Clockwork Aquario
A lthough technically the third release of a classic Westone title in the last few years – beginning with Lizardcube’s handsome remake of Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap, which was followed by the underwhelming Asha In Monster World – Clockwork Aquario’s development has actually been in the works for even longer. It’s also not a remake but rather a restoration of an early-’90s arcade game that never saw the light of day after poor-performing location tests in Japan led to its cancellation.
Fortunately, unlike the fate suffered by most games of its kind, the original source code wasn’t completely lost. After a decade-long journey that has involved various parties, including designer Ryuichi Nishizawa and other members of the Westone team, arcade porting specialist M2, retro publisher Strictly Limited Games, and renowned emulation programmer Steve Snake, this lost arcade game finally gets its time to shine.