News System 3 is developing a compilation of the full "Last Ninja" series of microcomputer games (crowdfunded project)

[Krvavi Abadas]

this is one of those weird classic game devs that has quietly existed in the sidelines long after their heyday.
the series was last re-released on Wii Virtual Console of all places, back when they briefly had Commodore 64 games.

but the most notable recent project they did was a remake of Putty Squad in 2013, which is certainly something.

putting aside the bizarre early CG look of the remake, one of the very neat things they did to promote it was re-release the original Amiga version as freeware. which was inexplicably cancelled back then despite being the main development platform (only the SNES version made it to store shelves).

this kickstarter will similarly include some unreleased titles.

Rewards include copies of two different work-in-progress demos of Last Ninja 4 on PC: one from 2002, developed in collaboration with EA, and a later version from 2018. These rare, unfinished projects provide a unique glimpse into a Last Ninja sequel that never came to fruition and were abandoned.

They also includes a fully playable demo of the abandoned game IK++ on PC. Each of these limited-edition demos will be shipped as a DVD CD-ROM.

also of interest is the general inclusion of International Karate, which was a hugely popular game developed by the late Archer Maclean.

 

[Hero of Legend]

I'd much rather they bring those Ferrari Challenge games on Wii and PS3 to Switch. We almost got the second Wii game in the west via Conspiracy Entertainment but they shutdown, and yet their brief successor Giant Media Group took over it... only to cancel it outright.

 

[NeoZeedeater]

I'm excited. I have been wanting a Last Ninja/IK compilation for a long time. Last year when I emailed System 3 about it they didn't respond. That and their absence on C64 collections on Evercade made me lose hope.

 

[Krvavi Abadas]

it was a fairly modest budget of $13,072, but they got there.

unfortunately the prototypes (both limited to 7,500 copies each) are tied to the highest "Diamond Ultimate Supporter" tier with no current option to purchase them separately, meaning you have to invest over $197 to acquire them.

 

[7threst]

unfortunately the prototypes (both limited to 7,500 copies each) are tied to the highest "Diamond Ultimate Supporter" tier with no current option to purchase them separately, meaning you have to invest over $197 to acquire them.

This is absolute scummy. I'd love to try the prototypes but not just gonna fork over that cash even though I'm a massive LN fan.