Game publisher Sunsoft, known in the West for games of the 8-bit era such as blaster master, batmanAnd Fester’s Quest, is attempting to return to video game publishing and development. On Thursday, the new Sunsoft — which, technically, never went away — outlined its plans to reissue and revive its classic game catalog, vampire survivors-inspired equi unite And the release of the beloved retro game gimmick! And euphoria (Is known heberke in Japan) for modern platforms.
Sunsoft is even pointing to bringing back Arrow the Acro-Bat, the anthropomorphic bat that appeared near the pinnacle of the console mascot platformer in a pair of Sega Genesis and Super NES games.
The publisher’s first game under the new plan, equi unitea sequel of sorts aceAn arcade game (later ported to Nintendo’s Famicom) about a medieval Japanese farming village’s rebellion against its feudal overlord. equi unite Will expand on the original single-player game with online multiplayer, and is the unmistakably inspired — if not outright imitation — of the 2021 smash hit vampire survivors,
Sunsoft general manager Yuichi Ouchi explained in an interview on Wednesday that equi unite being built on Vampire Survivors’ The game design and viral success helped Ikki find an audience for the brand, which he admitted did not have the global awareness. (The Famicom Port of ace It is infamous for its substandard quality, and is reportedly the basis for the derogatory phrase “kusoge,” or “shitty game” in Japan.)
little better known than ace Huh gimmick! (which saw the Scandinavian release) and heberke (which features Metroid-like Mechanics and was released for the NES in North America under the name Uforia: The Saga) but Sunsoft hopes to give those underdog games new levels of exposure by bringing them to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC via Steam, and Xbox One.
In addition, there are plenty of Sunsoft-developed and published games that were cult hits in Japan, but never made their way to the West. Ouchi hopes to revive them as well. whereas equi unite Being developed internally by Sunsoft, other titles are being developed with the assistance of external studios. Sunsoft is willing to work with smaller indie studios on games based on their IP, with Ouchi saying: “Our strategy is very open.”
So why bring Sunsoft back now, years after its last attempt to publish the game? Ouchi said that, quite simply, business is good for Sunsoft’s parent Sun Corporation, and the electronics company is looking to reinvest in making games. Ochi himself is relatively new to the company, having joined Sunsoft in July 2021, having worked at Capcom and other gaming companies in Japan and Taiwan.
But with a recognizable old name, a past list of under-exploited brands, and now an official VTBer named Sunsoft Nosuke to deliver good news about games like gimmick! For a global audience, Sunsoft is proudly claiming it’s back.
