Believe it or not, the rooms smelled perfectly neutral.
This past Sunday, I was fortunate enough to attend the Osaka Indie Games Summit, the inaugural event for what will hopefully become a mainstay in the gaming community of Japan. For years now, the indie community has gone through ebbs and flows as it fights for visibility in an ever-crowding market, and this was a grand opportunity to shine the spotlight on devs who deserved it. Sponsored by Funky 80.2 (an Osaka radio station) and a handful of medium-sized publishing companies, the Osaka Indie Games Summit was a fantastic celebration of all the PC (and some console) titles that grace the Kansai region. Arguably the spiciest part of Japan, where big personalities and direct expressions are the norm, the titles that erupted from this two-day event have the potential to change hearts and minds globally, or at least raise eyebrows, with sheer audacity and individuality.
Located on the inconspicuous 4th floor of the Osaka Grand Front, the Osaka Indie Games Summit took up two rooms and the stage, where a handful of local streamers made some presentations, did some minor skits, and hosted the main event, which was a playtest battle of the recently launched Jelly Troops, which feels like competitive Pikmin meets Capture the Flag. A majority of the games on display in these rooms have small but prominent advertisements, showcasing their cute mascots, bizarre concepts, or simply something loud and flashy to draw attention. Nearly every game shown is on Steam or Itch.io, with only a couple being considered (or already out) for consoles. Besides the standard Japanese dev teams of local talent (Maid Cafe on Electric Street, for example), we also had visitors from other countries, such as Unicycle Pizza Time from Belgium or PengPong from South Korea.
room6 was also in attendance with the utterly enthralling Short Short Fictions.
I have been a huge proponent of BitSummit for the better part of my stay in Japan, and part of that is a reaction to the burgeoning beast that is the Tokyo Game Show. While the power and presentation of TGS is undeniable, it’s also a Herculean event that requires multiple days to process and digest. As of this writing, the hosts of Tokyo Game Show have announced that next year will be a five-day event, unprecedented in TGS history, and honestly, it sounds like a logistical nightmare. BitSummit, by contrast, has broken away from its enduring time slot of late July to move into the more comfortable May dates, probably to accommodate the event’s growing size. What was once a smattering of creative and lesser-known titles to promote Japanese devs, BitSummit is now a fairly expansive endeavor, running for three days and pulling the sponsorship of major publishers.
The Osaka Indie Game Summit felt like going back to basics in the very best way. While staff were able to field questions for when developers took a much needed lunch break, most of the games were driven by the creators themselves, each eager to show off and explain their titles in one way or another. Some devs were mainstays who I’ve been lucky enough to encounter multiple times this year, like the Game Boy throwback TokagemetroGB (which is now working on a Steam release). Others, such as the spiritually curious Yume Kakigori, have simply slipped beneath my notice as the tidal wave of new games rushes forward week to week. Even during the busiest part of the event, devs were able to take a moment to talk about their projects, whether what inspired their creations or what’s next in the pipeline for their development career.
Getting to chat with the publishers for Constance made me even more excited for this metroidvania.
Of course, some elements were bigger than others. Parco Games took the time to promote three upcoming titles and host a slightly larger area. Cygames let a massive table with free stickers and advertising do the talking for their collection of profitable (and addictive) mobile titles. If a game had previously had some success in other game shows, it could carry that weight into the Osaka Indie Games Summit and pull more focus. Monowave, which I have seen at no fewer than three events in the last four months, had plenty of lights, keychains, and stickers to keep people intrigued in their upcoming puzzle platformer. This is just to say that, as “indie” as this event may have been, it’s not as though it took place in someone’s basement. Then again, in a world where game events are multi-million dollar affairs, this was positively underground by comparison.
Plus, it wouldn’t have been a great Japanese game event without some utterly astonishing titles. In a larger setting, Devil Connection, a game where you summon demons and poke and prod them while asking questions, might be one of the oddest of the bunch, but it barely scratched the surface here. Debug Nephemee looks like the glitchy child of Undertale and Omori. Shells Shooter is an addicting digital version of those coin pusher games in Asian arcades, but with bullet crabs, because of course. A truly terrifying title of abduction and faking romance in Severed Love. Get berated by a cute girl because you can’t get a duck up a cliff with Zako no Ahiru. Get ready to gamble your blood and survive a traditional dice/card game in Menherarium, which made my skin crawl something fierce. And, of course, the historically accurate bullet hell adventures of Ryoma Sakamoto.
This is the history that I wish we taught the youth.
Besides being able to bear witness to some incredible game design and unique ideas, it was also just great to see how many kids flocked to the Osaka Indie Games Summit. More and more, the gaming sphere in Japan is opening itself up to kids in a cheap, almost manufactured way. Seeing the utterly boring titles that Nintendo has flooded the market with to appeal to younger children made me sad in multiple ways: it seems to set the youth up for gimmicky spots of gaming that are little more than Skinner boxes. But watching my daughter face down another kid in Jelly Troops, or observing a father explaining the finer points of a ramen romance game to his elementary-aged son, or even seeing little ones queue up for exploding hamster 3D platform mayhem, warmed my heart. Sometimes, the kids are alright.
There’s a palpable energy in game events, and it sometimes gets overshadowed by the pomp and circumstance that goes along with game announcements, swag giveaways, and performance pressures. It was awesome to see all these titles in one place, to know how much they meant to the creators as well as the fans, and to have it all be brought together as a celebration of the joy that is gaming. I don’t know what the future holds for the Osaka Indie Games Summit, but I was instantly a fan and sincerely hope that this first year is the start of a long and majestic mainstay in the heart of Umeda. Even if you don’t live in Japan, be sure to support your local indie game shows: in an age of digital promotion, the physical events are still something that can remind you of the excellence of this world.
The Osaka Indie Games Summit 2025 was hosted by Funky 80.2.
Admission to The Osaka Indie Games Summit 2025 was provided by the host.
Like this:
Like Loading…
Check these out!
AloJapan.com