Now available for Game Boy Advance
An Italian development team has released a game after 22 years of development, breaking the slowness records set by Duke Nukem Forever.
Kien, an Italian action game, is the longest-delayed video game in history. The game is now available for the Game Boy Advance, a console that has long been discontinued.
In 2002, five Italians with no experience in game development set out to create the first Italian game for the Game Boy Advance. With just a few hundred euros, some computers and a passion for games, they set out to make their dream a reality.
The team worked tirelessly for two years, often sacrificing their free time to develop a challenging game with complex features. The game Kien experienced numerous delays and only saw the light of day this year, with only one original team member, Fabio Belsanti, remaining.
Kien survived Duke Nukem Forever’s infamous 15-year delay to become a meme of his own. Now, players can purchase Kien on a Game Boy Advance cartridge.
The game challenges players to choose between two protagonists, a warrior and a priestess, each with unique abilities.
Fabio Belsanti (pictured), the last survivor of the original team, faced major challenges when the selected publisher dropped out because market analysis deemed the game too risky. The high production costs of the Game Boy cartridges also posed a significant financial hurdle.
Despite these setbacks, Belsanti’s determination was strengthened by his passion for historical stories and early Japanese games. He was inspired by unpublished books on the 15th century Italian Renaissance, which influenced Kien’s plot and graphic style.
Belsanti’s company AgeOfGames has turned to educational games to survive. His remarkable hit game ScacciaRischi, developed for Italy’s INAIL, has educated tens of thousands of students about safety and health in the workplace, including during the Covid-19 pandemic.
A resurgence in the retro gaming scene in recent years has renewed interest in older consoles and rare games. This shift, coupled with reduced costs of producing Game Boy Advance cartridges, made the release of Kien possible.
Belsanti compares the resurgence of interest in retro gaming to the renaissance of vinyl and cassettes in music, driven by the nostalgia and curiosity of younger generations.
He said: “I believe we are entering a phase similar to the revival of vinyl or cassettes for music. A return to earlier, more primitive forms of the medium, driven by the nostalgia of the generations who lived through those eras and the curiosity of those who came after that technology.”
Incube8, Kien’s new publisher, specializes in games for classic consoles and has supported the game’s release. Kien is now sold in a distinctive translucent gray cartridge, complete with a multi-page manual, a rarity in the modern gaming world.
For Belsanti, releasing Kien on its intended platform is a magical experience and the fulfillment of a dream that began over two decades ago.
AgeOfGames is already developing a spiritual successor to Kien and hopes to capture the essence of the original game’s value and charm, despite the lack of modern graphics.
Belsanti believes that the intensity of the video game experience can sometimes be greater in older games with limited resources. Imagination bridges the gap between the graphics and the pixels on the screen, creating rich, fantastical stories.
