Nintendo Switch Remake of 1980s NES Classic Announced for 2027
A Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 remake of a 1980s NES classic has been announced for 2027, meaning it is set to release next year. And early next year, at that. More precisely, the NES remake will arrive on both generations of Nintendo consoles and PC on March 4. It will be available both digitally and physically, but right now there is only word of a Japanese release. The game is likely to come West, but it appears it may not happen in time for this March 4 release. Whatever the case, it is notably a Nintendo console exclusive, because there is also no word of PlayStation or Xbox versions.
Following a pair of nostalgic NES games being stealth-released on modern platforms, NES nostalgics can now anticipate the return of The Portopia Serial Murder Case, which is returning remade as Next: The Portopia Serial Murder Case. This remake is being done by developers Game Studio and Room6, two teams from Japan. Meanwhile, helping bring the remake to market is Japanese publisher G-MODE Corporation.
What makes this detective adventure game particularly noteworthy is the fact that it was created by legendary game creator Yuji Horii. In fact, it was his second game. For those who do not know, Horii is the creator of Dragon Quest, a pioneering RPG series still going strong to this day. The Portopia Serial Murder Case notably served as the basis for Dragon Quest, and notably inspired fellow Japanese legendary developers such as Hideo Kojima and Eiji Aonuma. To this end, it’s an important release itself. The original was notably published by Enix before it merged with Square and became known as Square Enix. It is unclear if Square Enix retains the IP and has licensed it out or what has happened with its ownership. Whatever the case, it is not publicly involved with this remake.
A Pioneering Adventure Game
Unfortunately, not only is the remake currently limited to Japan, but there will be no English language option for those who wish to import it or access it with a Japanese PSN account. That said, this isn’t too surprising considering the original was never released outside of Japan. With the Japanese games market dramatically shrunken since then, though, and with more and more hunger in the West for Japanese games, it’s surprising this isn’t coming West, at least at launch.
For those unfamiliar with the game, it was actually a PC-6001 game at launch, in 1983. In 1985, though, it was ported to the NES, where it gained traction and became known as the classic masterpiece it is known as today. It was also notably the console’s very first adventure game.