C-SMASH VRS

COULD A CULT-FAVOURITE DREAMCAST GAME REALLY BE RE-IMAGINED AS AN ARCADE SPORTS EXPERIENCE BEFITTING THE LATEST IN VR TECHNOLOGY? WE SPEAK TO THE TEAM THAT HAS TAKEN ON THE MIGHTY TASK OF DOING JUST THAT

- NICK THORPE

We’ll be honest, dear reader – if you’d approached us on 1 January 2023 and asked us to place a bet that the cult Dreamcast favourite Cosmic Smash would get a VR revival before the year was out, we’d have advised you to spend your money on magic beans. Although we’re converts to the VR cause and we’re certainly very fond of Sega’s futuristic cross between squash and Breakout, we’d never once imagined combining the two. Yet it’s the kind of idea that makes perfect sense once it’s presented to you, melding the simple appeal of the original with the physicality that makes games like Wii Sports and Beat Saber so much fun.

But who would dare to revive a Japan-only Dreamcast game for PlayStation VR2? Enter Jorg Tittel, a multi-talented individual whose work spans plays, films, videogames and more. Jorg has been a major Sega fan since the mid-Eighties, and wrote for gaming publications including the US Official Dreamcast Magazine to help pay for his studies. “When the Dreamcast was no more, I picked up an issue of Famitsu, and there was a screenshot of a fucking cool-looking game, and it said DC in the article – I don’t read Japanese very well but I knew it was Dreamcast. I had to know what it was, and I imported a copy and I fell in love.” That game was Cosmic Smash, and Jorg has acquired the licence to produce the game from Sega via his new publishing outfit Rapid Eye Movers.