The Paprium saga feels like a tale as old as time now. Initially available to pre-order back in 2017, this Genesis / Mega Drive side-scrolling beat 'em up took years to finish development, only to be released in very small numbers—certainly not enough to cover the pre-order campaign.
Developer WaterMelon Games then launched a crowdfunding campaign in 2022 to bring the game to other formats and raise the cash required to fulfil its outstanding orders, but little has been heard about the venture since—well, nothing positive, at least.
WaterMelon has now issued a new statement via its Patreon, but before you get too excited, it's hardly a groundbreaking announcement.
Hello everyone.
We wish you a good year 2025, there is still time to do so.
Thank you for your patience, there were not much news recently.
Albeit slow, some progress is being made and more news will be issued later on.
Best wishes
WM
Copes of the game do exist—we've got one in the Time Extension office—but it's clear that a lot of people who ordered the game back in 2017 are still waiting for theirs to arrive. Many people have labelled this one of the biggest retro gaming scams ever, with over a million dollars taken and precious little to show for it.
Do you think we'll ever see Paprium get the wide release that was promised? Or are you hoping that the community can dump the ROM eventually? Let us know with a comment.