A new iDOLM@STER game has been announced, this time for the Mobage social gaming platform for
mobile phones. The game promises over 100 girls to produce, and quite a few nice little details have
already been released to the public via Crunchyroll and various other mediums. If you’re still interested,
let’s go over what we know, shall we?
As the title of this article reads, the game is entitled The iDOLM@STER: Cinderella Girls, and the
game will feature a mixture of original and new idols to mass a total of over 100 playable idols to produce-
that’s one heck of a replay value right there. If you consider the previous idols that this series has produced
to date, we’re looking at around 60-80 new idols to produce! That’s one crazy lineup, I have to admit.
Moving on to the gameplay, the majority of the formula is untouched, but little details change from
within. You select an idol and their personality type, and you begin to produce them and allow them to
grow in popularity. The main game this time around? You face off directly with other units in what appears
to be a “card battle” system of gameplay, with some of the famous iDOLM@STER tracks available, of
course. Emerging victorious nets you more fans, and maybe even the costume of the idol you triumphed
over. <— How this process of stealing clothing would work in real life, I don’t eve-
It’s quite possible that you won’t have all 100+ idols from the very beginning to work with. With a select
few, you’ll most likely build up through the game, meeting and unlocking the costumes and idols. Not only
will this encourage replaying the game over and over again, but it’ll hopefully encourage players to indulge
in every type of idol instead of just their personal favourites. With over a hundred of them to choose from,
we can only hope that there aren’t an overabundance of cookie cut-out characters that repeat over and
over.
As for the song list? It’s unknown as of yet, it seems. My guess is that it will be limited to about 10-20
songs, due to the limits of processing speeds and physical space for mobile phones. The slight worry arises
that if a player has to play the same 10 songs over and over again with just one idol, they will probably
drive anyone insane by the time you’ve gone through the 5th or 6th playthrough. Sure, the singers
themselves will be different each time, but the song remains the same. We’ll have to see how Namco
Bandai Japan will deal with this. Also, with over 100 different idols, are we looking at no voice acting
aside from the songs, or are Namco Bandai Japan really putting in the effort and hiring over 100
different voices for the project? We can only hope for the latter.
Finally, let’s take a look at the best concept so far for this game. That right, I said at the beginning that this
is going to be released on a “social” gaming platform. Step aside and let the co-operative mode through!
This mode allows and encourages players to produce idols together, and will most likely allow other little
features like idol information sharing and leaderboards. To this point, it’s uncertain just how players will
be able to cooperate with each other, but it sounds like the gameplay will incorporate this feature and
that’s already fantastic. Perhaps there will be a feature that doesn’t allow two of the same idols to perform
at once though, as that would look and sound quite strange. Talking about the setting of the game itself, it
doesn’t appear to be in the same as previous titles, as we have a new assistant and quite a few new
characters involved. Still, nothing is certain as of yet, and we might just be wandering the halls of good ol’
765 Pro once again.
So, where does that leave us? As of yet, not much else is known about the game itself and how much has
been developed. Stay tuned for more information on the subject, and for now, here’s a pile of all the
characters I could find images for! Enjoy.
