‘Windjammers’ brings 16-bit frisbee duelling to PS4 and PS Vita
The Neo Geo-era game gets re-released on August 29th.
You'd be excused if all of Sony's tentpole game announcements during the PlayStation Experience show last December blinded you to the best news of all: The 16-bit deep cut Windjammers would get ported to current systems. But the time for excuses has passed. You have only six weeks to prepare before the re-release comes out for PS4 and PS Vita on August 29th. Better polish your competitive frisbee game.
Windjammers is like if Pong was updated for the early 90s into a 1v1 flying disk tournament infused with special attacks and neon-drenched Miami tones. That description probably doesn't ring a bell, as the game barely made it beyond arcade machines to Neo Geo consoles. It only emerged from obscurity in 2010 with a three-year stint on the Japanese Wii Virtual Console, after which its rights holders yanked it from the digital marketplace.
But the PlayStation revival, as told by Waypoint's Patrick Klepek, hinged on an enduring French fan community, the retro game publishing website DotEmu and perhaps a bit of feverish love by Giant Bomb's staff. As DotEmu's Arnaud De Sousa noted in the PlayStation Blog, the resurrection won't just be a straight port to the PS4 and PS Vita: The team spent almost a week in June gathering feedback after a closed beta to refine the game into esports-ready shape. So alongside Street Fighter V and Dragon Ball Fighter Z, you might see folks hurling charged frisbees at each other in glorious 16-bit if players worldwide find Windjammers as deep as its diehard French fans.
And if you really like it, there's apparently 90s neon fan merch on the way.
