When you're an indie dev, it can help to get your game on as many platforms as possible. Without the triple A advertising money, getting as many eyes on your work can go a long way. Now, one team is taking that mindset to heart, and releasing on a console that most players have probably got lying around the house.
Goodboy Galaxy is an upcoming Metroid-inspired platformer coming to PC, Nintendo Switch... and Game Boy Advance. That's right, a game announced in 2021 is heading over to the GBA, so you better go and dust yours off for that authentic early 2000s experience.
As spotted by NintendoLife, Goodboy Galaxy's Kickstarter is live and has already raised £59,045, smashing its goal of £18,000 with a whole month to spare. There's a public demo on the Kickstarter page for anyone on the fence, wondering what a GBA game developed two decades after the console's launch would look like.
Of course, this isn't a GBA exclusive title. Ports are also coming to both PC and Switch, and the Kickstarter has a stretch goal of having these be the enhanced editions of the game, making the most of the improved hardware.
The developers describe Goodboy Galaxy as being like "Cave Story, or a cuter Metroid", and it's easy to see why. Playing as the main character, a dog called Maxwell, you explore levels with multiple routes and even make friends along the way. The game's plot is described as follows:
"With his homeworld on the brink of ecological collapse, Maxwell bravely hopped into his experimental ship in dogged pursuit of a solution. Beyond the point of no return, holding out forlorn hope, he finds himself stranded - thousands of lightyears from home, at the edge of a hostile galaxy. Help Maxwell explore unfamiliar worlds, make strange new friends and contend with mysterious forces."
The PC and GBA version of Goodboy Galaxy has an expected delivery date of December 2022. The Switch version is planned for March 2023.