Dark Void Zero is a platform video game developed by Other Ocean Interactive's Newfoundland studio and released by Capcom for DSiWare download service. 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.
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 main theme in its end credits. This song, along with the soundtrack of Dark Void Zero, was produced 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.
Talk show host Jimmy Fallon lent his name in the game based on a fictional story where Fallon won a contest from Capcom during his younger years. He was included in it as "Captain Jimmy Fallon".
Premise[]
Rise On! After 20 years, the legendary lost project “Dark Void” is back! Capcom commissioned the recreation of the original 8-bit classic, now re-titled “Dark Void Zero”, on the Nintendo DSi system. You play Rusty, the first human born in the Void, who must take on the Watchers in a quest to stop their domination of Earth. With the aid of Nikola Tesla and a state-of-the-art rocket pack, Rusty must take down the Watchers and their minions across three intense levels of action and intrigue.
Plot[]
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.
Reception[]
The DS and iOS versions received "favorable" reviews, while the PC version received "generally unfavorable 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.
Nintendo World Report praised the game, stating, "Dark Void Zero is so perfect in its execution that I want to play it on my TV, Wii Remote held NES-style, chiptunes resonating from my TV’s speakers. Any unwitting passerby would correctly mistake it for exactly what it’s supposed to be: an old-school NES game. It succeeds in virtually every aspect of its execution, and if you own a DSi this fantastic piece of software is an absolute must-own."[1]