Jump to content
N-Europe

Recommended Posts

Posted (edited)

Hot off the heels of River City Girls Zero, Wayforward are delivering another EFIGS localisation for a previously Japanese-only SNES game! This time, it’s the original Clock Tower!

It’s the original SNES ROM translated into EFIGS, NOT a remake! :D

Will be coming out on all current platforms, including Switch.

Retro gaming fans? We eating! :hehe:

Edited by Dcubed
  • Thanks 1
Posted

Interesting piece of history. It's not a title I was ever excited to play, but I do enjoy finding out about games that were odd (that is, unusual) for their time.

  • 8 months later...
Posted

Do we know any more about the release date for this?  I remember seeing clips of this and it looked genuinely creepy.  I’m not sure I’ll get it, but I am interested to find out more.

Posted
2 hours ago, WackerJr said:

Do we know any more about the release date for this?  I remember seeing clips of this and it looked genuinely creepy.  I’m not sure I’ll get it, but I am interested to find out more.

Nope, not yet.  But the original announcement did say “Early 2024”, so they’re not late yet…

  • Thanks 1
  • 5 months later...
Posted (edited)

We have a date! And it's the one you were probably expecting!

October 31st 2024.

https://www.gematsu.com/2024/08/clock-tower-rewind-for-ps5-ps4-and-switch-launches-october-31

Deets on the two versions that are included (the original game translated and unmodified, and another version based on a popular ROM hack called Clock Tower Deluxe).

Quote

About

Turn back the clock for one of the pioneers of the survival-horror genre. Translated and released outside of Japan for the first time, Clock Tower: Rewind is a revival of the terror-inducing 16-bit classic that dares you to explore the haunting confines of the Barrows family manor. As teenage orphan Jennifer, you must search every disturbing corner to find items, reveal secrets, and discover ways to evade Scissorman, a murderous, unstoppable, shears-wielding psychopath.

Play original mode to experience Clock Tower as it was when initially released in 1995, or play enhanced mode with extra content and improvements. Additional features include a new animated intro, opening and ending vocal theme songs, motion-comic cutscenes, creator interview, art gallery, border artwork, save states, and a music player. The clock is ticking…can you survive?

Key Features

  • The Survival-horror Classic
    • Clock Tower, officially translated and brought out of Japan for the first time.
    • Run, hide, and survive as you attempt to evade the psychotic Scissorman.
    • Multiple endings and randomized gameplay elements maximize replayability (and jump scares).
  • New Special Features
    • New animated opening, motion-comic cutscenes, and vocal theme song performed by Mary McGlynn.
    • Atmospheric 2D art, detailed animations, and haunting sound effects augment the tense point-and-click gameplay.
  • Quality-of-life Upgrades
    • Choose from original mode or enhanced mode, which features numerous gameplay additions and quality-of-life refinements.
    • Featuring an art gallery, music player, behind-the-scenes creator interview, save states, and other modern inclusions.

Very nice :)

BTW, Clock Tower Deluxe does include the content from the PS1 port (which will also be included here), so that'll make @V. Amoleo V happy :D

Edited by Dcubed
  • Like 1
  • 3 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

Launch for this has been confirmed as October 29th in America and Europe, a bit ahead of its previously revealed Japanese release date – which is sticking with that spooky October 31st launch! 

 

Edited by Julius
  • Thanks 1
  • 1 month later...
  • 2 months later...
Posted (edited)

So, now that I've finished GAA 1 & 2, it's onto Clock Tower.  You know, only the most Christmassy of games!

Really enjoying it so far! It's so far ahead of its time it's kind of crazy.  You can immediately see how it went on to influence games like Resident Evil (in particular, RE's health system is directly lifted from the original Clock Tower) and it genuinely pulls off a very unsettling atmosphere in the same vein as Dario Argento's films (I do realise that's not a coincidence, you don't need to point it out).

The puzzle and level design makes you think of RE1 right away, albiet from a sidescrolling perspective of course.  While Scissorman of course heralded the Stalker type enemy, which RE would go on to ape with Mr X and Nemesis; though the semi-random nature of Scissorman's encounters here is arguably even more effective than what Capcom pulled off years later.

Yeah, it's clunky in places, and the decision to both make running drain your health and have it take so long to regenerate your health is a bit silly (though the enhanced "Clock Tower Rewind" version actually fixes these issues, I chose to start with the original version), but it offers unsettling atmosphere in spades.  Well worth a play for any fan of traditional survival horror, or just point n' click adventure games in general.

So far I've managed to get one ending... the worst one (which is kind of a joke ending of sorts, you deserve it you monster!), seven more to go!

BTW, while I don't really have any major issues with the port itself (the localisation feels faithful and appropriate, while the emulation quality is fine), I do have one real complaint to make.  The pop-up notifications for when you unlock achievements/gallery photos is really obnoxious, it blocks the entire bloody screen! Why!? That and the new Saturday-Morning-Cartoon animated intro & corny vocal song feel really out of place for what is a fairly straight-laced survival horror game.  Speaking of which...

On 10/29/2024 at 8:19 AM, Dcubed said:

Wonder how long it'll take before someone extracts the ROM for play on real SNES hardware...

... fine.  I'll do it myself!

eddj3cZ.jpeg

 

I do hope that we get the rest of the Clock Tower series (+ Haunting Ground, why not?) released on modern platforms.  Would be nice to play the rest of the series without having to sell an arm and a leg (after cutting them off with scissors).

Edited by Dcubed
  • Like 2
×
×
  • Create New...