Bitwave Games announces partnership with Tatsujin to publish select titles from Japanese developer Toaplan’s classic arcade library on PC for the first time.
Bitwave will digitally publish City Connection’s special edition of Sunsoft’s original platformer Gimmick! later this year on modern consoles and PC, playable August 24th – 26th at gamescom.
Video game publisher and developer Bitwave Games announced it has been acquired by Embracer Group. The studio will continue to work autonomously as part of Embracer Freemode, Embracer’s newly formed operating group, allowing for greater opportunities to collaborate with the many exceptional companies and IP within Embracer, as well as the gaming industry as a whole.
“We are thrilled to become part of the Embracer family with all the possibilities it offers, including the opportunity to expand our development and work with legendary retro IPs. Our fantastic team hopes to create new titles and bring back classic games with the same level of passion that inspired us in our childhood. Bitwave Games and Freemode are a match made in heaven, and I can’t wait to announce even more!” said Bitwave Games CEO and founder Niklas Istenes.
To help mark the occasion, Bitwave has revealed a new partnership with fellow Embracer Freemode company Tatsujin to publish a number of classic titles from the archives of legendary Japanese game developer Toaplan. Officially coming to PC for the very first time after more than 25 years, Toaplan’s prolific library of games in the ‘80s and ‘90s was pivotal in the evolution of the “shoot ‘em up” and “bullet hell” genres on arcade systems and home consoles. Tatsujin is Embracer Group’s first studio in Japan and includes a number of original Toaplan developers on its team.
Bitwave’s new PC releases of Toaplan originals will feature a variety of quality-of-life and accessibility enhancements, such as achievements, online leaderboards, pixel perfect graphics, auto checkpoints, an optional Very Easy mode, and sidebar indicators, and full input configuration. The first batch of games, expected to launch later this year, will include Truxton, Twin Cobra, Out Zone, and Zero Wing, the originator of the infamous “All your base are belong to us” meme. Out Zone and Zero Wing are available to wishlist now on Steam.
Finally, Bitwave announced it has secured the rights to publish City Connection’s new special edition of the classic 1992 original Sunsoft platformer Gimmick! in the West on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation®4, Xbox One, and PC digitally later this year. Gimmick! Special Edition will include special bonus features like achievements, time attack mode, save, load, and rewind functions, a gallery mode, and more. City Connection is both developing the remaster and publishing it digitally in Japan. A physical edition of Gimmick! Special Edition will also be published in the West by Clear River Games, part of Embracer Freemode.
A playable demo of Gimmick! Special Edition will be on the show floor at gamescom later this month, from August 24-26, in Retro Gaming area F068 at the Dragon Box booth. It will also be playable at the Tokyo Game Show in September. For more on Gimmick! Special Edition, tune into the virtual showcase that will go live on Sunsoft’s YouTube channel at 1:00 PM PDT / 9 PM BST later today.
