Ludography
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Where to get it

Dark Void Zero cover

2010 · Adventure · Metroidvania

Dark Void Zero

Nintendo console exclusive

Rise On! After 20 years, the legendary lost project “Dark Void” is back! To commemorate the game’s humble origins, Capcom has commissioned the recreation of the original 8-bit classic, now re-titled “Dark Void Zero”.

Released
18 January 2010
Platforms
Nintendo DSWindowsiOS
Genres
AdventureMetroidvaniaPlatformerShooter
Developers
—
Publishers
Capcom
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Side view
Themes
ActionScience fiction
Age ratings
ESRB EPEGI 7
Languages
English, French, German, Italian, Spanish (Spain)

About

Dark Void Zero is a platform video game developed by Other Ocean Interactive's Newfoundland studio and published by Capcom for DSiWare. It was made as an April Fools parody of the video game Dark Void and was later decided to make it an actual title; it was promoted as a game "found" in Capcom's vault. The game was released in April 2010 for iOS and on Microsoft Windows through Steam.

Capcom announced through the Steam page that on May 8, 2024, Dark Void Zero, Flock!, and Dark Void would be delisted, meaning no additional purchases could be made on the platform. Dark Void Zero never received a physical release, leaving it permanently unavailable.

Keywords

  • 2d
  • futuristic
  • side-scrolling
  • steam
  • pixel art
  • demake
  • steam achievements
  • xbox controller support for pc
  • single-player only
  • steam cloud
  • deliberately retro
  • original soundtrack release

Media

Dark Void Zero screenshot 1

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Story

In an unspecified year, aliens, called Watchers, came from an extinct planet, searching for a new home. Then they found Earth. The military was able to hold them away from it, but then they built portals in an area in outer space, the Void. These portals linked to various locations on Earth, but they were unstable, and could not be used efficiently. But eventually, in the middle of the Void, they built a final, stable portal, which was still in the process of linking with Earth.

Many skilled soldiers were sent into the Void, all of them meeting their ends. Until finally, the military sent in experts: A soldier named Rusty, who was actually born in the Void, and Nikola Tesla. Once there, they began to charge through the Watchers' forces, stealing the portal control codes from two bases set up in the void, until finally moving onto a third facility, where the main portal was kept, and where the final code was also guarded, more closely than the previous two. There, Rusty and Tesla would finally attempt to shut down the portal and save mankind.

Development

Capcom-Unity manager Seth Killian stated that Dark Void Zero started as a joke after he had heard an 8-bit rendition of Dark Void's main theme in its end credits. This song, along with the soundtrack of Dark Void Zero, was composed by Battlestar Galactica composer Bear McCreary.

At the beginning of the game, players must blow into the Nintendo DSi's microphone to clear the dust off of an in-game cartridge, similar to how NES cartridges would have to be blown into at times.

Reception

The DS and iOS versions received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.

While 2D-X editor-in-chief Jeffrey L. Wilson initially criticized Dark Void Zero as being exploitative of the retro gaming genre, he later retracted his statement after playing it at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), commenting that it felt like a NES-era title. GamePro editor Dave Rudden called it one of the coolest games at the CES, comparing it to the "Metroidvania" genre, which is a combination of the styles of Metroid and Castlevania, as well as video games such as Contra. Kombo editor David Oxford commented that Dark Void Zero was better than its parent video game, comparing it to Bionic Commando Rearmed in how both promotional games surpassed the games they were promoting.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Nintendo DS18 January 2010North America · Europe 5 March 2010
Windows12 April 2010Worldwide
iOS12 April 2010Worldwide

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Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.