Cancelled Clockwork Aquario being released on PS4 and Switch later this year

After 27 years of dust collecting, a cancelled SEGA arcade game is finally seeing the light of day.

Strictly Limited Games and ININ Games have announced the cancelled arcade game, Clockwork Aquario, will be coming to PlayStaion 4 and Nintendo Switch later in 2020, both digitally and limited physical editions.

Clockwork Aquario was originally developed by Westone Bit Entertainment, of Wonder Boy/Monster World fame. Its 2D graphics were made to push the limitations of the SEGA System 18 hardware, which was used in most of SEGA’s arcade games during the time. Due to the rise of 3D games in the arcade market, the game was later cancelled.

In their press release, both Strictly Limited and ININ talked about how they convinced SEGA to let the game finally get a release.

So, three years ago, Strictly Limited Games set out to find the whereabouts of “Tokeijikake no Aquario”, the Japanese title of Clockwork Aquario, and to bring the game back to life.
ININ Games then joined in the endeavours to convince SEGA/LAT that Clockwork Aquario will finally see the light of day, by signing to create a digital release and making the game accessible to a wider audience.

Ryuichi Nishizawa, creator of Wonder Boy, expressed his gratitude to those who created the game and for those reviving it.

“Clockwork Aquario is a great piece of 2D art, into which the pixel artists put their hearts and souls. I would like to express my heartfelt respect and gratitude to those who have worked so hard to restore it.”

Clockwork Aquario will see its release in 2020. You can visit the offical website here.