Remember when the Western world discovered Kairosoft for the first time? Why, it was almost thirteen years ago to the day that Game Dev Story ($4.99) released on iOS and Android, taking the gaming world by storm for a week or two. Most expected a sequel in short order, but Kairosoft has always done its own thing. While the developer’s games can get very repetitive, it’s hard to argue against the quality of what it puts out. Each one is a fantastic little sim game with charm to burn, perfectly approachable to new players or veterans alike. Still, time demands change, and in 2024 Kairosoft is going to be taking a big new step: the world of licensed games.
Today, Kairosoft announced Doraemon no Dorayakiya-san Monogatari, which roughly translates to Doraemon’s Dorayaki Shop Story. Doraemon’s popularity is up and down depending on the region, but the little robot cat is beloved in Japan and other places. One of his favorite foods is dorayaki, a type of Japanese sweet that consists of sweet bean jam between two pancake-like pieces of fried bread. It’s good stuff. So what we have here is a game where you run a dorayaki shop, and anyone who has played a Kairosoft game before can probably start filling in the spaces themselves.
What makes this one different is that the characters walking around won’t just consist of the usual Kairosoft crew. Doraemon, Nobita, Gian, Tsuneo, and others will appear in cute pixel art form, along with many other characters from Doraemon creator Fujiko F. Fujio’s work over the years. It’s rare to see all of these characters gathered together in one game, and seeing them all rendered in this style is really cool.
You won’t just be limited to dorayaki either. All manner of Japanese traditional sweets will be available as items at the shop, and you’ll have to do the usual management and decorating seen in other Kairosoft shop simulators. It also looks as though Doraemon’s inventions might come into play, and that could make for an enjoyable spin on the usual Kairosoft game.
There’s no date set yet for Doraemon’s Dorayaki Shop Story beyond the vague “2024" on Kairosoft’s site, and we can’t even be certain yet that this game will get localized for the West given the licenses in play. We’ll have to keep our eyes on this one, that’s for sure. When we have new information, we’ll be sure to pass it along.
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