An N64 exclusive from July 8, 1997, is returning, 26 years later, out of nowhere. 1997 was a legendary year for gaming. In this year the likes of Final Fantasy 7, Star Fox 64, Gran Tursimo, GoldenEye 007, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Diablo, Dungeon Keeper, Fallout, Colony Wars, PaRappa the Rapper, and Grand Theft Auto all released. As a result, many games from 1997 are often forgotten, especially if they weren’t of the highest quality, such as Dark Rift. That said, the 3D fighting game looks poised to return and return via Steam no less.
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Right now, there’s a Steam listing for the game from developer Kronos Digital Entertainment and publishers Piko Interactive LLC and Bleem.net. And according to this Steam listing, the game is “coming soon.” What’s odd about this is not just the game’s surprise comeback, but that it’s not even a remaster or remake. It seems to just be the PC version that was released back in 1997 a few months after the N64 version.
Originally develloped by the aforementioned Kronos Digital Entertainment and publsihed by Vic Tokai, Dark Rift was released back in the day to a 57% on Game Rankings, which is not very good. However, the game is notable for being a bit of a cult classic but more so because it was the first game to use 60 FPS on the console. To this end, it’s also the N64’s first native fighting game. What makes this even more interesting is the game began development as a Sega Saturn game and was actually originally called Criticom II, falling between Criticom and Cardinal Syn.
“Dark Rift – The Secret of The Prime Element According to Legend, When this Universe Was Created, A Master Key was Forged to Lock Away All Ancient Secrets and Infinite Powers The Cosmos Had to Offer,” reads an official blurb about the game on Steam. “The Key was then divided and cast into different circles of reality for safe keeping. These realities are joined together by one-way portals, or Dark Rifts, and only the individual who possesses a piece of the Master Key may cross the threshold into the next dimension. Upon crossing, the Dark Rift will seal itself and disappear. It is said that when the pieces of the Master Key are reunited, the dimensions will converge to reveal the true center of the universe. The point of convergence is known as the Vortex. However, only the holder of the entire, re-forged Master Key may enter the Vortex and claim its immeasurable power.”
Right now, there’s no word of the game coming to Nintendo Switch or any other platform beyond Steam. Given the game’s Nintendo heritage, you’d expect a Switch release, but one has not been confirmed, as of yet at least.
