Okay, so here’s a weird tidbit I stumbled upon about Shuhei Yoshida — y’know, that PlayStation bigwig who used to helm SIE Worldwide Studios (yeah, back in the day from ’08 to ’19). Anyway, he spilled some juicy beans in this chat with VGC. Apparently, there was a VR version of Jumping Flash brewing. But, plot twist, it got canned.
Now, I don’t know why this stuck with me, but Yoshida said something about how Sony was looking at their old franchises, maybe thinking it’d be cool to VR-ify them. Makes me wonder if they had a whole revival parade planned. So, when they poked him about which games got a look for the VR treatment, he just casually dropped that Jumping Flash — anyone remember that 1995 first-person platformer? — was on the table. But then, poof! So early in development that, who knows who was on that project? It vanished before it really lived.
Buuut, on a happier note — or just less disappointing — Fantavision 202X actually made it. Somehow morphed from the 2000 puzzle game into a PlayStation VR2 launch thing. And, I had this strange feeling when I read it, like I could hear the VR headset whirring as it booted up. Anyway, Cosmo Machia handled that one, and hey, it even hit Steam with some VR sauce for those who dared.
After Yoshida peaced out from Sony, not gonna lie, I half-expected him to, I don’t know, retire to a beach or something. But nah, he’s still rallying for PlayStation VR2 like it’s his lifelong quest. Remember that time he admitted — during a Kinda Funny yak — he was off the mark about the headset? Yeah, but he didn’t stop there. He’s got this soft spot for games like Synapse and Before Your Eyes. And then, just recent-ish, he popped up at Summer Game Fest, hangin’ with nDreams. They’ve got this game, Reach, and I’m just here wondering if it’ll reach greatness or become another forgotten whisper in VR history.
Crazy how things go, right?
