Galaxy Guns in Development for Neo-Geo MVS/AES

Developer Chips on Steroids recently began development on their latest title, Galaxy Guns, for the Neo-Geo MVS/AES, according to a recent update from news source Arcade Belgium.

“I am going to explore the theme of anime sci-fi of the ‘80s,” said developer Cedric Jules. “I love this theme and it fits very well with both the restrictions and advantages of the Neo-Geo hardware.

A concept trailer showing off the game’s visual style was released May 23. It appears that the sprites are prerendered 3D models, a la Donkey Kong Country. This demo purportedly doesn’t run on Neo-Geo hardware, but it “respects the hardware restrictions,” such as sprite size, resolution, and color maps.

The AES cover art was also released, revealing that the game will support up to four players. The size of the software has seemingly not yet been determined, instead listed as “XXX megs.”

Chips on Steroids is best known for their previous work on Neotris, a four-player “Tetris-like” released for Neo-Geo in 2019

“I did many video games or demos in the past, doming game design documents before starting production, then programming with mock-up assets and finally the art,” Jules said. “But this time it is different—I have a different approach—starting with concept art.

“So I am going to produce art (spaceships, mechas, backgrounds...) for several weeks, and also start to think about the story. The game design and programming will come after.”

Arcade Belgium reports that development began “one week ago,” so it should come as no surprise that details on Galaxy Guns will be sparse until a playable demo is released "by September."

“All I can say is I am open to all ideas. For example, I would be very happy to mix shmup and run-n-gun in the same game,” Jules added.

Come back to the Wilcox Arcade blog—or join my Discord server—for the latest updates on Galaxy Guns and other upcoming arcade games.