Update []:
Following the ESRB leak earlier this year, Limited Run Games and Headless Chicken Games have officially announced Snow Bros. Classic Collection, a new collection of games containing the console ports of the 1990 Toaplan arcade game: Snow Bros (NES), Snow Bros. Nick & Tom (Mega Drive / Genesis), and Snow Bros. Jr (Game Boy).
The collection will be released on Nintendo Switch, PS5, and PC (via Steam), with two physical editions also being planned for Nintendo Switch and PS5.
The cheapest of these is a standard edition, priced at $34.99, which will come with a copy of the collection on your platform of choice, a box, and a booklet covering the three titles, but there is also a slightly more expensive "classic edition" for $64.99, including a retro-NES style box, a poster, and a bonus soundtrack.
Here's the description of the collection, provided by the publisher:
It’s always more fun to throw a snowball than to be hit by one!
Toaplan’s hit Snow Bros is back! This arcade-style, fixed-screen platformer follows brothers Nick and Tom through epic levels in the Kingdom of Hottoda to save two trapped princesses, each possessing the magic of snow… and the only hope for the realm. As evil King Atchich seeks to take over the world, the snowmen we love must set out to storm the enemy’s fortress and rescue their princesses!
Shoot snow at your enemies, picking up items to enhance your fighting, from speed enhancements to shot powerups, becoming giant, and more. Each level features not only enemies but a boss fight, with unique characters to size up and snowball!
Whether you have loved them since the 90s or are just discovering the snowy goodness now, Snow Bros will show you exactly why it’s such a timeless game.
To give our honest thoughts, looking at the list of titles set to be included here, we can't help but feel a little bit disappointed to see the original arcade game missing here, along with its sequel Snow Bros. 2: With New Elves.
Perhaps, though, we were expecting a little too much, given this is, in all likelihood, built using Limited Run Games' Carbon Engine, which only really deals with console emulation at present. What do you think of the announcement? Let us know below!
Original Story: A new collection based on Toaplan's Snow Bros. games appears to be in development at Limited Run Games, according to a new online listing from the ESRB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board).
Snow Bros. Classic Collection is described as a collection of "action platformers" for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 that sees "players traverse 2D pixelated levels" to "rescue princesses and end an evil curse". It appeared on the ESRB website late last month and was quickly spotted by the video game publication Gematsu, which noted on social media that no game going by that description seems to have been announced as of yet.
Putting two and two together, it, therefore, seems like the ESRB may have been guilty of jumping the gun a little bit, with our best guess being that the game will soon be revealed properly as part of the upcoming Summer Games Fest.
As the game has not been officially announced, it is not clear exactly what specific titles will be included as part of the upcoming collection (or whether this will have any crossover with the recent remakes of Snow Bros. and Snow Bros. 2: With New Elves from CRT Games). But, interestingly, in the description the ESRB provided, it does make a reference to it containing four games in total.
If we had to speculate, we'd anticipate this including the two arcade originals, alongside two additional versions for home consoles. However, only time will tell whether we're right in our predictions.
We'll be sure to update this post once an official announcement is made and more information is available.