In the ’90s, fighting games became popular in arcades. Pushing other genre games out the door or to never release. Tokeijikake no Aquario, the Japanese title for Clockwork Aquario, was a side-scrolling arcade game that never saw its chance to shine. The cancelled project was the last arcade title from Westone Bit Entertainment, the company who helped create the Wonder Boy/Monster World series. The arcade game originally set to release on the Sega System 18 and since then, the 1992 source code lost.
27 years later, the game looks to make a comeback, thanks to Strictly Limited Games and ININ Games. In the last three years, Strictly Limited Games were able to track down the game and ININ Games communication with SEGA/LAT to help bring it back for a release. During its search, sound, music and other graphic pieces were not recoverable from the source code. To help replaced what was lost, many members of the original Westone Bit team were brought in. Including chief programmer, Takanori Kurihara, musician, Shinichi Sakamoto, and designer of the Wonder Boy/Monster World series, Ryuichi Nishizawa. Clockwork Aquario finally looking have its spot in the light this year.
With excitement, Ryuichi Nishizawa had this to say about the game coming back:
Clockwork Aquario is a great piece of 2D art, into which the pixel artists put their hearts and souls. I would like to express my heartfelt respect and gratitude to those who have worked so hard to restore it.
Clockwork Aquario release in 2020 for current consoles for digital and physical. The physical game sold by Strictly Limited Games.
Source: PR Hound, Strictly Limited Games