January2021
News Factor 5 Boss Muses On The Possibility Of A Mario Maker-Style 2D Turrican
"That would really excite me"
Factor 5 studio founder Julian Eggebrecht has been musing over the future of the Turrican series and thinks that a Mario Maker-style approach might be the way forward for new 2D entries in the franchise. Turrican began life on personal computers before moving over to consoles like the SNES and Mega Drive, and after...
September2020
News Classic Run-And-Gun Blaster Turrican Is Making A Comeback, And Fans Might Need Deep Pockets
Update: Check out the price on these collector's editions!
Update: Strictly Limited has revealed that it is launching two Turrican-themed collections at €34.99 a pop, as well as two quite expensive collector's editions. Turrican Anthology Vol. 1 will consist of the Amiga versions of Turrican and Turrican 2, the SNES Super Turrican (and
May2020
Poll Box Art Brawl #43 - Super Turrican
Turrican't decide
It's time for another round of Box Art Brawl, your weekly opportunity to get uppity and opinionated over regional cover art that once adorned the packaging of video games around the globe. Last week the European cover of Pikmin 2 emerged victorious after scrapping with its brethren from Japan and the United States. Yes, the EU...
May2019
Video Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Gets A Stunning HD Makeover In Unreal Engine 4
If only it was official
Long before EA got the rights to create Star Wars video games, LucasArts and Factor 5 produced the Rogue Squadron trilogy. The first game was released on the Nintendo 64 and PC in 1998 and the second and third game landed exclusively on the GameCube a number of years later. While Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader and...
February2019
News Julian Eggebrecht, Ex-Head Of Factor 5, Joined Epic Games Last Month
What if...?
Warning: the following news may have you pining for 'the good old days' and thinking back wistfully to when EA wasn't fouling up good Star Wars games with lootbox nonsense. Erstwhile Nintendo Life contributor Liam Robertson has noted on Twitter a recent movement of a prominent industry figure under the considerable umbrella of Epic...
December2017
Video Take To The Skies In This Trailer For Factor 5's Unreleased WeFly
Pilotwings on Wii, basically
Earlier this year we reported on Liam Robertson's excellent investigation into Factor 5's WeFly - basically Pilotwings for Wii - which went into detail about the game's development and its subsequent cancellation. Robertson is back with another neat exclusive - a hitherto unseen trailer for the game which was only...
October2017
News Super Turrican: Director's Cut Comes With With Every Analogue Super Nt Console
A new level! New enemies! Better sound! Improved graphics!
If you cast your mind back a short while you'll remember we reported on a story relating to the SNES run-and-gun classic Super Turrican, originally released in 1993. While the game was critically acclaimed at the time, it wasn't the version that developer Factor 5 wanted to release...
September2017
Video Check Out WeFly - Factor 5's Long Lost Pilotwings Game for Wii
Fly me to the moon
Factor 5 enjoyed quite a unique relationship with Nintendo. Due to some bad fortune, we already know that the company had a complete Rogue Squadron game on the Wii that sadly never saw the light of day, and we previously reported on their plans for a new Pilotwings game on the same hardware. Now former Nintendo Life contributor...
July2017
News Factor 5 Almost Ported Super Castlevania IV To The Sega Mega Drive
"We did a 1:1 port of Indiana Jones to the Genesis"
Factor 5 is a studio with a long and proud history of technological achievement; it was founded in the super-competitive "demo scene" era of the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST, and went as far as to create its own development hardware for the SNES and Mega Drive / Genesis in order to gain traction in...
March2017
News Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Studio Factor 5 Is Apparently Back From The Dead
Studio founder claims Switch lies between Wii U and Xbox One in power
Julian Eggebrecht has revealed that Factor 5 - the studio behind titles like Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader and Turrican - has been resurrected. Eggebrecht delivered the news to a German website; his comments have been translated and reveal that the company has also...
July2016
News The Definitive Version Of Super Turrican Was Denied A Virtual Console Release Back In 2008
We got the incomplete retail release instead
There was a bit of a surprise on the latest Retro Spielen webcast with legendary composer Chris Huelsbeck - the show's special guest was none other than founding president and creative director of the defunct and very much missed Factor 5, Julian Eggebrecht. The stage was set for some nostalgic chatter...
March2016
Video Learn More About Superman: Blue Steel, Factor 5's Final Project
Kryptonite to an excellent studio
Factor 5 was a studio that had plenty of fans, with its Rogue Squadron titles in particular being standouts for Nintendo fans. Unfortunately its later years were punctuated by aborted projects and difficult generational transitions, an example being an attempt to produce a Kid Icarus game for Wii. Now occasional...
February2016
Video The Truth Behind Factor 5's Pilotwings Game for GameCube
A nice idea that never took off
Pilotwings is a series that, after capturing hearts on Super NES, has failed to establish itself fully as a franchise. There was Pilotwings 64, and then after a long wait there was Pilotwings Resort, a 3DS launch title that took placed in and around Wuhu Island from Wii S
December2015
Video Behind The Scenes On The GameCube Star Wars Rogue Leader Games
Stay on target
The world is going Star Wars-mad at the moment, what with The Force Awakens hitting cinemas this week. To mark the event, Nintendo Life contributor Gonçalo Lopes has uploaded the behind-the-scenes documentaries which were included on Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader and Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike as...
September2015
News Factor 5's Lost Wii Kid Icarus Boasted A Dark Hero With 60fps Airborne Action
"I feel like we were missing the point"
Fans of Kid Icarus had to endure a long and painful wait between the original NES and Game Boy titles and the eventual 3DS update, but had Star Wars: Rogue Squadron studio Factor 5 had its way, we would have been playing a sequel a little bit sooner. Unseen 64 staffer and occasional Nintendo Life contributor...
August2015
Video How Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Dev Factor 5 Gave Sonic His Home Video Game Début
A tale that gets even more unlikely with each telling
Sonic may be one of the most famous video game characters on the face of the planet, but first appearance in a domestic video game is actually relatively unknown. Sonic's actual début occurred in the arcade racer Rad Mobile (later ported to the Sega Saturn under the title Gale Racer) where he...
October2014
Video Footage Surfaces of Cancelled Wii Star Wars Title
A Rogue Squadron resurrection that never left the base
In what at least feels like a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Factor 5's Rogue Squadron games were all the rage on the N64 and GameCube. Following Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike, the company would attempt some projects for Microsoft and Sony, but either found little success...
March2013
News There's A New Turrican Game Inbound, But Super Turrican Is Off The Table
News of a new entry is sullied by the removal of the SNES version from the Virtual Console
The latest issue of German Retro Gamer magazine has revealed that a new entry in the Turrican series is on its way. Turrican Rebirth will be a 2D shooter with a heavy emphasis on customisation, allowing players to make their own weapons and stages to share...
August2012
News Albert Chen - Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II Aimed for "Fantasy Fulfilment"
Would love to see a remake on 3DS
One of the highlights of the GameCube library — a launch title no less — was Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II, a wonderful sequel to the Nintendo 64 original that dazzled with high-end graphics. For fans of the films that wanted to immerse themselves in the action and go all Luke Skywalker, it was an exciting and...
June2009
News Factor 5 Being Sued By Ex-Employees
Lawsuit reveals a Rogue Squadron Wii game was in the works.
A few months back San-Rafael-based Factor 5 (the studio behind the popular Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series) was declared bankrupt with between $1 million to $10 million in unpaid debts. In addition to this, the company was also faced with 69 claims for unpaid wages totaling more than...
December2008
News Games Industry to feel the pinch?
We don't like talking about real world issues, but are we going to lose big names from the games world? Yes, Free Radical and Factor 5 are the first ones down.
It would appear that video gaming isn’t quite as recession-proof as many people would have you believe – long-time Nintendo supporter Factor 5 is rumoured to have closed it doors for the...
