It was the former chairman of Nintendo of America Howard Lincoln that famously said, during a 1993 hearing in front of Congress, that Night Trap “will never appear on a Nintendo console.” Hey Howard: Developer Screaming Villains has announced that Night Trap is coming soon to Nintendo Switch! We’ll have more information as we hear it.
YouTube Channel Wrestling With Gaming has produced some pretty great gaming documentaries, and his latest one takes a look at Digital Pictures which is the studio behind FMV games including Sewer Shark, Night Trap, and Double Switch. The series creator, Yahel, reached out to SEGAbits for permission to use our 2014 interview with Digital Pictures co-founder Tom Zito, and having seen Yahel’s previous videos we were more than happy to give the thumbs up! So check the video out and make sure to watch his backlog at Wrestling With Gaming, including some great SEGA installments covering VR, Bleem!, and the Saturn and 32X.
Keep up the great work, Yahel! After the break, check out our full original interview with Tom Zito.
Night Trap is an odd little gem that has a cemented history in gaming. While the game has garnered mix reactions over the years, those that have played it will all tell you that its the leader of FMV games from the 90s, being one of the most popular games in the genre. 25 years after the initial release, Night Trap is finally getting a remastered port for modern platforms including PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One. Today we give you our review of Digital Picture’s Night Trap, brought back to life 25 years later.
Screaming Skulls, Limited Run Games and My Life in Gaming teased announcements today regarding the re-release of Night Trap. Their main point comes with the release date slated for release on August 15th, the same day as Sonic Mania, on PlayStation 4 and Steam for digital download. Four days prior to that you can head over to Limited Run Games to buy a highly limited physical version of the PlayStation 4 version on August 11th. The Xbox One version is set to release at a later time.
In addition to the game, they’re also bundling a prototype, Scene of the Crime, as an additional feature. This served as the basis for Night Trap and has long since been unavailable to the public up until the 25th Anniversary release later this year.
Of course that still means that it’s going to be awhile before you can set traps for the augers and that’s where My Life in Gaming comes in. Their 50 minute documentary details the history of the game from it’s prototype, to it’s initial release on SEGA CD, up to the remaster featuring video game historians and developers to regale on the game’s lasting impact on the industry. Be sure to check out the documentary after the jump as well as some links you should check out regarding the game. There’s something really cool to see three small independent groups come together to help bring back video game history. Even though Night Trap does not hold up in terms of gameplay it’s at least admirable to see the lengths people will go for video game preservation.
In this episode we are joined by Tyler of Screaming Villains, who is developing the upcoming Night Trap 25th Anniversary Edition set to release to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PCs, with a limited physical run exclusive to the PS4. Tyler discusses how the project began, how the game differs from the SEGA CD and SEGA CD 32X versions, what new features fans can expect from the game and what future plans he hopes to have in the world of FMV games and beyond! Keep your ears peeled for some exclusive reveals, but watch out for those Augers!
Well this is a surprise! It has just been announced that Night Trap, the famous (some would argue infamous) FMV game made popular on the SEGA CD and SEGA CD 32X, is returning to the PlayStation 4 just in time for the 25th anniversary. Remastered by Screaming Villains, the game will release digitally and physically thanks to Limited Run Games. What is really cool, and of interest to SEGA fans, is that the Limited Run Games cover art emulates the classic American SEGA CD and SEGA CD 32X box art complete with the blue and yellow candy cane stripes! The physical release should hit the company’s website soon.
Back in 2014 we had the privilege of interviewing Digital Pictures co-founder Tom Zito, the man behind Night Trap. At the time, Tom and a small team were attempting a remaster titled Night Trap ReVamped, though sadly the Kickstarter failed to reach its goal. We don’t know if Tom and his team have any influence in this rerelease, but we’ll reach out and see what’s up.
Update: We just learned that the owners of the Night Trap license – presumably Tom Zito and Night Trap, LLC since they had already bought and paid for the rights prior to the ReVamped project – granted developer Screaming Villains the license after they posted to YouTube a video of the game running on a mobile phone. You can watch what we believe to be the video after the break.
Update 2: Tom Zito plays no part in this rerelease, so it is unknown at this time who the license holder is.
Update 3: The game will also release to Xbox One, though no sign of those SEGA styled boxes from Limited Run Games.
It’s a very special episode of My Life with SEGA where A.J. Rosa and his girlfriend Erica Winter play through some tried-and-true SEGA CD “classics” produced by Digital Pictures.
First off, Erica is exposed to the horrifically cheesy 1992 panty-raid Night Trap for the very first time. Can she save the airhead teenagers from the dreaded Augers, or will she have to sit this one out in the S.C.A.T. mobile?
Second, A.J. takes the controls in the SEGA Club oddity Kids on Site. Yes, the full-motion video epic that gave youngsters of the 90’s a taste of the fun and exciting world of….construction?!
Grab your tennis racquets and hard hats, kids. It’s gonna’ be a bumpy game!
Digital Pictures was a pioneer in the world of interactive full motion video, bringing a cinematic feel to games at a time when players were used to two dimensional sprites. Their titles, which included Night Trap, Sewer Shark, Corpse Killer, Supreme Warrior, the Make My Video series, and many more, spanned a number of genres and appeared on several platforms throughout the 90s. Now, their most famous title Night Trap is set to make a return to modern platforms with former Digital Pictures members leading the way. Director/co-designer Jim Riley, co-designer Rob Fulop, technical director Mark Klein, and executive producer Tom Zito have formed Night Trap, LLC and have established a Kickstarter initiative dubbed Night Trap ReVamped.
Tom Zito joins Barry on our latest Swingin’ Report Show to discuss the creation of Digital Pictures, the never released Control-Vision game console from Hasbro which was to use VHS tapes as cartridges (originally codenamed NEMO), Night Trap‘s releases both past and present, and his team’s plans for the Night Trap ReVamped Kickstarter. This episode is a must for retro SEGA fans and fans of innovations in the video game industry – give it a listen and be sure to check out Night Trap ReVamped!
We told you before that there was going to be a Kickstarter to bring back the FMV ‘classic’ to a new generation. The game was originally released on SEGA CD then later ported to 32x, 3DO and DOS/Mac. The project is asking for $330,000 dollars to remake this game in HD.
A minimum pledge of $20 dollars will net you a copy on either PC, Mac, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
You can check out their Kickstarter here. If you want to check out a sample of the HD footage from the game, check out this video.
Before Batman: Arkham City, before The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, Spider-Man was surrounded by his most threatening villains in New York that is set to explode in 24 hours in The Amazing Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin for SEGA CD. I decided to play through the game live on SEGA Channel Retro on an unannounced stream and completed it and showed off two of the three endings. See Spider-Man fight foes such as crooks, rats and uh…bats for some reason while he hunts down the nuke that will wipe the Big Apple off the planet while he prove his innocence.
As usual you can check out the video on YouTube and Twitch, with the Twitch feed running at 60 frames per second. You can also check out the uncut livestream with some fumbled extra bits such as me briefly showing off The Adventures of Willy Beamishand the SEGA CD/32X version of the cult classic Night Trap. But I suck at the game and don’t get very far.
Big news for Night Trap fans – the game’s director James Riley has promised the game’s Facebook community that Night Trap will return on an unspecified platform. Fans have been pressuring Riley to rerelease the game, and Riley has replied “I appreciate your on-going interest, but please understand I do plan to re-release Night Trap and have been talking with a number of interested parties to do so. However, the specific platform(s) have not been confirmed (including online) and I will let you know once we have a definite plan and release schedule. Night Trap will come back, in better resolution and game play than before, we just want to be sure it’s the best strategy for all involved.”
The original Night Trap was a controversial video game developed by Digital Pictures for DOS and Macintosh computers, the 3DO and the Sega Mega-CD. It is also one of six Mega CD 32X games. It was notable for being one of the games that led to congressional hearings on violent video games, and the creation of the ESRB.
