Update #2 [Thu 22nd Aug, 2024 16:30 BST]: The Cho Aniki Collection will launch this December, in Japan, according to the official Twitter account for the game.
As we've mentioned before, the game was subject to a crowdfunding campaign on the Japanese website Makuake to help bring the project to life. This campaign included a bunch of tiers offering digital codes for the Nintendo Switch, as well as the option to pick up various other pieces of Cho Aniki merchandise like acrylic stands, bath towels, t-shirts, and CDs.
After a month of being live, the campaign successfully ended up raising ¥11,368,000 to help fund the costs of development (more than double its initial target of ¥5,000,000) and it is now scheduled for a December 12th release date.
As well as a digital version of the game, the game's twitter account has announced that it will also be receiving two physical versions for Nintendo Switch, which are currently available to pre-order from Amazon Japan.
This will include a standard copy of the game (priced at ¥7480), as well as a Special Edition (costing ¥16,280), containing a soundtrack CD, a pin-set, and hologram stickers.
Update #1 [Wed 17th Jul, 2024 14:15 BST]: We now have a little more information on the upcoming Cho Aniki comeback.
According to the Japanese website 4Gamer, the new collection will feature the two PC Engine tiles Cho Aniki and Ai Cho Aniki, and is being developed with the Nintendo Switch in mind. It is being crowdfunded on the Japanese website Makuake, with the campaign scheduled to go live in the next few days on July 19th.
No release date has been given yet, but we'll keep an eye out for any new information as it arrives.
Original Story [Wed 10th Jul, 2024 14:25 BST]: Masaya's infamously homoerotic shmup series Cho Aniki ("Super Big Brother") is getting revived, presumably as a collection of games.
Posting on Twitter, a new account named Cho Aniki COLLECTION claims that "ANIKI is coming back" and that "a new project [is] coming soon."
The first game in the series, Cho Aniki, was released on the PC Engine in 1992 and would be followed by the sequel Ai Cho Aniki. Subsequent entries would be released for the Super Famicom, PS1, Saturn, WonderSwan and PS2.
Each game is filled with camp imagery and muscle-bound, near-naked men, as well as other unusual imagery. Bold musclemen Samson and Adon are considered to be the series' main characters, but several other playable protagonists are present throughout the franchise.
Here's the complete series so far:
- Cho Aniki / Super Big Brother (PC Engine, 1992)
- Ai Cho Aniki / Love Super Big Brother (PC Engine, 1995)
- Cho Aniki Bakuretsu Ranto-hen / Super Big Brother: Exploding Brawl (Super Famicom, 1995)
- Cho Aniki: Kyuukyoku Muteki Ginga Saikyou Otoko / Super Big Brother - The Ultimate, Most Powerful Man in the Milky Way (PS1 / Saturn, 1995 / 1996)
- Cho Aniki: Otoko no Tamafuda / Super Big Brother: Spirit Man Tag (WonderSwan, 2000)
- Cho Aniki: Seinaru Protein Densetsu / Super Big Brother: Legend of the Holy Protein (PS2, 2003)
- Cho Aniki Zero (PSP, 2009)
There have also been three mobile phones games – i (Ai) Chō Aniki: Gekiretsu Nawatobi-hen, Chō Aniki: Kan's (Menzu) Bouringu!! and Cho Aniki Dance.
Due to this, the series has remained something of a Japanese exclusive, although its fame has spread globally. In its native Japan, Cho Aniki titles are referred to as "baka-ge", meaning "idiot game".
Extreme Co., Ltd. is the current rights holder, as it hoovered up the IP of publisher NCS Corp. and Masaya some time ago.