Bubblegum Crisis: MegaTokyo 2032 by Platinum Games can save SEGA & revive '80s anime!

[JoshuaKadmon]

Yeah, that sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn't it? If you know what I'm talking about, you probably either said to yourself, "oh yeah, that would be cool" or "that would never happen in a million years." If you don't know what I'm talking about, chances are you're just too young to remember the Bubblegum Crisis OVA, which stands as a personal favorite 25 years after its original release.

The 8-episode OVA was never completed, since Artmic and Youmex had legal problems that cut the series short. The sad attempts of Bubblegum Crash and Bubblegum Crisis 2040 are normally disregarded by true BGC fans, and I seriously doubt that the planned live-action film will ever materialize. Still, the series not only deserves a proper reboot to flesh out its incomplete story, but it would also be a perfect setup for a Platinum-developed video game.

Think about it... a cast of beautiful women (and the occasional too-cool-for-school dude), slick over-the-top action, a near-future cyberpunk setting complete with quake-torn cityscapes and Blade Runner references, a sci-fi premise that has far more potential than 99% of the crap we get in theaters or other games, and an opportunity to break into the open-world action RPG market with a well-established cult classic. That's right, I said "open-world action RPG!"

The setting, MegaTokyo in the year 2032, less than a decade after the Second Great Kanto Quake tore through the city and opened the door for GENOM, a major industrial supplier of cybernetic worker AIs, to climb to its current position of governmental power. With those cybernetic beings, or "Boomers," running amock whenever they malfunction (or whenever GENOM has an objective they want to accomplish on the down-low), the daughter of Boomer-creator Dr. Stingray steps in to avenge her murdered father and expose GENOM's authoritarian motives. Sylia Stingray recruits three promising young women into her vigilante team, known as the Knight Sabers, while actual law enforcement duties are placed firmly in the hands of the AD Police, specifically a Boomer Crimes Division led by Inspector Leon McNichol and Chief Todo.

The characters are memorable, the seemingly clichéd plot contains some amazing twists that were never fully realized in the series' animated form, and the '80s aesthetics are just begging for an update. What if you could select one of six highly customizable characters between two possible teams (Priss, Linna, and Nene for the Knight Sabers under Sylia's direction; Leon, Daley, and Jeena for the AD Police under Todo's command)? As a Knight Saber, what if you could maintain your cover by living a normal lifestyle during the day (ala Yakuza or Persona) but take on missions at night (more Bayonetta meets Mass Effect)? Playing as an AD Police operative could have a similar dynamic, but with more of an investigative element thrown into the mix.

These are just a few ideas I've had brewing for years, and I fully realize that they could never happen just as I imagine them. However, if they were placed in anyone's hands, I would want Platinum to handle the action-centric development while SEGA publishes. And if SEGA is too defunct to manage it, someone call Atlus! Hah! Anyway, it's just a fun idea, and I felt like sharing...

[Rikitatsu]

SEGA doesn't need "Saving", people act like their recent restructuring is some kind of a desperate last ditch effort or something, its just an attempt to make their consumer division more profitable... As long as Sammy's there, SEGA will stick around, in fact, SEGASammy's profits in 2010 were bigger than Activision's.

Sorry for going a little off-topic, I would kill for a Neo-Tokyo-CyberPunk open world game, I've never seen Bubble Gum Crisis, but if its something like Cyber Blue or Snatcher then it should be awesome.

I don't know how that would do in the market though, I doubt it will "save" anyone.

[PlatinumGamesJP]

Man, how are we ever going to make Bubblegum Crisis? We still have to save Shenmue 3, Shinobi, Sonic, Streets of Rage, and every other SEGA IP on the planet!

Of course, we'd have help, since we are going to be collaborating with Suda51, 52, 53, 54, 55, and any other Sudas, sodas, pops, pips, paps, or men named Bruce.

(Obviously, the above is all a joke.)

It's fun to dream... But with Metal Gear, Anarchy Reigns, and other cool stuff on tap, I think we are a tad bit busy right now.
I love the fact that you guys think so much of us, but let's be excited for the stuff we are actually making!!

And for the record, if I had any say in it, we'd make a proper Akira game. And we would publish it ourselves. (No. We are not making an Akira game...)

[Rikitatsu]

we'd make a proper Akira game. And we would publish it ourselves.

Gonna tip off N4G, brb

[JLCL01]

An Akira game sounds quite interesting, as long as it isn't just a virtual pinball game. I think another game was made around the late 80s but the info about that is really vague from what I found. Anyhow, it would be interesting iof the game's story followed more in lines with the manga or maybe combine aspects of both the manga and the film.

Anyhow, I like the idea of a Bubblegum Crisis game. It would be interesting to see how Platinum Games, should they ever get a chance to make one, would make it.

If they're unable to get the rights to make either one, they could always just make a game inspired by the two.

Don't get me wrong, I do realize Platinum Games is working hard on other projects at this time. I'm just simply stating my thoughts for future ideas. I hope everyone understands what I mean since I don't wanna come off as impatient or someone who doesn't realize how much work is it put into a game.

[Deadbolt_Don]

A full blown bubblegum crisis game is something i've wanted to see for a long time. Sure, there have been a few small rpg's for old systems like the pcengine, but I've always wanted to play as a knight saber and just kick some serious boomer butt (possibly with a buddy! the knight sabers are a team after all!). The closest to action games bubblegum crisis has ever gotten (at least what im aware of) was Priss Nukem and Nene Nukem (duke nukem 3D mods), as well as Linna Rampage (redneck rampage mod), and Silya Warrior (shadow warrior mod).

If any of you are interested in downloading any of those well... *Cough* http://www.ravensgarage.com/bgcnukem/bgcnukem.html *Cough*.

[JoshuaKadmon]

Man, how are we ever going to make Bubblegum Crisis? We still have to save Shenmue 3, Shinobi, Sonic, Streets of Rage, and every other SEGA IP on the planet!

Of course, we'd have help, since we are going to be collaborating with Suda51, 52, 53, 54, 55, and any other Sudas, sodas, pops, pips, paps, or men named Bruce.

(Obviously, the above is all a joke.)

It's fun to dream... But with Metal Gear, Anarchy Reigns, and other cool stuff on tap, I think we are a tad bit busy right now.
I love the fact that you guys think so much of us, but let's be excited for the stuff we are actually making!!

And for the record, if I had any say in it, we'd make a proper Akira game. And we would publish it ourselves. (No. We are not making an Akira game...)

Hah! I love that you guys actually comment on stuff like this. I know that a BGC game is highly unlikely when Platinum is already busy saving the video game industry, but c'mon, you can't blame us for wishing, right? I am very excited about Anarchy Reigns and MGS Revengeance. Just let me know when you're done working on those, and then we can argue the BGC vs. Akira point.

And for the record, if you WERE to make an Akira game, I would certainly buy it. But I would be so much happier if it was based on the manga, not the near-meaningless anime version. According to 2ch, I guess I'm one of those "Type A" otaku who enjoys actual content over flashy visuals and fanservice, so drawing on anime/manga classics from the 80s and 90s is certainly better than the recent moe explosion... Just keep it real, man. Bayonetta and Vanquish are more anime than anime, nowadays.

Also, as for saving Shenmue 3, Shinobi, Sonic, Streets of Rage, etc... F*** 'em. Just convince Nagoshi and his Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio to stick Ryo Hazuki in Yakuza 5 as one of its twenty playable characters, then get to work on new IPs! The only SEGA properties that matter any more are Yakuza and Platinum-anything.

An Akira game sounds quite interesting, as long as it isn't just a virtual pinball game. I think another game was made around the late 80s but the info about that is really vague from what I found. Anyhow, it would be interesting iof the game's story followed more in lines with the manga or maybe combine aspects of both the manga and the film.

Anyhow, I like the idea of a Bubblegum Crisis game. It would be interesting to see how Platinum Games, should they ever get a chance to make one, would make it.

If they're unable to get the rights to make either one, they could always just make a game inspired by the two.

Sounds like you echo my sentiments on the definitive version of Akira. And by the way, I doubt that acquiring the rights to BGC from Japanese owner AIC or American distributor AnimEigo would be difficult or expensive. I've got the phone number and email address of Robert Woodhead, the president of AnimEigo [and coincidentally one of the two creators of Wizardry] in my cell right now, so I've got the Western hemisphere covered if PG can just get the AIC execs on the horn. How much would they really ask anyway, considering Bubblegum Crisis has been a troubled IP ever since the initial break-up of Artmic and Youmex? Isn't AIC more concerned with Strike Witches these days?

[JoshuaKadmon]

THE FUTURE OF PLATINUM GAMES:

Spring 2012 - After SEGA suffers a difficult fiscal year in its Western divisions, Platinum Games unexpectedly eats them to become SEGA PLATINUM. Sammy is still missing in action, but following rumors of Spy Fiction 2, search and rescue operations will likely cease.

Summer 2012 - SEGA PLATINUM's release of Anarchy Reigns breaks the five-day sales record of $775 million set by Modern Warfare 3, thus elevating Atsushi Inaba to the industry ranking of "Nerd Jesus".

Fall 2012 - Metal Gear Solid: Revengeance sells more copies than all previous MGS games combined, which inspires Hideo Kojima to start working on Zone of the Enders 3, satisfied he must make a totally awesome frenetic action game that's "even cooler than what SEGA PLATINUM would make"!

Winter 2012 - Just before the end of 2012, Bubblegum Crisis' 25th Anniversary year, SEGA PLATINUM announces its next major project, which surprisingly, was initiated by some enthusiastic forum contributors! Bubblegum Crisis: MegaTokyo 2032 is now predicted to be Japan's answer to the Mass Effect trilogy.

Spring 2013 - Boasting unfathomable sales figures in its first year of operations, SEGA PLATINUM announces the ReMaster and the ReGenesis, a pair of digital-only consoles that closely resemble the iPod Touch and the iPad but play scalable versions of the same games! Their network service will reportedly be called RePlay.

Summer 2013 - North American consumers pre-order more than 12 million ReMaster and nearly 10 million ReGenesis consoles through GameStop and Best Buy, thus winning the next-generation console war for SEGA PLATINUM before it has even begun.

Sometime in the Near Future - SEGA PLATINUM lays the foundation for a new galactic empire and leads its unstoppable army of nerds to eradicate the last of the Western Devs, who flee to the stars when IP-cloning is officially declared as a capital offense! BioWare refugees are reportedly the only survivors who have been offered immunity.

[JoshuaKadmon]

Accidental re-post.

[Rikitatsu]

The only SEGA properties that matter to me any more are Yakuza and Platinum-anything.

I fixed that for you. :/

[JoshuaKadmon]

It was just a joke anyway, dude. I still love Phantasy Star, Aliens, Sonic, and the rest. It's just that a lot of games in those series have failed to live up to their full potential in recent years. You can't say that about the Yakuza games or anything that Platinum has put out. All your best are belong to them.

[karmacoma]

Akira would be awesome. I'd love a Ghost in the Shell title from Platinum. I'm playing Deus Ex Human Revolution, and the only thing missing is some great melee combat. After seeing some of the character artwork in Anarchy Reigns, I'm kind of craving a proper Platinum cyberpunk game.