When the San Diego Padres x Goddess of Victory: Nikke crossover was announced, fans of both the original game and the baseball team weren’t too sure what to expect from it.
Nikke is an incredibly popular gacha game from Stellar Blade developer ShiftUp, but, much like their other title, it also often depicts scantily clad robot women fighting bizarre and threatening creatures in an apocalypse. It’s not exactly the most family-friendly premise.
And, while there are still some concerns from fans of the game that there may be anime gals “throwing it back on the jumbotron” during this event, we now know that Nikke will have an even bigger role in this game than anyone thought.
Emiru, a Twitch streamer and cosplayer, will be dressed up like one of the game’s characters to throw the first pitch. She plans to livestream the entire thing.
Emiru is headlining Nikke’s San Diego Padres crossover
There have been a number of bizarre anime crossovers with sports in recent years, with the Dodgers notably collabing with Hololive and Cygames sponsoring the Kentucky Derby to promote a game about racing with horse girls.
However, Goddess of Victory: Nikke is in a class of its own. Outside of its core storyline and shooter gameplay, one of the game’s main draws is the character models and how the recoil from their powerful weapons affects them.
Regardless, the Padres have chosen to partner with them for an entire baseball game on June 10, with Nikke even releasing a full promotional trailer for their in-game event and Padres game day.
The event will have exclusive Goddess of Victory: Nikke merch and what they describe as “immersive activities inspired by the game,” although it isn’t clear what that means just yet. People who buy the Theme Game ticket also get some exclusive merch.
And, to put it over the top, Twitch streamer Emiru is showing up dressed as Rapi, one of the game’s main characters, to throw the first pitch. She’s arguably the most important Nikke in the story and plays a role in pretty much every story beat, so it’s no surprise they chose her to represent the game.
It remains to be seen what other surprises are in store for the Nikke x Padres collab.
