’90s Classic Terminal Velocity Is Getting A Fresh Release Real Soon

’90s Classic Terminal Velocity Is Getting A Fresh Release Real Soon

Here’s a line you probably didn’t expect to read this year: Terminal Velocity, the classic 360-degree shooter from the ‘90s, is getting a re-release.

Terminal Reality, the original developers behind Terminal Velocity and its spiritual successors, Fury3 and Hellbender, have returned to update the original Terminal Velocity with some quality-of-life features for 2023.

It’s not a full remaster like, say, Demon’s Souls, but more of an update similar to Night Dive’s efforts with Turok and the re-release of the original Quake. Launching with widescreen support and a raft of new achievements, Terminal Velocity: Boosted Edition will hit PC via Steam on March 14 internationally and March 15 for Australians, with a release on consoles later in the year.

The trailer doesn’t go into a lot of specifics about the kinds of upgrades we’ll get in Boosted Edition, although it does mention the game will launch natively. (The original Terminal Velocity is available digitally now, but it runs through a DOSBOX emulator.) A supplied press release adds that the game’s textures have been upscaled across the board, while the audio has been updated for better spatial positioning.

“Terminal Reality brought forth the title that built their studio – the hyper flight simulator Terminal Velocity – and expressed their interest in bringing this meaningful game to modern devices,” Ziggurat’s Cole Law told Kotaku Australia. “For Ziggurat, working with Terminal Reality is a joy, leaning into their deep knowledge and history of the game, watching their mastery of development of both older and new technologies, and celebrating the nostalgia of the game that made them who they are.”

terminal velocity
Image: Terminal Reality / Ziggurat

In responses to questions over email, the president and chief technology officer for Terminal Reality, Mark Randel, explained that it took around a year to bring Terminal Velocity: Boosted Edition to life. The re-release won’t come with updated multiplayer features, but it did let them incorporate something that was never possible in the original version, or the game’s 20th anniversary re-release.

“Most people didn’t know this but you could press the BACKSPACE key and display your full mission information in a floating overlay at the bottom of the screen,” Randel said over email. “For the 20th Anniversary Edition, we added the space to the HUD for it but could not fill it out because some mobile screens could cut it off. Twenty-seven years later we finally got this working and display it all the time now. So it only took 27 years to finish this feature for the game.”

The game’s draw distance has also been improved for the Boosted Edition — this was updated for the game’s 20th anniversary, but the developers explained that they took the time to vastly improve the “rendering precision” for the upcoming re-release.

Terminal Velocity was one of the standout hits from publisher 3D Realms, which was established in 1994 as an offshoot of the legendary shareware publisher Apogee. 3D Realms’ remit was to focus exclusively on publishing and co-developing 3D titles, including several hits like Shadow Warrior, Duke Nukem 3D, Rise of the Triad, Wacky Wheels, Death Rally, and the first two Max Payne games. (3D Realms were also working on the original version of PowerSlave, but the Egyptian-themed shooter was dropped by the publisher mid-development.)

If the name Ziggurat seems familiar, that’s because they’re the same publisher who also gave a new lease of life to Australian RTS classic Kill Krush n’ Destroy a few years ago. At the time, Ziggurat said KKnD’s revival was part of “a complete reintroduction of this wonderful franchise,” and it seems like that strategy has been applied to Terminal Velocity as well. Ziggurat had previously worked with the Terminal Reality team on the reboots of the BloodRayne games, and with any luck, the success might lead to a Terminal Velocity 2.

“We would love to make a full sequel to the game using state-of-the-art technology, please buy lots of copies of Terminal Velocity: Boosted Edition to fund this,” Randel said.

Would the gaming environment in 2023 back a hyper-fluid arcade flight shooter like Terminal Velocity? With the success of recent titles like Project Wingman and the latent love for titles like Rogue Squadron, I’m quietly hoping so. Terminal Velocity: Boosted Edition launches on PC through Steam on March 14 (or March 15 in Australian time), with an unspecified launch later this year across all major consoles.


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