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2018-02-21

Mimi's Delivery Dash: The Unofficial Studio Ghibli Videogame



Now this is just too cool for words. Ghibli Freaks of all ages have been screaming, pleading, begging for years to have videogames based on their beloved movies. Now a small team of indie developers have delivered the goods.* And it's awesome.

Mimi's Delivery Rush is a loving tribute to Hayao Miyazaki's classic 1989 movie Kiki's Delivery Service, with names changed to protect the penniless. In this game, you play "Mimi" (wink, wink) as she flies around town on delivery runs. I am partially reminded of all the great Castlevania games over the years, but I'm also reminded of Sega's Crazy Taxi, one of the all-time great quarter munchers.

The graphics are presented in a classic 16-bit side-scrolling platforming style, and everything looks terrific. There's a lot of color and detail, and the software team wisely avoided the popular trend of making "retro" graphics that are massively over-pixelated. This is much closer to how videogames looked a quarter century ago, and it looks as charming and inviting today.

This videogame was created for Movie Game Jam 2018. If you click the Mimi link above you will visit the team's website where you can cast your vote for this little gem. A number of prizes will go to the winners, but these sort of things are created purely for love. It's a thrill to be celebrated as part of a community of artists and fans.

Mimi's Delivery Dash is available on Windows (PC). The developers are Nathan Scott (programming, sound and music), Sako (pixel art and additional programming) and Martin Wright (key art and additional pixels). Kudos for all their great work. I would definitely love to see this project expanded into a full-length game, and would gladly pay for the privilege. And while we're at it...can we please have a Sega Dreamcast version? Pretty please with cherry on top?

(*Ugh, did I really sneak a lame-o pun into this article? Oy froynlavin. I blame the GamePro Writers' Guidelines, which instructed me to always employ "heavy alliteration and witty word play.")



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