Given the popularity of Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece, it’s no surprise that others are trying to ride on the manga’s coattails. Two narrative adventure games copying One Piece’s art style and character designs, titled Pirate Anime Quest: One Boys’ Journey, A Piece of Island Love and Pirate Anime Quest: One Girls’ Journey, A Piece of Island Love, are listed on the Nintendo eShop and are set to be released on May 29 by publisher Red Fables.
You would be forgiven for thinking that these two titles are the exact same game. Apart from using different names and marketing screenshots, both games’ Nintendo eShop descriptions are exactly the same, with a suggested narrative focus on “merging forbidden fruits to capture the heart of your ideal pirate.”
Gameplay-wise, it looks like you will interact with your totally-not-Straw-Hat-Pirates crew to deepen your connections with them. By choosing the right dialogue options and giving them the appropriate fruits, you can unlock secret scenes and alternate endings (some of which are hinted to be R-rated). There also seems to be a minigame where you drop forbidden fruits into a receptacle to line them up, which brings to mind the Nintendo Switch breakout hit Suika Game. As there is currently no video footage of the games in action, we can only surmise how they will play.
Given Nintendo’s strict copyright regulations for its own properties, many Japanese users are wondering how these One Piece rip off games managed to get on the Nintendo eShop in the first place. While some are asking Nintendo to tighten their digital game screening regulations, many are finding humor in the concept of a knock-off One Piece romance visual novel comprised of what awfully resembles AI-generated art.
At the time of writing, Pirate Anime Quest: One Boys’ Journey, A Piece of Island Love and Pirate Anime Quest: One Girls’ Journey, A Piece of Island Love are listed on the Nintendo eShop without issue and are slated to release on May 29. It remains to be seen whether Nintendo or One Piece’s right holders will step in before the games launch.
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