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Riqa, an action-adventure game developed and teased 25 years ago, comes to you on a time machine.
Riqa, an action-adventure game initially teased 25 years ago, is finally playable despite never having been officially released.
Ten Shu, one of the original game designers from the now-defunct UK developer, Bits Studios, has brought this long-lost game back to the community. In a video guide, he explained how to play Riqa on a PC using an emulator.
Riding the wave of Tomb Raider and Perfect Dark's success in the late 90s, Bits Studios sought to create its unique spin on the "third-person action-puzzler" genre with Riqa. According to PC Gamer, Nintendo, the slated publisher for the game, even showcased it at E3 in 1999. However, despite the initial excitement, Riqa remained in the prototype stage. After facing multiple delays, the game was ultimately canceled.
The game is akin to the style of Tomb Raider but with an anime twist. Despite being initially promoted as a striking new adventure by Nintendo, it quickly faded from the public eye, and the reasons behind it remained a mystery for years.
Over the years, Ten Shu has uploaded a series of videos on YouTube showcasing various builds of the game. He has also made ROMs of these builds available on the Internet Archive, preserving a piece of gaming history.
Now, it's back. Despite not being a complete game, it offers nostalgic gamers and curious newcomers a chance to experience a piece of Nintendo's history and the appeal of classic games.
Here's gameplay footage for you to take a look at. Just a gentle reminder: it's not that your computer's audio card is broken. The audio is indeed coming from only one track.
According to a report on Time Extension, Ten Shu has written a letter about the release:
"Hi,
From 97 to 2001 I worked at a company called Bits Studio.
This company made a lot of unrelease N64 games. (most of those game will end up becoming gamecube/ps2 games few years later)
Few years ago I ve released the unfinished DieHard64 Roms
I think its time people got a test of the Riqa another unreleased game for the n64.
I ve uploaded the 4 last build in a zip files you can all download and try.
The game work in some emulator. it also work on a N64 with an everdrive. I have lot more build of the game but i figured those 4 are probably the most interesting.
One important thing. you need to have 2 controller to play the game. controller 2 is used to open the menu and select a level.
The 4 build in the rar files are the last build made of the game for the n64 before it get cancelled and the team reassigned to Diehard and Thieveworld(RogueOps).
There not much of a completed game here, but there level you can visit, sometime enemies you can kill and button you can press, cut scene and stuff like that. each build as different stage you can explore.
enjoy
Tenshu."
If you are the same as me, and just curious about what game it is, don't hesitate to give it a try following the tutorial in Ten Shu's video. Also don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.