Earthion is one of the best-looking shmups of recent years, and it is finally coming out this year; it’s even getting a Genesis cartridge release.
Developed natively on a Sega Genesis (or MegaDrive for the more cultured of you), Earthion looks and sounds astonishing.
The latter part should come as no surprise, as the game’s music is being composed by the legendary Yuzo Koshiro.
If you remember, I interviewed Koshiro back when Actraiser Renaissance was released. The remastered music for that was also entirely excellent.
Ever since, I’ve been following Koshiro on Twitter/X to see what he’s been up to, and Earthion caught my attention a good while back.
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Looking like the ultimate classic retro shmup, the fact that it was natively developed on the Genesis is rather bonkers but actually makes a lot of sense.
Instead of trying to ape a classic 16-bit console on modern hardware, why not develop the game properly on the original console?
The final game (shown below) looks astonishing and even gives the likes of Ex-Ranza a run for its money.
Released later this year, you can already wishlist the game on Steam, but it will also be released on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.
The really nice touch is that Earthion will also be released on Genesis via cartridge, which I wholeheartedly approve of.
So if you’re into classic shmups, Earthion looks like it will definitely scratch that gaming itch once it’s released later this year.
Follow me on X, Facebook and YouTube. I also manage Mecha Damashii and am currently featured in the Giant Robots exhibition currently touring Japan.
