Arcade
View the case- Brand
- Kubo
- Year
- 2016
- Objective
- Product Launch
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Mechanic
- Mini-Games
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Assembly
Objective
To build excitement for LAIKA's theatrical release of Kubo and the Two Strings, Wieden+Kennedy Portland and Assembly gave fans a way to spend time inside the film's world before they ever bought a ticket — playable instantly in the browser, no download required. A fifth game doubled as the public face of a separate goal: distributing 250 pairs of the limited-edition Kubo x Air Jordan XV, LAIKA and Nike's joint sneaker, through a transparent contest rather than a raffle.
Solution
From the arcade section of the film's site, players pick one of five games — Street Showdown, Shadow Sprint, Bachi Breaker, Origami Harmony or Moon Beast Brawl — each retelling a specific scene from the movie. A loading screen leads into a quick tutorial of control cards (Skip, Next, Begin), and then the player is straight into a one-minute session: tap the two halves of the phone screen or use the arrow keys, whichever the device calls for, with a prompt to rotate into landscape on mobile. Every round ends on a score screen with options to share to Facebook or Twitter, play again, or return to the arcade. Moon Beast Brawl raises the stakes: after the fight, it asks players if they want to submit their score to compete for a pair of Kubo XVs — top scores feed a shared leaderboard, and the 250 highest submit players win the sneakers.
- 1
The arcade lives inside the film's official site, kubothemovie.com, as a five-game hub: cards for Moon Beast Brawl, Street Showdown, Shadow Sprint, Origami Harmony and Bachi Breaker, each with its own PLAY GAME button.
- 2
Picking a card loads the chosen game in-browser with a percentage bar; unsupported browsers get a WebGL/JavaScript warning and mobile players in portrait are told to rotate to landscape. Before play starts, swipeable tutorial cards explain the controls, skippable via Skip/Next or advanced through to a Begin button — there is no sign-up step.
- 3
Street Showdown is a side-to-side timing game: paper foes rush in from left and right, and the player taps or presses arrow keys on the matching side to strike them down while a points total runs at the top of the screen. Landed hits fill a power meter that the player unleashes by tapping the hero himself (or pressing space); dying ends the run on a themed game-over screen with the final score and options to replay, exit, or share the result to Facebook or Twitter.
- 4
Shadow Sprint is an endless runner where the player taps or presses up to jump obstacles and down to slide under them, fleeing smoke that steadily closes in. A session ends when the smoke catches the runner, and the results screen reports the distance covered in miles rather than a points score.
- 5
Bachi Breaker is a reaction-timing game: a cursor sweeps back and forth, and the player taps when it lands in the marked zone to build up magic before an oncoming wave crests. Missing the timing lets the wave hit, ending the round on a score screen with a replay option and social sharing.
- 6
Origami Harmony is a memory game built on call-and-response: the game first plays a musical pattern for the player to watch and listen to, then the player must repeat it correctly to fold another origami animal and add notes to the score, with a banner marking any new high score. A wrong note triggers an out-of-tune warning, and the game cautions that repeated mistakes will end the session.
- 7
Moon Beast Brawl, the flagship contest game, opens with its own tutorial covering movement left and right, jumping, and context-cued attacks aimed at whichever zone the game highlights. During the fight the player moves, jumps, collects armor to preserve health, and responds to attack prompts as the Moon Beast closes in.
- 8
The brawl ends in either a victory or defeat message, each paired with a final points score; afterward the game invites the player to submit that score into a running leaderboard for a chance to win a pair of Kubo XV sneakers, a prize reserved for the top 250 entrants.
- 9
Across all five games, players can pause or mute at any time, and quitting requires confirming an exit prompt, which returns them to the arcade hub to choose another game.
- 10
Every game's end screen also lets the player share their score directly to Facebook or Twitter, with the post text generated automatically by the game.
