When a remake of 1993 beat ’em up Night Slashers was first revealed in 2021, platforms had yet to be announced. Now we know where this one’ll be landing, and buddy, it’s hitting ’em all up.
Publisher Forever Entertainment updated everyone on the latest from developer Storm Trident, who recently worked with Megapixel Studio on the Front Mission remakes and with Highball Games on Magical Drop VI. There’s still no release date in place, but look for the fresh spin on Night Slashers to punch, kick, and eviscerate its way to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC (via Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store).
As fun as it is to pummel punks by your lonesome, beat ’em ups are all about evening the odds with friends. With that in mind, you can see more of how the remake looks and peep some multiplayer action in the new teaser. The video just shows Hong Hua Zhao and Christopher Smith, but Jake Hunter will also be in the mix along with an “expanded roster.” Since Night Slashers: Remake supports four-player co-op, we’ll at least see more than the original’s starting trio.
Originally developed by Data East and unleashed in arcades almost exactly 31 years ago, Night Slashers came about during the real heyday of side-scrolling brawlers. Throw in a novel horror theme and plenty of blood splatter and you have something that’s worth strutting through at least a few times in your life. I’m not sold on the new look; the animation is kind of incongruous with the art style, which itself comes off as too generic for the subject matter. Since there’s no date in place, Storm Trident has time to clean things up or offer the ability to swap between graphics on the fly.
You can swap between the classic OST and the newly-arranged version, at least. When one of the key Steam bullet points is a “Character Selection Screen Overhaul,” though, I start to wonder just how definitive this release will be. We’ll see soon enough!
