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The Binding of Isaac Getting 16-Bit Console Makeover

Local co-op, new visuals, yet another expansion planned for "Rebirth."

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Even though Team Meat is actively working on it second game, we have not seen the end of The Binding of Isaac, Edmund McMillen’s roguelike-inspired, religion-parodying surprise success story. At the end of a Gamasutra postmortem on the game, McMillen revealed he’d signed a deal with Nicalis to “remake” the game for consoles.

The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth will sport 16-bit visuals, a second expansion that wasn't technically possible in Flash, and local co-op.

“I love consoles as much as the next guy, but dealing with the business end of console development wasn't something I wanted to dive back into at this point,” said McMillen.

The Binding of Isaac was not a Team Meat game, and created in the span of three months after Super Meat Boy.

Team Meat was publicly critical of Microsoft after the release of Super Meat Boy on Xbox Live Arcade, and for a while it sounded like the duo might not deal with consoles ever again.

McMillen, one half of Team Meat, told Nicalis he wanted nothing to do with the business deals, and just have the opportunity make the game he wanted to make. Nicalis agreed to McMillen’s demands.

“The Binding of Isaac was a huge personal achievement,” he said. “I was able to talk about something personal and meaningful in a way I felt comfortable with, and I was able to get my feet in the water with the roguelike formula and random generation.”

It’s unclear what consoles The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth might come out on, but the original game was famously rejected from appearing on 3DS because of its religious content, and McMillen hopes the updated art style might change that. All platforms are on the table at the moment, including an iPad version if it makes sense.

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82 Comments

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Thejugglingbum

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Edited By Thejugglingbum

I played Binding of Isaac for 377 hours according to Steam.

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Y2Ken

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Edited By Y2Ken

I've played over 100 hours of BoI, and I'm still totally up for the remake. Will be interesting to play with a controller. I've watched a streamer called LethalFrag who switched to controller after having problems with his wrists using the keyboard, and he still managed to get over 100 mom kills in a row without dying. So it's definitely still a viable control method.

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JJOR64

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Edited By JJOR64

Loved the original game. Will get the remake for sure.

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LiquidPenguins

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Edited By LiquidPenguins

isn't that game made by the guy that complained about how programming is like "living in a fucking concentration camp" in that pretentious indie movie

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Winternet

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Edited By Winternet

This is great news. More people should experience the awesome that is Binding Of Isaac.

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NeoCalypso

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Edited By NeoCalypso

@LiquidPenguins: Aren't you that guy who can't take a joke?

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strings19

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Edited By strings19

This game was my Summer Jam of 2012. So simple, but the variety keeps it from getting old. But, I can't play as Blue Baby anymore. It doesn't feel right with my own little Isaac sleeping in the next room.

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BlackLagoon

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Edited By BlackLagoon

@bushlemon said:

Would work great on the vita. But that probably won't happen

Actually, PS3 and Vita versions have been confirmed.

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Pop

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Edited By Pop

It's one of my favorite games ever, the amount of items in that game is freaking crazy. I love this game so much!! I hope it will do great on consoles.

edit: Holy crap they're making it for steam too? AMAZING!! he answers a lot of questions on his blog

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Ghostiet

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Edited By Ghostiet

My GOTY 2011 gets an ever more expanded release? What's the release date? Tell me now. Now.

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wyndhydra

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Edited By wyndhydra

Awesome, those new graphics look hot. Like everyone else I hope they improve the controls by adding 8-axis aiming.

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Althox

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Edited By Althox

Big thumbs up for more content and upgraded version! Love the game!!

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CarlosTheDwarf

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Edited By CarlosTheDwarf

Can't wait! I'll pick it up for PS3.

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VargasPrime

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Edited By VargasPrime

Man, I really hope that someone comes to their senses and this makes it to the 3DS eShop.

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kindgineer

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Edited By kindgineer

I hope they aren't (too) burned from the whole Microsoft incident, and I also hope Microsoft doesn't make the same mistake twice. After watching the Indie movie, though, "half" of that team seems like someone who makes rash decisions and doesn't really think before he leaps.

We'll see, though. Hopefully it'll be a better, less laggy, and improved controls version.

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Cubidog1

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Edited By Cubidog1

It took me more than 150 hours to S rank this. I would not want to do this again. I'll pay for the DLC on the PC. Please let it be out on PC. The PC players are the reason this is possible. Having to pay to update the game on XBOX will not appease to Ed. Please let the update come to PC.

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l3illyl3ob

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Edited By l3illyl3ob

Ugh, Nicalis, really? After they've butchered Cave Story in a dozen different ways, I'm surprised they're still getting work.

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Undeadpool

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Edited By Undeadpool

@CH3BURASHKA: Not sure how long I've been smashing against it. I can pretty consistently GET to the last level, but I usually die on the way to Mom. I've started consistently using Maggie with the most success.

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Hawker

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Edited By Hawker

Please piss off with this 16-bit shit, the original had a little something called an art style, why ruin it with more of this wannabe retro bullshit that indie games already overuse FAR too much?

No doubt the great soundtrack is probably going to be replaced with frigging chiptunes as well.

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andrewtr

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Edited By andrewtr

Just got platinum god today. Good news, can't wait for the re/de make.

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Ghostiet

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Edited By Ghostiet

@Undeadpool said:

@CH3BURASHKA: Not sure how long I've been smashing against it. I can pretty consistently GET to the last level, but I usually die on the way to Mom. I've started consistently using Maggie with the most success.

Cain/Judas is the way. Cain is fairly quick and prevents you from getting fucked by pills and floor curses, Judas does so much damage that if you're lucky and pick up Polyphemus/Max's Head or other damage increaser you are almost unstoppable.

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wolf_blitzer85

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Edited By wolf_blitzer85
@MrKlorox said:

@wolf_blitzer85 said:

@wemibelec90 said:

@Nightriff said:

If it controls better on a console I might pick it up, I loved the concept of the game but man did the controls just not work for me.

It was how the game was designed. You could only fire in the four cardinal directions, even if you plugged in a gamepad. The only way that would change is if he went in and changed it. It might make the game a bit easier, though.

You could use the number pad to shoot 8-way.  Anyway anything more of this game is fine with me.
You could? I've never seen that before. In my experience, firing diagonally has always been done by moving Isaac one way and shooting in an adjacent direction, thanks to the physics keeping the inertia in tact.
It's not listed anywhere in the game, but yeah it totally works. If you map the 8 directions of the number pad to a right analog stick, the game pretty much plays like a dual joystick shooter. A really hard one at that. I still think four-way shooting is the proper way to experience the game though. 
 
Edit: Okay I loaded it up and checked it out again. It doesn't seem to work anymore, but I could have sworn that I played it this way a few times just to try it out.
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MrKlorox

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Edited By MrKlorox
@wolf_blitzer85: Yeah I tried it myself last night and could only get the 4 cardinal directions working, and only once I disabled numlock. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a release with 8 directions working via the numpad, considering just how many times they release tiny updates. However I would be shocked if it was something they decided to keep in this version. I feel like it would make the game much easier, which would be a nono for a game designed to be really difficult.
 
But since he's developing an entirely rebalanced remake meant to be able to played with a modern dual analog controller, I could see some of these things changing when you design around something other than a standard keyboard.
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sjschmidt93

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Edited By sjschmidt93

I'd just like to take this chance to tell everyone who has not played this game to go buy it now. It is a masterpiece and a huge time sink.

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laserbolts

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Edited By laserbolts

This comes to XBLA and I'll definetly buy it.

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siaynoq

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Edited By siaynoq

@andrewtr:

I could never get Platinum God for some reason. I had read a bunch of forums saying it was hard to get due to buginess in the the game.

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siaynoq

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Edited By siaynoq

@Nightriff: I got that game mapped perfectly to my Xbox controller. It's a sheer joy to play it on too. Over 200 hours logged!

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Dan_CiTi

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Edited By Dan_CiTi
@l3illyl3ob said:

Ugh, Nicalis, really? After they've butchered Cave Story in a dozen different ways, I'm surprised they're still getting work.

Huh? Last time I checked most people like Cave Story Plus. 
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jaytee00

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Edited By jaytee00

Why 16-bit graphics? This game's got a great visual style, why remake it low-fi?

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Pablo_biffy

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Edited By Pablo_biffy

Co-op sounds like fun.

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Ultimate_Finale

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Edited By Ultimate_Finale

Great news. Absolutely loved the original and will gladly pay for a re-make and anything else that comes after it.

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andrewtr

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Edited By andrewtr

@siaynoq: It's difficult but that didn't have to do with bugs for me. A couple of the secrets you need to get are random chance. Especially the "get these four items in a single run" ones.