What Year Is It!?
Retro-focused publisher Dotemu on resurrecting two classic Nineties franchises
Dotemu on carrying the torch for two of the best franchises to come out of the Nineties
It would seem that retro game revivals are like buses; you wait years for one to come along, and then you get two almost at once. We’re referring, of course, to the very welcome news that bona-fide Nineties classics Windjammers and Streets Of Rage are being revived for sequels we thought we’d never see, and French publisher Dotemu is the driving force behind both projects.
Perhaps one of the most beloved Neo-geo games of all time, Windjammers has been begging for a sequel for years, and it’s finally getting one on the Nintendo Switch. “We wanted to bring Windjammers back for a long time,” says Dotemu’s head of marketing Arnaud De Sousa. “When we talked to the rights holders about bringing back their cult classic, we also asked them to let us make a new Windjammers, and they said yes.”
Arnaud is keen to stress that this isn’t a remake of the original game, which is out on Switch now. “With Windjammers 2, we’re imagining what the original developers would have done nowadays if they had our technology and the 24 years of gaming evolution. Windjammers 2 will offer new handdrawn and animated graphics, new characters, new stages, new gameplay mechanics and so on.”
Many people feel that the original Windjammers is perfect, and this perception has given Dotemu one of its sternest challenges. “It’s quite the task to add gameplay features to an already great game,” explains game designer Jordi Asensio. “You can easily break that perfect balance. So we’re experimenting a lot and we will only keep what’s really fun. For example, we added powered EX moves you can do when your EX gauge is full. It adds an interesting longterm strategic layer that was missing from the original.”
A new Windjammers game is exciting enough, but the subsequent news that Dotemu is also rebooting Streets Of Rage in conjunction with Lizardcube
(the team responsible for the amazing Wonderboy: Dragon’s Trap remake) and Guard Crush (creator of the likeable indie beat-’em-up Streets Of Fury) sent the internet into a nostalgia-induced tailspin. “We had to show to Sega that we were serious,” reveals Arnaud when asked how it all happened. “Dotemu has been making games for more than ten years now; I think our experience and the respect we have for the licences we work on resonates well with Japanese companies. With Lizardcube’s Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap, we’ve also been able to show them how serious and dedicated we are toward their IPS.”
Lizardcube’s Ben Fiquet, who is serving as the project’s art director, explains that the prior success of the Wonderboy reboot was instrumental in convincing Sega that the project was viable. “Since Wonder Boy, we have had an excellent relationship with Sega and we thought it would be an amazing project for everyone.” As for why other efforts to create a fourth Streets Of Rage game failed, Ben has a theory. “I think most attempts were focused on making something radically different; what we’re trying to do is to really improve, in the best possible ways, all aspects of the original games.”
The final ingredient was Streets Of Fury, and the incredible game engine that has been refined and polished by its developer, Guard Crush. This will form the bedrock of the new Streets Of Rage title. “With Streets Of Fury, we were working for ten years on a beat’em-up engine with Cyrille Lagarigue,” explains Jordi, who is acting as designer on this title as well as Windjammers 2. Cyrille – who is acting as lead developer – likens the process to the creation of Sonic Mania, a game largely built by fans, for fans. “The success of Sonic Mania showed that Sega could trust a passionate team of external developers that already proved that they were capable with the genre, and give them one of their main licences.”
Jordi explains that there will be a raft of enhancements included to make Streets Of Rage 4 feel as fresh as possible. “One is the juggles; they allow you to do longer combos and co-op combos. The other is the special move life regain, we decided to stick with the life-draining system, only now you can regain that life back if you hit enemies with normal attacks – but if you’re hit you’ll lose all the ‘gambled’ life. It makes special moves powerful, but risky.” Cyrille adds that other improvements are expected, too, such as enemies not vanishing off the edge of the screen
– a common issue with practically any scrolling fighter you could mention.
There are still a few things the team wishes to keep under wraps, however. The involvement of Yuzo Koshiro – who composed the amazing music for the first three games – is yet to be confirmed, although Arnaud insists that the developers are aware of how important the soundtrack is to the series. Ben also refuses to flat-out confirm that the game will come with an optional pixel-based graphics mode, something that was included in The Dragon’s Trap; he merely suggests that the team is considering various options at present. So far, only Alex and Blaze have been shown as playable characters; Ben admits that others will be included, but can’t say who just yet.
Let’s not dwell on unconfirmed stuff for too long, however: the fact that these two legendary Nineties classics are getting resurrected is cause for some
we’re trying to really improve, in the best possible ways, all aspects of the original games Ben Fiquet
serious celebration, and as Arnaud explains, the developers behind this renaissance are just as excited as the potential players. “It feels like a kid’s dream coming true! I won’t lie by saying there’s no pressure, but with such a dream team of hardcore fans of both games, I’m confident that we’ll have two amazing titles!”