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When two industry legends like Tony Warriner (Beneath A Steel Sky, Broken Sword) and Stoo Cambridge (Sensible Soccer, Cannon Fodder) come together to create a new game, it pays to sit up and take notice – and that's precisely what over 800 people did when the pair announced UrbX Warriors for the ZX Spectrum Next.
The project smashed its Kickstarter goal and became one of the Spectrum Next's most appealing new titles, but Warriner and Cambridge aren't done yet – hence the recent crowdfunding campaign to bring the game to the Amiga AGA and Sega Mega Drive / Genesis.
That campaign is performing just as well as the previous one (despite an early technical hiccup that made the entire project seem cancelled), and, as it enters its final week, has raised over £44,000 against an initial goal of £18,888.
Both men describe UrbX Warriors as their "most challenging project to date"; it's an arcade adventure inspired by Zombies Ate My Neighbours, with a similar look and feel.
I've played the original game on the Spectrum Next and thoroughly enjoyed it; the combination of tight pick-up-and-play gameplay, loads of secrets to uncover, pleasant pixel graphics and challenging action makes this feel like a modern 'faux-retro' classic, and, having sampled a short demo of the Mega Drive version, I can confirm that all of these features have made the transition intact.
So why double-dip if you already own the Spectrum Next edition? Well, this isn't a straight port. The visuals have been refined, and the music features the one and only Allister Brimble (Alien Breed, Project X, Superfrog), who worked alongside Richard Faulkner (who scored the Next version) to create some truly stunning tracks. In terms of gameplay, a new two-player co-op mode has been included.
"We were excited at the idea of doing something for the Mega Drive, and when we looked at the specs we realised it's almost the perfect hardware design for UrbX Warriors, and that was pretty much the decider for us," say the pair in an exclusive statement given to Time Extension.
"Another great thing is the relative ease of producing new cartridges and, you know, as physical media goes, they are almost the perfect form. Everyone loves them. The idea of manufacturing a whole bunch of them is really exciting for us - especially given everything that's going on at the moment.”
There's a week left on the UrbX Warriors 16-bit Edition Kickstarter, so if you're keen to get your hands on a piece of physical gaming history, then now's the time to pledge your interest.