Minit, the tiny RPG delivered in 60-second chunks, is about to show up in some unexpected places.
They say that all consoles, ultimately, die. They live their life, people stop making games for them, then they go off to the big electronics store in the sky. (Radioshack? Maplin?)
But what if people didn’t stop making games for them? Ubisoft’s decision to bring Just Dance 2020 to the Wii has been making headlines recently, but they’re not the only ones. Last year a new game was released on the Sega Mega Drive (Genesis), while in its native Japan, games come to Nintendo 3DS pretty frequently still.
So by that token – and with the announcement of pint-sized adventure, Minit – is the Commodore 64 no longer a dead system?
No, it probably still is, to be fair. But there are still dedicated groups of fans bringing new games and ports to long-defunct systems, like the classic Commodore 64. What’s unusual is to see a (relatively) big, (relatively) mainstream publisher like Devolver Digital getting in on the action.
Speaking to Commodore Format Archive, Andy Roberts of porting studio, Thalamus Digital, said:
“Minit64 (working title) came about purely by accident: I was chatting with Jon Wells about working on a project together again, as we’d worked on numerous Game Boy titles back in the early 2000s and had a great working relationship. One of the games on my wishlist was Minit and as it happened Jon had also seen the game and loved the idea of bringing it to the C64. At that point it was just a case of working out a) if it was technically possible, and b) if Devolver Digital would be interested.”
Minit makes perfect sense, though. It’s already a lo-fi, 1-bit visual feast, so it should feel right at home on the C64, with its maximum resolution of 320 x 200 pixels. Devolver tends to agree, as Roberts continues:
“At the time I was also talking to Devolver about another project, and so naturally the subject of Minit64 came up in conversation. Devolver loved the idea, so Jon and I played the game exhaustively then spent a couple of months putting together a small proof-of-concept demo on the C64.”
The Commodore 64 isn’t the only tiny screen Minit will be venturing onto. In addition to a similar port to Spectrum Next, Devolver is also bringing Minit to Android and iOS devices later this month. June 27, to be precise.
That will no doubt bring the game to a wider audience, which is great, but we’d wager that Minit64 will feel a bit special.
Buy Minit from the Humble Store | We may receive a small commission on purchases made from online stores
