At the Tokyo Game Show (TGS2026) held not long ago, I experienced a quite special work-“Yōkai Buster Nabi Nosuke” (Yōkai バスターナビビビビビ).
My first impression of this game can only be described as “familiar”: the vivid pixel graphics, the character design full of personality, and the gameplay with a strong flavor of the GBA era. But after trying it out, I realized that this is not a new game that simply uses retro style as its selling point——
The story of “Yōkai Buster Nabi Nosuke” goes back more than 20 years. Around 2003, the core members who had participated in the development of the “Metal Slug” series left SNK and formed a team to try to make a monster-themed RPG. However, due to various reasons, this game was not officially released, and even the complete game data from that year has been lost.
Many years later, developers who had participated in related projects regrouped and established KOHACHI STUDIO. While working on Black Finger JET, they finally found the opportunity to bring this long-gone work to light.
However, resurrecting a game from more than 20 years ago is not as simple as retrieving the old code. Rebuilding the game from incomplete data and design information, supplementing animation performance, and adjusting the graphics and gameplay for modern devices have all made this remake a long challenge.
At the TGS site, I interviewed KOHACHI STUDIO representative and producer Seki (Seki, HN Ishiguro Nana) and talked about the story behind this game.
The following is the text of the interview
Q1. I actually experienced this game in TGS, and I can clearly feel that this is a game with a very strong flavor of the GBA era. For a game that has been completed but has been dormant for more than 20 years, what is the biggest difficulty in making it available to today’s players again? How does the team decide which parts must be retained and which parts can be modernized?
A：The biggest difficulty in the transplantation process is probably the workload of supplementing animation. Due to the limited hardware capacity of the GBA back then, many animations in the original version were omitted. In order to adapt it to modern devices, we decided to add more frames of animation to these parts, which was a huge amount of work.
As for which areas need to be adjusted and modified, we will not only judge from our own perspective, but also cooperate with many testers to find problems through repeated play. Everyone will continue to discuss what kind of balance a modern game should have, and gradually improve the work during these discussions and adjustments.
These discussions and modifications will continue until the official release. We are also very much looking forward to how complete it will be in the end.
Q2. One of the greatest pleasures of this game is discovering and collecting various monsters, and different monsters have their own attributes and skills. When designing these more than 200 types of monsters, does the team start from Japanese monster legends and then design the abilities and characters in the game, or does the team create monsters based on the needs of the combat system?
A：Many of the monsters that appear in the game were conceived from folklore. Of course, there are also cases where the script is completed first and then suitable monsters are selected to join the game according to the needs of the plot.
Q3. The game is clearly set in an imaginary ancient Japan, but during the actual trial, I could see some very modern and even absurd elements. This contrast gives the game a very unique atmosphere. Is this world view of “anything from any era can be included” a design policy determined from the beginning?
A：This is an imaginary ancient Japan. In other words, it can also be understood as a science fiction world.
This worldview is full of planner Akio’s unique and free ideas. It’s not so much that it follows a strict era background, but it’s a world that can accommodate various elements, and it’s pretty much stuffed with things they like.
Q4. The world view of this game is very unique. At first glance, people may think that the story takes place in ancient times, but in fact there are modern things such as telephone booths and cars. Is this design that blends old and new just to fit in with the nonsensical style of the game? How do you choose these ancient and modern elements when creating?
A：This world view that interweaves the old and new eras is actually a form of expression that often appeared in many animations that the planner Akio watched when he was a child.
Therefore, rather than saying that this is an idea that came up after special conception, it is better to say that it is a world view that was naturally born from the era and environment in which the creator grew up.
Q5. The pixel art of this game is very distinctive. It not only retains the texture of the GBA era, but also shows that the team has made some modern adjustments to the picture performance, and even some very exaggerated performances. What aspects does the team pay most attention to when expressing themselves in art? Did you encounter any technical difficulties?
A：If the game is completely kept as it was in the GBA era, problems such as text being difficult to read may occur, which will affect the actual gaming experience. Therefore, we have re-tuned these sections for modern devices.
Our development policy is: Even if a certain picture looks completely fine on the GBA screen, if it looks rough on modern devices or affects the viewing experience, we will modify it.
Q6. This game has chosen a very detailed retro pixel graphics style. Apart from the fact that the production team is good at pixel art, is there any other special reason for choosing this style?
A：Although it seems like a retro style now, when this game was developed in 2003, it was the GBA era. At that time, choosing pixel art as the art style of the game was almost an inevitable choice.
Q7. Although this game has the element of collecting monsters, judging from the trial play, the collection itself is not the end. The attributes, skills and combinations of different monsters will affect the actual battle. How did the team consider the relationship between the fun of collecting and combat strategy when designing this system? For players, do you want them to be more inclined to cultivate their own favorite monsters, or to constantly try different combinations of monsters?
A：What we value most is, of course, allowing players to cultivate their favorite monsters and have fun doing so. However, we also consciously included the fun of trying different gameplay after acquiring new monsters during production. Thinking about how monsters with various characteristics should be combined is part of the fun of the game.
On the other hand, for those players who find it troublesome to research monster combinations, we also hope that they can progress through the game smoothly even without spending too much effort on research. So we’re always trying to find a balance between the two.
Q8. Is it possible to conquer the same monster repeatedly in the game? Are there similar differences in individual values between monsters of the same species? Are there any special individual monsters with a very low occurrence rate, such as Pokémon of different colors similar to Pokémon?
A：First of all, the game’s system settings do not allow players to accept multiple identical monsters as partners. There are indeed numerical differences between different individuals, but we deliberately did not include the function of viewing these specific values in the game.
In addition, although there are no different-colored versions of monsters prepared, there are indeed several rare monsters in the game that are very difficult to find.
Q9. As a game that has been resurrected after more than 20 years, how did the development team feel during the development process? Did you encounter any unexpected difficulties? Can you share with us your experience of relaunching this work?
A：When we were still working for SNK (then SNK Playmore), several seniors, who were members of the “Metal Slug” team, revealed a past incident to me. They told me: “In fact, after we completed the development of “Metal Slug 3″, all the staff moved to another company and stayed there for a few years to produce an RPG game, but due to various reasons, it was not released in the end.”
At that time, they also showed me the plan for “Nabi Nosuke”. It was a very charming proposal. After reading it, I wanted to play the game myself no matter what. But unfortunately, the seniors no longer have the game data to play, so my wish has never been realized.
After leaving SNK, this wish has always remained in my heart. I’ve been looking for opportunities to find ways to bring Nabi Nosuke back to life. Just like that, 20 years flew by. Looking back, I discovered that most of those seniors had already left SNK. I feel very sad when I think that I may never have the opportunity to play the games they made again.
So, I founded KOHACHI STUDIO with the goal of producing “Black Finger JET”, the spiritual sequel to “Metal Slug”. Fortunately, we also managed to reunite the core members of the Metal Slug team.
I feel that now is the time to revive “Nabi Nosuke”.
In order to be able to see this dream game that I have always missed, I asked many people in the industry for advice and continued to look for opportunities to contact the copyright holders of “Nabi Nosuke”. After finally contacting the other party’s key figures, they learned that the game data that had been completed that year had been abandoned and could not be retrieved. All that remains now are some incomplete and scattered data and incomplete design drawings.
However, the developers back then are now in KOHACHI STUDIO. In this case, we will recreate the missing parts. In this way, after an extremely painstaking effort, “Nabi Nosuke” was finally resurrected in modern times.
Of course, this process is far from as simple as imagined. We spent a lot of energy just to turn the originally incomplete data into a game that can be played normally. In addition, we also decided to add a lot of animations when resurrecting the work, so remaking these animations became a very hard work during the development process.
After experiencing all this, “Nabi Nosuke” finally has the opportunity to meet players again. However, the team members back then actually had a lot of uneasiness: after all, this was a game produced in 2003. More than 20 years have passed. Will the creativity and content at that time still be recognized by players today?
But from my own experience after actually playing it from the perspective of a modern player, I think this work has many charms that will not fade with the times, including exquisite pixel graphics, and game design that can transcend generations and make people feel interesting.
There is another thing that impressed me deeply. Friends who had participated in the test play of “Nabi Nosuke” externally back then suddenly came to BitSummit’s “Nabi Nosuke” booth and experienced the game personally. After the trial, he told us: “I am really happy to be able to play this game that has always been in my heart again. All the past memories have come back, and some of the shortcomings in the work back then have now been strengthened.”
We are very happy to hear such comments. Currently, “Nabi Nosuke” is still in the development stage. As long as time allows, we will continue to work hard to improve the quality of our work. Now, we feel confident about the game.
Q10. Finally, is there anything you would like to say to the players who are following “Yōkai Buster Nabi Nosuke”?
A：Many monsters with rich personalities will appear in “Yōkai Buster Nabi Nosuke”.
In addition to the fun of recruiting monsters as partners, forming your own team, and embarking on adventures, I believe everyone can also discover the unique characteristics of our team in the game’s plot, characters, pixel animation, and music. I hope everyone can pay attention to these contents and enjoy the game.
During the process of this remake, we have always cherished the charm of the original game, and we also hope to make it an independent game that modern players can fully enjoy. Therefore, we are constantly making improvements and continuing development work.
“Nabi Nosuke” is a work produced by the SNK seniors whom I personally respect the most. Because of this, we hope that while valuing the hard work they put into this game, we can also shoulder the responsibility and deliver this work to players around the world.
After an unimaginably long time, we have finally reached the stage where we can let everyone play the game in person. The entire team will work hard until the last moment to complete it. I hope everyone can look forward to “Yōkai Buster Nabi Nosuke”!
In addition, we plan to display the trial version of this game at the WePlay Expo held in Hall 2.2 of the Shanghai National Exhibition and Convention Center from November 21 to 22, 2026. Limited gifts have also been prepared on site. I hope you will have the opportunity to experience it!
