Pepper Grinder brings a big drill and big fun to mobile courtesy of Crunchyroll

• Crunchyroll's next upcoming release is Pepper Grinder, coming soon to mobile
• Pepper Grinder sees you taking on platforming and tunnelling as the titular pirate Pepper
• Its fast, furious gameplay was originally published by Devolver Digital

It would seem we'll be covering a lot of Crunchyroll stuff today, given that they've not just got Beyblade X Xone on the docket, but also the upcoming platformer Pepper Grinder! But what's it got to offer when it isn't related to an existing anime? Quite a bit, actually.

Named for the titular character and her giant drill (a staple of any anime-inspired character), Pepper Grinder sees you taking on the role of the seafaring pirate adventurer. When her treasure is stolen by the devious Narlings, and she finds herself shipwrecked, it's up to Pepper to get her loot back.

The core gameplay twist to this otherwise typical 2D platformer is, naturally, your drill. You can use it to tunnel through certain materials to avoid obstacles and pulverise your enemies. New, more challenging puzzles will task you with using both your platforming acumen and drill to tackle even greater problems.

Grind 'em up

While Crunchyroll is bringing Pepper Grinder to mobile courtesy of their Game Vault, it was originally published by Devolver Digital. And you can see their hallmarks of fast and furious gameplay that the cutesy visuals may not otherwise reveal. Personally, it certainly grabs my attention.

Pepper Grinder is expected to arrive on February 26th and will be available exclusively via Game Vault, with pre-registration now open. With Crunchyroll seemingly intent on making more gaming originals, it's good to see they're still sticking to their guns of bringing exciting multiplatform releases over to mobile.

But if subscription gaming just isn't your thing, then don't fret. Because there's plenty of great stuff available to play without needing to spend a penny (probably). Dig into our list of the best free-to-play games on mobile for 2026, where we rank them all in one place for you to peruse!