After being lost for 27 years, gamers the world over will finally be able to play Clockwork Aquario thanks to Strictly Limited Games and ININ Games.
The last arcade game ever developed by Westone, Aquario began development in 1992. It was meant to push Sega System 18 arcade hardware to its limits, but because of the arcade dominance of fighting games and 3D games, Aquario was cancelled.
“Clockwork Aquario is a great piece of 2D art, into which the pixel artists put their hearts and souls,” says designer Ryuichi Nishizawa, chief publisher and co-founder of Westone. “I would like to express my heartfelt respect and gratitude to those who have worked so hard to restore it.”
Three years ago, Strictly Limited Games set out to find the whereabouts of Tokeijikake no Aquario (Clockwork Aquario) and restore it. ININ Games joined them and helped convince Sega/LAT that the game would be published.
Unfortunately, some of the game’s sound, music, and graphics were not recoverable from the source code. Several members of the original Westone team have been involved in the project to restore the game as much as possible, including chief programmer Takanori Kurihara, composer Shinichi Sakamoto, and Nishizawa himself.
Clockwork Aquario will release digitally on all current platforms later this year, with limited physical editions also available.
