There’s no stopping the resurgence of classic sci-fi anime Saint Seiya—first we got a 3DCG anime, now we are getting a smartphone game! Bandai Namco has announced last week that they are currently developing a smartphone game for the Saint Seiya franchise. Officially titled Saint Seiya Shining Soldiers, the game was announced to be aimed for a worldwide release.

Bandai Namco has also revealed two trailers for the game. Check out the characters and gameplay elements in the two videos here and here!

The game is free-to-download but has in-game purchases. The iOS App Store listed the game as set for an April 23 release, but this is yet to be officially announced by Bandai Namco. Pre-registration is currently ongoing for iOS here and for Android here, with corresponding rewards once a certain number of pre-registrations are reached.

The game is a strategy RPG which utilizes one-on-one command battles. Players get to choose three playable characters out of six to battle other players online.

The classic anime series is currently seeing a resurgence in recent months; just last July 2019, Netflix premiered a 12-episode 3DCG anime remake entitled Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac. And on May last year, Toei also announced that a live-action Hollywood film has been greenlit, which the studio will co-produce along with Chinese distribution company A Really Good Film (ARGF) Company. The live-action film, which has yet to announce a cast or release date, will be directed by Polish director Tomek Baginski. Baginski directed the Academy Award-winning short animation “Katedra”. ARGF’s Jeffrey Chan and Toei Animation’s Yoshi Ikezawa and Joseph Chou are named as producers, while Toei’s Kozo Morishita, Convergence Entertainment’s Tim Kwok, Miguel Faura, and series author Masami Kurumada will serve as executive producers.

Saint Seiya is a manga series written by Masami Kurumada. It was first released in 1986 in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from its debut until its finale in 1990. It has inspired a number of animated series, OVAs, anime films, and spinoff projects. Netflix describes the animé’s story as such:

“Knights of the Zodiac: Saint Seiya follows modern day adventures of young warriors called “Knights”, who are sworn protectors of the reincarnated Greek goddess Athena. Each Knights wears a powerful armor based on their chosen zodiac constellation, and are called Knights of the Zodiac. They aid Athena in her battle against powerful Olympian gods who are bent on destroying the humankind.”

Source: Anime News Network