The Sun Rises Again.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Apparently Sunsoft is being brought back for the American market by, uh, Gaijinworks. This is baffling news considering that the all the company makes these days are majong games and dating-sims.

The good news is that we finally get their (non-licensed) work up on the VC, with an "enhanced" Blaster Master confirmed.

http://www.sunsoftgames.com/news/2009-1 ... Master.php

http://www.siliconera.com/2009/12/04/wi ... ses-again/

I can only hope this means the return of Naoki Kodaka.

[Malchik]

Sunsoft is still around? I loved Chameleon Twist.

[Shadow Hog]

I loved Batman for the NES. Do they still make games like that? It'd be awesome if they wound up with the license to The Dark Knight and made a game based on it that plays like said NES Batman game.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Like I said, they've pretty much only made majong games and dating sims since they receded from foreign markets. They've mostly branched out into e-books.

This revival for international market makes it seem like they have plans for making real games. But I wouldn't look forward to anything since what, or rather who, made the company so great in the NES era were snatched up by competing developers, leaving Naoki Kodaka they only notable person on their payroll. I'm not sure if Kodaka even still works these days.

[Opa-Opa]

Yeah, they were kind of a big thing during the 16-bit era as well. Their Batman games were great (NES and Mega Drive, not the Revenge of the Joker, which sucks ass), and had great music. They had Aero the Acrobat as their mascot which even had a spinoff with Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel. Playing them again I think those games were a bit mediocre but the character design was nice, and Aero 2 for the SNES had some of the best sprite animations I've seen in that console.

I also remember they did a very good Scooby Doo game for the Mega Drive, which is odd, because Scooby Doo games mainly suck. It was a very funny and hard adventure game, what I thought was a pretty bold choice for a franchise that has small kids as their main target audience, but also very fitting due to the detective aspects of the cartoon. It was very glitchy, even though the controls were good for a game that should be controlled by a mouse.

Also their Super Fantasy Zone was a great addition to the series.

[Dasher]

Thought this topic was about Golden sun 3.

uh, nvm.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

I let you know when I start caring about an offensively generic RPG.

[Psxphile]

In related news, Sunsoft acquires publishing rights for the entirety of Nihon Telenet's catalog.

[Green Gibbon!]

So that's what Ireland's been up to.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Will this finally be the sequel that doesn't suck?

The parallels to Metroid Fusion are a bit worrisome.

[cjmcray]

I loved Batman for the NES. Do they still make games like that? It'd be awesome if they wound up with the license to The Dark Knight and made a game based on it that plays like said NES Batman game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHbHg-OXNFk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqf6Yl3kkmg

[Shadow Hog]

But Metroid Fusion was awesome. Zero Mission and Super Metroid were better, of course, but Super Metroid was practically godlike, and I can't fault Fusion for not being godlike.

(Honestly, though, the ideal Metroid game would be one that took the level design, weapons, bosses et al from Super Metroid, but used the simplified and streamlined control scheme of Fusion and Zero Mission. Super is the better game, but the controls really just are that much better in the later games.)

Also interesting. I'd seen another would-be 8-bit Dark Knight which was pretty impressive, but I think the video was pulled by the owner. The person who made that hack, though, should probably replace the weird toy robot things with dogs, though; it'd make sense in the context of that scene.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Don't get me wrong, Fusion was a fine game and my proper introduction to the series, but the hand-holding and long, unskippable cutscenes (the latter of which Other M is rumored to have ) make it the one I revisit the least.

Also, that Dark Knight sounded more like a C64 than a NES game.

[Kogen]

I was surprised to see that they still exist too. So I am going to buy this game without looking at it to simulate how I felt renting their 'fantastic' software.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Trailer

Music's awful. The drill and grapple look promising. Not sure how I feel about the art direction yet, but I doubt anyone could really capture the essence of the original.

[Kogen]

Why has retro music all become shitty techno?

Just because something was made electronically, it does not mean it was intended to be gaybar Bentley Jones music.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Agreed. 'Area 1' always felt like it had a John Williams orchestrated vibe to it. Very much like this.

And here's an excellent take on Area 3's theme for good measure.

[gr4yJ4Y]

I never played the original Blaster Master, but this looks awesome.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

[W]e finally get their (non-licensed) work up on the VC[.]

I guess I spoke too soon!

If you really want Batman or whatever. Vic Ireland has invited you to pester him about it.

[Green Gibbon!]

So is this supposed to be a proper sequel or just a remake?

[Dr. BUGMAN]

A bit of both, I guess. The story is completely different with a new protagonist, Alex. It fixes many of the short-comings -- namely the obligatory on-foot sections -- of the original with save points and permanent weapon upgrades. Music and a handful of bosses are the same with minor tweaks (for better or worse).

If anything, I'd call it a spiritual successor.

[G.Silver]

So no mutated pet frogs in the one?

[Shadow Hog]

Who knows? All I do know is, if I looking for frog, him name is Hopkin Green Frog.

[Delphine]

Him name is eight year old meme.

[Green Gibbon!]

So apparently this has been out for two months, which I only just discovered.

How is it?