Lupin the 3rd: Lost Treasure by the Sea

Set in the beautiful Mediterranean, an inspiring animated adventure that takes you on a journey with Lupin.

JP release: 31st July 2003
NA release: N/A
EU release: N/A
Developer: Asmik Ace
Publisher: Asmik Ace
NGC Magazine Score: N/A
Mods Used: None

Lupin the Third is a large media franchise in Japan, spanning multiple manga, anime and films series (with both live action and aimated films). Lupin III is the grandson of French character Arsène Lupin, who himself is sort of a French version of Sherlock Holmes. That said, the character was made without the permission of the creator of Arsène Lupin and had some copyright issues in some English adaptations. Lupin is a thief and master of disguise, but also helps people along the way.

Naturally, the franchise got video games, although Lost Treasure by the Sea is more of a slightly interactive film than a game.

There are a few FMV sequences, some stills and other parts where the sprites are cut out and move across a background (sometimes unconvincingly). It’s mainly told from the perspective of Theo, a young boy that works for a diving company but is afraid of water due to nearly drowning. He bumps into a young girl who ends up in a boat crash, surviving underwater for two hours before being rescued. This mysterious girl is linked to an item Lupin has stolen from a museum and it seems a mysterious evil guy is after the girl and the object.

Throughout the game, you’ll get to make chooses. A few don’t matter, some trigger an bad ending while others are conversation options you have to select all of anyway. There’s nothing really meaningful to the choices and even with pointless ones added, there are surprisingly few throughout the game. There are two sections that are different. One is a chase sequence, a trail-and-error section were you pick directions to go. The other is an actual gameplay segment.

In this, you have to walk around a building in a third person view as it plays like a point and click adventure. Investigate objects and use them elsewhere to solve the two puzzles. The graphics here are quite nice and there’s a near part where you have to input some computer code, it seems like a lot of work for something that only lasts 10 minutes. It would have been nice to have more of this, but it’s so short that its inclusion seems strange.

Now, at this point, we haven’t reached the climax of the film. However, immediately after this is the obvious choice of pushing a button and that’s it for your inputs, the rest is just watching. From here, the characters get captures, Lupin escapes, him and the bad guy (with the captured kids) make their way to a mysterious city where the finale takes place and there’s not a single option for you to make. It’s just bizarre, but at least the story itself is interesting.

Poor

Like a game in which you choose something while watching a little original movie?
It’s not an animated adventure game game.
It’s just about watching anime?
And just a little choice.
Yuichiro Jinguji, Amazon JP Customer (Translated)

Remake or remaster?

A full on point and click adventure would be better.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to get Lupin the 3rd: Lost Treasure by the Sea.