Oh, Japan. Where would we be without you and your light-hearted randomness? There'd be no pigeon dating sims, muscle-bound homoerotic WiiWare games or world-rolling-up Katamari were it not for Japan. Just like their obsession with giant robots and tentacles, you can always rely on the Japanese for a good wtf moment. Which is what we felt yesterday, when we happened across this more unusual piece of news - Pikachu's getting a new 3DS game, and this time he's gone a little Sherlock Holmes.
Courtesy of Nintendo of Japan, Detective Pikachu: Birth of a New Duo, puts everyone's favourite electric mouse front and centre of a new crime-solving duo. What's even weirder though is that, based on the (admittedly all in Japanese) trailer, it looks as though this new detective Pikachu will be able to talk like a human - a trait that no other Pokemon outside of the anime's Meowth has ever managed. And it's an unusually deep voice for such a small rodent too. Its the voice of a rodent who's seen some things; a mouse who could kill a man with nary a spark; a hard-boiled detective with some deep, dark secrets he drowns in his mug of strong coffee - which makes it both unnerving and hilarious all at once.
Unfortunately, little is known about what you actually do in the game at the moment, but suffice to say it appears Pikachu is the one wearing the deerstalker in this relationship, solving crimes with what appears to be his trainer in tow. Story-wise, the game is set in Rhyme City, a place where Pokemon and people live side by side. A young boy called Tim arrives in the city, for reasons currently undisclosed, and meets Pikachu, before somehow ending up going on all kinds of crazy crime solving adventures together. We're not really sure what to expect to be honest, but something in a similar vein to Phoenix Wright wouldn't be too much of a surprise - interrogating suspects, searching crime scenes, collecting evidence, that kind of thing. Although probably sans the court room 'OBJECTION!'s.
The dynamic duo.
Coming to Japanese 3DSes on the 3rd February in the form of a budget-priced digital download from the eShop, it seems like this more experimental Pokemon game could be part of a larger series if it does well - based on the game's subtitle, anyway. Early adopters will be able to download the game for a reduced 1200 yen (just over £7) for the first three weeks after launch, after which point it'll rise to 1500 (about £8.80) thereafter.
Disappointingly, there's no word of the game coming to the West yet, and to be honest we're kind of half expecting it to be another one of those amazing looking Japanese titles that's deemed way to random for release outside of Japan. Still - a Pokefan can dream...
