Bandai Selling Anime Miniatures Game

Anahiem, CA - Miniature games enthusiasts who appreciate the Japanese animation art known as anime can now enjoy both at the same time, thanks to a new game from Japanese toy maker Bandai.  Navia Dratp (nah-vee-ha drap) combines the principles of chess with the fantasy themes of anime, and Bandai hopes it will be one of its biggest sellers this holiday season.

Each player in the unique two-player game controls a force of battle pieces called Gulled and powerful beings known as Maseitai (mah-say-tie).  The ultimate goal of the game is for a player to gain possession of a piece called the Navia by storing Gyullas (gee-ahs) crystals, developing special abilities in his own Maseitai, and using strategic tactics to defeat his opponent. Maseitai are summoned by the Navia and join a player's Force as allies. These Maseitai can be utilized to their fullest potential through Dratping, which increases their range of motion or grants special mystical powers.

Danny Satyapan, Marketing Manager for Bandai’s new collectible games division, has great hopes that Navia Dratp will appeal to the US market.

“Everybody is just enamored by the eye-candy appeal of the product,” he said.  “It’s beautifully done and if you look at the figures you can see the quality and the size of them are double that of our competitors.  The play value is tremendous as well.  Anybody who knows how to play chess will get right into the game and even if you don’t know how to play chess it’s pretty easy to pick up.”

Navia Dratp features a unique “flip-dial” system that lets players attribute different strengths and values to game figures. Each Navia figure comes pre-painted, and the other game pieces can be hand-painted if players desire.  Players may purchase the game in a main starter set as well as a variety of booster packs that increase game options.  Bandai plans to release new booster packs every three months. 

Navia Drapt's journey to market has been as unique as the game itself.  Normally, new Japanese products are developed and tested in Japan before they are shipped across the Pacific to eager US consumers.  Bandai decided to develop its own miniatures game even though it had no experience in that market; because there is very low demand for miniatures games in Japan, the company had to rely on its US-division to develop the product.

The game has been heavily influenced by anime, so an anime component will be included in its marketing mix: Navia Dratp DVDs will be released in early 2005 to help develop the story that supports the product line.  Bandai is also developing a Navia Dratp community with sanctioned tournaments around the country.

© 2004 by BigBox Games.  All rights reserved.

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