Author: Trafficblast

Do you have a Demon Slayer-sized hole in your heart while you patiently wait for the movie to come out? Or maybe you’re just on the hunt for the next gloriously gory yet strangely heartwarming anime to add to your queue? Then now’s the time to get in on Jujutsu Kaisen! You might think you’ve seen this story before, but we’re here to tell you why this increasingly popular action-packed shonen anime deserves your attention.

Just how popular is Jujutsu Kaisen? “At launch, the series was trending on Twitter across four countries,” a Crunchyroll representative tells IGN. “[It] is one of the most popular series on Crunchyroll and has remained as one of the top titles over the last two anime seasons.”

A series of infographics released by Crunchyroll in January, 2021, indicates that Jujutsu Kaisen was a top anime in North America in 2020, alongside My Hero Academia S4. It also made the list of “frequently favorite” anime for the service in 71 counties and territories.

Read on for a breakdown of what the series is about, where you can watch it, and more…

What Is the Jujutsu Kaisen Anime?

Literally translated as “Sorcery Fight,” Jujutsu Kaisen started in Japan as a hugely popular shonen manga series by Gege Akutami. Its first season as a highly anticipated anime kicked off in Japan in 2020. The story might sound familiar… at first. A charismatic young man finds a new home in a secret school dedicated to studying sorcery. He becomes a part of this supernatural world after he eats a finger belonging to a cursed spirit.

Yes, you read that right.

Jujutsu Kaisen is the story of Yuji Itadori, an easygoing high school student who joins the occult club at school. When they accidentally summon grotesque creatures by messing with a cursed object, Itadori fights to save his friends’ lives. A sorcerer, drawn to the school by the dangerous object, reveals that it grants powerful cursed energy when swallowed. Desperate to save everyone, Itadori swallows the talisman—a decomposed finger. As a result, he’s possessed by Sukuna, the king of curses, and his life changes forever.

Curses are monstrosities formed by an overwhelming amount of negative emotions, like shame or regret. The curses are drawn to places where those feelings are strongest. Unsuspecting humans are frequently attacked and killed by these horrors, and it’s up to brave and powerful sorcerers to destroy them before they cause more harm.

As the new vessel for the malevolent spirit, Itadori shares his body with one of the most powerful curses of all. He’s sentenced to death by the curse-fighting sorcerers, who deem him too dangerous to leave alive, but an unconventional teacher at the sorcery school has an idea to postpone the execution.

Sukuna’s 20 fingers are scattered around the world. If Itadori can track down and ingest every finger, he’ll absorb even more of the curse into his body. If Itadori is then killed, the curse will be completely destroyed along with him. The young student accepts the mission to put an end to Sukuna once and for all. He enrolls in Jujutsu Tech High School to learn sorcery techniques to aid in the search for the remaining fingers.

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Why Should You Watch?

You’ve never seen a “magic school” like this. Sure, the mainstays are all here: a likeable protagonist, close friends, unusual allies, and quirky teachers. There’s even a multi-episode arc featuring a battle against a rival school. But there are also elements that break the mold and indicate the stakes are very high in this world. Without spoiling too much, fans of Jujutsu Kaisen find out quickly that consequences matter in this story and no character is safe from them.

That intensity, combined with flashy punches and kicks and disturbing imagery, could be overwhelming in any other series. But Jujutsu Kaisen flawlessly balances horror and action with humor and heart. Itadori is instantly charming. He can be naïve, thoughtful, and adorable, all while being possessed by an ancient evil. His mentor, Satoru Gojo, shares that same balance: awe-inspiring power paired with a playful personality. Gojo is already a fan favorite.

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On the flip side of those lighthearted moments are gorgeous visuals that elicit a visceral reaction. Unsettling body horror, gore, and grotesque creatures ramp up the action even more and stick with you long after each episode is over. These moments ooze with dark energy that’s almost palpable. When—or if—the evil is defeated, there’s a real sense of relief that something horrifying is over.

How to Watch Jujutsu Kaisen

When you’re ready to give the first episode a try, you’ll find it right now on Crunchyroll. The first 13-episode arc recently wrapped up and the next arc only just began in January. Crunchyroll releases subtitled episodes the same day they air in Japan, so you’ll always be up to date. The series is available dubbed in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German, and you can also find the English dub streaming now on HBO Max.

If you can’t wait week to week to find out what happens next, over 100 chapters of the currently running manga are at your fingertips thanks to Viz and Shonen Jump.

As we mentioned earlier, the anime is increasingly popular these days. Of course, nothing is definite in the world of entertainment, so it could be that the series loses steam. But the numbers certainly seem to be on its side for now.

So if you love horror and humor, don’t miss your chance to jump on the Jujutsu Kaisen hype train now.

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Kelly Knox is a freelance entertainment writer who also contributes to StarWars.com, DCComics.com, Nerdist, and more. Follow her on Twitter at @kelly_knox to talk Star Wars, Dungeons & Dragons, and comics.

The first trailer for the Mortal Kombat movie reboot features iconic characters from the hit fighting game franchise duking it out in live-action. The action-packed teaser is filled with all sorts of hints for what’s to come for Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sonya Blade and the rest, so IGN interviewed director Simon McQuoid about everything in store for audiences.

McQuoid offers plenty of behind-the-scenes trivia, explains some notable differences between the movie and the games, and shares how this Mortal Kombat movie lives up to its ultraviolet roots by making good use of its R rating.

If you haven’t already, check out the red band trailer below:

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A Chilling First Impression

The trailer opens with Major Jackson “Jax” Briggs (Mehcad Brooks) investigating a building with an interior bizarrely coated in ice, but any Mortal Kombat fan knows that means Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim) is nearby.

“This is really the first time [Jax has] encountered Sub-Zero,” McQuoid said of the scene. “So he’s starting to learn stuff about what this character and this creature can do.”

Jax gets introduced to the blue-clad ninja in a way he will never forget, as Sub-Zero uses his ice powers to effortlessly, impossibly stop a shotgun blast fired in his face at point-blank range. McQuoid emphasized how it was important to introduce the revered and well-known fighters of Mortal Kombat in a way that left a strong impression of their character while also demonstrating their unique abilities.

“[Sub-Zero] has no problem freezing the gun, he’s in total control,” McQuoid said. “This was a whole setup to educate what Sub-Zero is doing here and show he, literally in the face of danger, has no problem.”

And then comes the first of many violent delights in the trailer: Sub-Zero sends a surge of ice down Jax’s arms, causing them to instantly freeze and shatter. Again, Mortal Kombat diehards know that something bad will usually happen to Jax’s arms–in one take on his origin they are damaged beyond repair by Prince Goro, while in another Ermac uses telekinesis to rip them clean off–all so he can wind up with his signature robotic arms, as seen later in the trailer.

“In this film we needed to drive a few certain characters and narratives, and so given that [Jax losing his arms] had been done a couple of different ways in the past, we felt we had a bit of license to do that again here,” McQuoid said. “We’ve really tried to be very truthful and true to the canon where we can be, but every now and again, we might deviate slightly where we felt that it was okay to do so.”

Sub-Zero is a character with a lot of history in Mortal Kombat lore. The mantle has been held by two different brothers, each with their own agenda and moral alignment. McQuoid says the movie version is inspired by the original Sub-Zero named Bi-Han, and given how we watched him maim a hero in merciless fashion, it won’t surprise you to hear he’s a bad guy. In fact, McQuoid described Sub-Zero as the key villain of the film.

Adding Some New Blood

While this new Mortal Kombat movie has plenty of familiar characters and story beats, even those who have been fans since the first video game debuted back in 1992 and can name every colored ninja from memory will have some surprises waiting for them. The film will introduce an original character named Cole Young (Lewis Tan) who bears a mysterious dragon marking on his chest.

“We felt it was okay to bring in a new character given that Mortal Kombat has over the years introduced new characters quite a bit,” McQuoid said. And he’s right–what started as a lineup of seven fighters in the first game has grown into a roster of almost 100, with new faces being added in each installment.

Cole finds an ally in Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), and she educates Cole on what will become the main conflict of the film: the Mortal Kombat tournament, which a select group of human warriors must win to prevent Earth from being invaded by the evil forces of Outworld.

McQuoid was tight-lipped when it came to discussing Cole and the dragon symbol, preferring to preserve the mystery until fans get to watch the movie themselves, but he did share that Cole is an underground MMA fighter before he’s swept up into the supernatural contest. Intriguingly, we watch as Cole is startled by a vision in the mirror of a fiery, yellow-clad warrior–we’ll learn why that particular character appears to him when we watch the movie, McQuoid promised.

Dressed to Kill

That yellow-clad warrior is of course Scorpion, by far the most popular Mortal Kombat fighter, played by Hiroyuki Sanada in the film. McQuoid explained how Scorpion is traditionally depicted as a sleek ninja but for the film they turned to Japanese history to inspire a new look.

“Hiroyuki Sanada was really incredibly helpful in getting the Japanese history right on this character,” McQuoid said. “We really wanted to be very true to his heritage and make it feel very genuine. That’s really why it was born out of this touch of samurai about it. Obviously there’s been many, many versions of Scorpion’s costume and how he looks, but out of authenticity came this version of Scorpion that kind of felt real, but also felt very powerful.”

Making such a bold change to a beloved character’s appearance was not done without careful consideration. Bringing Scorpion and the other fighters of Mortal Kombat to life in authentic fashion challenged McQuoid and his team to find practical purpose in every element of their design.

“The costumes needed a lot of detail in them, they needed a lot of texture and layering, so that they felt they had purpose rather than just being a costume,” McQuoid said. “[Scorpion’s costume] needed to have the armor plating with the detail in it and had a sort of dignity and elegance about it, which matched his character from the beginning.”

A Rivalry of Ice and Fire

The rivalry between Scorpion and Sub-Zero is one of the most enduring and iconic in all of video games, and it’s going to be a key component of the new movie. The film starts by showing how the rivalry began, with Hanzo Hasashi (the man who becomes Scorpion) defending his Shirai Ryu village from an attack by Bi-Han’s clan, the Lin Kuei.

“It’s really about seeing [Scorpion’s] evolution on the screen and the ingredients, both emotional and physical as to why he becomes Scorpion. And so that is explained across the opening of our film. And it’s a pretty brutal, nasty fight,” McQuoid teased.

The trailer shows how a moment of improvisation during that heated battle leads to the creation of Scorpion’s signature “spear” weapon, made from a kunai attached to a rope.

“We did a bit of research into what a kunai actually is, and it was originally, not exclusively, but it was often used as a gardening tool in 14th century, Japan,” McQuoid explained. “That’s why [Scorpion] has the kunai on the end of that rope, because that’s all he has at the time. You’ll see how he sort of adapts and turns that rope and that gardening tool into a pretty lethal weapon that really does the job.”

When it came to depicting Scorpion and Sub-Zero’s abilities, McQuoid wanted to emphasize their elemental nature, showing a battle of fire against ice.

“I wanted it to feel real and I wanted to feel very elemental, not silly or too shiny. It’s always got to have some mongrel about it, so it feels completely real and believable,” McQuoid said, highlighting the shot of Sub-Zero slowly creating a crude ice dagger.

Even when the fighters weren’t using their powers, it was important to McQuoid for the characters to evoke a strong physical presence.

“Joe Taslim did an amazing job [as Sub-Zero.] He represented Indonesia for judo, so the guy is an athlete and he shows it, and the presence he brought to that character was just extraordinary,” McQuoid praised. “And [Scorpion actor] Hiroyuki Sanada is a very, very gifted swordsman and athlete in his own ways. Physicality between these two guys was quite extraordinary to watch. Just years and years of experience and ability to do these moves was kind of all baked into them. … That level of brutality and physicality is what I wanted to bring to the film, and those guys certainly delivered.”

Fan Service and Fatalities

The Mortal Kombat games are known for their over-the-top violence and brutal beatdowns as much as their sense of humor and signature phrases.

No character glimpsed in the trailer seems to embody all of those elements more than Kano, played by Josh Lawson. Kano is shown executing his signature Fatality by viciously ripping the still-beating heart out of his enemy and gleefully declaring, “Kano wins!”

“The Fatalities were always in from the get-go, there was never any question from anyone at all. There was no resistance from the studio. They wanted them, I wanted them,” McQuoid said. “There’s a fatality from Kano, he ripped someone’s heart out. But what was important to me was that even when the Fatalities arrived, we couldn’t just do a Fatality and have it mean nothing. … It actually becomes an important ingredient in the rhythm of the action scene.”

Well, consider that one heck of a bloody exclamation point on the first Mortal Kombat trailer. Mortal Kombat is set to release in theaters and on HBO Max on April 16 in the US.

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Want even more on the new Mortal Kombat movie? Here’s your exclusive first look at the Mortal Kombat movie poster featuring Sub-Zero and Scorpion.

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Joshua is a Senior Editor and Producer of Features at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Star Wars are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.

After Jan Willem Nijman and Kitty Calis launched their saw blade dodging game Disc Room last year, the conversation (as it does) turned to what project they would move onto next. Both Disc Room and their previous project, Minit, had been well-received, affording the independent duo a bit of freedom to pursue something a bit less structured…or in this case, explicitly dedicated to making money.

Which is why they turned their 2018 top-down timed adventure Minit into a racing game for charity.

Today, the pair have launched Minit Fun Racer (Get it? Minit Fun(d) Racer? Like fundraiser?) in collaboration with their former Minit development colleagues Jukio Kallio and Dominik Johann. The game is out today on Steam and itch.io, published by Devolver Digital, and all proceeds from the game are going to charity.

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“For a long time I wanted to make a game for charity,” Calis says, speaking in an interview with IGN. “I think it was just a matter of getting the band back together and the right situation. And it was really fun to do.”

Nijman and Calis aren’t able to specify exactly which charity the money would be going to just yet, but they did confirm that multiple charities would be supported. Calis says that their plan is to publish a monthly update to let people know how much money was donated to where during each period of the game’s sales, and the intention is to keep the game up on sale indefinitely and continue donating for as long as it keeps making money.

Minit Fun Racer is a small, timed racing game in the same visual style and world as Minit, where the player must dodge traffic and obstacles, collect coins to add more time to the clock, and try to get as far as they can through a busy street and desert in order to watch a sunset in a scenic spot.

“Especially nowadays, one of the things I’m really enjoying is the sunset,” Calis says of the game’s small but simple end goal. “It sounds super silly, but it’s there every day. Before COVID, I didn’t always take the time to enjoy the little things in life.”

Minit Fun Racer’s collected coins can be spent on buffs in a small in-game shop, and there are plenty of goofy little easter eggs and achievements scattered throughout to keep the game interesting for several hours of play.

“A lot of the game is actually about, like Minit, these little details,” Nijman says. “You can complete goals to get your driver’s license, and we really wanted that stuff to reflect something interesting in the world, so it’s not just ‘Play ten games,’ it’s more like, ‘Hit two cop cars,’ and you don’t just get an achievement, but a helicopter starts chasing you.”

Calis adds that players who open the game at a certain time of night might even find their races haunted by ghosts.

Minit Fun Racer is short and sweet, and Nijman says it only took the group a few months to make. The timing was perfect, he said, as he and Calis had just come off of working on Disc Room, Kallio had wrapped up Fall Guys, and Johann was done with Stanley Parable. The cards simply aligned for the group, and their collective experience with making Minit had been so positive they all were happy to take some time to work on the charity racer.

The idea for the game stemmed from an illustration Calis made for The New York Times last year, but Nijman and Calis say they always wanted to return to the world of Minit one way or another. The two have been vocal in the past about their belief in healthy work habits, crediting individuals for their work, and making games without crunch. Nijman quips that the two “crunched so little [on Disc Room] we had two months spare to make a game for charity.”

And their previous publishing partner Devolver is on board too, and has also agreed not to take any profit on the game so that its proceeds can be donated.

“We love this entire team and have a long history with each of them across a myriad of different projects,” says Devolver marketing manager Robbie Paterson. “It’s a great game and a great way to do some good, so we were honored to come on board as part of this project.”

Nijman emphasizes that he wants Minit Fun Racer to be a game that people buy because they think it will be fun to play — not just because they want to donate to a cause.

“We want to encourage people to do good, but this game should also stand by itself,” he says. “If you just buy it because you want to have a good time and accidentally help out a charity, that’s also good for us. It needed to be able to stand on its own.”

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Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Destiny developer Bungie has big plans for the future. The company has re-confirmed its plans to launch its mysterious new IP by 2025, while the company is expanding the physical size of its Bellevue, Washington office and opening a brand-new publishing outfit in Amsterdam. Additionally, Bungie has teased plans to extend the Destiny franchise beyond games, while there has been a leadership shakeup on the development team as well.

New IP

Bungie said it plans to launch a new IP before 2025, but nothing is known about this game. In 2018, the Chinese internet company invested $100 million into Bungie to help the company make non-Destiny games, so this new IP might be one of them.

Bungie CEO Pete Parsons first mentioned his hope of releasing the new, non-Destiny IP by 2025 back in 2019, but this is the first time Bungie is cementing that hope in writing.

Bungie has promoted Jonny Ebbert to chief creative officer and Zach Russell to general manager of incubation to work on these new franchises. They will “build and drive the creative vision and foundation for Bungie’s future worlds alongside the next generation of leaders at Bungie, with plans to bring at least one new IP to market before 2025.”

New Office

To support the continued development of Destiny 2 and work on the new IP, Bungie is creating a bigger office space for itself. The company is currently expanding its Bellevue, Washington HQ, bringing the size from 84,000 square feet to 208,000 square feet. The office is scheduled to open in Fall 2022.

“In addition to building state-of-the-art facilities to support the growth and development of their talented employees, one of the primary drivers of Bungie’’s expansion is to increase the commitment to the long-term development of Destiny 2, tell new stories in the Destiny universe, and create entirely new worlds in to-be-announced IPs,” Bungie said in a press release. “The new facility will include a reimagining of its Bellevue, WA-based studio space to support multiple project teams, including those outside of the Destiny Universe. Designed by award-winning architect NBBJ, the new HQ is centered on collaborative ‘neighborhoods’ built to support the spirit of deeply integrated creative collaboration that defines Bungie’s success and a hybrid workforce of both remote and on-site staff.”

A Destiny TV Show?

It also sounds like a Destiny TV show or movie is on the way, as Bungie’s press release said it hopes to expand Destiny into “additional media.”

As part of this initiative, Bungie has promoted Mark Noseworthy to become the vice president of the “Destiny Universe,” while Luke Smith will become the executive creative director of the Destiny Universe. These two will “oversee and prepare for the expansion of the Destiny Universe into additional media.” Taking over for Noseworthy and Smith will be Destiny 2 general manager Justin Truman, who will run Destiny 2 going forward.

A New Amsterdam Office

The other piece of news is that Bungie is opening a new publishing office in Amsterdam in 2022. Bungie will conduct publishing and marketing operations from there.

New Board Members

Finally, Bungie has added two more people to its board of directors–Trace Harris and Pamela Kaufman. Harris previously worked at Vivendi, while Kaufman is the current head of ViacomCBS’ global consumer products division.

Bungie previously worked with Activision on the Destiny series, but the companies broke up in 2019, with Bungie taking on the full development and publishing responsibilities for the series.

“We’re grateful and humbled that our independent success allows us to invest in our talented people and headquarters this year and are delighted to welcome Trace Harris and Pamela Kaufman to the Board of Directors,” Parsons said. “The past several years have been a time of tremendous growth and opportunity for Bungie. We are home to some of the brightest and best talent in the industry, and we look forward to expanding upon both our talent pool this year and increasing the resources to support them. Trace and Pamela also bring incredible media and entertainment experience, and we’re looking forward to taking advantage of their proven acumen as we continue to build the future of our company.”

Destiny 2 is still going strong, with its Season of the Chosen content having recently debuted. The Destiny 1 strike The Devil’s Lair returned to Destiny 2 as part of the refresh, and you can check out a quick comparison in the video above.

With the new Mortal Kombat movie only two months away, IGN is excited to exclusively reveal the official US movie poster, featuring Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada) and Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim).

Check it out:

Additionally, check out the international poster for territories including the United Kingdom and Australia, where Mortal Kombat will be released theatrically:

The rivalry between Scorpion and Sub-Zero is one of the most iconic in all of video games. The details of their feud tend to evolve every time the franchise revisits their story, but it always revolves around the spectre Scorpion hunting down Sub-Zero to avenge not only his own death but that of his entire family and clan. As the dual nature of the poster displays, the yellow-clad Scorpion wields fiery demonic powers and a spear weapon while the blue-clad Sub-Zero harnesses ice to make lethal blades and freeze his enemies solid.

This new poster comes after Mortal Kombat released several character motion posters teasing the release of the first trailer on Thursday. Come back to IGN after the trailer drops for an exclusive breakdown of all the new footage by Mortal Kombat movie director Simon McQuoid.

Not enough new Mortal Kombat goodness for you? A batch of fresh movie stills were revealed last month along with details on how the film’s R Rating allows for it to feature the franchise’s bloody, over-the-top finishing moves known as Fatalities.

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From director Simon McQuoid, Mortal Kombat is an adaptation of the popular fighting video game series of the same name, following a group of warriors from Earthrealm who battle it out in an epic tournament against the forces of Outworld to decide the fate of the planet. New character Cole Young (Lewis Tan) joins Mortal Kombat franchise icons Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Kung Lao (Max Huang), Raiden (Tadanobu Asano), and Major Jackson “Jax” Briggs (Mehcad Brooks) as they cross paths with Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim), Mileena (Sisi Stringer), Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada), Kano (Josh Lawson), Shang Tsung (Chin Han), and more.

Mortal Kombat is set to release in theaters and on HBO Max on April 16 in the US.

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Joshua is a Senior Editor and Producer of Features at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Star Wars are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.

Nordic multiplayer game Valheim has had a terrific start so far, and developer Iron Gate is looking towards the future. Speaking to PC Gamer, Iron Gate co-founder Henrik Törnqvist revealed more of the game’s current roadmap and how Valheim will grow through Hearth and Home, Cult of the Wolf, Ships and the Sea, and Mistlands updates.

Hearth and Home will be focused on the house building aspect of Valheim, with players able to outfit their dwellings with new building pieces. You’ll also be able to spend more time in the kitchen, with the addition of more food recipes.

Törnqvist didn’t have too much to say about the second update, Cult of the Wolf, but he did mention that it “will be an update that focuses on exploration and combat with hopefully some new fun and different encounters for the players.”

Ships and Sea will bring more attention to the ocean biome and ship customization, which Törnqvist said will feature more stuff to do on the less-populated ocean.

Mistlands is the final update for Valheim that is currently planned and will introduce a brand new biome to explore. “So it will be new enemies, new items, a new boss, new resources, everything, and that’s what we have planned for this year. So yeah, that’s quite a big task, but we will accept the challenge, so to speak,” Törnqvist said.

By the time Valheim is finished, each new biome added to the game will contain its own boss and players will also have a chance to encounter a few mini-bosses while out exploring. From a technical standpoint, Iron Gate is still examining how new biomes will impact the procedurally generated worlds of Valheim, and if these new sections will end up overwriting locations that have already been visited.

The exact dates for the big updates haven’t been announced yet, as Iron Gate’s short-term priority is to begin fixing bugs in Valheim before moving on to developing the more substantial content. No small feat, for a studio that only has five people working on a game that has seen achieved over two million sales in just two weeks and has seen upwards of 300,000 concurrent players on Steam at its peak.

If you’re just starting out in the Viking survival game, be sure to head on over to our Valheim beginners guide for essential tips and tricks.

Japan had its own Nintendo Direct last night, and one of the major differences from the western version was the announcement of a beautiful looking Crayon Shin-Chan game. After disappointed fans asked after a potential release, a developer on the project said he would do his best to release a western version.

The Japanese version of last night’s Nintendo Direct offered a trailer for Crayon Shin-chan: Ora to Hakase no Natsuyasumi – Owaranai Nanokakan no Tabi (roughly translated: Crayon Shin-Chan: Me and the Professor’s Summer Holiday – The Endless Seven-Day Trip), which sees the mischievous tyke exploring a tranquil small town, where he can fish, catch bugs, take baths and meet dinosaurs.

The game, due to be released in Japan this summer, mixes cel-shaded characters and more realistic backdrops to create a beautiful aesthetic – you can check out the trailer below:

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Shin-Chan fans were disappointed that the game appeared to be exclusive to Japan, but developer Kaz Ayabe (who previously made the similarly tranquil Attack of the Friday Monsters for 3DS) has teased a potential western release.

“I will do my best to release the European version,” Ayabe tweeted, in response to a message asking about whether the game would be releasing in Europe. A European release for a Japanese game usually means a North American release isn’t too far behind.

In other February 2021 Nintendo Direct news, here’s everything that was announced during last night’s western version of the show, including The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD. One of the other games revealed during the show was Mario Golf Super Rush, a new sports game from Camelot with a fully-fledged story mode.

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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.