Pikachin-kit Multimedia Franchise Gets Nintendo Switch Game

FuRyu opened a teaser website on Thursday for a Nintendo Switch game for the Pochitto Hatsumei: Pikachin-Kit multimedia franchise. The game, titled Pikachin-Kit Game de Pirameki Daisakusen! (Pikachin-Kit Great Insight Strategy in a Game), will launch physically and digitally on November 8 in Japan.

The adventure game will have an original story where Eiji, Pochirō, and their friends must come up with various inventions to sell in order to raise money to save the local playground. Characters from the anime will also appear in the game.

Shogakukan announced the Pochitto Hatsumei: Pikachin-Kit multimedia project in October, with plans for toys, anime, manga, a YouTube video series, and a variety program.

In the franchise, the word "Pikachin" means the flash of inspiration or insight one gets about a new project, similar to the visual of a lightbulb turning on above one's head when someone has an idea. The concept of the franchiseis "invention is 99% plastic models, 1% inspiration."

The ongoing television anime premiered in Japan on January 6 at 9:30 a.m. on TV Tokyo and its affiliates. The anime centers on a fifth-year elementary student named Eiji Tōmatsu, and his "inspiration" buddy, a dog named Pochirō. One day Eiji finds a mysterious book called the "Pikachin Research Book," and learns about the seven tools that make up the Pikachin Kit. Eiji presses a button inside the research book, and immediately a "Future Amazon" delivery arrives at his door with the kit. Eiji uses the blueprints included in the box to assemble the kit, but it seems as though 1% part of the kit is still missing.