Indie game developer Monsoon Studios has revealed that the crowdfunding campaign for its NES action title Cooper Jacket has been a success.
The game – which offers a simultaneous 2-player mode and takes inspiration from the likes of Contra and Commando – had a very modest funding goal of just $9,000. Thanks to the support of 244 backers, it has managed to raise almost twice that amount, finally securing $16,000 of cash.
The game takes place across 5 worlds divided into 13 levels, and you'll be able to upgrade your weapons along the way.
Here's some PR:
In Copper Jacket, your former boss (Commander Zaslavsky) has kidnapped your wife-to-be in an attempt to make you do his dirty work. Your mission is to defeat this sinister commander and rescue the love of your life. Step into the action-packed game as a renegade combat expert who sports a military-grade rifle and carries with him a lot of heavy bombs.
The developer notes that while Copper Jacket has been designed to play on NTSC systems, it may also function on PAL NES units, but this has not been tested as yet. Copies are expected to ship in February of 2023, so there's quite a wait ahead of us.
Still, when you consider the NES stopped being an ongoing concern in the mid-'90s, what's another year between friends?
Comments (11)
It is always good to see people developing for 8-bit consoles.
New NES games just keep coming, it's amazing.
That top loader NES looks fantastic, had Nintendo not ruin it by making it RF output only, it would had a better sale over the original front loader model. It took out the stupid lockout chip, had a very smooth SNES-like dogbone controller, and is region free to PAL and Famicom games (via converter).
A curious novelty. I hope it works out for them and the backers. Not sure what you can do for 9K or 16K for that matter. Sounds more like a hobby that they wanted to do for themselves and decided that crowdfunding was the easiest way to get a product for themselves and if others buy it in the process, it is just icing on the cake.
@Specter_of-the_OLED most people back then still used rf still over a/v mainly because a/v was a newer thing and back then people didn’t buy new TVs every couple years they literally held onto their TVs for 10 years plus.
As for the controller I always hated them and the system itself was poorly made and wasn’t durable at all. My and everyone I know top loader does on them and so did the controllers but the front loader still works. Never seen a front loader that didn’t work unless it ended up with cut wires , smashed or moisture introduced to the circuit boards.
Front loaders were only worse because of the flashing screens which never bothered me. Once you figure out your system it was never a big issue, hell we still get games glitching out on us in this digital age so it’s really something that’s always been an issue.
@Dirty0814 The top loader came out in 1994, by that time AV out is very common, remember the original NES had that since 1985, 1985 to 1994 is a long time. Heck even the Japanese version of this console was call the AV Famicom. The front loader works good but that blinking red light was the cause of the lockout chip getting overloaded, remove that and the system works just as good as the top loader.
Top loader is also very durable and the controllers work great, they are style in a layout after the Game Boy with the button in an upward angle to the right, there are no controllers I seen in this lifetime (unless it's a garbage 3rd party controller) where the B and A buttons ever angle downward, upward is the correct way and the more comfortable way. By looking at it, it may seem awkward but actually using it and playing with it is a different story.
They are very responsive and comfortable to use. The only few issues of the top loader was that Nintendo cheap out and purposely didn't include AV output which result in the display having vertical lines on some games. That and the cartridge slot was not as steady compare to the AV Famicom so NES cartridge tends to wobble sometimes. Other than those the top loader works great.
This might be code wizardry, I mean the people who make these are way better at it then me, but I see delays-a-coming
You can only have 64 sprites on screen and sprites are generally 8x8. You can also only have 8 per scanline before you get the iconic NES slow down. The characters in this game are HUGE, they look like 12 sprites. Given they have to keep 12 sprites free for 2 player mode, that's no more then 4 characters on screen at a time!
Which is why they are likely using 8x16 sprite mode to bump that to a tight but usable 10, but if that's the case your huge sprites only get one subpal and the game is going to look monochrome, and you get more slowdown from the scan line limit.
You can see flickering in the video in parts that don't even look that busy!
I'm sure they were figure it out or just make adjustments, but a Kickstarter releasing on time is a unicorn in and of itself, and when I hobbyist can look at the promotional material and see problems ... that's a bad sign.
Any people smarter then me on this stuff have some insight?
I just don't understand the point of talking about games that are a year or more out.
@Specter_of-the_OLED Actually, it's not the chip that's the problem, it's the cartage port. The NES has a lock and key system where the cart communicates with a chip in both the cart and the system. Over the years of use, the pins in the console bend leading to a bad connection where the console can't see the cart's chip, thus forcing the console to keep resetting, causing the blinking red light.
@Crono1973 Hype. That's all it is.
@HeadPirate Other than coding wizardary, I would say that the cart might have some extra chips inside to do some of the heavy lifting. Kind of like the Super FX or SA1 on the SNES.
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