Hiroshi Iuchi's UBUSUNA for the PS4

[mojilove]

I'm really most curious if "retirement" is just a poor choice of phrase by machine translation and it just means "leaving M2" or if he really wants to retire from game development for good. Someone actually knowing the language would have to confirm/deny whether the implication is there.

Using "retire" for 退職 is a rookie-level translation slip-up - the original means "leaving a position." It's easy to equate that to retirement when lifelong employment at the same company is common but there are always exceptions and lifelong employment isn't as common as it used to be

[tzm_rade]

Yeah taishoku is the only potentially ambiguous word in his statement. I highly doubt he has retired fully and we are seeing a lot of Japanese devs quit or "retire" but then coming back in the form of their own studios (Mikami, Harada, Kamiya, Nagoshi etc) probably because you know, they need money to not starve I imagine.

[Udderdude]

Kickstarter when?

[xEbb1993x]

Kickstarter when?

I'm really starting to think a Kickstarter is the only thing that can save both this and Mega Man Legends 3 from being stuck in limbo.

[NeoStrayCat]

Yeah, if anything, crowdfunding would most likely get it to be made. (The worst case scenario though if for some reason it gets released as an Exa-Arcadia exclusive instead).

I mean, it worked wonders for Cho Aniki (the early games), the Cosmo Machia titles (all of Exelica and CoS so far), and even titles from Edia. And those eventually got overseas releases too.

But yeah, sad to see Ubusuna get canned unless somehow it gets revived. Natsuki Chronicles took even 5 years of dev time that was once an X1 game (from 2014 to 2019), but that eventually released, and saw ports to PS4 and PC/Steam (along with Ginga Force).

[xEbb1993x]

Then so be it. I want Ubusuna to get crowdfunded.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Then so be it. I want Ubusuna to get crowdfunded.

Then it'd be up to Hiroshi Iuchi to decide if he'd want his Ubusuna stg dev project to proceed further with the extra monetary fusion to get it done -- how much of Ubusuna has already been completed anyways?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[xEbb1993x]

Well? Does anybody know how much it was worked on?

[glenjamin]

I think the better question is how much does Hiroshi Iuchi get to keep. If he leaves M2 but still intends to make Ubusuna, does he have to start over from scratch?

[Udderdude]

I think the better question is how much does Hiroshi Iuchi get to keep. If he leaves M2 but still intends to make Ubusuna, does he have to start over from scratch?

I'm gonna make my own Ubusuna! With blackjack and hookers!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I think the better question is how much does Hiroshi Iuchi get to keep. If he leaves M2 but still intends to make Ubusuna, does he have to start over from scratch?

I'm gonna make my own Ubusuna! With blackjack and hookers!

Ooooh, a little bit of T&A + trying to beat the dealer at scoring as close to 21 without going over whilst enjoying a session of Ubusuna together at the same -- it doesn't get any better than that, folks. Whatta winning combination!

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[kid aphex]

Honestly, gutted.

For those who still want to listen/watch/DL the music tracks:
http://web.archive.org/web/202510240121 ... OywuoPqPFU

I'm sure it'll still get released.

[kid aphex]

Very sad news.
I guess I can't help wondering if we're ever gonna see some footage of the game, since it was said most of it was playable.
It would be a shame if this menu image is all we ever get to see of the actual game.

There actually is some early footage of the game out there - it was tucked deep inside a dreamcast documentary from a while back.
I'm sure I posted it or screenshots of it in this thread. It's super alpha. But it's out there. I'm just too lazy and bummed rn to find it for you.
Sorry!

Edit - geez, its on the first page of the thread! my bad.
https://youtu.be/kzXSZTk-J8A?si=kdEGPAgj2hbnR9Gl

[ciox]

Very sad news.
I guess I can't help wondering if we're ever gonna see some footage of the game, since it was said most of it was playable.
It would be a shame if this menu image is all we ever get to see of the actual game.

There actually is some early footage of the game out there - it was tucked deep inside a dreamcast documentary from a while back.
I'm sure I posted it or screenshots of it in this thread. It's super alpha. But it's out there. I'm just too lazy and bummed rn to find it for you.
Sorry!

Edit - geez, its on the first page of the thread! my bad.
https://youtu.be/kzXSZTk-J8A?si=kdEGPAgj2hbnR9Gl

Ah, I'm familiar with that footage, to me it always looked like a design tool for making cutscenes was being recorded, it just looks like a bunch of test stuff really rather than gameplay.
After that you get to see a bit of a design document, which to me suggested Ubusuna was going to be a horizontal shooter because of how everything is oriented in that document, but there's no way to really know for sure.

https://youtu.be/kzXSZTk-J8A?t=1306

[604_degrees]

Did anyone make a backup of the youtube video that showcased some of the OST? M2 say they've removed it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFr14GcTYXo

[Pizza from yesterday]

After that you get to see a bit of a design document, which to me suggested Ubusuna was going to be a horizontal shooter because of how everything is oriented in that document, but there's no way to really know for sure.

https://youtu.be/kzXSZTk-J8A?t=1306

I see it too. Those design docs very much suggest Ubusuna was going to be a hori.
Which I find especially mysterious when the design sketches for the player ships prominently shows them from the top down and not from a hori perspective. Additionally these designs look pretty striking from above, but seem like they might appear somewhat messy from the side.
So... who knows!?!?

[TerminalInternet]

Main player ship concept art very neat and very cool details

[PC Engine Fan X!]

After that you get to see a bit of a design document, which to me suggested Ubusuna was going to be a horizontal shooter because of how everything is oriented in that document, but there's no way to really know for sure.

https://youtu.be/kzXSZTk-J8A?t=1306

I see it too. Those design docs very much suggest Ubusuna was going to be a hori.
Which I find especially mysterious when the design sketches for the player ships prominently shows them from the top down and not from a hori perspective. Additionally these designs look pretty striking from above, but seem like they might appear somewhat messy from the side.
So... who knows!?!?

The Ubusuna fightercraft look like that they can easily transform into mecha -- was that the original intention/purpose (like with Capcom/Takumi's Mars Matrix with it's Ka-1 & Ka-2 fightercraft with transformable capabilities after gaining more powerful attributes circa 2000)?

Makes me wonder what the Ubusuna small-fry zako enemies, mid-stage bosses and end-stage bosses would've looked like as well -- I do see a somewhat semblance to the Ikaruga likeness (or the next stage of evolution past Ikaruga, design-wise) with the overall angular shapes and protrusions of the player fightercraft indicating that it's packing some serious and formidable exotic primary & secondary weaponry/firepower just waiting to be unleashed. Are they powered by a miniature nuclear reactor core or some other exotic "cutting-edge" technology? Do they have a built-in warp drive core also for "faster-than-light" travel capability?

Fully realized plastic model kits of both Ubusuna fightercraft would be ace (or 3D printed models of them would be even better) with M2's blessing/approval, of course.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[ciox]

After that you get to see a bit of a design document, which to me suggested Ubusuna was going to be a horizontal shooter because of how everything is oriented in that document, but there's no way to really know for sure.

https://youtu.be/kzXSZTk-J8A?t=1306

I see it too. Those design docs very much suggest Ubusuna was going to be a hori.
Which I find especially mysterious when the design sketches for the player ships prominently shows them from the top down and not from a hori perspective. Additionally these designs look pretty striking from above, but seem like they might appear somewhat messy from the side.
So... who knows!?!?

Well it might be that the game had the ability to switch orientation on the fly, it wouldn't be the first time that it's been done.
Ahh I really wish they had just released some footage during these years rather than doing the whole mystery thing.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Perhaps M2 thought that having a mysterious mystique/aura with Ubusuna would increase interest in it rather than showing off little tidbits of what it actually looks like over the years -- to be in "development limbo/hell" for that long period of time and nothing to show for it, especially nowadays, is rather disappointing as it is.

Could M2 salvage what's leftover with Ubusuna and still get it completed/finished? To have Ubusuna be regulated as official "vaporware" is truly sad.

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You might recall a certain much hyped and highly touted PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 stg title by the name of "Xymati" using CG-rendered sprites that was being worked on over the years (with the original intention of it being released as a dedicated Hu-Card/Turbo Chip cart type of deal with a possible/tentative 2012 physical release since it's inception back in 2010 from indie dev MindREC -- eventually MindREC stopped working on it and it was picked up by an Brazilian dev team whom resumed working on it but then it fizzled out) but ended up becoming vaporware as well. Sad but true.

Could Xymati be resurrected and finished as well in time for the PC Engine's upcoming 40th anniversary/birthday bash/festivities next year by October 15th, 2027?

Of course, it's well-known that Konami Holdings currently owns the Hudson Soft PCE/TG-16 IP software library as it is (but have no legal recourse with said homebrew-based PCE/TG-16 software titles being released nowadays through the indie dev gaming scene). Tengen's infamous TurboGrafx-16 prototype arcade puzzler of Atari Games' "Off the Wall" circa 1991 with a 1992 (C) date comes to mind in that it was in "beta testing" release format but never completed/finished.

Stranger things have happened like with the unearthed "prototype" PCE stg title release of "DinoForce" through PCEWorks back in 2022. It is what it is. At the very least, PCEWorks was generous enough to release the DinoForce rom "free of charge" so it could be played on either KriKzz's Turbo Everdrive or Turbo Everdrive Pro flashcarts -- they didn't have to do so.
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PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Pizza from yesterday]

Could M2 salvage what's leftover with Ubusuna and still get it completed/finished? To have Ubusuna be regulated as official "vaporware" is truly sad.

Unfortunately, M2 formally cancel the project when Iuchi left.
https://bsky.app/profile/mtwo-game.bsky ... jpo6gj4s2k
I don't think they'll be completing it.

And afterwards Iuchi said on his blog that he doesn't think this'll turn out to be such a big disappointment (whatever that means). I guess the situation is as it's always been: wait for any news on Ubusuna...

[Sumez]

Does anyone know if M2 kept the rights to the game (title, currently existing assets, etc.), or if Iuchi does have the luxury to keep working with everything he already had on his own outside of M2?

[Necronom]

Does anyone know if M2 kept the rights to the game (title, currently existing assets, etc.), or if Iuchi does have the luxury to keep working with everything he already had on his own outside of M2?

How can anyone know this unless one of the parties involved shares this information publicly?
Heck, it could even be that Iuchi kept everything, under the condition that once the project is finished and released M2 will be compensated.

I somehow have the feeling that this is Iuchis last proper project. Let's hope it gets finished.

[BulletMagnet]

Does anyone know if M2 kept the rights to the game (title, currently existing assets, etc.), or if Iuchi does have the luxury to keep working with everything he already had on his own outside of M2?

M2's statement is rather ambiguous when trying to suss this point out; on the one hand they say they considered continuing work on the game without Iuchi but decided against it (which, at least in my mind, would suggest the rights are theirs), but also note that Iuchi hasn't given up hope of completing the game without M2 (which would appear to suggest the rights are Iuchi's). Not sure what to make of that in terms of where things stand rights-wise.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Does anyone know if M2 kept the rights to the game (title, currently existing assets, etc.), or if Iuchi does have the luxury to keep working with everything he already had on his own outside of M2?

M2's statement is rather ambiguous when trying to suss this point out; on the one hand they say they considered continuing work on the game without Iuchi but decided against it (which, at least in my mind, would suggest the rights are theirs), but also note that Iuchi hasn't given up hope of completing the game without M2 (which would appear to suggest the rights are Iuchi's). Not sure what to make of that in terms of where things stand rights-wise.

It does sound like the Ubusuna ownership & copyrights lies with Iuchi considering that he's the creator of it but at the same time using M2's internal company assets to create it -- thus creating a "double-edged" sword issue at hand.

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But the real quandary issue arises considering that Ubusuna was created internally at M2, then by all intents and purposes, it'd be M2's own IP with them doing whatever they want to do with it with three possible decisions/choices to decide on:

A.) Leave it be as is being listed as official "vaporware" with no further development on it.

B.) Find another person to get it completed and released as originally intended.

C.) Have Iuchi working with another indie dev team get it finished and released by either M2 or another reputable and trustworthy game publisher instead.
----------

I'm sure Iuchi and M2 had created & signed a formal and binding written agreement as to whom owns Ubusuna in the first place as not be any confusion as to whom owns what if it were done for "legal purposes/common business sense/smarts" just to be on the safe side of things, legal-wise -- without such a written agreement, there's no say as to whom owns what remains of Ubusuna as it currently is. It's business as usual in the gaming software dev/publisher business to protect their own bottom line/interests, IP-wise.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Sumez]

Does anyone know if M2 kept the rights to the game (title, currently existing assets, etc.), or if Iuchi does have the luxury to keep working with everything he already had on his own outside of M2?

How can anyone know this unless one of the parties involved shares this information publicly?

Well I was asking if one of the parties involved had shared this information publicly

My knowledge of this project is limited entirely to what's been said in this thread

[AGermanArtist]

Maybe they just hit a wall with it and ran out of steam.

[MarioNintendo]

Be attitude for gains: look forward to early July