The Sharp X68000 home computer was home to some amazing titles, but it remains something of an obscurity outside of Japan, as it was never released globally.
One of the more notable titles in its library is Nemesis '90 Kai, a remake of the 1987 MSX game Nemesis 2 / Gradius 2, which predates the 1988 arcade release, Gradius II: Gofer's Ambition / Vulcan Venture.
While it was made with Konami's blessing, the game was actually developed by a studio called SPS – and because it wasn't an in-house production, Konami has neglected to include it in the many Gradius collections that have been released since.
As a result, the game hasn't been able to reach as wide an audience as it perhaps deserves, given that it boasts excellent visuals and a significant boost in content when compared to the original MSX version.
That's all about to change thanks to the efforts of a bunch of Japanese journalists, who are reviving the Sharp-focused publication Oh!X for a special one-off issue (thanks, Gosokkyu).
The resurrected magazine will include a reissue of Nemesis '90 Kai for the X68000 Z micro-console, released by Zuiki. A patch will be included which allows users to replace the game's soundtrack with music created by late Akira Saito, who worked at M2 on the Sega 3D Classics series on 3DS before passing away in 2016.
As noted by Gosokkyu, SPS' catalogue of games now belongs to M2, and this is the first 'official' reissue of one of the studio's games, although he notes that both EGG and Zuiki have reissued SPS games in a rather "dubious" manner.
