Skyrocketing Japanese indie hit Meccha Chameleon just surpassed 15 million sales, despite launching on Steam less than a month ago. Now, the paint-and-seek multiplayer game is getting a collaboration with a well-known Japanese star, and fans are abuzz with excitement over who it might be.
Developed by a team of two in just two months (with zero marketing to boot, apparently), Meccha Chameleon is an online multiplayer game in which players are divided into Seekers and Hiders. In a twist on hide-and-seek, Hiders must paint their pintsized character’s plain white body to match their surroundings, while the Seeker team must hunt them down before time runs out. A huge hit with streamers, the game has prompted players to come up with some super creative and artistic ways of painting themselves into the scenery.
Launching on June 10, Meccha Chameleon shot up the Steam charts and has now hit the 15 million milestone, according to a recent Steam community blog post. “Thanks a million! Get ready for a new collaboration with a famous Japanese star next week!” teased the announcement from developer lemorion_1224.
Over on X, users reacted with speculations on who this might be. The Japanese tweet specifically says “Japanese famous person,” seemingly ruling out characters from other games. Hikakin, beatboxer and one of Japan’s top YouTubers was a common guess. Considering Meccha Chameleon’s painting theme, others mentioned watercolor painter and cozy YouTube content creator Harumichi Shibasaki. Shibasaki is no stranger to videogame collaborations, taking part in Minecraft’s 15th anniversary celebrations (Automaton), so it's easy to imagine his paintings of the Japanese countryside popping up in Meccha Chameleon.
It seems that players will have to wait until next week to find out who Meccha Chameleon’s mysterious new guest will be. The developers have been keeping the patches and updates coming at a breakneck pace since the game’s launch. Meccha Chameleon has become such an overnight phenomenon that some people are even playing it in real life now.
We've got some Meccha Chameleon Tips and Tricks to help you blend in and avoid detection, plus a guide to each of the Meccha Chameleon maps, with recommended hiding spots - and a guide on how to play Meccha Chameleon with friends.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
