Of course, the highlight of this Doodle is its incredible sense of style which brilliantly combines anime cutscenes (which were contributed by Studio 4☌) with pixel art design concepts commonly seen in the “golden age” of 8 and 16-bit JRPGs. Based on what we’ve been seeing on Twitter so far, a lot of people have indeed sacrificed any chance at productivity for the opportunity to spend a little more time on Champion Island.
This is a shockingly deep experience for a humble Google Doodle, and you can lose a lot of your day completing its challenges and finding all the hidden objectives. They also theoretically serve as the basis for the “meta competition” between the Doodle’s playable factions, but it seems like bots might already be ruining some of that fun. The bulk of the Doodle consists of several Olympics-inspired minigames that are all relatively simple from a mechanical standpoint, but greatly benefit from both their accessibility and how they contribute to the Doodle’s surprisingly engaging theme.
It casts you as a cat tasked with exploring Champion Island: a “world filled with seven sports mini-games, legendary opponents, dozens of daring side quests, and a few new (and old) friends.” Your goal is to choose a faction, compete in various sports events, find seven sacred scrolls, and perhaps finish a few optional challenges found throughout Champion Island. The “lore” behind this Doodle game is strangely compelling. Google’s latest playable “Doodle” unsurprisingly celebrates the ongoing 2021 Tokyo Olympic games but surprisingly furthers that event’s prominent video game theme by paying tribute to some of the most notable RPGs of the 8 and 16-bit eras.