Sausage Dueling Game Aims for Success with Steam Launch
▼ Summary
– Sausage Legend: Arena is a physics-based mobile game where players duel using sausages as weapons, with over 3.5 million players and an upcoming Steam release.
– The game features over 50 different sausages and food items with unique attributes like length, strength, and special powers, despite having bugs and tedious ads.
– Developer Tadaki Tani was inspired by giraffes fighting on YouTube, leading to a prototype that evolved into using sausages, and he runs MilkCorp with one other person.
– The game gained popularity largely through Hololive vtuber Oozora Subaru, who received a custom sausage in the sequel and attracted many players through her streams.
– The Steam version will expand the story mode with deckbuilding mechanics and new features, aiming to reach a wider audience and build on past collaborations like Sausage Party and Hololive.
My recent defeat came at the hands, or more accurately, the skewer, of four unyielding gyoza dumplings. Who would have guessed a sturdy, well-built hot dog like me could fall to such a modest opponent? This is the daily reality inside Sausage Legend: Arena, a mobile battler where players command sausages in frantic duels. While it may appear to be just another quirky mobile title, the game has attracted over 3.5 million players, earned a spot on Japanese national television, and delivers surprisingly addictive fun. Its upcoming launch on Steam is expected to attract an even larger audience.
At its core, Sausage Legend relies heavily on physics. Each sausage enters the arena impaled on a fork, and players must fling their meaty combatants around to pummel rivals into submission. The combat feels like a ridiculous ballet of well-timed strikes and desperate dodges, appealing to anyone with a soft spot for absurd humor. I found myself admiring the surprising elasticity and durability of my humble meat sword as I battled everything from lightning-charged cocktail sausages to hefty weisswurst.
The roster includes more than 50 different food fighters, including bratwurst, goteborgs, pickled cucumbers, and even a slice of pepperoni pizza. Each brings unique traits like length, power, or special abilities. Between rounds, my health bar stubbornly refuses to refill, and I’ve heard rumors of a chrome-plated metal sausage that looks like it escaped from a Terminator fan fiction. The game offers minimal instructions, interrupts with tedious ads, and sometimes fails to save progress. Yet, despite its rough edges, I keep coming back for more.
Developer Tadaki Tani, founder of MilkCorp, didn’t get the idea from playing with his food. He explains through a translator, “We originally saw giraffes on YouTube swinging their necks around in fights, and that sparked our first concept.” An early prototype featured giraffes, but the combat didn’t feel right. Switching to sausages in 2016 proved to be the perfect fit. MilkCorp, established in 2009, is known for meme-inspired mobile titles like My Grizzly Bear, Sleep In Office, and Pollen Heaven, a game Tani created based on his own hay fever. The Japan-only sequel, Sausage Legend: Arena 2, introduces a medieval narrative where slaves fight for freedom using sausages. Tani runs the studio with just one other developer.
A major boost for the game came from Hololive VTuber Oozora Subaru, who became so enamored with the original that she streams it regularly, delighting her fanbase. Her passion translated into a noticeable spike in players, Tani estimates it took about ten of her streams to see a real impact. In 2021, Subaru received her own legendary sausage in Sausage Legend 2, designed to resemble a duck, her unofficial mascot. Fellow VTuber Hakui Koyori also got a special sausage called the “Koyori Skin of the Large Intestine,” complete with a fluffy pink tail. Tani notes, “There are a lot of people playing because of her.”
Later this year, Tani plans to release an expanded version of Sausage Legend: Arena on Steam. This upgraded edition will flesh out the Sausage Legend 2 story mode, where slaves take up sausages as weapons to win their freedom in a spectacle beloved by nobles. A new deckbuilding system will let players strategize duels more effectively, Tani clarifies, “The character doesn’t heal itself, but the cards will help you do that”, alongside additional modes and moves.
“We want to expand the game, and we want more people to know about it,” Tani shares earnestly. The Steam release could broaden its audience significantly, especially among modding communities. Currently, half the players are from Japan, with the United States and Taiwan following, and France in fourth place. Tani and I both expressed surprise that Germany, known for its sausage culture, didn’t make the top five. His personal favorite is weisswurst, which feels fitting in the world of video game sausages.
Given past collaborations, including tie-ins with the film Sausage Party, Morinaga Pino ice cream, and Hololive, I asked if he’d consider partnering with events like the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest or even a sausage-themed Olympics. “If there is a chance, we would love to,” Tani replies with a smile. “Just eating a hot dog is the best way to eat a sausage.”
(Source: The Verge)