Watch Out For Hazard: A New NES Action Game

Gilbert Vera, a man with a passion for vintage technology, has spent the last five years working on Hazard: Let Us Out, a new action platformer for the original NES. The game is now nearly complete and the Kickstarter for physical copies has officially launched.

The nameless protagonist of Hazard works for a robot assembly factory, and naively thought he could “improve” the robots’ code with one simple patch. Instead, he turned all the robots evil, and they’ve now imprisoned him and a bunch of scientists inside the factory. Can you rescue them all — or will you choose to save yourself instead? Hazard isn’t just a hop-and-bop: it contains several cinema scenes with moral choices that affect the ending.

You can get a digital copy of Hazard for a $12 pledge. You can also, if you so choose, get a “physical digital” on a custom USB card for $20. The physical cart, box and all, costs a $60 pledge and the Collector’s Edition of that box costs $95…but there’s also an Ultimate Collectors Edition for $150 that packs in an elaborate diorama of a scene from the game.

Backers of the digital version will get it as soon as the campaign ends, but it may not be the final version — if any bugs are spotted in this version, they will be corrected and an updated version will be sent. The final ROM will be what goes in the physical cart, which Gil estimates will take around 60 days to complete production.

Crazy Bosses & Mechanized Mayhem
Multiple endings (Depending on the scientists you save.)
5 weapons to unlock
Choices matter in cutscenes
Puzzle Platformer Mechanics
Play Normal or “ONE MAN” mode
…and of course, the Konami Code.

You’ve got 27 days to lock down your copy of Hazard. The campaign lasts until January 9.

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Fissan

New Member

22 messages 0 likes

#1 Dec 12, 2024

Gilbert Vera’s dedication is admirable, but I can’t help but think about the technical challenges of implementing something as complex as branching narratives on NES hardware. The Konami Code is a cute nod to the past, but I’m more impressed by the moral-choice system. I wonder how that’s handled technically—does the game write to unused save space, or is it more about memory optimization? Either way, this is a brilliant example of what you can do with limitations if you’re clever enough.

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Goodboy

Member

572 messages 11 likes

#2 Dec 12, 2024

I’m intrigued by the concept, but I hope the moral-choice aspect isn’t just a gimmick. A lot of modern games promise meaningful decisions, but the outcomes often feel shallow. If Gilbert can pull this off and make each ending feel unique, Hazard could really stand out in the retro gaming scene. I’m not ready to commit to the $150 edition, but the $12 digital version seems like a solid starting point.

FlintTrooper88

577 messages 25 likes

#3 Dec 12, 2024

I appreciate the effort behind Hazard, but $60 for a physical cart seems steep to me. Maybe I’m out of touch with how much these things cost to produce, but that’s a big ask when compared to modern indie games that go for half the price. Still, I might grab the $12 digital version just to support the developer. It’s not every day you see such passion poured into a retro project.

TechSpartan87

Digital Dynamo

553 messages 26 likes

#4 Dec 12, 2024

TigerTony

35 messages 0 likes

#5 Dec 12, 2024

It’s great that someone is still developing for the NES, but I can’t help wondering if this is more about nostalgia than actual innovation. Puzzle platformer mechanics, five weapons—these aren’t exactly groundbreaking features. The moral-choice system might be a neat addition, but is it enough to make Hazard stand out? I hope it lives up to the hype, but I’m reserving judgment until I see some actual gameplay.

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