October 9, 2013 Chris Del Castillo

Pier Solar making a strong HD impression at Indiecade 2013 at the Nintendo booth

In 2010 Watermelon Co. developed and published a game for the Sega Mega Drive, aka Sega Genesis, called Pier Solar. This is more than 21 years later after the console was released. It’s created by a team who loves RPG games, and they in turn made an RPG that added elements from popular JRPG games, creating a 16-bit piece of art so good it sold out of its original print and reprint in record time.

Last year Watermelon launched a Kickstarter to create an HD version of the game which went above its original goal, reaching over $200,000. It will head to Xbox 360, PC, and Sega Dreamcast (yup, I did say Sega Dreamcast). It will also be featured on the Nintendo Wii U, which was shown at Indiecade.

I never got a chance to play the original, so Pier Solar HD was my first time. In the first 15 minutes of gameplay, I saw homages to games like Phantasy Star, Secret of Mana/Evermore, Lunar and Chrono Trigger in terms of systems and scenery. The battle mechanics are very reminiscent of Lunar’s battle menu and style.

The game allows you to play in both classic 16-bit mode and the new HD mode which had redone images and still incorporated an old-school feeling mixing, making the game fun and unique. The game was still in development so I couldn’t really stand there with a Wii U Controller in hand for hours like I wish I could have, but it just gives me reason to either pre-order and wait for another release of the cart. Better yet, you can wait for the game to release sometime in 2014 on the Nintendo Wii U eShop.

You can see some cool images and more information from the Pier Solar Kickstarter page while you wait for the game. It’s definitely a game to look forward to in 2014.