Yokai Tantei Chima Chima
Image: D4 Enterprise

The next PC-88 title to hit the Nintendo Switch eShop as part of D4 Enterprise's EGGCONSOLE series of retro reissues will be AlexBros and Bothtec's top-down action game Yokai Tantei Chima Chima.

It will be released on January 25th in Japan and is also expected to launch on the North American and European storefronts at some point in the future (the US storefront typically tends to be updated on the same day, while the Canadian and European storefronts can experience delays).

Created for one of Bothtec's programming competitions in the early '80s, the game puts players in control of a cyclops named Chima Chima, with the goal being to shoot and guide fireballs to clear the screen of Yokai.

Every time a player releases a fireball, they can control it directly, with their inputs also impacting the player's character as well. Similar to Bomberman, fireballs will make a large cross-shaped blast whenever they are detonated. So the aim of the game is for players to carefully position themselves to avoid getting caught up in the explosion.

Yokai Tantei Chima Chima was originally released for Sony's SMC-777 home computer in 1984 and was ported to various other platforms over the next few years. That includes the PC-8801, Sharp X1, MSX, PC-6001mk2, and Fujitsu's FM-7. You can watch the Japanese trailer for the rerelease below to get a better idea of what the PC-88 version of the game looks like to play:

[source store-jp.nintendo.com, via cohost.org]