As they celebrate their 20th anniversary this year, City Connection has consistently re-released classic game franchises on current platforms. City Connection publishes Jaleco’s NES and SNES back catalog on services like Nintendo Classics while re-releasing other publishers’ shoot-’em-ups, platformers, and other established genres. City Connection and Clear River Games made a splash at PAX West 2025 with R-Type Delta: HD Boosted, Mamorukun ReCurse!, Rushing Beat X: Return Of Brawl Brothers, and Truxton Extreme. These are games that either have not been re-released in a long time or revive dormant IP. Shortly after our previous interview with Taiki Homma regarding Rushing Beat X: Return Of Brawl Brothers, the CFG had the opportunity to chat with Nobuhiro Yoshikawa, the CEO of City Connection. We talked about Mamorukun ReCurse! and R-Type Delta: HD Boosted, and we even delved a bit into our arcade experiences.
So I love [the game] City Connection. I played it on Famicom a lot. So I was just curious — what actually inspired the name of the company?
So basically, I named the company after the game. So that was an inspiration.
A lot of these games haven’t had new entries in some time. How important is it to bring back old IP?
So City Connection always thinks of three branches: it’s either porting, remaking, or doing something completely new. So it just depends on the IP and the power it has and then the staffing in terms of what titles they’re gonna pick, but they’re usually based off of IP.
I’m curious about Mamorukun ReCurse! Mamorukun hasn’t been around since the PlayStation 3. So I was just kind of curious: what was it like working with G.Rev to bring that game back?
So in terms of the relationship, we were actually free to do a lot of the development. So there weren’t many problems. But in terms of the IP, I thought, you know, they released it in the past, and they also didn’t get the PR marketing support that it deserved. And also, if you look at YouTube, the music and this game, there’s like millions of people playing the soundtrack and stuff. So I thought there was potential, but that is one of the reasons why I thought it was more like a diamond in the rough. So that’s one of the reasons why we’re re-porting it.
Interesting. Thank you so much, yeah. I’ve also really enjoyed the character designs of Mamorukun. Do you have any favorite characters?
So she’s not there [on display at the booth], but I like Nowa.
Nowa, yeah! Do you have any tips or tricks for those new to Mamorukun?
So you’re asking a fantastic question because we stretched out the screen and made it visually look a little bit better. But in terms of making the game’s barrier of entry a little bit lower … obviously, we based it on the PS3 game, so the barrier of entry is a little bit hard. So that’s something that we’re working on – to make the barrier of entry a little bit lower so that it’s easier for newer users to actually play.
Oh, that’s awesome. That sounds fantastic, yeah. Also, I was really curious about R-Type Delta: HD Boosted. What’s the process of bringing back R-Type Delta and working with IREM?
So in terms of IREM, a lot of their business is not revolving around video games right now. They’re making their profit off of other groups. So they try to look around for a solid developer that they trust, and then that’s how we got Delta. We have projects moving forward in that capacity with that relationship with IREM, and it’s kind of just the first step for City Connection and IREM to be working together.
That’s awesome. Yeah, that’s great. Since R-Type Delta is an original PlayStation title, were there any particular difficulties bringing that game forward to the current generation?
So in terms of the controllability, the polygons, the visual look, and the original libraries, there is a lot of stuff that you just can’t bring over and completely make it work. So we had to do a lot of fine tuning and just remaking a lot of the stuff to make it a little bit more seamless. So there’s a lot of work that went into optimizing what we brought over.
I definitely appreciate all that work for sure. So this is sort of a fun question: I went to Japan in June, and I went to Taito HEY (also known as Hirose Entertainment Yard Taito) in Akihabara. So I was just curious – how often do you get to go to game centers, and do you still go to game centers and play?
So I don’t know if you know, but when I first started the company, we all met at Mikado [Game Center]. So we were all part of that group, and we were all part of the arcade crowd. And we still do get together at Mikado and play.
That’s so much fun, yeah, that’s awesome, yeah.
Our office is very close to Akihabara, too.
Taiki: Are you going to Tokyo Game Show?
I think maybe TGS 2026 – not this year, I don’t think. But I do want to try to swing by.
Taiki: We always have a booth. Come swing by!
Will do. I think those questions are what I’ve got. Thank you so much!
We had a lot of fun checking out City Connection’s booth this year at PAX West 2025. Don’t forget to check out our interview and impressions of Rushing Beat X: Return Of Brawl Brothers, and don’t forget to check out City Connection’s website, Steam page, and social media channels. Happy 20th anniversary! Many thanks to Taiki Homma for translating during the interview.
