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GAMING FEATURE

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How closely does what we’ll play adhere to the established Sand Land story? We have covered the story found in the manga, but players will still meet a new character, Ann the mechanic, designed by Toriyama-sensei, along the way to the Legendary Spring. She shares your goals and supports you. For those who already know Sand Land through the manga, I would like them to see its translation into a video game, and for those who do not know it yet, I would like them to discover it as the new game created by Toriyama-sensei. Would you please tell us more about the powers of the player character Beelzebub, and how this affects gameplay? Beelzebub has a skill tree with active and passive skills, and as he levels up and unlocks new skills, you will see a variety in his attack combos and improvements in his stats. In dungeons where vehicles are difficult to manoeuvre, players can progress using Beelzebub's actions, but it will be important to use combos and skills to get around, and also to recover HP by using water, which is precious in Sand Land. What one thing do you personally think is the coolest thing about Sand Land ? I think it is cool that the main character, Beelzebub, overcomes difficulties and challenges without difficulty with his natural ‘evilness’. It is kind of a joke that Beelzebub calls himself evil, but he really isn’t. Do you please have any special tips for those heading into their Sand Land journey? As the story continues, new vehicles will be unlocked, but I think that the Battle Tank with a good balance, including movement and firepower, will be the key to a good strategy. Also, if you obtain customised or reinforced parts, I would like you to actively use them to level up your Battle Tank. Each vehicle has optional parts that enable ‘special attacks’, please check them out! Also, don't forget to increase basic stats as much as you can! REMEMBERING AKIRA TORIYAMA The manga world was shocked last month to learn of the untimely death of Akira Toriyama, at the age of 68. Over a career spanning some 45 years he gave us joys like Dr. Slump , and several one shots, before his big breakthrough in 1984 with Dragon Ball . Toriyama was also a prolific

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Legendary Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama’s manga Sand Land makes its way into game territory this month. Keishu Minami, game producer at Bandai Namco, tells us more about the exciting project. Words Amy Flower

How closely has AkiraToriyama worked with you on developing this game? We have been working with Toriyama-sensei as the general supervisor through the licensor since the beginning. His input can be found in the scenario and vehicle designs. On top of that, we have received positive feedback from the licensor and Toriyama-sensei regarding the creativity, including the design of the game. We have also received comments from Toriyama-sensei himself after he saw the entire game, so please look forward to it. While the manga has been around for more than 20 years now, it’s only recently that Sand Land has really started to spread its wings. Has there been a conscious effort to expose this great work to a wider audience?

Dragon Ball is so well known that there is no one in the world who does not know about it, but the author’s universe is not only that one. We want to deliver various points of view from Toriyama-sensei’s world and its charm to worldwide fans. We believe that some audiences will discover it through the manga, but we can reach many more by also adapting it into a video game, an anime series, and a movie, so we decided to start the project which showcases the world of Sand Land in various ways. In order to translate the ‘Toriyama-sensei style’ in the design of the Battle Tank and the appearance of the characters, which were meticulously drawn by Toriyama-sensei, the game models are specifically using manga-style lines to express shadows. In particular, the powerful battles of Dragon How do you go about animating Akira Toriyama’s amazing art?

character designer for games, with his most seen works including both the Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger series.

Ball as Toriyama-sensei created them are an inspiration and reference, and we have tried to show the power of Beelzebub in the game in the same fashion to express his strength.

• Sand Land is out on April 26

48 APRIL 2024

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