Who Even Needs a SNES Classic?
Last week saw the announcement of UFO 50, a new game from Spelunky-creator Derek Yu and studio Mossmouth. Yu is teaming up with the creators of Downwell, Time Barons, Skorpulac, and Madhouse to create a compilation of fifty retro-styled games in one nifty package.
The collection will span multiple genres, ranging “from platformers and shoot ’em ups to puzzle games and RPGs,” per Mossmouth’s UFO 50 website. Each game will supposedly be “slightly smaller” than the 8-bit games that gamers of the ’80s and ’90s grew up playing. That said, Yu and his peers are describing these as “full” games as opposed to the micro or mini-game experiences found in series like WarioWare or Mario Party.
I don’t typically report on news, as other outlets tend to break it earlier and much more quickly. However, this announcement has me excited. I can’t say that I played much of Splunky, and what I did play I didn’t exactly enjoy. Downwell was a fun little diversion, and yet that’s all it really was to me: a diversion. As for the other three… well I haven’t even heard of them, regretfully.
However, a gauntlet of NES-inspired games, made with the resources available to a modern dev-team? Sign me up! It’s sure to be an excellent value, and with SNES Classics bound to be scarce, UFO 50 looks set to scratch that special retro-itch of mine. (Disclaimer: I do, in fact, have a UK SNES Classic preordered—but I want UFO 50 too.)
UFO 50 is targeting a release in 2018. So far, PC is the only platform confirmed, with others coming at a later date. (Here’s hoping it makes its way to the Switch—that would put Nintendo in its place!)
You can watch the full announcement trailer in all of its glory below: