One of the more unexpected announcements during Sony’s big GamesCom 2013 press conference this week revolved around Heavy Spectrum’s reimagining of Shadow of the Beast. As a refresher for our younger readers, the original release was a side-scrolling brawler deployed almost 25 years ago on the Commodore Amiga. It was developed by Reflections Interactive – the Newcastle-based studio now owned by Ubisoft – and published by Psygnosis, which is how Sony owns the rights.
Details regarding the reboot are tightly under wraps, but the developer has promised to offer “a magical combination of unique combat and gameplay to enthral you as a player, with a mystical world that can engage you as a person”. The title’s teaser trailer gives the impression that it will maintain the side-scrolling perspective, but it’s hard to tell for sure. Nevertheless, we’re sure that this announcement has got some of you veteran gamers excited. And if not, go and tell your parents.
[source blog.eu.playstation.com]
Comments 16
Hahaha memories!
Beast & Beast II (Crystal Cracked no less), Amiga 500 (with additional Megabyte of RAM at £50!) and a sexy microswitched joystick! Thems were the days...
@KALofKRYPTON Showing your age.
@get2sammyb Ha, I was but a child!
is this an indie game?
@JavierYHL Sort of.
Indeed, the memories! Loved Beast 1 and 2 on the Amiga 500...with (indeed) an additional 1 Megabyte RAM to upgrade it to unbelievable 1.3 MB! And I had the second 3.5" Floppy Drive, too! The music and graphics were awesome back then! This announcement really surprised me. Definitely gonna keep an eye on this.
And yes, I am old...
...and of course I hat the Competition Pro 500 Joystick...with microswitches...
@Reverend_Skeeve external floppy was essential! Especially when you got 4 disc beasts like MoonStone!
And now I want Rick Dangerous on Vita!
Hmm, I owned an Amiga 500 back in the day (hell I owned a commodore 64), but don't remember this game.
@KALofKRYPTON Yeah...or the Cinemaware games..."Wings" asked you to change floppys 3 times between the mission briefing and the actual mission...and don't get me started on "It came from the desert" or the LucasArts adventures.
Rick Dangerous on Vita would be awesome...I still have his "Waaaaaah" when he died in my ear till today. Come to think of it, the Cinemaware games or LucasArts adventures would be perfect for Vita, too. One can dream, right?
@Reverend_Skeeve Didn't have any Cinemaware games as I recall. A lot of Amiga games would be very well suited to Vita. Anything Bitmap, Rodland, Ocean's wealth of games (especially RoboCop 2), Blood Money. Of course the list goes on and on...
Remember Ninja Warriors?
@Ginkgo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHU2guYH7Og&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Look at that parallax scrolling!
@KALofKRYPTON Sadly, never played Ninja Warriors. You should check out videos of the old Cinemaware games if you can find them...those were awesome...indeed quite cinematic for the technological possibilities back then!
But the Shadow of the Beast video...man...this parallax scrolling blew me away back then...and the music almost brought tears to my eyes just now, no kidding. Sweet nostalgia. I even have some mp3s with the soundtrack flying around somewhere. So I'm curious how the reboot will fare...what do you think about the trailer so far?
@Reverend_Skeeve Not much to go on so far really, can't say I like the look of it.
@KALofKRYPTON Indeed! The Amiga was always impressive for its day.
To be honest I'm not very nostalgic and definitely not a retro gamer. I figure I am old enough that I lived through it once. No need to go back again. Games today are so much better.
@ErnisDy WinUAE
@KALofKRYPTON I think it doesn't look too bad...but until now there's little to see, agreed. But excited I am; the fact alone that they remake an old Amiga game has me excited.
@Ginko I'm not nostalgic enough to have the desire to replay the old games. As you said, I/we have lived through it once and that's enough for me, too...still: hearing the old music and seeing the video of the game let lots of good childhood memories resurface. Liked that.
@ErnisDy That's no shame...and don't worry...in about 20 years or so you'll have a discussion just like this about some beloved PS3/PS4 games.
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