A brand new fighting game for the 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System is set to launch later this year, decades after the console’s final commercially released cartridges left retail store shelves.
Hong Kong technology manufacturer Blazepro is seeking a full production run for its 2D fighter Unholy Night, and has turned to Kickstarter in the hopes of making its dreams a reality.
The Super NES remains a favorite among many retrogaming fans, and the console produced ports of several landmark arcade fighting games during its initial production run, including Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat, and Killer Instinct. The platform also hosted console-exclusive fighters like Weaponlord, ClayFighter, and Tuff E Nuff, giving fighting game fans a wide variety of options in terms of style, characters, and mechanics.
Assembling a team of Japanese developers who previously worked at such studios as SNK and Foxbat, Unholy Night aims to recapture the thrill of console fighting games with a roster of six characters and a chain-based combo system. According to publisher Blazepro, Unholy Night‘s developers previously worked on titles like Samurai Shodown, Chaos Breaker, and SNK’s The King of Fighters series.
Publisher SNK released many ports of its Neo Geo fighting games for the SNES throughout the ’90s, making the console an ideal fit for a new project from its former staff. Many SNES owners worldwide spent their formative years playing ports of fighters like Art of Fighting, World Heroes, and Fatal Fury Special, among several others.
Backers who pledge at least $35 toward Unholy Night‘s crowdfunding campaign will receive a transparent, smoke-colored SNES cartridge playable on original Super Nintendo Entertainment System hardware. Fans who support the project at the $70 tier will instead get a gold-plated cartridge exclusively available to Kickstarter backers.
Blazepro seeks a total of $52,000 in backer pledges in order to fund a production run of 1,500 cartridges. Unholy Night cartridges are planned to begin shipping to Kickstarter backers in April.
