Former Sony indie boss Shuhei Yoshida as revealed during a chat with VGC that the format holder was working on a PSVR revival of Jumping Flash, but the project was ultimately cancelled.
Yoshida-san, who departed Sony back in January after more than 30 years with the PlayStation manufacturer, revealed that the company had considered resurrecting a number of classic franchises with VR technology that had been on ice for some time. This was prior to the likes of Patapon and Everybody’s Golf re-emerging, and at one point included Jumping Flash being given the VR treatment before it was cancelled.
Some developers wanted to license Jumping Flash to develop it into a part of their new VR game,” Yoshida said, stopping short of revealing which developer was working on the game. One of the ones that actually happened was that the original creator of Fantavision asked for the license and remade it in VR.
Related Content — Upcoming PS5 Games 2025: The Best PS5 Games Coming Soon
Jumping Flash was released for the PlayStation back in 1995 and was developed by Exact and Ultra. The game takes place from a first-person viewpoint and sees players controlling a robotic rabbit, Robbit, as he navigates various locations in the Crater Planet to retrieve jet pods scattered by the game’s Big Bad, Baron Aloha, and save the world.
Jumping Flash is considered one the earliest pioneers of 3D graphics on home consoles, with players able to freely move in three-dimensional space and manipulate the camera to their liking — elements that have long since become industry standards.
Since departing Sony, Yoshida has given a wide range of interviews touching on a multitude of topics, including as-yet unannounced PS6, where he said that a 2028 release for the console ‘feels right.’ Yoshida also said that Soul Sacrifice 2 and Freedom Wars 2 were in the works before Sony shifted gears to the PS4.
[Source – VGC]