1993 Space Machine: The game that took 23 years to see release

Yesterday, a game was released for PC and Mac on Steam. An homage to space shooters like Gradius, R-Type and Life Force. A game that one review says will have you hurling insults at magnets in under 20 minutes.

A game that took 23 years to get released. This game is known as 1993 Space Machine.

From the game’s page on Steam:

“1993 is a testament to that, honoring classics like Life Force, R-Type and Xenon II. We’re keeping the genre alive.

1993 was made in 1993. It is not made to look retro. It is not polished for today’s tech – this is the genuine thing!
It’s 1993 in 2016!”

The story is thus: Towards the end of the interstellar wars, a group of elite mercenaries led by the infamous Colonel Nestor got their hands on a device that can terraform barren planets and make them inhabitable. The device is known as the Space Machine. With this device and the rest of their pilfered treasures, Nestor and his men have started to build a formidable army. Your mission, as the player, is to retrieve the Space Machine.

1993 Space Machine was developed by Modesty, a group of four teenagers from Sweden, in 1993. It was about to be released for the Amiga line of PCs sold by Commodore, however, it was abandoned due to drama within the team. The game also needed a new game engine to run on more popular pieces of hardware, since by 1993 the Amiga was waning in popularity.

Now, with a new game engine, that teenage dream has been realized.

From the game’s website:

“Now, 22 years later, one of the members from the original four was going through things he should probably throw away if [his] girlfriend had anything to say about it. He then found the 3.5 floppy that the game was saved on and decided to fire up his old computer and see if it still worked. And much like the 14 year, or however, old hamburger that was found by someone somewhere and was still eatable, the game was exactly as yummy as it was in 1993.”

Game Designer Krister Karlsson is overjoyed that the game has finally seen release:

“This is a very exciting day in my life. Finally, the game that was developed in my childhood room back in 1993 is ready, even though it took 23 years to finish it. When this is released I might just have to look for other unfinished projects – like cleaning the basement.”

An Xbox version of the game is also apparently in the works.

The game can be purchased at a 10% discount from now until April 4.