I may be a “little” late to the party this time, but at least I found out about Bitmap Bureau’s Kickstarter campaign before it ended. Yes, I’m of course talking about Bitmap Bureau’s Kickstarter campaign for their kick-ass 16-bit top-down arcade-style shooter “Xeno Crisis“:
“Xeno Crisis is a new, original title for the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis and Dreamcast which will be released both as a physical cartridge and also as a downloadable ROM. At its core, it’s an arena shooter for up to 2 players that takes inspiration from the likes of Smash TV, Contra, Mercs, Granada, Alien Syndrome, Zombies Ate My Neighbours, Chaos Engine, and Shock Troopers. We want the game to look, feel and sound like the classic Mega Drive games of the ’80s and ’90s, but also add some new elements that weren’t so common in games of that era, particularly procedural map generation and randomisation of gameplay elements.
Achieving that classic look and feel is vitally important to us, which is why we’ve teamed up with legendary pixel artist Henk Nieborg, who previously worked on the Mega Drive title “The Misadventures Of Flink”, developed by Psygnosis. We’re also working with “Savaged Regime”; a highly renowned chip-tune artist that knows how to push the Mega Drive’s YM2612 chip to the limit.
The game is currently at the prototype stage and we will be releasing the finished product in October 2018 to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Mega Drive’s launch in Japan. We’re launching this Kickstarter campaign to fund the remainder of the title’s development.” – Bitmap Bureau
Well, let me put it like this. I’m sure glad that I did find out about “Xeno Crisis” (by the looks of it, the game will be released to Mega Drive and Dreamcast in October this year, to Nintendo Switch and PC in January of 2019), because it’s one of the coolest 16-bit top-down arcade style shooters that I’ve ever seen. There is a logical explanation to that though. You see, “Xeno Crisis” has been inspired by old-school 16-bit games such as “Smash TV”, “Contra” and “Alien Syndrome”.
Well, I think you get the idea. So let’s move on to the good news about “Xeno Crisis” shall we? For starter, just the other day Bitmap Bureau uploaded a brand-new video for “Xeno Crisis”, they also had us know that there are plans for a Switch and PC port of the game now since “Xeno Crisis” is +280% founded on Kickstarter:
“We’ve achieved our fourth stretch goal and now have just under 3 days remaining! We’re now over 280% funded – a massive thanks to all of you who have backed and supported us along the way!
Stretch Goals
Added – Blast Processing
We’re pleased to confirm that with the fourth stretch goal reached we’ll be pushing the Mega Drive to its limits with even more features, modes and additions for all backers!
£65,000 – Nintendo Switch and Steam Ports
We’re announcing a new stretch goal to port Xeno Crisis to the Nintendo Switch and for Steam on PC/Mac/Linux. We love the Nintendo Switch and think it’ll be great to play Xeno Crisis on a handheld device (for those of us that don’t own a Sega Nomad!).
We’ve added a new £10 pledge for those of you who just want the Nintendo Switch or Steam PC/Mac/Linux version, but backers of any Xeno Crisis pledge will be able to add-on £10 to their pledge to receive the Nintendo Switch or Steam PC/Mac/Linux version (you will be able to choose which version you want in a survey after the campaign).
New Video
We’ve put together a new video with some more single player and co-op footage for you. Backers can expect more exclusive previews of Xeno Crisis action in the coming weeks and months!” – Bitmap Bureau via Kickstarter
Yes, you read it right the first time. Because originally Bitmap Bureau asked for about 25,000 USD for “Xeno Crisis”, and they ended up getting over 78,000 USD via Kickstarter. It’s also worth pointing out that there is still +40 hours left on the Kickstarter campaign for “Xeno Crisis”. So I wouldn’t be all that surprised if Bitmap Bureau manages to make one last big push and end up getting another 10,000 USD or so (I’ve seen other Kickstarter titles that have been able to do that in the past, like “Shadowrun Returns“, for example).
So with that said. I wish Bitmap Bureau the best of luck with everything, and I “hopefully” I will get a chance to play “Xeno Crisis” in October of this year when the Mega Drive version launches (yes, I do own a Mega Drive II console). In a worst case scenario though, I guess that I could wait for the PC release in January next year (2019).
And with that said, what’s your take on “Xeno Crisis” so far? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below!
Source:
Kickstarter
Robin “V-Act” Ek
Editor in chief
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround
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Tags: 16-bit, Bitmap Bureau, Indie games, Kickstarter, Mega Drive, Retro games, Xeno Crisis