Vanguard Bandits and other Working Designs PS1 classics will be re-released on PlayStation Network for PS3/PSP/PS Vita with even more titles in the pipelines!
Developer Gaijinworks, which was formed by the former president of Working Designs, Victor Ireland, doesn’t plan to stop with the re-release of Vanguard Bandits either, as several other Working Designs classics are already in the planning stages.
This will be sweet, sweet news for fans of the many obscure RPGs and shooters that make up the Working Designs library, and already re-releases of the Arc the Lad Collection and Alundra have hit the PlayStation Network, with Vanguard Bandits and several other RPGs following soon.
Vanguard Bandits will be released for PSN in October or November, but will cost $9 instead of the typical $6. The higher price tag was a requirement due to the difficulty of re-licensing the title. If these games sell in significant enough quantities it will ensure that ever more titles will be re-released. RPGs first, shoot ’em ups later.
Additionally, the Arc the Lad titles will be released in Europe starting in October, and they will finally get the NTSC (American) version of the Zelda-style action-RPG epic, Alundra, released for the PlayStation Network in November. However Sony Europe will be setting the price point for the titles.
To quote Ireland,
“How successful we are at getting that done (releasing more classics) depends in large part on the EU reception of these first titles, so EU fans, please tell your friends to look for these!”
Having Ireland re-release these classics for a modern era is a beautiful and somewhat ironic thing. As Working Designs was originally formed and specialized in making properly localized versions of Japanese titles available to a North American audience, many of which were obscure and never would’ve seen the light of day otherwise. Nowadays most Japanese games do get a Western release, but back in the 90’s game companies weren’t so kind to the West.
As stated above, Ireland’s top priority is to concentrate on slowly but surely getting all of Working Designs classic RPGs re-released for the PSN, with shooters to follow. And then, only if sales are high enough. Although, this is a labor of love for Ireland, he’s righting wrongs, so he’ll push as far as he can to get as many titles out as possible. He also said that extras may come in some form for Vanguard Bandits due to the higher price.
To quote Ireland,
“It’s more of a fanservice issue for me, and my plan is that by building the goodwill with fans and license holders with these ‘building block’ releases, it will make it easier to do new titles in the future where the bar for profitability is even higher,” he explained. “So far it seems to be moving in that direction. The more fan supported purchases we get in the import store of the Gaijinworks and Monkeypaw releases, the better it is for us in getting more and newer stuff for other PSN platforms.”
This is awesome news. Hopefully publishers and developers will wise up and realize that it is their SOLEMN DUTY to release classic games for a new generation. While sales do mean something, gaming is also an art, and old titles are generally lost to the newer generation unless they are re-released. Only then will younger folk be able to easily discover the greatness us oldies know so well.
Here’s a video of Vanguard Bandits in action.
Via 1UP