More than two decades after Nintendo’s GameBoy Color was the dominant portable gaming console in the industry, anime and video game publisher CrunchyRoll has announced Hime’s Quest for it… just oh… 23 years late.
Through a partnership with Limited Run Games, physical GameBoy Color game cartridges of Hime’s Quest will be available to purchase (and now available to pre-order), which will be playable on original hardware and comes with a Gameboy-style box, manual and foldout poster. These can be ordered until Christmas Day, with LRG and CrunchyRoll variants available. Worried that you won’t be able to nab a copy? CrunchyRoll has committed to offering both a free browser version and downloadable ROM “soon”.
So what does Hime’s Quest entail? Were you to read the game description at the back of a traditional Gameboy box, you might read something like this:
Take control as Crunchyroll-Hime to save the anime club from Y2K in her first-ever video game: Hime’s Quest. Set in 1999, something electric is in the air. A malevolent force has crept into New Crunchy City, wreaking havoc on its technology, and tragically destroying the Anime Club’s precious DVD/VCR combo player. Can you root out the dastardly cretin brazen enough to ruin their meeting?
- Adventure through haunted forests, mirage-filled deserts and more in Crunchyroll-Hime’s largest quest yet.
- Hack and slash your way through dungeons and face-off against totally buggin fiends in league with Y2K.
- Kick-back with Crunchyroll-Hime’s friends in the anime club or pay a visit to spooky manga creator Junji Ito who is currently OBSESSED with spirals.
- Some games let you pet the dog, this one lets you *try* to pet the cat. Can you succeed and give Crunchyroll-Hime’s best friend Yuzu a pat on the head?
- PLAY IT LOUD! with a chiptune soundtrack by future (time paradox averted) award-winning 8-bit composer and musician Protodome.
You can enjoy a further sneak-peek at the game below, which gives off GBC-era The Legend of Zelda vibes.
Crunchyroll wanted to capture the nostalgia of 90s pop-culture, a shared touchstone for anime fans, and we are thrilled to transport Crunchyroll-Hime to that era in an adventure developed on fan-favorite hardware from that time. Hime is our beloved princess mascot, and we are excited to see her lore expanded in ways that speak to fans’ love for anime and gaming with Hime’s Quest.
Terry Li – Senior Vice President of Emerging Business at Crunchyroll
