Fairy Tail will soon be branching out with its very first console game effort with Koei Tecmo for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, and fans have been curious as to how much of the game would be inspired by Hiro Mashima’s original manga series. It’s been previously confirmed that the new game would be taking from the Grand Magic Games and Tartaros arcs of the original series, but will include some original story content as well. But that begs the question of whether or not Mashima is involved with this new content in any way.
Speaking with ComicBook.com, Koei Tecmo producer Keisuke Kikuchi discussed Mashima’s involvement with the game’s development and revealed that many of their decisions about what to include and adapt for the game go through publisher Kodansha and Mashima himself.
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As Kikuchi explained, “The game’s story primarily focuses on the Grand Magic Games and Tartaros arcs, so it’s in line with the original canon. As for the original features such as character episodes, quests, and various other elements, we do submit our proposals to the original publisher Kodansha as well as Mashima-san himself to review and approve.”
Mashima’s review and approval extended to which characters were included as playable in the game as well, “…there are just so many characters in the world of Fairy Tail, and we really had a hard time trying to select the playable characters. So when we did that, we took it to Mashima-san and he also provided valuable advices on each character.”
If fans were worried about whether or not the game was being developed without much direct involvement from the series creator, than worry not! With Mashima so closely involved, that also explains why Kikuchi is teasing some fan service scenes in the game faithful to the original series too.
Fairy Tail’s big console debut does not have a concrete release date as of this writing, but is currently slated for a release on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch sometime next year. Fairy Tail was originally created by Hiro Mashima for Kodansha’s Weekly Shonen Magazine, running from 2006 to 2017 and selling over 60 million copies. The series is set in a fantasy world full of magic following Natsu Dragneel, a fire breathing wizard with the powers of a dragon who is in search of his missing foster father, the dragon Igneel. As he and his wizarding guild Fairy Tail get into adventures, Natsu always tries to find a way to succeed. The series was later adapted into an anime by A-1 Pictures, Dentsu Inc., and Satelight in 2009 and ended its first run in 2013. A second season ran from 2014 to 2016, and the third season brought the anime to its official end.