Yoko Taro is heralded as one of the most unique video game creators in the industry, who tries to push the boundaries of the medium in unexpected ways, and his latest project is certainly looking different.
Sega and Taro recently revealed their new collaborative title 404 Game Re:set (pronounced Error Game Reset), which reimagines the company’s franchises and transforms them into cute anime girls in a world where Sega controls everything.
One of the first characters revealed was an anthropomorphic version of Virtua Fighter, who I guess we’re gonna call VF-chan for the moment, along with other classic Sega arcade series like Virtua Cop, Outrun and After Burner.
VF-chan appears to take make of her design motifs from Akira Yuki with some blocky arm and shin guards to likely harken back to Virtua Fighter’s early 3D polygonal roots
These Sega entities are referred to as “Cast,” and will mostly exist within a digital world within the game although they can apparently appear in the “real world” too via holograms.
404 Game Re:set takes place in an alternate universe where Sega has become the most powerful company and basically take control of everything — as seen by the trailers Sonic and Dr. Eggman traffic signs.
Although the developers are still playing coy as to how the game will actually play, the title is confirmed to be a mobile RPG with some sort of shooting game element.
Click images for larger versions
It seems players will collect the Cast via gacha mechanics while progressing through the game’s story with Yoko Taro writing the scenario.
While it is a bit surprising to see Sega cast itself as basically the evil villains, this isn’t all too shocking of a direction for someone like Taro to take.
“It’s a game that features Sega’s IP, so I thought Sega should be in the game, but I didn’t think Sega would want to see a game that portrayed it well, so I portrayed it negatively,” says Taro in the trailer according to VG Chronicle’s translation. “It’s a world that imagines that if things were to go well for Sega but then got out of control, it could end up like this.”
Since this is Yoko Taro we’re talking about though, there’s obviously some ideas that were probably a few steps too far to make it into the title.
“There were parts that went too far and had to be revised from the viewpoint of ethical expression (laughs),” said Producer Gosuke Nakamura to 4Gamer. “After repeated trial and error, we got the OK from the company, but the hurdles were quite high.”
Now watch Taro’s big twist this time is that the player will need to kill off the Cast when returning to the “real world” just like Sega already did themselves — too much?
404 Game Re:set is currently in development as a mobile RPG with a scheduled Japanese release date scheduled for Spring 2023 although a western launch has not been confirmed yet.
You can check out the trailer for the Sega X Yoko Taro collaboration below.
