Ōkamiden, known in Japan as Ōkamiden: Chiisaki Taiyō, is a 2010 action-adventure game created by Mobile & Game Studio, Inc. and released by Capcom for the Nintendo DS. It is inspired by, but not a direct follow-up to, Ōkami, a game originally made for the PlayStation 2.
Ōkamiden was designed by Kuniomi Matsushita, who directed the Wii version of Ōkami, and Motohide Eshiro, who worked on games like Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny. The game was released in Japan on September 30, 2010, in North America on March 15, 2011, and in Europe on March 18. It follows Chibiterasu, a small celestial wolf born from Amaterasu, the main character of Ōkami. The game includes gameplay similar to its predecessor, such as the Celestial Brush, which lets players pause the action and draw shapes on the touch screen.
Development started when Matsushita shared an idea for a new Ōkami game and showed Eshiro a demo in December 2008. Because the demo was well-made, work began on the game. Four years after Ōkami was first released, Ōkamiden came out in September 2010 and received positive reviews from critics.
With the announcement of a sequel to Ōkami at The Game Awards 2024, it is unclear whether Ōkamiden is considered part of the official story or not.
Gameplay
Ōkamiden is played in a similar way to its earlier game, Ōkami, and is like games from The Legend of Zelda series. The Zelda series inspired Ōkami’s director, Hideki Kamiya, and Ōkamiden’s producer, Motohide Eshiro. A key feature in the game is the "Celestial Brush," which lets players freeze the screen and draw symbols on the touchscreen with a stylus to solve puzzles and fight enemies. The theme of restoring life to the world, which appeared in Ōkami, returns in Ōkamiden. A new feature allows Chibiterasu to team up with partners. These partners help explore the game world and battle enemies. A new technique called "Guidance," also named the "Shirabe" or "courage" brush by Diamond Feit of Wired, lets players move Chibiterasu’s partner across areas Chibiterasu cannot reach, which is often needed to progress in the game. The game uses face buttons to move Chibiterasu. The top screen shows a third-person view of the action, while the bottom screen displays a mini-map of the area. Pressing either shoulder button activates the Celestial Brush. When this happens, the game pauses, the top screen moves to the bottom and appears as parchment, and players use the stylus to draw symbols to use the brush’s powers. The game detects how quickly the stylus moves across the screen and shows this as the thickness of the drawn line: fast movements create thin lines, and slow movements create thick lines.
Brush techniques can be used to defeat enemies. Many enemies are weak to specific brush techniques, and defeating them this way gives players rare items that help strengthen Chibiterasu. Some parts of the game include mini-games based on other genres, such as shoot 'em ups and side-scrolling games.
Plot
The story of Ōkamiden focuses on the children of characters from the game Ōkami and their adventures, as explained by producer Motohide Eshiro. The game takes place nine months after the events of Ōkami. Even though Amaterasu fought the Dark Lord Yami, who would have destroyed all demons in Nippon, the demons return. Konohana Sprite Sakuya, a character from Ōkami, calls for Amaterasu but instead meets Chibiterasu, who resembles a younger version of Amaterasu. According to Matsushita, Chibiterasu is actually Amaterasu’s son, as previously guessed. Producer Eshiro explains that Chibiterasu is a "young form of existence" and not fully grown. He still has some abilities from Amaterasu, like the Celestial Brush, but does not have her full power. Matsushita describes Chibiterasu as clumsy and having childlike behaviors, such as being easily emotional or struggling to make choices.
Issun, Amaterasu’s partner in the first game, cannot help Chibiterasu because he is busy as the Celestial Envoy. Chibiterasu must find new partners to help defeat evil. These partners include Kuni, the adopted son of Susano and Kushi from Ōkami; Nanami, a young mermaid who can swim underwater and provide water for the Waterspout ability; Kagu, a spirit medium who helps see invisible elements; Kurow, a boy who plays the flute and shares traits with Waka from Ōkami; and Manpuku, a heavyset boy who carries fire and can walk through ice spikes to provide fire for the Inferno technique.
Chibiterasu and his partners first search for King Fury, an evil summoner who caused curses across Nippon. After defeating King Fury, they discover a stronger enemy, Akuro, who wants to curse Nippon again. To do this, Akuro must obtain the blood of Orochi, an eight-headed demon from the first game. Akuro travels back in time to when Amaterasu fought Orochi, but Chibiterasu stops him. Akuro then goes back 100 years to when Nagi and Shiranui, a wolf form Amaterasu later received, defeated Orochi. The team follows Akuro through time. Before entering Moon Cave, Kurow leaves the group, claiming he has a "True Mission." Chibiterasu enters the cave alone but fails to stop Akuro this time because Kurow, who has turned evil and joined Akuro, prevents him.
Chibiterasu and his allies follow Akuro to the dark realms, where they find Akuro has taken over Kuni’s body. Kurow plans to fight Chibiterasu. Chibiterasu battles Kurow, expelling Akuro’s spirit and freeing Kuni. However, Kurow lets Akuro take his body. Kurow reveals he is a living doll of Waka, created to house Akuro’s spirit. If Kurow is killed with Akuro inside him, Akuro will be destroyed. Chibiterasu follows Kurow’s instructions, and Akuro is defeated. Before dying, Kurow feels sad about being a doll, but his friends remind him that his adventures with Chibiterasu made him more than just a doll. Kurow dies peacefully, surrounded by friends. Afterward, Chibiterasu’s partners return home, more confident in their abilities. Kuni leaves to find his true identity, which makes Susano sad. Chibiterasu joins Issun to return to the Celestial Plain and reunite with Waka and Amaterasu.
Other characters from Ōkami, such as Issun, Mr. and Mrs. Orange, and Sakuya, also appear in the game. The game includes locations from Ōkami and new areas to explore. Chibiterasu gains Celestial Brush abilities similar to those in Ōkami, but instead of finding Brush Gods in constellations, players must travel to places where the Gods have chosen to rest and learn skills from their children.
Development
Because the game didn't sell well, Ōkami was seen as a failure on the PlayStation 2. Many people thought it was one reason Clover Studio, the game's developer, closed. However, Hideki Kamiya, the lead designer of Ōkami, said the closure was more related to an argument between producer Atsushi Inaba and Capcom's management. Kamiya explained that he had an idea for a sequel but could not control whether it would happen. In July 2007, former Capcom employee Keiji Inafune said the team had considered a Wii version of the game but had no plans yet. Despite this, a Wii version was later released. Capcom employee Chris Svensson said more people would need to buy Ōkami for a sequel to be made.
In August 2009, Capcom applied for a Japanese trademark on the name "Ōkamiden" for a video game, a few months before the Wii version of Ōkami was released in Japan. This led to speculation that Ōkamiden might be a sequel. The name could be a shortening or a play on words for "Ōkami Gaiden" ("Ōkami Sidestory") or "Ōkami Densetsu" ("Ōkami Legend"). In September 2009, the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu revealed that Ōkamiden: Chiisaki Taiyō was another Ōkami game planned for the Nintendo DS in Japan in 2010. The article showed gameplay, including combat and graphics similar to the original PlayStation 2 and Wii versions.
Ōkamiden was directed by Kuniomi Matsushita, who worked on the Wii version of Ōkami, and produced by Motohide Eshiro, who had previously worked on games like Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny and Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth. Yukinori Kitajima, the writer of the critically praised game 428: Shibuya Scramble, wrote the story for Ōkamiden. In December 2008, Matsushita led a small team to create a prototype for a sequel. After showing this to Eshiro and expressing his desire to continue the project, the game was approved. The team chose the Nintendo DS because of its portability and the usefulness of the stylus for drawing, which mimicked the Celestial Brush from the original game. Eshiro said Ōkamiden was more of a continuation of the Ōkami world than a direct sequel. He also considered future games for the Nintendo 3DS, modern consoles, or mobile devices like the iPhone, depending on how well Ōkamiden was received.
To adapt Ōkami for the Nintendo DS, several changes were made. Players control only character movement, with the camera fixed in a specific direction to guide focus. The combat system was simplified, reducing melee attacks to a single button while keeping the Celestial Brush for strategy. Developers kept melee attacks to avoid slowing the game. The idea of partners and using the stylus to guide them came from puzzle ideas that used the DS's touchscreen. Some Celestial Brush strokes and puzzles were cut from the final version to avoid making the game too long. The DS's limited graphics and resolution made it harder to recreate the original game's visuals.
Originally, the game was to feature Amaterasu, the main character from Ōkami. However, an artist's joke drawing of Amaterasu's child inspired the idea of a partner character, leading to Chibiterasu as the main character. Since Chibiterasu was a child, the team added partners to help save the world. This choice was preferred over having multiple Chibiterasus in a party. The game's child's perspective made it easier to visualize and fit with Nintendo's handheld audience. Eshiro compared the story to the movie Stand by Me. He also included themes of friendship and loss to create emotional depth. Chibiterasu is paired with only one partner at a time, as Matsushita said switching partners would not feel like a true partnership. The death of a major character was included to improve the story's flow, even though some developers were hesitant about it.
The game takes place nine months after the events of Ōkami, which created story challenges for writer Yukinori Kitajima. The team kept the timeline close to the original game to maintain familiarity for players. Kitajima had to explain why characters didn't remember the end of Ōkami or why Susano's son, Kuni, was a young boy.
Ōkamiden was first shown at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2009, where it was about 25% complete. Releases outside Japan were uncertain until Capcom trademarked the name in North America and Europe. In April 2010, Capcom confirmed the game would be released in those regions by 2011.
A "Collector's Edition" of Ōkamiden was released in Japan with the game, a soundtrack, a DVD, a storybook, a plush keychain, and branded earphones. Japanese advertisements featured model Kii Kitano and a white Shiba Inu puppy named Moran-chan, who looked like Chibiterasu. North American pre-orders included a stylized screen cleaner and brush-shaped stylus at GameStop and a plush keychain at the Capcom Store.
Reception
The decision to release Ōkamiden on the Nintendo DS received different opinions from critics. John Funk, an editor at The Escapist, said the DS was a good choice for the sequel because the touch screen could be used well for the Celestial Brush. Daniel Sims, an editor at Kombo, praised the game's cel-shaded visuals, noting they looked good on the DS. Hamza Aziz, from Destructoid, believed the DS was the best platform for Ōkamiden. He also said he was impressed that Capcom kept the stylized look of Ōkami in the sequel. However, Ishaan Sahdev from Siliconera doubted whether Ōkamiden could feel like Ōkami, as the original game relied heavily on its visuals and art style. He criticized the decision to release it on the DS, saying the visuals were poor and questioned if the game's flaws might make it not worth creating. Luke Plunkett from Kotaku expressed disappointment that it was a DS game instead of a PlayStation 3 game.
There was concern about making Ōkamiden without PlatinumGames, a company that included key members from Clover Studio, such as Hideki Kamiya, who created Ōkami. John Constantine from MTV worried this might make the game feel like a copy of the original.
Demos of Ōkamiden, including the Japanese version shown at the Tokyo Game Show in 2009 and the English version at events in the United States, were well received by critics. Kotaku editors Stephan Totilo and Brian Crecente praised the demo versions they played in 2010. Totilo said the game was a strong match for the DS, calling it "a kind of game made for the DS" and "the kind of game for which [he] thought the DS was made." Crecente noted that the drawing system from Ōkami worked better in Ōkamiden because of the stylus and the way the DS is held like a book. Daniel Feit from Wired said the graphics were not as good as the original PlayStation 2 version, but the "cartoony graphics" were well suited for the DS.
IGN described the character Chibiterasu as "adorable." James Stephanie Sterling from Destructoid agreed, joking that its cuteness might make Ōkamiden one of the best DS games ever. Luke Plunkett from Kotaku said he was surprised by how much he liked Chibiterasu despite his earlier concerns about the game.
At E3 2010, Ōkamiden received praise and awards. It was nominated for "Best Handheld Game" at the Game Critics Awards and "Best DS Game" by IGN. GameSpy named it their "DS Game of Show."
Famitsu gave Ōkamiden a score of 34 out of 40. The reviewers said the game successfully brought elements of Ōkami to the DS but noted the DS version covered many of the same story and gameplay elements as the original. They also said the gameplay was not much different from Ōkami but added that this showed how complete the original game was. GameZone gave the game a 7/10, saying some players might enjoy it despite its flaws, such as backtracking.
During its release week, Ōkamiden was the third best-selling video game in Japan, with 84,472 copies sold. It sold an additional 12,829 copies the following week, dropping to number 13 on the charts.