon SuperS: Fuwa Fuwa Panic - 1995 (Super Nintendo) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon SuperS: Sailor Moon to Hiragana Lesson! - 1995 (Playdia) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon SuperS: Youkoso! Sailor Youchien - 1995 (Playdia) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon SuperS: Sailor Moon to Hajimete no Eigo - 1995 (Playdia) - Japan

Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon - 1995 (Arcade) - Worldwide

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon Sailor Stars - 1996 (Sega Pico) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon SuperS: Various Emotion - 1996 (Sega Saturn) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon SuperS: Zenin Sanka! Shuyaku Soudatsusen - 1996 (Super Nintendo) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Fuwa Fuwa Panic 2 - 1996 (Super Nintendo) - Japan

Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon SuperS: Shin Shuyaku Soudatsusen - 1996 (Playstation) - Japan

Quiz Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon: Chiryoku Tairyoku Toki no Un - 1997 (Arcade) - Japan

The 3D Adventures of Sailor Moon - 1997 (PC) - US

Sailor Moon Horoskop & Games - 2000 (PC) - EU

Kids Station: Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon World - Chibiusa to Tanoshii Mainichi - 2001 (Playstation)

Sailor Moon: La Luna Splende - 2011 (Nintendo DS) - Italy

Silver Crystal for Sailor V - 2014 (Iphone, Android) - Japan

Sailor Moon Drops - 2016 (Iphone, Android) - WW

⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆⋆ ˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆ ˚｡⋆

Cardcaptor Sakura

Cardcaptor Sakura: Itsumo Sakura-chan to Issho! - 1995 (Game Boy Advance) - Japan

Cardcaptor Sakura - 1999 (Playstation) - Japan

Cardcaptor Sakura: Sakura to Fushigi na Clow Cards - 1999 (WonderSwan) - Japan

Cardcaptor Sakura Clow Card Magic - 2000 (Playstation) - Japan

Cardcaptor Sakura: Tomoyo's Video War - 2000 (Dreamcast) - Japan

Cardcaptor Sakura: Tomoe Shougakkou Daiundoukai - 2000 (Gameboy Color) - Japan

Tetris with Cardcaptor Sakura: Eternal Heart - 2001 (Playstation) - Japan

Card Captor Sakura: Sakura Card de Mini-Game - 2003 (Gameboy Advance) - Japan

Cardcaptor Sakura: Sakura Card-hen Sakura Card to Tomodachi - 2004 (Gameboy Advance) - Japan

Cardcaptor Sakura: Sakura-Chan to Asobo! - 2004 (Playstation 2) - Japan

Cardcaptor Sakura: Happiness Memories - 2019 (Iphone, Android) - Japan

Cardcaptor Sakura: Repaint Record - 2020 - (Iphone, Android) - Japan

˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

Tokyo Mew Mew

Hamepane Tokyo Mew Mew - 2002 (Game Boy Advanced) - Japan

Tokyo Mew Mew – Tojo Shin Mew Mew! – Minna Issho ni Gohoshi Suru Nyan - 2002 (Playstation) - Japan

Berry Berry Mew Mew - 2005 (PC) - Korea (original Japanese name and date unknown; also to note the game was fandubbed to be released in Korean)

ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻ੈ✩‧₊˚

As you can see by these lists, Sailor Moon saw the most releases, but Cardcaptor Sakura had the most recent release of the 3 although it was also sadly short lived and Tokyo Mew Mew with a whopping 3 games (that I could find). And again, I'm not including any collaborations that happened with the franchises for other games, I wanted only to focus on their own actually released games for different platforms/ systems.

Even with a list so big, the very last full video game that wasn't a mobile game for Sailor Moon was released in 2011 for Italy on the Nintendo DS - for Cardcaptor Sakura it was in 2004 for the Playstation 2 in Japan - and Tokyo Mew Mew in 2005 through not even an official release in Korea as that was done by fans who released it fully dubbed in Korean for PC. I found NOTHING in the last 8 years that wasn't a mobile game that didn't last, if even that, for these big titles. That's crazy to me! Especially with the rise of popularity of Anime and video games becoming so popular and mainstream.

⊹˚. ♡ It's not like there isn't an audience for these kinds of games either! With the rise of video games and cozy games specifically, feminine/ girly/ girl video gamers are making themselves known (me included!). While we still face a lot of scrutiny just because we are feminine presenting/ girly/ or just for being a girl, we are still much more out in the open about our interests in Anime and Video games of all kinds. ⊹˚. ♡

I'm going to use The Bratz franchise as an example. People during the pandemic and even now still think about about their childhood of playing dress up games, listening to early 2000s pop music, the fashion aesthetic of the times and the brands of toys that were all over the shelves we either had or wished we had. The Bratz team came back full force with new/ reruns of dolls, a webshow and a video game. And I'll say it now, Bratz Flaunt Your Fashion was not all too groundbreaking when you compare it to what it was based on ~ Bratz Forever Diamondz for the Playstation 2 and Nintendo DS. But it's still a fun game and people ate it up!! Why? Because we MISS these kinds of games! We miss girly and feminine games aimed for the shes, hes, theys, xers, etc. that love to dress up and appreciate sassy and fun characters.

I'm not saying we should have to revive franchises that are finished of course, but I AM saying that there is a demographic that would pay good money for a fully released magical girl genre game. Because we are starved for games that feature these and other magical girl franchises, since the majority or all were released for Japan and never had a chance to meet the Western audiences that have wanted it for years. ( ˊᵕˋ )♡.°⑅

Unfortunately, the popularity for nostalgic things may not be enough and unless the companies who own these titles actually open up the idea to make lucrative money by making games for fans of magical girl series', we will likely never really see modern day release of games like those again.

So what can we do? The answer is putting our faith into indie game and small video game developers! If you are an indie game dev or a small video game developer who also loves magical girls, I beg you to please comment your company and your socials. I want everyone to be able to find those who make similar or same type of games that are for the fans of all things magical girls. Even if it's not about magical girls, if it's cute, aesthetic and pastel, comment about it!

♡٭*( ‘꒳’ )

I leave you all with a small list of magical girl themed games/ similarly cute games I found that could help scratch that itch:

Magical Girl Dash - Steam

Hero Hours Contract- Steam, Nintendo Switch

Hero Hours Contract 2 - Steam, Nintendo Switch

A Magical High School Girl / 魔法の女子高生 - Steam, Nintendo Switch

Märchen Forest - Steam, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4

Life After Magic - Steam

Calico - Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox

Blue Reflection - Steam

Blue Reflection Second Light - Steam

(˚ ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )˖⁺‧₊˚♡˚₊‧⁺˖

And here we are at the end. I want to thank you if you've read this far and I would love to hear about your favorite magical girl video game of any year of any kind or even just talk about what kind of game you'd like to see in this genre!

(*^^*)♡ ~ Sources:

Tokyo Mew Mew Wiki

Giant Bomb

Wikipedia

Life After Magic Twitter

Life After Magic Tumblr

Steve O'Gorman Twitter

Official Calico Site

Anime-Planet

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