It isn’t that uncommon to see gaming companies boxing multiple titles together for a single purchase. This was done to great effect with releases such as Midway Arcade Origins which packaged 31 classic titles together and the Dreamcast Collection which, arguably, featured the console’s three best games. UFO 50 is a whole different story than previous compilations in that it features a collection of 50 video games but all games have been developed for the compilation and are not a repackaging of previous releases.
Five indie developers are participating in the UFO 50 project that is being published by Spelunky creator Derek Yu, better known at Mossmouth. Other contributors to the project are Eirik Suhrke, Jon Perry, Paul Hubans, and Ojiro Fumoto whose pedigrees include Downwell, Ridiculous Fishing, Time Barons, Scorpulak, and Madhouse. The project will include 50 full games that run the gamut of genres from side-scrolling shooters, platformers, puzzle games, dungeon crawlers and sports titles. The team behind UFO 50 estimate that it could take upwards of 100 hours to complete all of the content available.
Another unique aspect to UFO 50 is that all titles will have a decidedly retro flair to them. According to the UFO 50 website, the games will be slightly shorter than traditional 8-bit games from the 1980s but definitely not minigames or microgames. The backstory to UFO 50 is that each title was created by a fictional developer back in the decade of Duran Duran and acid wash jeans and were all a little ahead of their time. The games have an authentic 32 color palette that is true to the aesthetics of video games at that time period when Nintendo and Sega ruled the industry. While most games are single player, there are some multiplayer offerings with co-op and competitive multiplayer. UFO 50 will release first on PC in 2018 with the potential for it to move to consoles after that.