Sunsoft are announcing some new projects next week! There is no better time than right now to get our hopes up to unrealistically high levels ahead of next week’s reveals.
“Although we have been quiet for some time, many things have been happening behind the scenes,” said Yuichi Ochi, general manager of Sunsoft. “We are very excited to be able to finally share our vision for the rebirth of Sunsoft with fans old and new.”
Based on this tweet from last December, it seems we actually will be in for some retro goodness!
Personally I’m hoping they start with the Famicom and bring over games, faithfully, on a weekly or monthly basis. Maybe in partnership with Hamster or M2. Gimmick! is such a fantastic game that deserves a port. Even the Exa-Arcadia version would go down nicely.
I’m right there with you, that would be neat.
Also, Waku Waku 7 was one of the very few buggy ACA NeoGeo releases that never got patched/fixed, so I’d welcome a proper, accurate re-release.
I don’t know if that’s the same on other platforms, but - on the Switch - the light effects in one particular variation of Tesse’s stage don’t flash and remain stuck on white, looking like concrete pillars more than anything else.
I wonder if it was a deliberate choice to remove the flashing effects because of worries those might trigger seizures. I remember some Virtual Console titles also had flashing effects removed.
However, the flashing effect on those pillars in Waku Waku 7 doesn’t look intense at all, so perhaps there’s a different reason for its removal.
I’d take repro cartridges of games from that era as well - it’s been heartening to see the fantastic GB version of Avenging Spirit go back into print.
Agreed about Gimmick Exact Mix. Top notch effort but the new presentation isn’t really a worthwhile improvement, the original has a timeless look that’s not only a technological marvel on the Famicom, but faithful to its era.
Great minds and all that - I have also been suspecting that today’s Sunsoft announcements may just reveal that their IP have been handed off to the Embracer Group for their newly acquired studios to do something with.
Fantastic news that Gimmick will come back (and from the language used by Embracer, will be reprinted on NES/Famicom), but I was hoping for Sunsoft to be doing something in house, or at least in partnership with M2 and Hamster.
Looks like Bitwave, who are now owned by Freemode, who are owned by Embracer, have secured the rights for a western release of Gimmick Special Edition from City Connection, who must have licensed the game from Sunsoft for upcoming release in Japan.
Mouthfuls aside, the port looks very similar to the Zombie Nation port that City Connection put out toward the tail end of last year, which is no bad thing. But that port was lacking display options - no 4:3, no scanlines - so I really hope they add them to Gimmick Special Edition as well.
Since City Connection are primarily handling this release out of Japan, it seems the Sunsoft showcase will have some surprises after all. maybe some games will go on Arcade Archives, some games will go to M2, and so on. Fingers crossed eh?