Platinum confirms its ‘joke’ shooter is real – and it’s part of a planned ‘arcade’ series

PlatinumGames has confirmed its ‘joke’ arcade shooter Sol Cresta has indeed been turned into a real product, and it’s the first part in a planned series.

Sol Cresta will release as a download-only title for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation4, and Steam this year, the Bayonetta developer confirmed via press release on Friday.

“This game is the final chapter of the ‘Cresta Saga,’ continuing the legacy of Moon Cresta (1980) and Terra Cresta (1985), and centers gameplay around the series’ docking feature, elevating it to a core gameplay element to create a shooting game with a focus on freedom,” it said.

“This game will also be the first title in PlatinumGames’ new brand, the Neo-Classic Arcade series. Stay tuned for more games in the series, in which the essential fun and spirit of classic games will be polished with modern technology and skill.”

Sol Cresta was ‘announced’ last year on April Fool’s Day as the third game in the Cresta series of shoot ’em ups (following 1980’s Moon Cresta and 1985’s Terra Cresta).

The joke was the fourth and seemingly final announcement on the studio’s Platinum Four website, which promised four big announcements, but was widely believed to be an April Fool’s joke, especially when a fifth ‘Bonus Stage’ announcement was added after it was published.

However, earlier this week Platinum published another trailer that appeared to show legitimate gameplay footage, in collaboration with Hamster (who have owned the Terra Cresta IP since 2013 after it acquired the entire library of Japanese studio Nichibutsu).

The ‘Platinum Four’ marketing campaign kicked off at the start of 2020, promising four big announcements. The first was the crowdfunding campaign for The Wonderful 101: Remastered, which went on to raise some $2.1m / £1.7m.

In February 2020 Platinum followed up its Kickstarter with the announcement of Project G.G. (working title) from director Hideki Kamiya, described as PlatinumGames’ “first fully owned and self-published title.”

Project G.G.’s announcement arrived in conjunction with the third piece of news: a new Tokyo-based PlatinumGames studio.