TAT Rumble, the debut title from Japan-based studio Kreation Verse, is a mobile game that blends anime-style artwork as well as fighting game and card game mechanics to create a truly unique experience. In a world where new Martial Byte technology allows ordinary people to download and absorb the sills of legendary fighters, TAT Rumble players are invited to enter the high-stakes, no-rules Twelve Anonymous Tournament. There, they will face down the 12 TAT Masters, unleash slick fighting game-inspired super moves, collect art and cards, spin slots, and more.
The Best War Games had the opportunity to speak with Tatsuro Iwamoto, best known for designing and creating the characters of Capcom's Ace Attorney series, about his work on TAT Rumble. Iwamoto spoke about working with TAT Rumble's nostalgic pixel art style, the triumphs and difficulties of designing characters for a fighting game, and the differences between working on TAT Rumble and Ace Attorney. He also revealed that he's a huge fan and avid player of TAT Rumble himself, and even shared his personal favorite character to both draw and play. This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
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Creating The Cast Of Fighting Game TAT Rumble
Q: You designed a large number of characters for TAT Rumble. Which were your favorites and why?
Iwamoto: I like Dorgi the most. I’ve never drawn such a muscular character before, so it was fun. The hairstyle is inspired by Shinsuke Nakamura from WWE. I put a lot of thought into how much information to include to make Dorgi look cool.
Q: What inspirations did you draw from when creating the TAT Rumble cast?
Iwamoto: I was inspired not only by martial artists but also by musicians, models, idols, and other influencers—their lifestyles, moods, and fashion. It resulted in a design with charisma.
Q: The cast of TAT Rumble each has these very unique anime-style super moves. Were any particularly challenging to design and why?
Iwamoto: Since this character is positioned as the strongest, unlike other characters, I wanted to show that all of KING's techniques have an effortless, relaxed feel to them.
Q: What techniques did you use to distinguish the designs of TAT Rumble from those of other fighting games?
Iwamoto: For now, I'm not consciously trying to avoid similarities. Since I naturally enjoy watching martial arts, I believe it will be fine as long as I don't intentionally try to make it resemble something else.
Q: Did any other fighting games inspire you when crafting the super moves and fighting styles of the characters?
Iwamoto: I still practice judo regularly.
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TAT Rumble's Unique Gameplay And Style
Q: TAT Rumble will be a mobile game. Did that make the characters and moves more challenging to design? How do you ensure that these characters are still distinguishable, and their moves eye-catching, when the game is designed to be played on small screens?
Iwamoto: Speaking technically, when you reduce high-resolution images, they can become hard to see. To ensure clear expression even on small screens, I used pixel art.
Q: TAT Rumble uses a slots-inspired system where you have to use a slot machine to figure out what moves you can activate. How did the use of slots influence your character designs and fighting style designs?
Iwamoto: I haven't given it much thought. Since it's a new combination game, I think it showcases the strengths of our director, Karin.
Q: One of your most prominent projects has been the Ace Attorney series. What have you learned from your work on Ace Attorney that helped you when designing TAT Rumble? Do any TAT Rumble characters remind you of Ace Attorney characters you've designed?
Iwamoto: Giving characters a personal color and distinct silhouettes is important, but this is something entirely different. It's fun to fully do the things I couldn't do in Ace Attorney.
Q: We see a mix of very traditional anime-style art and 2D pixel art in TAT Rumble to represent the characters in battle vs. In menus, in the player inventory, etc. What was it like working with these very different art styles?
Iwamoto: One of my original ideas was to use sumi-e (ink painting) for expressing game characters, which I thought would be interesting. As a result, I like the mismatch between the traditional approach and the new elements of pixel art in the WEB3 style.
Q: One big focus of TAT Rumble is that the characters are martial artists from all around the world coming together to participate in a tournament. How did you design these characters to really show off where they are from?
Iwamoto: Rather than a direct approach where each character's birthplace is immediately obvious, I thought about encouraging people to imagine the individual backgrounds where they were born and raised—like Eva, who was born and raised in France despite having an Asian face.
Q: Do you play TAT Rumble yourself, and who are your favorite characters to play as?
Iwamoto: Yes. I'm involved in art activities and teaching students, so I haven't had much time, but I still want to play more.
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