Sunsoft, the famous Japanese developer behind classic NES games like Blaster Master, has announced a digital event for August 18th to reveal its plans for its upcoming titles for 2022 and 2023 (via Gematsu).
The event takes place at 1pm PDT, 4pm EDT, or 10pm BST, depending on what time zone you're in, and will be available to watch on YouTube.
Sunsoft has been fairly inactive in recent years, with its last two titles being Dark Eclipse for the PlayStation VR and Shanghai Refresh for Nintendo Switch, both published in 2018. In a press release, Sunsoft general manager Yuichi Ochi told journalists:
“Although we have been quiet for some time, many things have been happening behind the scenes. We are very excited to be able to finally share our vision for the rebirth of SUNSOFT with fans old and new.”
As part of the announcement, Sunsoft also gave a little history refresher:
"SUNSOFT is the video game division of Japanese electronics manufacturer SUNCORPORATION, established in 1971. In October 1978, SUNSOFT began to develop video games in arcades with two titles, Block Challenger and Block Perfect. We had several arcade hits in the early 1980s such as Arabian, Ikki and Kangaroo. On July 25, 1985 we released the first Famicon (NES) title Super Arabian in Japan under the SUNSOFT brand.
"SUNSOFT is known for being a retro-game developer and publisher of such titles as Gimmick!, Blaster Master, Spy Hunter, BATMAN, Tripwprld, Uforia the Saga, and more."
Something worth noting is that this is technically the second time the company has been given a rebirth with Sunsoft previously making a return to publishing in North America with the help of Gaijinworks during the Nintendo Wii era.
This led to the release of Blaster Master on Virtual Console and a reboot called Blaster Master: Overdrive, but the company failed to keep up this momentum. We're hoping this time around things end up going a little bit better.
What titles do you want to see make a return? Let us know below!
[source gematsu.com, via nintendolife.com]
Comments 4
I posted about this on Nintendo Life, I'd love to see Mr Gimmick in the announcement! I remember Pat The Nes Punk and Ian discussing a view question, which games would have been more popular if they had been published by Nintendo and Gimmick came up, their conclusion was we would still see Gimmick games today if Nintendo had published it...this is the video, skip to 7:30...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQrbO-_Gx4k
@Hikingguy I have never played Spy Hunter, is it any good?
During the NES days, my best friend and I always thought of Sunsoft as making consistently fun and high quality games. I hope that they make a solid return.
If nothing else, I'd like to see Sunsoft republish some of its great classic NES and arcade games on modern platforms. Their willingness to license Sunsoft IP to other publishers has produced great stuff like Blaster Master Zero, so perhaps more of that is in the cards.
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