Today, I'd like to round out our talk on the original HARD EDGE or T.R.A.G. as it was called in North America by introducing it a bit more properly and telling you where you can play it now if you'd like.
Next week, we'll move on to telling you all about what's special about HARD EDGE - WAR ZONE in particular!
The original HARD EDGE was an action-adventure game released in 1998 in Japan, and in 1999 as T.R.A.G.: Tactical Rescue Assault Group - Mission of Mercy in North America.
This was at an era where the game industry was making the transition over to 3D games, and Sunsoft was no exception. When Sunsoft began development on Hard Edge, they were faced with the harsh truth that the gap between them and those pioneering the 3D game revolution was growing fast, and no half-hearted effort was going to be enough to bridge it. So they regrouped two development teams into one super team with the sole purpose of creating one really cool 3D game.
The game is set in the year 2046, and the Togusa Building, owned by the military corporation called Machinery Gear, has been seized by an armed terrorist group. You fight to gain back control of the building by exploring, solving puzzles, and fighting enemies. You could choose to play as either Michelle or Alex, two surviving members of the tactical assault team dispatched to resolve the crisis, or as Rachel, the mysterious young girl found wandering the building, or as Burns, the detective there on his own mission to find a missing person. Each character had a unique set of skills and attacks.
It featured a rich, atmospheric, cyber-futuristic environment, shown through pre-rendered backgrounds and fixed camera angles, accompanied by suspenseful, punchy electronic music.
The current Sunsoft team actually had the perfect chance to learn more about the game ourselves yesterday with Hamster Corporation's livestream discussing HARD EDGE, commemorating the…guess what…release of the Nintendo Switch 2 and PlayStation 5's ports of the original HARD EDGE!
Yes, you can actually get the original game right now on your console.
You can also check out the livestream yesterday here, where 2 representatives from our team share more behind-the-scenes info about the development of the original game, as well as brand new commentary from Atsushi Takada, who composed the music.
Some of what was discussed yesterday actually came from this article back then where Yoshiaki Iwata, the producer for the original game, was interviewed.
We're pretty hyped about this piece of physical media existing still.
That's it for today!
Next week, we'll be diving into the mechanics of HARD EDGE - WAR ZONE that we think bring the spark like the original did when it released back then.
See you then👋