As gaming and anime worlds collide, there’s one name that shows up time and again, at the intersection of culture, imagination, and storytelling: Nintendo. This video game company defined much of my childhood and still shapes our future of interactive entertainment. With the popular fantasy cooking anime Delicious in Dungeon releasing its second season, what better time to see how Nintendo’s spirit of innovation and adventure mirrors the fantasy cooking anime.
At first glance, the relationship between Nintendo and the anime Delicious in Dungeon might not seem obvious. But they’re both testimonials to the creative power of synthesis, bringing together two seemingly unrelated poles. Thanks to the anime, based on Ryoko Kui’s food manga series, we can experience a flavour-filled adventure in another world that, like Nintendo’s game titles, isn’t just about cooking or battling or dungeon-crawling. The story in this anime is as much about the bonds of fellowship and survival as it is about gustatory discovery in a fantasy world.
In the same way that Delicious in Dungeon has created a devoted following anticipating its next chapter, Nintendo has cultivated a community of brand loyalists who look forward to their next release with the same glee. This type of excitement over an anime’s next season is as contagious as it is for the new Nintendo game. A good method for cultivating that devotion (as demonstrated by the writers and illustrators of Delicious in Dungeon as well as Nintendo) is to make sure you’re always on the same wavelength as your potential fans.
In many ways, Nintendo’s attitude – a focus on innovating and pushing the genre ever-forward – mirrors Delicious in Dungeon’s attitude and eagerness to ‘stretch the limits’ of gaming into a new genre altogether. That stretch might not be as wild as breaking free of Dungeons and Dragons tropes and substituting foodstuff for experience points, but it’s still significant. And Nintendo has frequently flipped the script when it comes to genre conventions: from the RPG-infused Super Mario RPG (1996), to a turn-based dungeon-crawl on the DS called The Last Story (2011), and dipping into bullet-hell shooters with the classic shoot ’em up Retro City Rampage (2012) on the 3DS. Even further back, Nintendo found success by creating gameplay-inventing, category-killing consoles and games like the NES, Super NES, Nintendo 64 and Wii.
Nintendo has repeatedly taken risks and ventured into uncharted waters. When it released the Game Boy and popularised handheld gaming, as well as the Wii and changed how the living room could be used for entertainment, no one could have imagined that it would break records.
Like Dungeon definitely delves into new culinary dimensions, thanks to the game’s fantasy setting As for Nintendo’s business strategy, falling behind technologically is rarely an option. The company has already taken big swings at mobile gaming, augmented reality and other tech frontiers, which keeps it in the lead on gaming innovation. It is also one big reason why Nintendo’s offerings seem so new to old fans and so exciting to new ones.
At the core of Nintendo’s community games is their ability to provide users with a sense of belonging – of being part of something, a tribe of Tokyo. Whether it’s the cooperative ethos of multiplayer games, the network of online communities, or the opportunities for ‘fanism’ and the fun that comes from cosplaying a favourite character, all these things are reflected in the social nature and teamwork of the characters in Delicious in Dungeon.
And while we’re all waiting to see what awaits the intrepid adventurers in season 2 of Delicious in Dungeon, the future waters appear to be wide open. Nintendo’s habit of innovation and raw momentum speaks well for their prospects. Will it be a game? Will it be a tech? Will they develop an entertainment brand? Who can say. But Nintendo has never simply sought to take our money. They have spent years making magic, and they’ve welcomed us into it. They’ve transformed and reinterpreted revered characters and held worlds up to the lens. They’ve taken us on new paths, and even reinvented themselves.
Yet, Nintendo itself isn’t just a boxed-off hobby for gamers. Nintendo is a cultural force that unites generations. The spirit of its creative confectionary is a shared sense of wonder – one that guides plucky explorers in almost every medium. Delicious in Dungeon is still just beginning. As Miyamoto’s whimsical cosplay reveals, there’s plenty of room to experiment in Nintendo’s wide-open door. At the end of the day, both the anime and Nintendo show us what it means to venture into the unknown – into the dungeon and into the spirit of exploration that powers games, everywhere. As we saw, the spheres of gaming and anime are deeply interconnected, and Nintendo’s legacy in permanence and imagination will be long standing as we think towards the future of adventure and daring, uncharted terrain and new frontiers, mystery and magic, and family and friends – oh yes, lots and lots of friends – and the wondrous realm of make belief. Nintendo will always be there.
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