‘AKB0048 Galaxy Cinderella’ social game launches on GREE

Namco Bandai Games launched today on the GREE mobile platform AKB0048 Galaxy Cinderella, a social game based on anime series AKB0048.

…And it’s hard not to see the obvious parallels between Galaxy Cinderella and Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls, the rights of which NBGI also owns, that’s playable only on DeNA’s Mobage mobile gaming platform. Yes, you may call this a “clone”.

It also doesn’t help that the premise in AKB0048 Galaxy Cinderella is remarkably similar to that of Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls: you play the role of a rookie producer who must scout and recruit charismatic idol wannabes for your idol unit, send the unit to “live” auditions to gain experience and amass war funds, “battle” against other producers like yourself to “power-up” the girls you chose, and ultimately aim to place high in a periodically-held Galaxy Selection contest.

Idols in Galaxy Cinderella are even split amongst three colour-coded genre types, depending on where their talents reside in.

There are idols who are good at singing (Song), those who love to shake-it-up (Dance), and those blessed with a silver tongue (MC). In Cinderella Girls, idols are split amongst the Cute, Cool, and Passion categories.

That said, in terms of content there is one big jarring difference between Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls and AKB0048 Galaxy Cinderella.

The latter is a little chuunibyou (中二病, or “suffers from adolescent delusions of grandeur“).

Because Galaxy Cinderella preserves the AKB0048 anime series’ futuristic dystopian setting, when you send your girls out to “live” auditions, what you’re really sending them out to are “guerrila live” (ゲリラライブ) auditions. Entertainment and other such things that “disturb the heart” are banned from society in the cruel world of AKB0048.

AKB0048 takes place in a futuristic universe where an interplanetary war has broken out, and Earth has been severely damaged leading to humanity’s migration onto other planets. Life on these new planets are spartan at best, and society has deemed fit to ban things that “disturb the heart”, such as music and art, from the general public. Some 48 years last humanity settles into this dystopian future, an interplanetary troupe known as AKB0048 – modelled after the legendary idol group AKB48 – appears and attempts to spread their music across the galaxy.

So remember, kids! When you play AKB0048 Galaxy Cinderella, you’re not just producing top-class, legendary idols. You’re also liberating the free world.

Source: 4Gamer