The late ’80s and early ’90s were a magical time for gaming. There was so much innovation and experimentation, as well as many attempts to cash in on big-name properties. These latter efforts were often a mixed bag, with most licensed games for the NES not being particularly good.
One company that did release some great licensed games, however, was Sunsoft. Sunsoft produced the amazing Batman NES games and Gremlins 2 and almost produced a Superman game as well, but the license was revoked. While Sunsoft tried to salvage the project as Sunman, it was ultimately cancelled.
Another would-be licensed game from them would have been The Terminator on NES. It was far into production when the license was pulled (speculated to be the increased value and wanting more money but still unclear). Unlike Sunman however, this game was able to be saved. It was rebranded, given a new story, and renamed as Journey to Silius.
The game, while not super well known today, has become a cult classic for its amazing music, tough-as-nails gameplay, and fun atmosphere. There is also the fact that there were a lot of leftover elements of Terminator in the game, both in the code and the music, as well as some of the enemies. It was also far better than the actual Terminator games released for the NES.
Journey To Silius has not gotten a lot of attention in recent times, except coming from retro fans. That is something that really needs to change, as the game could be awesome as a modern game. Obviously, this doesn’t need to be a big 3D game but a small-scale 2D revival along the lines of Blaster Master Zero from Inti Creates.
There is so much that can be done with the game, such as expanded levels, high-quality visuals, as well as taking the best parts of the original game that made it fun and bringing it over to a new experience. In the original game, the first level had attacks coming from the background into the foreground, and this could be one element redone to make the game still challenging. There could even be a proper ending and post-game content unlike the original game, where it just restarted without much difference.
This is a property that should not be left in the past. With the right tweaks, it could be an even better platformer with the few negatives removed and the story expanded on and moved past its origins. Until then, it is suggested to play the game however possible, including on the Nintendo Switch Online service.