We can probably expect Heavy Cat's game to be leaps and bounds more interesting than the Sailor V game that Usagi/Serena was always playing!

Heavy Cat Multimedia Ltd., an up and coming electronic game development company has been quietly working on the feasibility of creating a Sailor Moon video game. No they haven't got anything planned yet but that's the best part! Unlike some companies (which just went ahead and made some very questionable [and unprofitable] products) with Sailor Moon, Heavy Cat wants to hear from you first.

They've created an online survey so that the company will know what (and what not) you would like from such a game. For somewhere around 60 days, you and as many friends (who are Sailor Moon fans or electronic game players) as you can get are invited to fill out this survey. Heavy Cat says that the results of this survey will be made part of a formal market research report.

LadyStar is a computer game that uses Anime style character art. The story is about a very kind but somewhat silly girl named Jessica Hoshi who has just entered a new High School. She meets various new friends and begins to get the hang of Marching Band. But she keeps having strange recurring dreams of a wasteland covered in mist, and the voice of a baby crying. From some of the promotional art on the website, it looks like she and her friends will eventually receive magical powers and fight evil. The game is being released in an interesting format: each "episode" is available for download on the LadyStar website (scroll to the bottom to find the first episode), and the episodes are organized into volumes. The first several episodes (the first volume) are free for anyone to download and play - but to continue the story with volumes 2 and above you must pay a registration fee. This is a rather elegant implementation of the time-honored "Shareware" software model. Another interesting thing about LadyStar is that the game system utilizes the programming interfaces that are built into modern web browsers; you run the game by loading it up in your web browser. Because of this, you can even play online without pre-downloading the game files. Heavy Cat's character designer is an actual Japanese Anime artist, and it shows!

Do not fill out the online survey more than once. It's not the total number of responses they get that is important, it's that all potential buyers are represented. Repeat entries may mislead the marketing & development teams in creating a game that even you wouldn't like. (As a point of reference and to see a game they've created, give "Ladystar" a try.) We ourselves are pushing for game options which would include a choice of character names, story versions and music (DiC or original).

Fans are reminded not to blow this opportunity. Visit the online survey site but then DON'T immediately fill it out. Instead, give yourselves a few days to think about what you'd like in a game. Fans are encouraged to visit our Yahoo Board to share their thoughts BEFORE filling out the survey. When filling out the survey take your time, be polite, read your entry out loud before submitting it (to make sure it makes sense) and then check your spelling.

One of the reasons why you are being given this opportunity is because how Sailor Moon fans have conducted themselves in the past. The 2 best examples being a survey we conducted for DiC Entertainment (which directly led to the improved dolls from Irwin Toys) and the recent telephone & email campaign we just had with the Cartoon Network (from which we didn't receive a single complaint and may have encouraged the network to reconsider their direction).

Here is Heavy Cat's Sailor Moon Game Online Survey
Here is the low-tech version

If you should have technical problems with the online survey, please send Heavy Cat an email. At this time, there are no plans for an offline version of the survey.

Fans should also know that we have rejected posting stories and surveys from other companies in the past for some very good reasons. Sometimes because we knew that Kodansha or DiC wasn't going to approve their product or be able to negotiate a licensing fee, other times because the company was going off in the wrong direction as fast as possible. This is the first time that we believe that a good company, is in the right place, at the right time, to stand a chance on possibly delivering a good video game.

The SOS has known, from various sources, that Heavy Cat has been interested in Sailor Moon for years. Their first attempt was in 1999 and was code named, "The Tranquility Project," named after Tranquility Base where the first manned (Apollo 11) landing on the moon took place. They had plans for 7 PC Sailor Moon games but (as we guessed) could not make a deal at that time. Their second and current attempt is code named, "The Gemini Project," named after an earlier U.S. program which concerned docking in space. (Both names should impress Naoko Takeuchi.) They've dropped the PC platform, switched to console (where all the big sales are today), have (as one of their executives told us), "... a professional developer (with some jaw-dropping capabilities which will make Sailor Moon fans pass out from happiness..." and most importantly, may have found serious interest from some investors & publishers.

Keep in mind that the game would not be released immediately. Good video games generally take a year or two to be released even after they enter active development.

Fans may recall that this would not be the first Sailor Moon video game produced in English. There have been 2 so far, the Colorforms CD-Rom Playset and "The 3D Adventures of Sailor Moon". Neither were blockbusters and for good reason.

The big roadblock we see is not DiC but some of the Japanese companies which most people think are not concerned with these rights. We hope this has changed. And then there is Naoko Takeuchi herself, who (like Usagi/Serena) can be a little bit disorganized. Overall, we hope that Heavy Cat doesn't believe everything they are told. Good luck!