Any talk of new games here is normally incidental to some another discussion, so I thought it might be nice to have a thread to quickly mention new releases we‘ve been enjoying, since we’re such a discerning bunch. It could also be a place to ask questions like “XYZ just came out! Is it good?”
I'll go first!
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I've just started playing _**Hotshot Racing**_ on Switch (it's available on PS4, Xbox and PC too).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkZ6HkpXvj0
It's a low-poly 90s-style arcade racing game that takes obvious inspiration from Virtua Racing, Daytona USA, Ridge Racer et al. It plays somewhere in the middle of all those games, with standard eight-car races featuring drifting, slipstreaming, boosting etc, as well as splitscreen/online multiplayer and some other chase-type modes I haven't given much time to yet.
It's been a long time coming - it was originally announced as _Racing Apex_ in 2016 and was in development by its one-man studio for about five years even before that. After a few bumps in the road (heh) it was picked up and finished by Sumo Digital.
I'm really enjoying it! You probably will too if you like arcade racing games.
yeah, I‘m excited about that one too - I hope they put in a scrub mode, because those games are so difficult!! And it makes me wonder, what’s next? natsume-atari doesn‘t have many more games to give this treatment to, certainly no more in the 16 bit era. Maybe they’ll go all the way back to shatterhand!?
Oh, and a new game I'm excited about... Yakuza 7!? I want to see what that battle system is like, and whether the random battles become more or less annoying because of it.
@exodus#5954 It‘s unclear what they have ownership over, but maybe Lufia II? Not sure that how you would give it the excellent treatment that Wild Guns and Ninja Warriors got though. I’d say Car Battler Joe, but that would need a major overhaul. I wonder if the could do anything with Afrika eventhough they just published it? I feel like that could be a hit on Switch in the modern era.
Hmm, unless I‘m wrong here I think you’re starting to conflate natsume-atari (the developer) with natsume the publisher, which is more of a hindrance than a help in this scenario. Although I guess natsume the publisher IS publishing all these games, so maybe there‘s something to it. I reckon an RPG would take them a lot longer to get through, but I’d like to see it!
yeah, I'd say any licensed games are likely off the table. one never knows, but to get natsume-atari, natsume US, and a third licensor involved is likely impossible!
My legitimate guess for what's next is Shadow of the Ninja, which, like Kiki KaiKai, Wild Guns, and Ninja Warriors, has the original version playable on the Switch.
@billy#5928 Oh man. Thank you for starting this thread. I‘ve been wanting to, but I’ve been too scared because I wasn't sure if people would be into it. But I sure am into it!
I've had my eye on Hotshot Racing for a while because I love the look of it, and I'm a big Sumo Digital fan. Have you played Horizon Chase Turbo? And if so, how do they stack up to each other? I liked that one quite a bit.
@sabertoothalex#5970 Heh, I do a lot of Zoom calls for work (don‘t we all), and I’ve been using this image from 13 Sentinels as one of my backgrounds lately. What a gorgeous-looking game that is.
@whatsarobot#5968 I prefer it to Horizon Chase Turbo, although that's also great. Where Horizon Chase feels like a souped-up Outrun, Hotshot Racing feels more like Virtua Racing or Ridge Racer.
It's 80s vs 90s really - both good, but different enough that they almost feel like totally different genres.
@robinhoodie#5958 It’s unclear what they have ownership over, but maybe Lufia II?
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@exodus#5960 Hmm, unless I’m wrong here I think you’re starting to conflate natsume-atari (the developer) with natsume the publisher
Correct.
Natsume, the US publisher, was originally the US subsidiary of Natsume, the Japanese developer, which became Natsume-Atari, but there's not any kind of formal relationship between the companies (nor has there been for some time.)
I mean, there might be some mutual investment behind the scenes or a common shareholder or whatever, but they aren't the same company. The main reason I think there's a chance there's some relationship case is because Natsume (US) is the Western publisher for Wild Guns Reloaded and Pocky & Rocky 2021 (for some reason, Inin got Ninja Saviors, however.) OTOH it might just be because the same Japanese dudes are at both companies as were there in 1993 or whatever, seriously.
Moreover, Natsume doesn't have/never had any ownership in the Lufia IP. It is owned by Taito (the Japanese publisher of the franchise). Natsume actually engaged the developer of Lufia (Neverland) to make an original GBA game (Cima: The Enemy) because the cost of the Lufia license was prohibitive. That said, Natsume has been the only US publisher for Lufia, though I did talk to another publisher who was considering doing the GBA Lufia. Nintendo published Lufia II in Europe (under the title Lufia, confusingly enough.)
Anyway, to return to the original question @exodus asked, I was wondering if they had the rights to their own NES games or not. Could be! But the specific team remaking these games is the same team that made them originally, so they may not be responsible for THOSE games and not be inclined to revisit them!
The only recent game I have played recently is A Short Hike, which was incredibly lovely and highly recommended. I don‘t think much more needs to be said than that. It’s just a nice experience.
@gyozaleaf#6028 I like CIMA the Enemy and I had no idea that's why it is the way it is. Ha ha! We have so many spiritual sequels these days that wear that status on their sleeve, I never thought to look at a GBA game under the same lens.
I‘m playing Moon (not really “new”, I know.) And at the same time on and off playing Deadly Premonition 2, Spiritfarer, and most recently picked up Hardspace: Shipbreaker on early access (which is cool in concept but is so far lacking in variety, I’ve been enjoying it).
It's been weird noticing the similarities between these very different games.
All 4 of them have some kind of day/night cycle.
3 of them feature food prominently
2 of them are about helping lost souls (and DP2 also deals with the spiritual/paranormal)
