When WayForward and Limited Run Games announced that they were planning to resurrect the GBA classic Sigma Star Saga earlier this year for GBA, PC, and modern consoles, it attracted a lot of excitement online — especially among those who had previously played the game growing up.
20 years later, fans of the adventure RPG/shoot 'em-up hybrid were finally being given the perfect reason to revisit the beloved title from the developer of Shantae, with the team not only promising to bring the title to a wide range of platforms but fix a bunch of lingering issues and address decades of feedback.
Better yet, all of this would be carried out by a team spearheaded by Matt Bozon (the game's original director) and was being done with the express approval of Bandai Namco — the game's original publisher and current owner of the IP. Recently, at Time Extension, we had the opportunity to put some questions to Bozon about this new release, and inevitably couldn't resist asking him how the studio ended up bringing back the ambitious title and what other WayForward games he'd love to give the DX treatment to. You can read our interview below:
Time Extension: First off, we’re wondering what made you want to bring Sigma Star Saga back? Did you receive much fan demand over the years regarding a rerelease of the game? Or was this more about seeing an opportunity to go back and improve upon what you had already made?
Bozon: In the early 2000s, Sigma Star Saga was a WayForward fan favorite. It was our only GBA-era game to feature completely original characters, concepts, and storyline, and the experimental combination of game genres excited reviewers in 2005 and won several industry awards. So bringing back the game to share it with today’s audience made a ton of sense. At first, this was going to be a re-release of the original, existing version of Sigma Star Saga. But since we’d just brought the GBA team back together to finish Shantae Advance, it was a great chance to crack open the code, fix legacy bugs, and address years of feedback from dedicated fans in hopes of bringing out Sigma Star Saga’s full potential.
Time Extension: There are likely going to be a few people reading this who are unaware of what the story of Sigma Star Saga actually is. Could you potentially talk a little bit about the plot of the game and what they should expect?
Bozon: Sigma Star Saga is an epic space fantasy in which the Earth is at war with a race of humanoid creatures called the Krill. As the lovably dopey Earth pilot Ian Recker, you’re duped into becoming a double agent, enlisting as a soldier in the Krill Empire, and trying to rise up their ranks to gain their trust — in hopes of learning about their world-ending weapon. Recker finds himself fitted with parasitic biotechnology, which allows the player to be pulled into random battles, temporarily becoming the brain of any ship in the alien fleet.
On the ground, players explore a top-view world where they battle monsters, converse with NPCs, and gain new abilities for their human form. Ultimately, Recker struggles to maintain his dual persona, and finds himself in a love triangle with a human scientist, Scarlet, and a hot-headed alien named Psyme. As Ian, the choices the player makes will ultimately put one of the two love interests in danger, and could even spell the end of the world for Earth or the Krill Homeworld. So…don’t mess up!
Time Extension: Sigma Star Saga obviously features a unique mix of shoot ‘em up mechanics and adventure role-playing. What were some of your biggest influences when you were first designing the game pre-2005? And what were some of the main challenges you faced during the original development?
Bozon: The top-view sections are most directly inspired by games like Zelda, Chrono Trigger, and even Disgaea. The side view shmup sections were mostly inspired by Gradius and R-Type. The unusual mash-up of genres was most similar to Zelda II (NES), Gargoyle’s Quest (GB), and, of course, one of my favorites - The Guardian Legend (NES)!
As for challenges, there were quite a few. The game was much larger than previous ones, with more scripted character moments and dialog than we’d tackled before. Testing was also a chore due to the nearly endless number of custom weapon combinations. Beyond that, the game allowed players to be sucked into any ship in the fleet for a random battle - at one of dozens of potential skirmish locations, all using the player’s custom-configured weapons. There was a lot to keep track of!
Time Extension: What has it been like working with the Carbon Engine on this new version of the game? Could you talk us through the process?
Bozon: Since we had the original GBA team back together, we made the improvements directly in the GBA source code, which is why we were able to release Sigma Star Saga DX “reproduction” carts that could function on GBA-compatible systems. Once that was done, we shared the new ROM and plenty of bonus content with LRG, so that it could be brought to modern platforms via Carbon Engine.
Time Extension: We’re curious, how important was it for you to not only bring the game back, but to also release a physical version on a Game Boy Advance cartridge? Whose idea was it?
Bozon: Adam Tierney, who now spearheads WayForward’s business development, found a way to bring back the game in cooperation with Bandai Namco. Bandai Namco now owns the rights to Sigma Star Saga, which we’d originally developed for Namco Hometek as a pseudo-sequel to Star Ixiom/Star Luster. Interestingly, this was the first game that Adam and I worked on together way back in 2004. So we’ve come full circle!
Time Extension: If we’re understanding things properly, the game is going to be released first via Limited Run Games on a cartridge, and will then be released digitally for various platforms.
Bozon: That’s correct - the GBA-compatible cart will come first, followed by the console versions, both physically and digitally.
Time Extension: Are there any other upcoming projects that you can talk about that WayForward is developing? How is Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution coming? Can we expect any news on that game soon?
Bozon: Thanks for asking! We have a lot of exciting projects in the works, based on some of our favorite brands. For now, I’ll have to be vague about those, but please look forward to more info - it will definitely be worth the wait! Regarding Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution, we’re in the home stretch! The carts are in manufacturing, and we’ve received finished production samples of the box, instruction booklet, and cartridges. They look and play amazing! We expect them to ship out very soon! Beyond that, the console port of the new Shantae is also progressing wonderfully.
Time Extension: Are there any other games from WayForward’s back catalogue you’d love to give the DX treatment to?
Bozon: It would most likely be a game that pre-dates updates and patches. I can’t immediately think of another game that would benefit from this level of fine-tuning, other than maybe the original Shantae, which is tough as nails.
Time Extension: Thanks for your time Matt! We appreciate you taking the time out to answer some of our questions.
If you want to pre-order a copy of Sigma Star Saga DX for GBA. Physical editions are now available to pre-order from Limited Run Games until April 6th. They are expected to ship in November, with the digital edition for modern platforms also targeting a release for later this year.