Rygar: The Battle of Argus

Tecmo are going through some tough times at the moment. Tomonobu Itagaki, the former head of Team Ninja and company’s most recognizable face has left the company and is suing Tecmo for unpaid bonuses and emotional distress. Other company members have also threatened to litigate over similar claims. The greatly enhanced port of the PS2’s action title was never the highest profile release within the company, so where exactly does all this acrimony leave the shield throwing, kilt wearing hero?

It seems the biggest threat to this game comes from the unrest at Tecmo, rather than any specific problems with its development. The original reason for a port as opposed to an original Wii game was to minimize risk; development could focus on using the Wii remote and Nunchuck properly without the burden of coming up with a new concept and scenario. Videos and hands-on previews of the game at TGS ‘07 also showed it to be coming along well, to the point where Keisuke Kikuchi stated that the team was mostly focused on maximizing the game’s use of the Wii’s graphics hardware. Scheduled for release in time for the ‘08 holiday season, the game should finally see the light of day unless the situation at Tecmo turns truly dire.

Chances of Release: 70%