So, here’s a little tidbit that got my brain buzzing and I can’t really shake it off. Shuhei Yoshida, yeah the ex-PlayStation bigwig, spilled some beans about this VR version of Jumping Flash they almost cooked up — and by “almost” I mean it kinda just fizzled out before really lighting up. Got this from a chat he had with VGC. You know, those moments when you’re all set to dive into a story and then the plot just vanishes? Yep, that.
Yoshida, who was running the show at PlayStation Studios, or whatever they’re christening it these days, talked about this experiment with licensing old games for VR before they dove into the modern stuff. Jumping Flash, remember that quirky 1995 platformer by Exact and Ultra? Well, it was on the table, kinda. He didn’t really name-drop which devs were involved or when the plug was pulled. Just said some folks were all jazzed about bringing Jumping Flash into the VR realm. I mean, can you imagine hopping in VR like a freaking robot rabbit? Wild, if you ask me.
But hey, while Jumping Flash couldn’t get its act together for VR, Fantavision 202X somehow wormed its way through the chaos. This throwback to the puzzle game scene from the dark corners of PlayStation Japan Studio’s past popped up as a PS VR2 launch title. Ended up on Steam too. Cosmo Machia whipped it up with some VR magic sprinkled in — but honestly, who would’ve thought a puzzle game would rise from the ashes like that?
Anyway — ah, see, I’m drifting again. Yoshida, even after waving goodbye to Sony, just can’t quit the VR beat. He did say, in this interview with Kinda Funny, that he was wrong about PS VR2, but still gushed about games like Synapse and Before Your Eyes. We even caught him at Summer Game Fest, hanging with nDreams and cheering on their new gig, Reach. He’s this VR cheerleader now, I guess. Funny where life takes you.
