3rd-party News and Announcements

[nocturnal YL]

Here's a short gameplay clip:


It looks pretty good so far for a work-in-progress.

[Nester the Lark]

So, last August, Ryuichi Nishizawa, the creator of the Wonder Boy/Monster World series, was at Devcom as part of a panel on Monster Boy. There's an article about it on Game Watch, and at the end, it says this:

最後にサプライズとして、西澤龍一氏自身からも、本作とは別に「モンスターワールド」シリーズの新作を仕込んでいることが告知された。単なる移植やリメイクに留まらないリブート作品とのことで、相次ぐ海外でのリメイクやリブートの動きに、原作者の方が触発されたのかもしれない。このひと月の間にも続報がでるとのこと。シリーズのファンには期待大だ。

Which Bing translates as:

Finally, as a surprise, Ryuichi Nishizawa himself announced that he is preparing a new work of the "Monster World" series separately from this work. It's a reboot that doesn't just be a transplant or a remake, and the author may have been inspired by a series of overseas remakes and reboots. It is said that there will be a follow-up report in the next month. There's a lot of expectation for fans of the series.

So, it sounds like Nishizawa is planning to do a new Monster World game himself. Obviously, there doesn't seem to have been any news on it since then, though.

[Nester the Lark]

New trailer for Disaster Report 4. The NA release date is confirmed for April 7.

[Nester the Lark]

The Double Dragon & Kunio-kun Retro Brawler Bundle has been announced for a North American release on Switch and PS4. It includes 18 games in the Double Dragon and Kunio-kun/River City series', 11 of which are being released outside Japan for the first time, and in English! It's scheduled for release on February 20. (Source)

Official web site.

Games included:

DOUBLE DRAGON series
DOUBLE DRAGON (1987)
DOUBLE DRAGON II: The Revenge (1988)
DOUBLE DRAGON III: The Sacred Stones (1990)


Kunio-kun series
Renegade (1986)
Super Dodge Ball (1988)
River City Ransom (1989)
Crash’n the Boys Street Challenge (1992)


Kunio-kun series (Published only in Japan, first time localized in NA)
Nekketsu Renegade Kunio-kun
Nekketsu High School Dodgeball Club
Downtown Nekketsu Story
Nekketsu High School Dodgeball Club – Soccer Story
Downtown Nekketsu March Super-Awesome Field Day!
Downtown Special Kunio-kun’s Historical Period Drama!
Go-Go! Nekketsu Hockey Club Slip-and-Slide Madness
Surprise! Nekketsu New Records! The Distant Gold Medal
Nekketsu Fighting Legend
Kunio-kun’s Nekketsu Soccer League
Nekketsu! Street Basketball All-Out Dunk Heroes

Seems to only include the NES/Famicom versions of each game.  Still, it's pretty impressive that it includes 11 new localizations of previously Japan-only games.

[Nester the Lark]

According to Japanese Nintendo, Hamster has announced that one of its upcoming Arcade Archives releases is the fan-favorite Sunset Riders! (Also, Gradius and Trigon.)

Gotta admit, I'm a bit surprised to see this, but it's cool nonetheless.

[Evie ❤✿]

Mar 19, 2020 9:01:29 GMT -5 Nester the Lark said:

According to Japanese Nintendo, Hamster has announced that one of its upcoming Arcade Archives releases is the fan-favorite Sunset Riders! (Also, Gradius and Trigon.)

Gotta admit, I'm a bit surprised to see this, but it's cool nonetheless.

WOW!!! Sounds all cheery and bright yellow. MUST BUY!!!! ^W^ Eve you cursed child. What are you? Lusamine?. You know any rereleases of defunct/hard to acquire games coming soon? ^^ Remember when I asked about SunSoft, I forgot to say but Gimmick is coming back. www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cYIlPcbwW4

[Nester the Lark]

Strictly Limited Games has announced that they have restored the long lost arcade game Clockwork Aquario, and will release it later this year for Switch and PS4.

I don't remember if I've talked about here before, but Clockwork Aquario (or Aquario of the Clockwork, as it was commonly translated as) was developed by Westone, and was the last arcade game made by Wonder Boy/Monster World creator Ryuichi Nishizawa. A prototype was put on test location, but it apparently didn't perform too well, and so went unreleased. Little was known about it, and only two low quality screenshots existed: one blurry off-screen photo, and a blurry black and white screenshot, presumably from a gaming magazine.

In 2012, Nishizawa was asked about the game in an interview with Kurt Kalata at Hardcore Gaming 101. Nishizawa said he thought the game still existed in Westone's archives, and subsequently investigated. He found some of the game's files, as well as artwork and documents, but was unable to get the game into a working state. Plans to finally release the game were abandoned.

In 2017, Strictly Limited Games teased that they would release the game, and then went silent until just recently. Apparently, they've been working to restore the missing game files with help from the original developers.

Here's the press release:

Stuttgart, Germany - June 4th 2020 - Strictly Limited Games and ININ Games are very excited to announce that the colorful game Clockwork Aquario will be released in 2020 - after being lost for 27 years.

The game will be published for current gaming platforms and will be available in limited physical editions, as well as digital. The release date is planned for later this year.

The development of Clockwork Aquario started in 1992 and is the last arcade game ever developed by the legendary company Westone. With its beautiful 2D graphics it was created to push the SEGA System 18 arcade hardware to its limits. Unfortunately, fighting games and 3D games were dominating the arcades at that time which led to the cancellation of Clockwork Aquario.

Originally designed by the chief publisher, and co-founder, of Westone, Ryuichi Nishizawa, Clockwork Aquario can be described as the swan song of a company that was part of an era with historic milestones such as the Wonder Boy / Monster World series.

As a company that is striving for the preservation of video games, it has also become a part of Strictly Limited Games’ mission to unearth unreleased games that are an essential part of the cultural video game heritage.

So, three years ago, Strictly Limited Games set out to find the whereabouts of "Tokeijikake no Aquario", the Japanese title of Clockwork Aquario, and to bring the game back to life.

ININ Games then joined in the endeavours to convince SEGA/LAT that Clockwork Aquario will finally see the light of day, by signing to create a digital release and making the game accessible to a wider audience.

Some parts (including sound, music and several graphics) were not recoverable from the source code, so the particular emphasis is placed on involving as many members of the original Westone team as possible in the project to be true to the game - from the chief programmer, Takanori Kurihara, to the musical genius, Shinichi Sakamoto, to Mr Wonder Boy himself, Ryuichi Nishizawa, who expressed his joy and excitement about seeing the title screen again after 27 years on Twitter.

Ryuichi Nishizawa also said: “Clockwork Aquario is a great piece of 2D art, into which the pixel artists put their hearts and souls. I would like to express my heartfelt respect and gratitude to those who have worked so hard to restore it."

More information about the game will follow soon. If you want to be sure to stay up-to-date on the state of the game, please go to clockworkaquario.com/ and subscribe to the mailing list.

I've been quite interested in this game since I first read about it in the 2012 interview. I love the idea of a lost arcade game finally being released, and I'm a fan of Nishizawa's work on the Wonder Boy/Monster World series.

[Nester the Lark]

So, Ryuichi Nishizawa's tease from last year about making a new Monster World game was true! Wonder Boy - Asha in Monster World has been officially announced by IGN. Nishizawa will be directing it, original composer Shinichi Sakamoto will be producing the audio, and Maki Ozara will be the character designer. It's also said to be fully voiced. More info and first gameplay will be revealed at Gamescom on August 29. The game is scheduled for 2021 on PS4 and Switch.

This is awesome news! I love that this series is back! We're getting another new Wonder Boy/Monster World game from the original creator, and it's bringing back Asha from Monster World IV (which basically confirms that Monster Boy is, indeed, canon).

[Nester the Lark]

So, according to Shinichi Sakamoto (and Famitsu), Asha in Monster World is a remake, and not an entirely new game.

I have to admit, that's a bit disappointing. Monster World IV was a great game, but I'd rather see something new.

It's also a little strange that Shinichi Sakamoto is composing it. While he was the composer for most of the old Wonder Boy/Monster World games, he actually did not work on Monster World IV.

[Nester the Lark]

Here's the debut trailer for Asha in Monster World.



So, it's using 2.5D graphics, which I'm not surprised by, but after how good the hand drawn graphics were in the last couple of games, it's not as impressive.

Still, I'm looking forward to it. I wonder if they'll add any extra story segments, like explaining how Pepelogoo got separated from Asha. Also, I hope it leads to the creation of another brand new game. I don't want everything to just be a remake (says the guy who has purchased so many remakes and remasters).

[Nester the Lark]

Michel Ancel, famed game creator of Rayman and Beyond Good & Evil, is retiring from the videogame industry to focus on wildlife. He assures that his current projects, Wild and Beyond Good & Evil 2, will remain in development and are in good hands. (Source)

This is a somewhat sudden development, but I wonder if it has anything to do with the recent reports about abuse and toxicity at Ubisoft.

[Nester the Lark]

Capcom is bringing back Ghosts 'n Goblins with a cheap-looking reboot!



Regardless, I'm looking forward to it, and I'm happy this series isn't dead (just undead).

[Nester the Lark]

Here's a new trailer for Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World.



Looks a little better than the previous trailer. Also, the original Monster World IV will be included in the physical release.

[Nester the Lark]

Here is the first proper teaser trailer for Clockwork Aquario:



Also, here are a couple of interviews with Ryuichi Nishizawa and a few others involved:

- Nintendo Life
- VGChartz

On a related note, here's an interview that focuses more on Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World:

- Nintendo Everything

[Nester the Lark]

I'd forgotten about this.

Here's a new trailer for Fuga: Melodies of Steel (previously Fugue on the Battlefield). Coming out on July 29.



And here's a short comedy video that goes with it.