Dark Void Gets Faux-Retro Prequel

It even has some fake-old box art to go with it.

I love a good, fake story. Capcom's telling a really nice one with the announcement of Dark Void Zero, which is under development at Other Ocean and scheduled for release on DSiWare in January. The game is an 8-bit-styled faux-throwback (fauxback?), designed to make it seem like the real Dark Void, also scheduled for release in January, is really an update to an old NES game that never saw the light of day.

The in-game story of Dark Void Zero will have you in the role of Randy, the first human born in the Void. You'll fight the same Watchers that Will Grey fights in the proper Dark Void, and you'll also receive some assistance from Nikola Tesla. The game will contain three levels, which sounds like just enough to make the joke work.

The out-of-game story claims that the game was originally in development for Nintendo's first dual-screen hardware, the arcade-based PlayChoice-10, and that it was viewed as a combination of Section Z's simple flying-and-shooting gameplay with Mega Man's more advanced level structure. From the looks of the screenshots, you'll have to blow into the DS microphone to "blow the dust off the cartridge" before you can play it. That's a nice, goofy little touch.

Expect to see the game out on a Monday in January for 500 Nintendo Shop points.