Mia Hansen

There are plenty of “horse-themed” games online. You play as a horse, you fight a horse, or a horse could be your greatest companion. The options are endless, yet Horse Month is only 30 days long. As I searched through dozens of horse-related media, I had the sudden memory of a

long-forgotten mobile game that took the internet by storm a decade ago, flooding back into my mind…

My Horse Prince is a Japanese Otome mobile game by USAYA. You play as a young woman named Umako who finds herself burnt out from the corporate world. She visits the country-side, hoping to find her prince-charming and ends up at a horse ranch. Upon meeting the farmer, she is greeted by the most beautiful man… horse- HORSE-MAN!?!

You’re The Apple of my Eye

The absurd twist of My Horse Prince is that the main protagonist falls head over heels for a horsewith the head of a conventionally attractive man named Yuuma. This leads to crazy exchanges of dialogue, cutscenes, and intense horse-rivalry. Yes, you read that right, the two male leads of this game have intense horse-rivalry. And yes, it is taken seriously.

I thought this would be a great first introduction to Otome games (story-based romance video games with a female protagonist). Everything this game has to offer feels on brand with other Otome games: the anime style, the dramatic love story, and characters that pull you in from their charm (neigh~). You have your hopeless romantic female lead who has no idea that Yuuma is actually just a horse. It’s really that her zodiac, Year of the Horse, makes her see horses with the head of a handsome man!

Stop Horsing Around!

Now before you possibly lose your mind over how over-the-top this game is, I will say that this is all satire. What USAYA did differently from other traditional Otome games is that they took a well-known formula, then subverted the players expectation by scaling up the drama by 100%. Who can resist a man that can run upwards of 30mph with four legs?

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Although My Horse Prince not available on the app store anymore, there are plenty of videos on YouTube about this game since it went viral when it first came out.

I highly recommend you go look for content from this game. It truly was a gem of its time and I fear people will forget how beautiful, mysterious, and highly misunderstood these creatures are… Happy Horse Month!

Watch this game trailer of My Horse Prince on YouTube
Take a trot over to Ella’s article about My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic