Veteran British games company System 3 has announced Putty World for the Nintendo Switch 2, a release which brings together Putty, Super Putty and Putty Squad in a single collection, complete with modern improvements.

"What if Nintendo Switch 2 hardware had existed in the mid-1990s?" asks System 3 in a press release launched at the Tokyo Game Show, where the game is being demonstrated. "What would the Putty series have looked and played like if its original creators had access to modern processing power, higher frame rates, greater memory, improved resolution and today’s dual-stick, multi-button controllers?"

System 3 adds that this is the first release in a new "What If?" series of games, "which will explore how classic games could have looked, felt and played if today’s technology had been available when they were originally created."

Putty World pulls together the entire series in one connected experience. "As players progress, they will unlock recreated and updated levels inspired by other games from across the series," says System 3, before adding:

"The game is planned to include 75 new or extensively updated levels, with more than 45 new enemies already added. Players will encounter new opponents, expanded enemy behaviours and new ways in which enemies react, attack and fight. Additional surprises are being introduced throughout development, including end-of-level bosses and dedicated boss battles.

Putty himself has also been given considerably more personality and expression. The updated character features more than 50 facial-expression combinations, helping him react dynamically to the world and events around him."

The version of Putty World being shown off at the Tokyo Game Show is, according to the publisher, "a very early playable technology and graphics demonstration, created to showcase the evolving controls, recreated visuals, richer animation, improved playability and greater fluidity of Putty World." It does not reflect the finished game, nor does it represent the final content or "complete playable experience."

System 3 says a lot of additional development is expected to take place between now and its Q2 2027 release.

Mark Cale, founder and CEO of System 3, had this to say about the announcement:

“With Putty World, we are not simply asking how we can reproduce a game from the past, we are asking what we might have created in the mid-1990s if we had access to the technology available today. The original Putty games were shaped by the imagination of their creators and the capabilities of the hardware at the time. Our ‘What If?’ concept allows us to revisit that same creative vision without those technical limitations, combining the character, humour and personality of the originals with the fluidity, responsiveness and visual detail now possible on Nintendo Switch 2.”

System 3 is aiming for a stable 60 frames-per-second target, 1080p resolution in handheld mode and up to 4K when played on a TV.

System 3 is currently weathering a storm over James Pond Legacy, a similar collection which has come under fire for its use of GenAI assets. While System 3 is publishing, it is actually Antstream which is handling the development of that package. It remains to be seen who is behind Putty World's development.