A pixel artist on Twitter has re-imagined popular films from Studio Ghibli as retro video games.
Studio Ghibli has been a powerhouse of animation for the past four decades, creating such feature films like My Neighbor Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle, and Ponyo. Dubbed the ‘Disney of anime’, the attention to detail, soft colours, and virtuous stories in each work makes them incredibly popular amongst children and adults alike.
In the video game space, the studio worked on the animation for Magic Pengel and Ni No Kuni. And now, one artist has reinterpreted some of Ghibli’s films as their own standalone video games.
kiki’s delivery service: the game
On Twitter pixel artist Amour, also known as ‘@cloudtrumpets’, posted a tweet writing: ‘What if Kiki’s Delivery Service was a cozy video game?’ followed by four mockups of the 1989 animated film as an isometric video game.
Amour’s interpretation of the story would include a baking minigame and open-world exploration with a radio feature.
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Earlier in the year, Amour also did a similar job with Arrietty, another Studio Ghibli film released in 2011.
Amour’s vision for an Arrietty game looks like it would include some action sequences and a compendium to keep track of plants and animals encountered.
It’s safe to say that many Studio Ghibli films would translate well to video games, as these two mockups prove. It brings me to wonder what else could work as an interactive experience. A Howl’s Moving Castle RPG seems like a no-brainer, but also a flight sim based on Porco Rosso would be incredible.
Until that ever happens though, we’ll just have to leave it up to talented independent artists to make our dreams come true.
Which Studio Ghibli film deserves the video game treatment? Let us know on our social channels!
Featured Image Credit: Amour / Studio Ghibli