Pirate Pop Plus

In August 2015 we caught sight of something interesting. Someone was asking game developers to make games in the style of the Game Boy. All the same visual restrictions. For a “game jam” – a form of a challenge where developers see if they can make a fully working game in a very limited time span. This Game Jam, “GBJam”, set the target at 10 days. Out of 200 entries our game came 2nd.

The game we entered was “Pirate Pop”. It’s a bubble popping game but with changing gravity.

After the Game Jam the ultimate question was “what next?”. Do we let this game be and move on, or do we take it to it’s zenith of existence? We decided to see where this game can go.

Pirate Pop gained a publisher and they wanted to run with it (they put the “Plus” in Pirate Pop Plus). This game needed to face the public’s all-too discerning eye! We took Pirate Pop Plus to Bitsummit 2016, received well by visiting gamers. Further shows included BIC (Busan Indie Connect) and in the Nintendo booth at Gamescom.

Playtesting by gamers allowed us to tweak the final and prepare for the US/EU launch.

Unbeknownst to us, the launch day was the same day of the Switch reveal! Would this mean that the game would sink into the night? Would it attract enough 8-bit fans to make itself known? The game’s video appeared on Nintendo’s YouTube channel, next to the Switch reveal! Passing traffic gave Pirate Pop lots of views.

Nintendolife.com gave Pirate Pop Plus 9/10 – we seriously could not ask for more. It’s really the 8-bit lovers that are going to get the most mileage out of this game. Miiverse users give it a solid 4 or 5 stars.

In February of 2017, after much too-ing and fro-ing, we finally released the game in Japan. Famitsu magazine gave us an interview, published on the launch day… as stated earlier, much of this game’s development was serendipitous. But the best was yet to come, during the interview, Famitsu said they were going to review the game. In their magazine! (Which came out on Switch launch day!)

Miiverse also exists in Japan. Player reviews were heart warming. Full of praise about the attention to detail and gameplay loop. People on there talk of fond memories about the Game Boy. Youth spent in the 80s/90s. Even offers to take the developer out for drinks to talk about 8-bit days gone by.