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The Japanese independent developer BeXide today announced plans to port KAZe Co., Ltd.'s 1995 pinball classic, Digital Pinball: Last Gladiators, to Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, PC, and Mac later this year, with a new online ranking feature (h/t: 4Gamer/@denfaminicogame).
Digital Pinball: Last Gladiators is one of many pinball simulators developed by KAZe in the '90s, alongside its sequel, Necronomicon, and earlier Super Famicom/SNES games like Super Pinball: Behind the Mask and Super Pinball 2: The Amazing Odyssey.
The game was directed by former Namco composer and KAZe's head of development, Norio Nakagata, who counted himself among the "pinball generation" and wanted to find a way "to bring pinball into the home," and was notable for including FMV visuals and audio created overseas to appeal to a Western market, where pinball was more popular.
The American hard rock guitarist Doug Aldrich, for instance, who was then known primarily for his involvement in bands like Lion and Bad Moon Rising, is credited as one of the game's music producers responsible for its heavy metal soundtrack, alongside Emi Akimoto and Yusuke Takahama (the latter of whom composed the soundtrack alongside Naoto Shibata).
The theme of the original game, according to Nakagata, was "a battle between interdimensional warriors," with the title including four tables in total. These include a Roman-themed setting, a scene depicting a knight of roses and a princess, another based on a battle in the "Eastern world", and a final table modelled after an interdimensional being named Warlock.
According to the developers, this new version of the game will not be emulation-based but will instead be ported from the source code for the 1997 update Ver9.7, which KAZe seems to have miraculously held on to. Some of the major additions, as stated in the announcement, will be online rankings and "optimised controls".
No release date was shared, but the game is set to be playable at BitSummit PUNCH, an event taking place at the Kyoto International Exhibition Hall in the Miyako Messe convention center from May 22nd to 24th. Those who try the game will get an original postcard as a gift.
A Steam page is also now live, which you can wishlist here.