Rumor: Irem’s other PS3 project in jeopardy?
Yesterday I broke the rather saddening news that the entirety of Irem’s earthquake survival sim franchise Disaster Report had been delayed for an indefinite (possibly permanent) amount of time. But if that wasn’t bad enough already, rumors are beginning to circulate in Japanese magazines that this has had a knock-on effect on the development of Irem’s long awaited sequel to Steambot Chronicles (known as Bumpy Trot in japan) on the PS3, perhaps resulting in the whole project biting the dust forever.
Don’t feel as though you’re out of the loop if you missed out on the original Steambot Chronicals, it was a relatively obscure PS2 sandbox RPG from way back in 2005 that proved quite popular in Japan but amassed only a small enthusiastic following in the west. The game put you in the shoes of a young boy with a bad case of amnesia and nothing but a steam-punk robot and some bitchin’ harmonica skills to his name. It had an extremely open ended game world that let you pursue the main storyline as either a hero or a villain at your own discretion as well as offering many side activities such as buying real estate, furnishing your home, collecting fossils, fishing, dating, battle tournaments, busking and astounding levels of customisation (for a PS2 game) for both your character and your robot.
Basically imagine animal crossing but with giant robots instead of animals. I know, it sounds too awesome to be true right? Well evidently something so genius isn’t that easy to produce; Steambot Chronicles 2 seems to have been stuck in development hell for nearly 6 years already and with nothing but a few pieces of gameplay footage to show for it (half of which is probably from the abandoned PS2 version).
If both Disaster Report and Steambot Chronicles truly are out the picture then Irem doesn’t really have much left to work with; their only other reliable IP is the classic R-Type side scrolling shooters. Unfortunately they kinda shot themselves in the foot with with that one back in 2003 when they released the appropriately named R-Type: Final which they insisted was to be the last ever entry in the series. That didn’t stop them doing a few very low key spin-offs and re-releases here and there over the years, but it’s still perfectly fair to say they hasn’t been a “true” R-Type game since Final. However with both their major titles in limbo they may end up having to re-think their R-Type abstinence if they plan on sticking around for much longer.
As with with Disaster Report 1 & 2, Steambot Chronicles did see a VERY limited release over here in the UK and can be picked up relatively cheaply online. It was an absolutely stellar game, so if you don’t have any objections to dusting off a PS2 then you owe it to yourself to say both hello and possibly goodbye to what could have been a fantastic ongoing franchise. Oh, and if you live in the US or Japan you can also check out the more combat focused spin-off Steambot Chronicles: Battle Tournament for the PSP.