A Brand-New French Action-RPG With Local Co-Op Is Coming to Original Super Nintendo Cartridges
While the Sega Genesis has enjoyed a thriving homebrew scene backed by accessible development kits for years, the Super Nintendo remains a notoriously tricky architecture for independent programmers to tame. French studio Ultima Team is taking on that exact hardware challenge with the international reveal of Eternal Hunters: The Branford Legacy, a brand-new Action-RPG built natively for Nintendo's 16-bit console.
Spearheaded by French retrogaming creator Hedge in partnership with Story Bird Studios, the project goes far beyond mimicking 1990s pixel art inside a modern engine. The game is engineered from the ground up to run on real Super Nintendo Entertainment System cartridges, targeting a 2027 launch window following an upcoming Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign.
Time Travel and Local Co-Op Inspired by Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger
The story begins after the death of Duncan's father, leaving the young archer as the heir to a storied bloodline of demon hunters. To track down an ancient demon that has resurfaced from the shadows, Duncan joins forces with Clive, a seasoned close-quarters warrior.
Their pursuit quickly spirals into a conflict spanning multiple historical eras, pairing a time-bending plot with visual direction inspired by Chrono Trigger (1995). On the gameplay side, Ultima Team ditches turn-based menus in favor of fast-paced, real-time combat modeled after The Legend of Zelda and Secret of Mana (1993).
Players can experience the entire campaign solo with the console's CPU controlling their companion, or plug in a second controller for two-player local co-op that blends melee strikes, bow shots, and elemental magic.
Veteran Composer Raphaël Gesqua and a Seasoned French Retro Team
Behind Ultima Team is a trio of veteran creators well known across the European retro development scene. Low-level 16-bit programming is led by Kannagi (SuperDan), while pixel art environments and character sprites are crafted by Julien Rocca of Story Bird Studios, the artist behind Beyond The Ice Palace 2.
The soundtrack is helmed by legendary French video game composer Raphaël Gesqua, famous for his memorable scores on Flashback, Mr. Nutz, and Moto Racer. After an initial French-only preview at the Hedg'Convention and Paris Games Week, this new English-language announcement trailer marks the project's full international debut.
Despite the tight memory limits of a 16-bit ROM, Ultima Team is designing a campaign that delivers at least 20 hours of gameplay. Retro collectors playing on original decks or modern FPGA hardware like the Analogue Super Nt+ will be able to slot the physical cartridge straight into their setup.
Playable SNES Prototype Demo on Kickstarter and Potential Switch 2 Ports
To fund physical cartridge manufacturing and finish building every time period in the game, Ultima Team and Story Bird Studios are preparing to launch a Kickstarter campaign very soon. A playable demo of the Super Nintendo prototype will be released alongside the crowdfunding campaign, and fans can already register via the studio's official notification form to get alerted the moment backing opens.
While the native Super Nintendo edition remains the primary focus, the developers are also looking at modern platforms for players who do not own retro hardware or a cartridge dock like the Epilogue SN Operator USB reader. Ultima Team confirmed that if the Kickstarter campaign meets its funding goals, the studio will evaluate porting Eternal Hunters to Nintendo Switch 2, Steam, and other modern systems.
Here is a quick breakdown of everything confirmed for the project so far:
- Full Title: Eternal Hunters: The Branford Legacy
- Developer & Partner: Ultima Team (Hedge, Kannagi, Julien Rocca) with Story Bird Studios
- Composer: Raphaël Gesqua (Flashback, Mr. Nutz)
- Lead Platform: Super Nintendo Entertainment System (native physical cartridge, targeting 2027)
- Potential Modern Ports: Nintendo Switch 2 and PC (Steam) depending on crowdfunding milestones
- Modes & Length: Single-player (CPU partner) or 2-player local co-op across a 20+ hour campaign
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My Perspective: Why Native 16-Bit Cartridges Still Matter
Watching the first English footage of Eternal Hunters: The Branford Legacy immediately brought back the unmistakable warmth of mid-1990s console RPGs. Plenty of indie studios slap a CRT shader over a modern engine, but squeezing a 20-hour time-travel adventure into the memory registers and SPC700 audio chip of an actual 1990 Super Nintendo takes genuine technical devotion.
Building the entire adventure around two-player couch co-op in the spirit of Secret of Mana while bringing Raphaël Gesqua on board for the soundtrack gives this project real pedigree. I cannot wait to test the upcoming Kickstarter prototype ROM to see how responsive the real-time hitboxes and partner AI feel in action.
With the Kickstarter launch and playable SNES demo right around the corner, the retro community will soon see just how far Ultima Team can push Nintendo's 16-bit hardware ahead of the game's 2027 release.
Based on the outskirts of New York City, Chaya 'Chayane' spent five years studying software engineering in Montreal before returning to her home state. A Full-Stack developer and Deep Learning AI architecture researcher, she explores neural networks and algorithmic optimization while engineering data pipelines for Retrocharting and Gamescharting alongside Grimtag. A gamer for over 20 years and an avid collector of Nintendo history and The Legend of Zelda, she explored World of Warcraft's Azeroth before bringing her deep technical background to video game analysis.
