In 1990 a game was released call Snow Bros on arcades, and later the NES, Sega Genesis and the Gameboy. I played it first on an old arcade in South Africa, where my cousin was by at the top of the leader board, having played to so much. I have no idea what was thought of it at the time, given that I was born two years after it came out, but this is the kind of game that would rob me of all my pocket money if I was a gamer at those times. Suffice it to say, I love this game, though I'm not posting here just to praise an old arcade game.
What I want to know, from you Escapists, is what the laws are regarding remaking this game. The developer Toaplan went bankrupt in 1994, and the publisher Romstar in 1992, but I'm struggling to find license information for defunct companies. I know very little about the mechanics of the gaming industry, so I don't know who would own the license in the first place, but I'm pretty sure any company that could have owned Snow Bros is an ex-company.
The reason I'm asking is because I wanted to know the viability of releasing Snow Bros on a platform such as the PSN or the XBLA. I know it won't happen, no matter how hard I wish, but I just wanted to know if it would be possible within copyright law. It is the kind of game I was expecting to find on the PSN before I got my PS3, and I've been quite disappointed with the lack of old style games available.
Maybe I could just write a letter to Sony, asking them nicely to remake Snow Bros, we all know that works.
