Sunsoft is back! But will they stick around this time? with one of the NES-era's best 3rd party publishers attempting a grand return, Kris dreams big about what they could do to make Sunsoft stick around for good.

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Sunsoft is back! Once ranked among the very best 3rd party publishers back in the NES days, Sunsoft has fallen out of the limelight considerably in the decades since. They are attempting to stage a comeback right now, and I for one am all for it. Now, they tried this once before. Back when Blaster Master Overdrive came out on WiiWare, Sunsoft launched a new website, released stuff like Aero the Acrobat and Ufouria on Virtual Console, and made a genuine go of trying to make their way back into the limelight. It didn’t work out so well for them then, but it might just stick this time. They’ve already announced reissues of Gimmick and Ufouria, and they apparently have some sort of remake in the works, but what else could they do to really cement themselves as a force in the industry? Let’s find out! Here are my top 5 things I want to see from Sunsoft.

Now let’s go ahead and get my absolute #1 pick out of the way here. I’m an unabashed Blaster Master fan, and I JUST made a video basically begging the universe to give me a classic Blaster Master collection, so I’m going to go ahead and disqualify that for the sake of this countdown. It’s beyond #1 for me, so I’ll just go ahead and pick another 5 things. And here we go.

#5. More Hebereke

Hebereke TV commercial Nakamanga

Here in the US, Hebereke is a barely known quantity, since it was only ever released here as Ufouria: The Saga on Virtual Console. In Japan though, Hebereke is a whole series of games, and they’re incredibly bizarre and varied. Ufouria may be an exploratory adventure like Metroid or Blaster Master, but other Hebereke games include puzzle games, weird sports type games, and more. They also reimagined the characters a bit for their international release, and while not bad by any stretch, there’s nothing wrong with the original Japanese looks. Ufouria for NES is getting an official re-release on modern platforms next year, but I want more. Give us a collection, get some talent on a new proper adventure game, and let Hebereke carve out the international niche it deserves.

#4. Classic cartridge reissues

Mega Man: The Wily Wars. MetalStorm. Street Fighter 2. Heck, even Missile Command and Adventure for Atari 2600. Reissuing classic cartridges isn’t exactly the biggest market in the universe, but there’s absolutely an audience for this kind of stuff, especially when it comes to games that are extremely difficult to find in their original incarnations. This is where Sunsoft could do some serious good. Ufouria never got a proper cartridge release in the US. Same goes for Gimmick. In Gimmick’s case, even the Japanese carts go for absurd amounts of money these days. There are people like me out there who would love the chance to have an officially licensed copy of these games to put on their shelves and play on original hardware. The same absolutely goes for the often overlooked Game Boy classic Trip World. Both the PAL and Japan versions of this cartridge fetch ungodly sums on the aftermarket, and the vast majority of US gamers have never heard of this gem before. Getting them on nice new usable cartridges would be great, and really, everyone should get to try Trip World, right? Speaking of which…

#3. Trip World Remastered nintendoComplete

Trip World is such a neat concept, and it would work so very well as a modern indie game style release. The original release is known for its impressive animation, design, and sound especially given the limitations of the original Game Boy, so imagine a Dragon’s Trap style approach to remastering this game for a modern audience. I can, and it’s an idea that’s got LOADS of potential. This game needs to be experienced by more people, and a modern remake could help this one earn an audience worthy of its quality.

#2. More sequels like Blaster Master Zero

Mystery of Atlantis TASVideoChannel

Journey to Silius NintendoComplete

When IntiCreates took on Blaster Master, it was a dream come true. Blaster Master Zero was everything I could have hoped for out of a reboot, and its sequels gave the franchise its first proper evolutionary followups. I have no idea what the internal teams at Sunsoft are capable of these days in terms of creating new games, but the idea of them lending their existing properties to other developers who are more than able to create new experiences in their worlds. Sunsoft games like Mystery of Atlantis and Journey to Silius have so much more to offer than the single releases in their respective franchises, and I want to see them expanded on like Blaster Master was.

#1. WB Collections

Sunsoft did a lot of licensed content back in the day, and just about all of it was Warner Bros. related. In this age of excellent retro game compilations, getting a collection of Sunsoft’s Looney Tunes and DC Comics content would be beyond amazing. Their Looney Tunes stuff is pretty cool. Rabbit Rampage, Death Valley Rally, classics. It spanned multiple consoles similar to the Cowabunga Collection, and many of those games are genuinely beloved. But way more importantly, Sunsoft’s DC games need a proper reissue. I would personally be happy with just a Batman collection containing the NES and Genesis versions of Batman and REturn of the Joker, but toss the Genesis Superman game, Death and REturn of Superman, Justice League Task Force with online play, and maybe eve get the unreleased Sunman/Superman NES game in there, and you’ve got yourself a guaranteed seller. That classic NES Batman game is legendary, and that alone could carry a package like this. And since it’s all the same basic license, there’s no good reason this shouldn’t happen.

Sunsoft is a company that’s filled with boundless potential, especially today. They were responsible for so much high quality stuff in their heyday, and the neo-retro scene has never been bigger than it is today, meaning the potential for Sunsoft to truly thrive once again is off the charts. I’ve got my fingers crossed that there are more great things in their future. Thanks for watching, everyone. If you liked what you saw here today please comment, like, subscribe and share, and let us know what you want out of a modern day Sunsoft. Were there any big Sunsoft properties I missed in there? Do you want to play NES Batman again? Sound off below! Thanks again, and on behalf of all of us here at Stone Age Gamer, keep playing games.