Publisher Retroware has announced that its "high octane, in-your-face" action-platformer Prison City will be making its way to the Switch shortly after its launch on Steam this month.
Inspired by classic NES titles like Mega Man, Power Blade, and Shatterhand, Prison City has been designed to specifically evoke memories of games from the early '90s, with lead developer 'Programancer' stating "It just made sense to have a game that's inspired by those Nintendo titles go on a Nintendo console".
Prison City also features a "pulse-pounding" soundtrack from Matthew Creamer (Retro City Rampage, Shakedown: Hawaii) along with a '90s-inspired rap song created by Professor Shyguy. As for the gameplay, while Prison City will strive for that '90s authenticity, it will also host a number of mechanics to bring it in line with modern standards.
If you want to see what all the fuss is about, then be sure to also check out Retroware's 15-minute gameplay showcase.
Are you up for some retro platforming action? Will you be picking up Prison City? Let us know with a comment down below.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 30
Oh, this looks good. Will keep an eye on this one.
I'm one of those who have never heard of this game before, looks pretty cool so I'm glad it's coming to Switch, will add it to my wishlist as soon as it's on Deku Deals!
Played the demo on Steam, and it's great.
One of the few, that really succeeds with nailing that old-school NES/SNES magic.
Um...SOLD! Physical edition?
Whoa, they're behind Iron Meat too?! That was the one on my radar before this!
@riderkicker Simply publishing.
Saw this in System Gamer Magazine a few months ago, it looks absolutely fantastic and is highly rated.
@YANDMAN Yeah, meant the publisher.
From one man living in a 90’s bubble to another: Hells yeah
@Exerion76
Good to hear! I knew this one would live up. It screams quality. Seems like it's borrowing heavily, or inspired by the likes of Shatterhand, Batman & Mega Man while still managing to do it's own thing. These days, I typically gravitate towards faux retro pixel art games. 'in and out' challenging nostalgic late 80's/early 90's comforting retro-esque experiences that won't rob you of too much precious free time, like a lot of these long winded sprawling vast open world adventure games and crazy long RPG's.
Tears of the Kingdom requires days off work and unlimited weekends to make any real progress. Not dogging it, it's fantastic, but also incredibly daunting!
Other faux retro titles on the way >
Iron Meat - (Inspired by Contra III)
Trip World DX
30XX
Blaze in the DEEP BLUE - (By Inti Creates)
Sonic Superstars
Gargoyles Remastered
Super Mario RPG
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Shadow of the Ninja (Natsume remaster)
Mina the Hallower
Pizza Tower (Rumoured to release by the end of the year)
Super Bomberman R 2
Actual, 'retro' Retro >
A Boy & his Blob: Retro Collection
Jurassic Park: Classic Games Collection
Parasol Stars
Deltazeal - (Released today. )
Taito Milestones 2
Double Dragon Collection
Clocktower (SNES)
Tomba!
Gex Trilogy Collection (First Gex game fits the retro-mold)
@NinChocolate
I'm living in a late 80's, & very early 90's bubble. I dress the part, my home decor screams 1989, the music, TV & movies I watch, games i play, Board games & toys i collect are all from those times. It just brings me a lot of joy and happyness, back when pop culture was at least a bizzilion times better. I'd rather build my own mental time machine than succumb to current times. The only positive things to come out of the 2010's & 2020's is Nintendo Switch, VR, AR & the occasional TV series like Stranger things. lol Plus, faux retro games & Side scrollers are at an all time high which is fantastic.
Putting that aside, I seriously cannot stand the current times we're living in. Where's my DeLorean so I can blast back to circa 88-95, and live there forever? I'm even starting to appreciate the very late 90's now.
Man, 1990....When social media, cell phones, streaming and the internet never even existed. You were forced to go out and be social, and get sh** done and really hone in based on what you were into, living in the moment and not being bombarded by all of these endless distractions. Now when i step outside my door all i see are Gen Z's with Broccoli haircuts and tight skinny jeans tethered to their smart phones.
@WaveBoy Hey granddad, haven't you noticed that kids these days are wearing baggy jeans, just like in the late 90s and early 2000s? Skinny jeans are, like, sooooo 2012. Get with the times, man!
In all seriousness, I love pop culture from the era you're talking about too, especially the music.
@TheRealKyleHyde
haha. Ultimately, there's no real distinct style these days, anything really goes which is pretty sweet in it's own way. But still, that frikkin broccoli doo is pretty prominent with teens and early 20-something year olds these days. And i'm only 38(39 in just over a month actually), haven't transitioned into Mr. Burns just yet.
But turning 40 definitely scares me. I wish I could be 25-32 again, at least physically. Being in your 30's has it's share of advantages mentally speaking. Although, i miss having that higher level of excitability, enthusiasm and passion towards my hobbies, just being able to easily suspend my disbelief like i once could as a kiddo up unti my mid 20's.
Time to realign my chi and find my inner dooder, stat.
https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExNGh3NHZhc3J0cHB2MHZxaTBlMm5vODA4MTlyeXo0ODc1YXdkNnQ4bCZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/PRyi5mgP9qLAI/giphy.gif
I do enjoy a good retro throwback.
Uhh, yeah, I'm gonna need this.
Heck yeah. I'm excited for this one. Very wierd to finally see Justin's face In video again. He fell off the face of the earth with cinnemassacre the last year or two. Either way, Prison City is one I'll be grabbing.
This looks cool. I played most of these games growing up. Shatterhand and Powerblade were both really cool. There's a game that's sort of like this and super-cheesy and fun called "Oniken", though this game looks more refined and smoothed out. I'll keep this one on my radar.
@daveMcFlave Oniken is great, one of those tough but fair type of games. Odallus by the same the developer is also excellent, it's more of an old school Castlevania style game.
@OldManHermit
I really liked Oniken. It kinda reminded me of Contra meets Fist of The North Star. Very cool and hilarious, gory cutscenes. I got my tail kicked at first, but put in some practice and was able to beat it quite easily, much like a Contra game.
Odallus was very, very good, and Blazing Chrome is good too. I haven't tried Vengeful Guardian Moonrider, but will eventually get to it.
@daveMcFlave
Moonrider is awesome, Much like Oniken it has a similar cheesy 90s vibe.
I would also highly recommend Cyber Shadow if you haven't played it.
This looks super cool, especially as I'm a huge fan of Shatterhand, Power Blade, and Natsume's old games in general(Just got Ninja Saviors on Steam last week as it finally came to PC). They nailed the NES look and feel, and the whole presentation is wonderfully '90s, including the game's title Prison City. I was thrilled to see it had a demo, and I tried it out to see how it felt and to get some questions answered. First off, it has nice options including some visual filters, and toggles for screen shake and screen flash. All of those things are things I appreciate. The game looks and feels a lot like Power Blade 2, with Power Blade 1's stage design. There's a bit of Shatterhand thrown in. There's probably some Shadow of the Ninja in there as well, especially with enemy layouts and how they behave. The premise is basically Escape from New York/LA, except in Detroit. And there's some amusing dialogue in the demo. Some of the level design is cleverly deceptive, though everything was pretty fair once I had a chance to examine things. The demo is really good. This looks like a winner.
@OldManHermit
I'm looking forward to it. 100 percented Cyber Shadow on switch, hope to do it again on playstation and nab some trophies. It is fantastic. Razor sharp gameplay with a hard edge, but is fair and rewards mastery. I'm just taking a break from ninja games for a while. Moonrider is definitely next. Joymasher does not disappoint.
@WaveBoy I mean the other 2 gex games are retro 3D from the ps1 N64 era...
@OldManHermit
Cyber Shadow & Moonrider both get a thumbs up from me, another underrated ninja related gem would be Tanuke Justice.
Couldn't get on board with The Messenger though. It just drags, and looks cheap. Great soundtrack though, love how it draws inspiration from Commodore 64
@WaveBoy I think you might like this: https://www.my90stv.com/
@WaveBoy I have not tried Tanuke Justice, I should remedy that.
Yeah, I thought the first half of The Messenger was great, when it's a more linear experience, but once it becomes a metroidvania in the latter half, it kinda loses me. Just let me run to the right and dispatch things with style dammit!
Anyone who shouts out Shatterhand has my attention. Looks interesting.
@OldManHermit
Tanuke Justice does a wonderful job at capturing the NES era, almost perfectly. It practically feels like a long lost NES game that never saw the light of day. Had somebody told me that it had actually been released in 1990, I'd believe it.
And the MetroidVania genre is seriously played out. I can't stand it. 99% of them are an absolute chore. Metroid is really the only franchise in the genre that I stick to these days and maybe some old school Wonder Boy...Yet not even Castlevania SOTN could win me over, Amazing Soundtrack aside and beautiful 32-bit visuals.
I had a far greater time with Rondo of Blood, SCIV, CI & III, Bloodlines and even The Adventure: ReBIrth. Heck, Curse of the Moon 1&2 imo, have managed to best the two NES castlevania games as well. I like a more straight forward action platformer approach that involves some seriously skill, rather than trudging through what feels like another gigantic endless bloody maze. I recently dropped out of Monster Boy in the cursed Kingdom because i just don't have the patience for that sh** anymore. I'll just settle for it's soundtrack on YouTube.
Oh, and I'd say the top Ninja-esque Switch titles would easily go to >
TMNT: Shredder's Revenge
Cyber Shadow
Tanuke Justice
The Ninja Saviours
Cannon Dancer
Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider
Aside from being fully on board with The Messenger, i quickly lost interest in Katana Zero as well. Not a fan of it's try hard new wave gritty synth music, future corrupt down and out setting and heavy focus on Trial and error game play.
@tweaknmod
lol. Funny, it's centred around the 90's, yet they used a silver Tube TV from the 2000's.
@khululy
I still have a hard time lumping Saturn, PS1 & N64 in the retro category. When i think retro it's everything before the mid 90's. Basically 8-16bit pixel art.
Tap here to load 30 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...