Forza Horizon 6 is already a mega hit, likely because itās giving players exactly what they want, which involves one hell of a lot of hilarious anime easter eggs that show how much passion and care were put into Playground Gamesā new outing of the popular driving series.
Here are the best ones.
Initial Dās Fujiwara Tofu shop
If you donāt know Initial D, you might miss out on how Forza Horizon 6 almost doubles as an unofficial video game adaptation of the popular comedic racing anime series.
If you find a traditional Japanese house that really reminds you of something you canāt point out in Horizon 6ās citiscape, thatās no accident. You mightāve just stumbled upon the Fujiwara Tofu shop, where Takumi Fujiwara, the seriesā main character and serendipitously legendary driver, works as a delivery guy.
Not only does it look very cool, but itās also a pretty neat spot for photos.
Initial Dās car, the Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86
The Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86 is one of the most iconic cars in car fiction, and would be a fantastic addition to any roster of a game truly dedicated to giving fans of the genre everything they could ever ask for.
No game can expect to fulfill the unofficial Initial D experience without the Trueno. Well, Forza Horizon 6 has not only the Trueno, but the exact version we see in the Initial D anime, and in all the media that features the car because of it. The Truenoās not exactly new to the Forza franchise, but itās always a very welcome bonus.
The initial D Cup (Donāt laugh, this is extremely important)
Initial D is a truly great anime, and one of its greatest strengths is its ability to portray some truly intense racing scenes, while also being one of the funniest anime ever made. Early in the story, we learn that one of the main reasons why the main character is such a prolific driver is his ability to take wild turns downhill at high speeds without ever letting one single drop of water spill from his cup. Thatās Initial Dās equivalent of training with ridiculous weights over your head in Dragon Ball. This would be a completely impossible task to perform in real life, and even in a slightly less realistic racing game, but no problem, as the Initial D cup will make you feel like a true Fujiwara, as it never spills, regardless of how well you play. Like, really.
Never forget to fake until you make it, champ.
Giant mechs
When I read that mechs existed in Forza Horizon, I immediately thought someone was just really good at spreading lies on Twitter, but itās realāand you can totally race against them.
Iād love to be in the room when they threw this idea around, and especially when it got greenlit. Racing mechs seems like a truly great idea, so long as they donāt have bowie knife99 at the wheel, that is.
A hilarious PokƩmon Reference
In Forza Horizon 6, players get to drive around an area that looks very inspired by the most urbanized areas of Japan, and you cannot have a game filled with anime references without having PokĆ©mon, can you? Well, it turns out you can, as the people behind Forza Horizon 6 are aware of Nintendoās alleged litigiousness.
So, instead of mentioning PokĆ©mon by name, they talk about an event where you can get your camera to āsnap them allā. Those words will most certainly remind players of PokĆ©monās famous āgotta catch emā allā slogan, or perhaps even of PokĆ©mon Snap for the N64. Either way, thereās no escaping the fact that this is about PokĆ©mon. Then, after saying that, the conversation quickly shifts to a character mentioning that they cannot say the name of the brand for fear that, well, theyāll get attacked and possibly destroyed by Nintendoās allegedly vicious legal machine.
The subtlety of an easter egg that doesnāt actually show anything is the perfect counterpart to the brutalism of getting to drive an actual Warthog from the Halo series. Well played, Forza Horizon.
