From Loving “Famicom Wars” to 120-Person Team, Anime, and an “Overwatch” Writer—“TINY METAL 2” and AREA35’s 13-Year Goal [TGS2026]

This year’s TGS 2026 was originally scheduled to run for five days, but unfortunately, the final day was canceled due to a typhoon. Nevertheless, numerous highly anticipated titles captivated gamers.

In this article, we’ll share a short interview we conducted at the “AREA 35” booth at TGS 2026 with Hiroaki Yura, the developer behind *TINY METAL 2*!

Our interviewee is Hiroaki Yura (hereinafter referred to as Mr. Yura), the representative and creator of AREA 35.

——Could you tell us what inspired you to create *TINY METAL 2*, as well as the previous title?

Mr. Yura: As a Japanese company, I probably shouldn’t say this, but since I grew up abroad, I’ll be honest… I absolutely love Nintendo’s *Famicom Wars* (laughs). I’d been hoping to play a remake or something similar, but since one never seemed to come out, I decided to just make it myself—that’s how it all started.

The previous title, *TINY METAL*, was born out of deep respect for the original, but I felt I couldn’t just leave it as is. So I removed elements that caused units to get stuck in traffic jams and incorporated a system where you can circle around from behind to attack. I’ve also included quite a few military-style elements, such as “you can’t attack enemies you can’t see” and “you can see them if you build a radar.”

——What’s the current status of development?

Mr. Yura: We’re in the thick of it right now (laughs). It’s not just a matter of finishing the game—everyone on the team is putting their lives and careers on the line to make this happen. We’re aiming for three kinds of success: for players to feel that “it was worth playing,” for critics to rate it as “fun,” and for it to sell well.

——Please tell us about the new character, “Lissandra.”

Mr. Yura: To be honest, this is brand-new information I haven’t shared with any media outlets yet… But during last year’s Paris Games Week, I received some advice: “It would be better to have a ‘wife character’ (presumably meaning a character you’d want to marry).”Since all the characters in our games are serious, we didn’t have any characters who would make your heart race, so we started by aiming to create that contrast.

We’ve entrusted the design of Lysandra to Yusuke Kozaki. Since she’s not a playable character but a shop clerk, I think players will really enjoy the many interactions with her, such as when she hands you items at the base.

——Could you tell us how Michael Chu, a former Blizzard employee, came to join the development team?

Mr. Yura: Michael’s generation grew up playing Japanese games, and he absolutely loves them. He’s also a huge fan of Studio Ghibli films, so we hit it off right away. He brings a perspective that isn’t found in Japan, but since he can’t write in Japanese, we first had him write the story.On top of that, we brought in Hirotaka Inaba—who worked on the *Detective Saburo Jinguji* series and *Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney*—to localize the script. We’re engaging in a close collaboration where we thoroughly infuse the story with Japanese DNA and then translate it back into English.

——Could you also tell us about the anime adaptation project for this work?

Mr. Yura: It’s moving forward through connections with friends, such as Hiroyasu Kobayashi, the CG director at Studio Color. When I visited Atlanta previously, a barista at a café I stopped by struck up a deep conversation about anime with me, and I realized just how much Americans’ awareness of anime has grown.

Anime has now become “content for everyone” around the world, so I decided I wanted to create an anime to spread the IP. Also, while games have their own unique rhythm where players determine the timing, anime tells a story that progresses from point A to point B. Since the stories each medium can tell are completely different, I want to use animation to express the aspects of the story that can only be conveyed through anime.

——How did this collaboration—including the real-robot exhibition—come about?

Mr. Yura: That’s the collaboration with Wataru Yoshizaki from Asratec. We met through an introduction by Yoichi Ochiai. It started off casually—something like, “Hey, would you mind giving this a try?”—but once we decided to do it, we both got really serious about it (laughs).

——Simulation games tend to have a reputation for having a high barrier to entry for beginners. Is there a clear path to help them get started?

Mr. Yura: We don’t force players to go through the tutorial; we let them choose whether to do it or not. And when they do play the tutorial, we take the approach of “making the tutorial itself entertaining.”Also, our UI team consists of American staff members who studied UX (user experience) at top-tier game design schools. By researching Japanese games while incorporating the latest UX trends, they’ve created a visually intuitive design that’s crafted to eliminate any barriers related to language or difficulty.

——Finally, please share a message for the fans who have been following AREA 35, including *Project Phoenix*.

Mr. Yura: That’s a big topic (laughs). First, regarding this title, *TINY METAL 2* is a game into which we’ve poured all our love and passion.I really hope you’ll take a look at some gameplay videos or give it a try for yourself. Our development team is young—with an average age of 29—and is made up of talented creators who’ve been studying as hard as if they were preparing to go to NASA.

These days, there are a lot of remakes of AAA titles, but it’s become an era where it’s hard to support new IPs. To help nurture new creators, please give this fresh title a try. We’ve now grown into a company of about 120 people, and we’re developing with a level of strength that’s incomparable to where we were 13 years ago, so please look forward to it.

Also, “Project Phoenix” is still alive and well!

――Thank you very much!

*UPDATE (October 5, 2026, 10:27 AM): The article content has been revised.