During the Japanese version of this week’s Nintendo Direct, a pleasant surprise was announced: a summertime game with everyone’s favorite anime five-year-old from Crayon Shin-chan.
Called Crayon Shin-chan: Ora to Hakase no Natsuyasumi (Crayon Shin-chan: My Summer Vacation With The Professor), the game lets players enjoy summertime in a small town in Kyushu, Japan.
This might seem familiar. In Japan, there is a series of games called Boku no Natsuyasumi (My Summer Vacation) that Sony published for PlayStation hardware. The first one was released in 2000 and followed the adventures of a young boy on vacation at a relative’s place in the countryside, as he catches bugs and goes fishing. Sequels and ports followed, the appeal of these games being their terrific job of capturing rural Japan during the summer.
Boku no Natsuyasumi’s creator Kaz Ayabe created this upcoming Shin-chan game, doing the layout, writing the script, and the concept. From the trailer, it still looks like the world of Shin-chan, but with Ayabe’s wonderfully lush summertime touches.
Crayon Shin-chan: Ora to Hakase no Natsuyasumi will be released this summer in Japan on the Nintendo Switch.