SNES Platforming Shooter 'Jim Power: The Lost Dimension' Returns On Switch

I have never even heard of this game before. Don't think I ever even saw it on the shelf at Blockbuster Video or anywhere back in the day.

@OldManHermit I worked at Toys R Us in the early to mid 90s and this thing was on clearance pretty much the whole time I was there.

@nilcam Haha, seems like one of those kind of games.

I remember this game. It was a neat concept, but not really that special. They're really going all-out for it though!

Shame that the 3DS is shutting down and can't re-implement the retro 3D effects back into the game. Are we just relegating 3D to the dustbin of history? Is there a reason Nintendo can't release a Switch with a 3D screen? I get that it's not everyone's thing, but I feel like we only ever scratched the surface of that market. Those Sega 3D Classics were beautiful and the New 3DS tech worked really well IMO.

Weird game. The parallax scrolling is backwards in this one. Apparently had something to do with the 3D glasses. But if you play it without the glasses, the effect is disorienting at best, and nauseating for some.

@OldManHermit Same here. I rented/borrowed/purchased and played a pretty absurd amount of SNES games back in the day, so it always throws me off a little bit when something like this pops up and I have never even heard of it before.

Videogame preservation is in a weird place. Industry-shaking classics from that era or later haven't been re-released in forever, but whatever this is gets a lavish Criterion Collection-style treatment. Alright, then.

Had this on the amiga, the graphics were very unique

I knew this game was coming to PS5. Another "impossible" port to the Switch. I was crossing my fingers that this wasn't going to be a cloud version. QUbyte delivers the goods again.

@RupeeClock : Exactly. And that will never not cause me extreme annoyance, and by extension, when archive footage is cropped or stretched elsewhere.

If it were up to me, I would never even allow stretching to be an option, and I was really glad that Nintendo fixed the aspect ratio for 4:3 Wii games and VC releases on the Wii U back in the day.

@BoilerBroJoe : Just the other day, my brain was trying to visualise the Switch screen in 3D, and man, how absolutely gorgeous would that be.

I’ve finally started playing the Crash Trilogy recently, and the lack of stereoscopic 3D really hurts these sorts of games. The 3DS was a game-changer when it came to depth perception, though the gorgeous visuals is enough to sell me on the concept.

I have a good feeling that stereoscopic 3D will resurface one of these days. There is only so much further that Nintendo can go from here, and a 1080p screen is more than sufficient for a handheld device, so, it may one day be affordable enough for Nintendo to include such a glasses-free screen at such a resolution (though with 3D TVs now being discontinued, such functionality may be restricted to handheld mode, assuming that Nintendo persists with the hybrid concept for the foreseeable future).

3D has come and gone a few times over the decades. My concern is that it’s often exploited as a gimmick, and people are deceived into giving money to fake 3D experiences, which diminishes their estimation of stereoscopic 3D as a whole. Few films were natively shot in 3D, while most were faked in post, and the difference is night and day.

@Beaucine : Hear, hear. It’s bizarre as well, as Strictly Limited are sitting on months-old, sometimes years-old stock, because they’ve overestimated the rather modest “demand” for these sorts of releases.

LRG are also really annoying with their extremely lavish boxsets for even the most basic of games.

But what annoys me most is that the CD soundtracks are often held hostage by these ridiculously oversized and overpriced sets. I would happily grab a game + soundtrack bundle in most, if not all instances, but I just can’t justify allocating my virtually nonexistent shelf space for such low-fi releases.

Looks like a shovelware SNES game you'd normally find on the NSO app

I need to buy a new dictionary. The definition of 'classic' must be wrong in this one.

Just by the look of the lazy presented trailer, the game already look like trash. Why would anyone play the game in stretch mode like that, why not make a true wide screen mode? I know there's 4:3 available but c'mon a true widescreen wouldn't be that difficult to do. I still love the game, just not this port.

@Clyde_Radcliffe Nope shovelware is a cheap game someone make for a quick buick, this game is definitely an ambitious title back in the day. It's one of the few games that works the 3D magic in 16-Bit, it's too bad that one thing that made it special is lost in this port.

My excitement dropped like buzz lightyear in sid’s house when I saw the strictly limited+piko interactive logos

@BoilerBroJoe It is an inefficient feature for mobile platforms but it seems VR is still in a decent place for a gaming niche.
I don't want to play all my games with a VR headset but it is nice to see VR once in a while.

@nmanifold It's an obvious Amiga game like Gods.

That was headache inducing.

@BoilerBroJoe Well if you look at the history of 3D, it always comes back, and the goes away.

@Kermit1 Mostly because when technology makes a leap forward and then people try again because the prospect of experiencing fiction as real life is appealing.

From the stereoscope, the viewmaster, virtua boy or 3DS or occulus. it has all come and gone and we are getting closer and closer.

@khululy okay...

@Kermit1 It's the same with motion controls, it first arrived in the arcade, then on NES, then on Sega Genesis, then on PS2, then on Wii, then on Xbox and PS3 and then on VR and Switch. Of all of those only the Wii support it in-deph but after that the hype gets old and the fab die down. With the Switch it would only support motion control if the game really needs it otherwise it really is unnecessary for some.

@Kermit1 That's an odd reply...
I was merely elaborating on your comment

@khululy I was agreeing with you

(I worded that wrong, note taken)

@Serpenterror Ya, I wonder what will be next

(Switch's motion controls, feel like an add on tbh)

the 8bit graphics is much more fluid than the 16bit

Order today and get it in 5 years (maybe)

Was this an game Amiga? Looks very early 90's european.... Also, I got burnt by Strictly Limited Games etc (still waiting on Turrican), so I'll never go down that route again I'm afraid.

@Johnno137426 It was an Amiga game.

What happened to Loriciels? Do they not get credit creating the game? Only Piko, for whatever changes they made?

@marcelominucelli I guess it wouldn't be too surprising. The 8-bit version is a newly created port while the two 16-bit versions are old (the Genesis port was created during its original lifespan but was not officially released. At least I'm pretty sure that an old beta ROM has been going around the Internet. GameFAQs doesn't credit an old developer on that version and doesn't have screenshots. So maybe my memory is wrong?
I know there is a SNES beta from when the publisher Electro Brain was considering adding a license, Buck Rogers, to the game.)

Checked again, and yes, their is a vintage Genesis beta ROM. Oddly enough the header identifies the game as "Street Smart". Did the same developer work on that port or something?

i played this game as a kid, i remember it being ugly and bad to play. in fact, its a canonical ugly/bad game for me. im shocked its being brought back frankly.

Piko Interactive has made a bit of a business purchasing old IP and ROM files and reselling them. I am pretty sure this has been on sale on Steam for a while now. In fact, they will probably be amused that the Genesis and 8-Bit versions are finally being released.

❗️I vaguely remember this; I played it on a SNES9X Emulator on PC back in early-2000.

This game weirded me out as a kid and still does. Even on the busiest of weekends the local rental shop would always have copies. Someone must really like it though to get it pushed out again like this.

As a kid in that era, that cover art is burned into my brain even though I never had any interest in the game itself. ^_^

@Johnno137426
I got burned by these folks too. Still waiting on Turrican. By the way, I remember when this came out on the SNES and I thought to myself "Did these guys just rip off the turrican SNES engine?". By the way, Amiga Turrican 1 & 2 were the best in the series, IMHO.

Can't say I've heard of this one. It seems a little bit generic from the footage though the frames of animation are decent. I like the 8 bit demake too.I like to play hidden gems but I think I will wait for a review on this one.

@Coalescence Nah - it is a new "limited" physical run company trying to get a foothold in the increasingly crowded "game is too trashy for a regular physical release so we are going to create fake demand for people with addictive personalities" market segment.

Strictly Limited Games. It is becoming humorous.

@Silly_G

I mean, I know every old game inhabits its own bespoke swamp of rights disputes, missing files, technical hurdles, galaxy-brain publisher un-reasoning, and opaque economic prospects, but it's absolutely wild to me that I can play this on the Switch and not, say, Radiant Silvergun, Final Fantasy Tactics, or Super Mario RPG.

This is available on Evercade as part of the Piko Collection 1. It's much cheaper, has a number of other good games packed with it and is still physical. A new release seems unnecessary, tbh.

Should be named 'Jim Power: The Lost Interest'.

Not the Amiga version? No modern-bit graphics?

Oh wow, that parallax. They say there's three ways to do things: the right way, the wrong way, and the Jim Power way. i.e. the wrong way, but faster.

As a Nintendo fan I will say this.. these releases just prove how dumb some Nintendo fans and physical collectors are. This is soo much money and extra BS for an old game that's not great or significant. Just emulate it. Or why are we not asking, "Why isnt this coming to the online service instead? "

@Qphlat27 Hahaha you talk like this game is only coming to the Nintendo Switch.

@marcelominucelli I was thinking the same thing. I preferred the look of the 8-bit sections, myself.

My immediate response to the trailer:

"Oh lord!....it's hideous!"

My thought was, who asked for this!?

Proof that some people will buy anything as long as you present it as a "Strictly Limited Collector's Edition!!@!@!"