Clockwork Aquario

Intended to be the last arcade game by Westone, developed in 1992 for Sega System 18 and push the hardware to its limits; however, it was canceled due to the increasing popularity of 3D games and fighting games in arcades as well as negative feedback during location tests in 1993. In 2017, Strictly Limited Games acquired the rights from Sega, with ININ Games collaborating on a restoration work alongside former Westone staff members as certain elements from the project's source code were lost. Aquario holds the Guinness world record for the longest time between the start of a video game project and its release, at 28 years and 81 days. Aquario garnered mixed reception from critics; praise was directed to the unconventional pick-up-and-throw combo-chaining system similar to Treasure titles due to the controls, colorful visuals reminiscent of the Mega Drive era, soundtrack and co-op multiplayer, but other felt mixed in regards to the gameplay, difficulty, superfluous ideas, mechanics and overall presentation, while its short length was universally criticized.

• Title — Clockwork Aquario • Developer — Westone • Publisher — * ININ Games • Strictly Limited Games • Designer — Ryuichi Nishizawa • Programmer — Takanori Kurihara • Artist — Mina Morioka • Composer — Shinichi Sakamoto • Platforms — * Nintendo Switch • PlayStation 4 • Xbox One • Xbox Series X/S • Microsoft Windows • Released — Switch, PS4'Xbox One, Series X/SDecember 7, 2023Windows • Genre — Action, platform • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer

• Illustration — Gameplay screenshot. Clockwork Aquario is an action-platform game reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. and Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair, where players assume the role of Huck Rondo, Elle Moon or the robot Gush through five stages in order to stop Dr. Hangyo with his plan to take over the world. Players attack by stomping or slapping to grab and throw enemies out across multiple directions, headbutt enemies thrown at characters, as well as catching enemies thrown by other players. In addition, a player can pick up another player and throw them against enemies. Players also have the ability to turn invincible against enemies for a brief period before the character's invincibility gauge is depleted, which can be replenished by picking up items. On each stage, players must defeat a sub-boss to obtain a key in order to enter the boss' lair. The bosses can be defeated by stepping on or throwing an enemy them to clear the stage. The game features a 2-hit points per life system similar to Ghosts 'n Goblins, in which getting hit once would make the player's clothes look tattered and getting hit a second time results in a life lost, however the character's clothes can be restored by picking up a health item. Once all life stocks are lost, the game is over but players have the option to continue playing.

Clockwork Aquario was created in 1992 at Westone. It was intended to be their final arcade game, and most of the staff were previously involved with several entries in the Wonder Boy/Monster World series. Clockwork Aquario was designed to push the hardware limits of the Sega System 18 board. Ryuichi Nishizawa served as designer alongside programmer Takanori Kurihara, artist Mina Morioka and composer Shinichi Sakamoto. Both Nishizawa and Sakamoto recounted the project's development process and history through various publications, stating that the project was created over the course of two years and intended to resemble Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair but focusing on co-op play before the team added a third player. However, the team reverted to a two-player format at one point during development. Nishizawa stated that the game was coded in Assembler language and recalled that the team used in-circuit emulation for debugging. Nishizawa claimed that the System 18 was a complex and difficult board to work with, due to programmers having to control two graphical functions with one MPU. Clockwork Aquario was first playable in a mostly-complete state during location tests at Shinjuku and Ueno in 1993. However, the release was ultimately cancelled in 1994 due to poor response from players as well as the increasing popularity of both 3D games and fighting games in arcades. The game's cancellation also led to Westone withdrawing from arcades and focus on console titles. On October 27, 2006, the original soundtrack by Sakamoto was released through D4 Enterprise's EGG MUSIC label. In 2020, German publisher Strictly Limited Games announced that it would be launched in 2020 for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 as a limited physical and digital release by ININ Games, after acquiring the rights from Sega. ININ Games also collaborated alongside former Westone staff members including Nishizawa on a restoration effort as certain elements from the project's source code, which was originally transferred to M2 after Westone closed its doors in 2013, were lost. However, Strictly Limited Games and ININ Games postponed the release to early 2021. In November 2020, Strictly Limited Games announced physical editions in limited supply for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. The game was first released on November 30, 2021 in Japan and Europe, followed by a North American release on December 14. The game was also planned for release on Windows and Xbox One in Summer 2022 but was delayed. It was later announced to be releasing for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on December 7, 2023, however, no date for the version for Windows was revealed. Clockwork Aquario holds the Guinness world record for the longest time between the start of a video game project and its release, at 28 years and 81 days.