Today’s Google Doodle is quite different from their usual plain artwork to celebrate a person or anniversary – the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Google Doodle is a sports RPG.
While the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Google Doodle is a sports RPG, it makes total sense considering it’s meant to celebrate the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the annual contest that is being held right now in the land of unforgettable video games.
Titled simply the Doodle Island Champion features a very cute intro animation that was handled by Tokyo-based Studio 4°C, an award-winning animation studio that worked on cult classic anime films like 1995’s Memories, 1998’s Spriggan, as well as work on a multitude of video games like Rogue Galaxy, .hack//Link, Catherine, and even Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE.
“We’re pleased that we were able to allude to various stories from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south in the Doodle,” the studio’s developers wrote in a Q&A with Google. “Besides drawing inspiration from stories known across Japan, we also hoped to convey the rich and diverse natural beauty of the country, including underwater, sandy tropical beaches, forests, and snowy mountains.”
Here’s the intro animation for the new Google Doodle:
Players control Lucky the Cat as she explores the Doodle Champion Island, a world filled with seven sport mini-games, legendary opponents, dozens of side quests, and both new and old friends. There’s also global leaderboards throughout, and each mini-game has Lucky facing a new animal opponent from Champion Island.
In the beginning of the sports RPG, you can align with one of four teams: Red Karasu, Blue Ushi, Yellow Inari, and the Green Kappa, each of which logs your scores to each team’s respective global leaderboard. Over the next several weeks, all four teams will be fighting for global dominance.
Table tennis is played against bird-styled Tengu creatures while Skateboarding has iconic Tanuki creatures for your opponents. Archery has you fighting against Yoichi, a samurai warrior, and Rugby has you fighting an entire team of sumo-looking Oni demons. The latter has Momotaro & friends helping you on your team, of course.
The other mini-games include artistic swimming where players go up against Princess Otohime and her turtle sidekick, climbing has you fighting against the owl-looking Fukuro and lastly marathon has you facing the Okinawan kijimuna wood spirit.
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