The illustration of Suika Gamea video game that has gone viral around the world. Suika Game / Aladdin
This viral puzzle game has already sold more than four million copies. Despite its simplistic appearance, its concept turns out to be extremely addictive.
He’s getting us hooked. Marketed worldwide since October 20 (and since December 2021 in Japan), Suika Game is one of those video games that doesn’t look like much. Simplistic graphics, no French translation, gameplay little variety… It’s difficult to be seduced by the images and videos of the title, while the year 2023 is considered by connoisseurs of the sector as one of the greatest years in the history of video games, marked by ambitious and large-scale productions. budget.
And yet, Suika Game is a tidal wave. This Japanese game developed by Aladdin X has already sold more than four million copies internationally, on Nintendo’s portable console, the Switch. It is also ranked first in sales on the Japanese giant’s online store, thee-shop, since several weeks. Its high price obviously weighs in the balance – 2.99 euros -, but it is clear that Suika Game owes its popularity to its decidedly addictive concept.
Very cute fruits
Located halfway between the mythical Tetris and the no less recognized 2048 , Suika Game is what we call a “puzzle game», or, in French, a thinking game. The objective here is to make, with a simple press of a button, various fruits (pear, strawberry, pineapple, etc.) fall into a basket to obtain the best possible score. When two identical fruits touch, they merge to transform into a larger fruit, giving the player points. Thus, two cherries merge into a strawberry, two strawberries merge into a bunch of grapes, two bunches of grapes merge into a tangerine, and so on until the watermelon – which is the French translation of “Suika“, Moreover. The player must therefore ideally place the fruits that he obtains by chance in order not to overflow the basket, a sign of game over. Don’t panic though, there’s nothing particularly complicated about the game. It is therefore in line with these other games that make fruits their main characters, such as Fruit Ninjaintended for the general public.
After several hours of testing carried out by Le Figaro, we have seen that the concept turns out to be surprisingly deeper than it seems. Each fruit having a unique physical behavior due to its size, we must intelligently occupy the space, while keeping in mind that the next merger risks blocking the spaces that we had visualized beforehand. The games follow one another and, quickly, our concentration on these very cute fruits – which display expressions typically “chibi » – makes us forget the game’s catchy music, as well as its poor interface and its unique fixed setting.
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Software integrated into a projector
Flaws that the developer Aladdin X will probably correct over time, while expanding the game in content. Because Suika Game was, originally, just a simple piece of software integrated into a… projector, the “popIn Aladdin“, sold in Japan, the company declared to Nippon TV. To promote this device sold for nearly 99,000 yen (around 600 euros), Aladdin X made the decision to export its title to other platforms. “We first imagined marketing it as a smartphone application. But ultimately, we turned to the Nintendo online store, where we had the best chance of standing out“, the group told the Japanese media. Remember that 30 million copies of the Nintendo Switch have been sold in Japan since 2017.
Initially released in Japan in 2021, it still took more than two years before the game went viral, just a few weeks before its release in the West. This impressive success, comparable to that of Vampire Survivors is due to local, then international, content creators, who spent hours of stream on Youtube and others. In October, the game reached 9.29 million hours of viewing, compared to less than two million the previous month, report our colleagues at Numerama. In November, Suika Game surpassed two million hours in just nine days. In view of all these staggering results, numerous copies of the game abound on the Internet. Aladdin X also deplored the existence of an ersatz called Watermelon Game on the App Store. “Be careful when downloading similar apps“, warned the company, warning of the risks of viruses.