Rodea the Sky Soldier was a Wii and 3DS title that disappeared off the radar some time ago, but has now reappeared to bolster the Wii U and 3DS lineup, as revealed by Famitsu.
This is great news for Wii U owners as the platform had been lacking in support and has already experienced a four month drought of major retail releases in North America earlier this year.
For those of you unfamiliar with the title, Rodea the Sky Soldier comes from independent studio Prope, which was founded by Yuji Naka. Some may recognize Naka as the man most responsible for the original Sonic the Hedgehog games, or “the good Sonic games” as they’re known today. Rodea the Sky Soldier arose from his idea for “a very original action game based in the sky.”
What we know about the game’s original design is that the player would control Rodea by pointing and clicking on solid objects, which he would then fly towards in a parabolic arc. It looked interesting in implementation, and for those of you familiar with Yuji Naka’s past it may find it a little a little funny. Naka’s biggest impact on gaming stemmed from his discovery of how to make a sprite move smoothly on a curve or arc, and now his latest game is returning to those roots.
The Wii version of Rodea the Sky Soldier was said to be complete in 2011, and just waiting on Kadokawa to publish it, with XSEED Games wanting to localize it for North America. After going off the grid for a few years, Rodea the Sky Soldier has returned, now with a Wii U version and Japanese release window of Spring 2015. The price is set at 7,200 yen for the Wii U version and 5,800 yen for the 3DS version. According to Prope, the Wii U version is 85% complete.
There’s no information on a North American release yet. XSEED Games had intended to bring it to North America before. However, the desire to publish games on the Wii U is no where near as high as Nintendo‘s previous console. Nintendo needs all the help they can get fleshing out their line up in the world’s largest console gaming market. They can’t afford to hold off Western releases of their games like they did with Fatal Frame V (presumably to release it with the North American movie as did the Japanese version before it), so hopefully the game will be localized.
To get a feel for Rodea the Sky Soldier‘s style, take a look at the Japanese trailer for the original version, and keep in mind that this trailer was for a Wii game. The visuals will likely be updated to at least the Nintendo standard 720p/60fps by its Wii U release date:
