And it’s looking pretty darn radical
“There’s an old saying in Tennessee – I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee – that says, ‘Fool me once, shame on… shame on you. Fool me… you may’t get fooled again.‘”
– George W. Bush.
PlatinumGames has announced thatSol Cresta,its April Fools’ Day shmup from last year, is now actually in development for PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch, and will launch at some point later in 2021 as the first release in the publisher’s new “Neo-Classic Arcade” range.
Sol Crestawas revealed on August 11, 2025 as one of the Japanese developer’s “Platinum4” announcements. Ostensibly a sequel to both 1980’sMoon Crestaand 1985’sTerra Cresta,Sol Crestawas supposedly a joint production between Platinum and the retro-loving Hamster corporation, before the former ultimately revealed that the title was merely a cute gag made in the spirit of the season.
So, roll on April Fools’ Day 2021 and trust Platinum to announce thatSol Crestais seemingly arealrelease genuinely in development. The first trailer, which you’re able to check out above, features slight footage of the vertically scrolling shmup in action, before teasing viewers with a release date without actually offering one.
As I noted at the time,Sol Crestawas a legitimately exciting idea, as bothMoon CrestaandTerra Crestawere solid golden-age shmups that deserved a modern revisit. And so, ifSol Cresta islegitimately going to blast off on PC and consoles soon, I’m pleased that what started out as a goofy joke might actually end up giving us a cool sequel to one of the shmup genre’s forgotten forefathers.
