Rodea the Sky Soldier looked promising upon its announcement in 2011, showcasing NiGHTS-style gameplay in a rich, lively world. Aiming for a release on both Wii and 3DS, Sonic creator Yuji Naka's project with new development team Prope (responsible for Let's Tap, Ivy the Kiwi?, and most recently Digimon All-Star Rumble) sadly faded into obscurity and was thought by many to be dead.
Fast forward to 2014, and this week's Famitsu has confirmed that Rodea is still being released, albeit in a slightly different form. While still heading towards 3DS, the Wii version has become a Wii U version; the development team also appears to have changed, with Yuji Naka seemingly leaving the team, Yoshimi Yasuda (former CEO of Tecmo) joining as producer, and previous producer Zin Hasegawa filling Naka's directorial role.
As the scans are still incoming, little information is known on the game. However, one thing that is apparent is that the game's bosses will be huge, with many being hundreds of times the size of titular Rodea himself. The three characters revealed in the original 2011 trailer (Rodea, Ion, and Cecilia) are also still present, although little else about them has been confirmed.
Another tidbit is that the Wii version of the game, development for which was reportedly completed over a year ago, will be included as a pack-in with the first print of the Wii U edition.
Rodea the Sky Soldier is reportedly 85% complete and will release in Spring 2015 in Japan. No Western release is currently confirmed, but while waiting, why not check out the original trailer?