Some great news for fans of Dune, especially considering the latest movie release. Elland: The Crystal Wars, cancelled 20 years ago, is making its way to Game Boy Advance. Described as piloting a fighter ship escorting, guarding, building, capturing vehicles, and collecting resources. The teams press release states ‘development of the game started in 2001 but in 2002 the project was cancelled. Now, we have the rights to bring it back and finally give it the official physical release it deserves.’
The first person flying shooter starts its Kickstarter soon and I have asked the man responsible, Roo, for the lowdown. They have a short preview video on YouTube and it looks excellent so far. The team are aiming to get crowd funding for a physical release. We will of course bring you more news as we get it. But suffice to say we are being treated to a great run of unreleased and brand new Game Boy games. But for now, lets hear from the publisher.
Before we dive into your new games, please tell us a little about yourself?
My name is Roo and I own a company called The Retro Room Games. What we do is development and publishing of retro games. I grew up playing these types of games and I feel grateful to be able to work on this type of content creation. I started this entire thing because I wanted to simply have other people to talk to about retro stuff that we all grew up with. It evolved into content creation in the form of creating and publishing retro games. I was lucky to have the opportunity to license even some games I grew up with to games that haven’t ever had a release and were cancelled. I feel incredibly lucky to be in the position to do this.
How did you come by the build of Elland?
Elland fell into my lap because it was initially cancelled in the early 2000s and a friend of mine that works in licensing had the games in his hands. I love the idea of giving these games a chance. They deserve a release like any other game. They are great games and I felt like they might not ever get seen if I didn’t do something about it. So I jumped in and offered to publish them. If they weren’t finished, I offered to do whatever it takes to finish them and give them the release they deserve. It is another thing I feel super grateful for.
What makes it appealing as a release in 2021?
It seems we are going through a retro gaming revolution. People , including myself, love nostalgia. So, to get the opportunity to play new games on old consoles keeps those consoles and games alive for another generation. I feel it is important that we keep this video game history alive and well. It also tickles my nostalgia bone and I think everyone who understands that concept really understands haha.
How did you get the rights to publish the game?
A lot of times some of these games fall into obscurity and never get released, and I think that would be a damn shame considering the game is really a fun one. So if I can ever find who actually owns games like this, I am happy to do whatever I need to in order to give them the release they deserve. There are teams that work on these games and I am certain that they are incredibly disappointed that they lose the opportunity to release the game. It makes me sad considering that I develop games as well. I cant imagine putting in the work it takes to make a game just to not have it released. I definitely work hard for these developers, artists, and composures.
Will we see a physical release?
I release all of the games I work with in physical form with at least a box, cart, and manual just like the old days. I would not have it any other way. You can expect that out of basically anything I work on. That is not to say I wont do digital releases, I do, but I definitely prefer physical releases especially with retro games.
Why should backers get behind the upcoming Kickstarter?
I definitely want to make it worth anyone who backs it. We are currently trying to put together a series of limited-edition tiers and goals that wouldn’t be available if I just released it on its own. I think this game is great and deserves a release. Again, it is a damn shame that the masses didn’t get a chance to try this out and get a physical copy of the game. I feel like for everyone involved in the project that its my duty to make this happen.
When is the Kickstarter going live?
I really would love the Kickstarter to go live within the next week or two, making that early November. So hopefully we can get it launched soon. We are working on some last minute stuff and I have been working my ass off to get it all ready in a reasonable time.
A big thanks to Roo for chatting to us about the upcoming release