Ratalaika and Shinyuden have announced that, yes, they are going to localize Kaizō Chōjin Shubibinman Zero for the West as Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero. It will be coming to consoles on July 5.
Ratalaika has been steadily working through the Shockman series alongside Shinyuden, and, perhaps most importantly, has gone to the effort of translating the games for other regions. By my count, Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero is the last stop on their journey, completing the entire series.
Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero is unique in a lot of ways. While the previous Shockman games were all released on the PC-Engine (with the second game being the only one that made it to the Turbografx 16), Shockman Zero was developed for Super Famicom. According to MobyGames, development of it completed in 1994, but it was delayed and eventually became exclusive to Nintendo’s Japan-only Satellaview add-on, which was a service to temporarily download games via modem. Eventually, it got pressed to cartridge, but when I say eventually, I mean back in 2017 as a boutique (again, Japan-only) release by Columbus Circle.
More recently, there was a fan translation for Kaizō Chōjin Shubibinman Zero last year. Writing about that, I said, “This might be the closest we ever get to an official translation.” Because I’m very confident that the universe specifically sets me up to be proven wrong, I will now take all the credit for Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero getting officially translated. You’re welcome.
Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero is a platformer not all that far removed from the Mega Man series. The big difference is that the protagonists don’t shoot the enemies, instead getting up-close and personal like you’d see in a beat-’em-up. Also, it has two-player co-op.
Cyber Citizen Shockman Zero is releasing for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch on July 5. It will run you $6.99 USD.
