A video game company has snapped up the rights to 65 thought-abandoned Acclaim games for $1m.
Canadian company Liquid Media bought the rights to the titles from fellow Canadian company Throwback Entertainment, which itself bought the rights from Acclaim Entertainment, a video game publisher that went bust in 2004.
The list of games, provided to Geekwire, is a real mixed bag. The 1996 PC port of Bubble Bobble is on there, as is Wetrix, some of the bad NBA Jam games and the video game based on Street Fighter: The Movie. It’s worth pointing out Liquid does not now own the rights to the Bubble Bobble franchise or, obviously, the Street Fighter franchise – rather, it owns the rights to specific stock-keeping units (SKUs) once published by Acclaim.
Street Fighter: The Movie the game was developed by Capcom and released by Acclaim in 1995. It’s based on the awful live action move that came out the year before, and features digitised versions of Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile, Kylie Minogue as Cammy and Raúl Juliá as M. Bison. It’s widely considered to be one of the worst fighting games of all time. It looks like this:
There’s no word yet on what Liquid plans to do with these games, but in its press release it gushes about the current infatuation with retro games, highlighting the success of Nintendo’s mini consoles and Sony’s upcoming PlayStation Classic. Perhaps we’ll see an Acclaim mini?
Perhaps not.
Rather, expect remasters of a sort.
“The title acquisition gives Liquid the opportunity for fast market penetration with proven titles,” the company said.
“In addition to improving graphics and creating more immersive experiences that build off their predecessors, the Company expects to remaster the beloved titles for today’s gaming platforms.”
I can’t imagine anyone’s asking for a remaster of Street Fighter: The Movie the game. Well, maybe Jean-Claude Van Damme is, but no-one else.
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