If you’re anything like me, you’ve been whining about the lack of new Shining Force strategy games for years. If you’re anything like Brazilian programmer Renato Bittencourt, you decided to do something about it.
Of course, just saying you’re going to revive Sega’s long-forgotten series is one thing. Renato however, has been working on his project for more than a year, adding new “graphics, music, characters, secrets, and more,” according to Tiny Cartridge, and has just released a video documenting his progress.
Honestly there’s something about the main theme song that doesn’t sit right with me — it totally fits the series and the game and the setting, but something just seems slightly off — but otherwise this looks like the faithful work of a man who knows the game inside and out. Even the icons blink at the appropriate speed!
Sadly, you should probably not get your hopes up for the remake to ever appear on U.S. shores. Sega will most likely come down like a bag of lawyers on Bittencourt’s head the moment they hear of this. His being in Brazil will likely protect him from being sued into the Stone Age, but it may very well prevent his project from reaching the audience that Sega is seemingly happy to neglect.
