Fans of the Game Boy Advance may already have some familiarity with Sigma Star Saga, an old RPG-inspired shooter developed by WayForward.
Originally released in 2005, the release blends shmup action with overworld adventuring, making for a unique fusion of gameplay styles.
And now an emulated version has released on the PS5, with various quality-of-life features including save states and the ability to rewind any mistakes you make.
Here’s how the dev describes the game:
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“The classic shooter/RPG is back and better than ever! Featuring a unique mix of side-scrolling shoot-’em-up space battles and top-down planetary exploration, Sigma Star Saga DX is an explosive genre mashup that lets you take control of Allied Earth Federation pilot Ian Recker and infiltrate the alien Krill Empire as a double agent in a last-ditch effort to save mankind.”
This re-release packs a number of improvements, including “an improved map, decreased random encounter rate, rebalanced EXP system, enhanced dialogue, additional save points, assorted bug fixes and quality-of-life updates, and more”.
We’re elated to see this make a comeback, but for $19.99/£15.99, we can’t help but feel it’s a little on the steep side.
The package does feature original artwork, a music player, and more, so it’s clear the dev’s put a lot of effort into it. But we’d have expected a much slimmer price tag for a GBA game that’s over 20 years old.