Nightdive Studios CEO on Shadow Man & Remastering N64 games

Published , by Donovan Erskine

Nightdive Studios has become known for its revitalization of defunct game properties. One of its upcoming projects is Shadow Man, a remaster of the 1999 Nintendo 64 game. We spoke with the CEO of Nightdive Studios about Shadow Man, as well as the studio’s work breathing new life into older franchises.

Shacknews’ Head of Video Greg Burke caught up with Stephen Kick, the CEO of Nightdive Studios in order to learn more about the company’s work. The video can be viewed using the embed below. During the interview, the two talk about Nightdive’s latest game, Shadow Man, as well as their work as a whole reviving older gaming properties.

The first couple of Shadow Man games released in the late 90s and early 2000s to moderate success. However, the studio behind them went into bankruptcy, and the rights to the series were scattered about. The Shadow Man franchise sat dormant for roughly a decade until the team at Nightdive began reaching out in 2013 to gauge interest in a series revival.

The Shadow Man remaster is being developed using unused source code from the game’s original release. This will allow the developers to get the game to run properly on modern operating systems. There’s also new lighting and programming techniques being used in combination with the classic Shadow Man assets.

“For this particular remaster, we aren’t changing anything dramatically, so nothing is being remade from scratch.,” Kick said. Shadow Man’s upgraded textures and resolution will allow the game to run in 4K quality. Nightdive Studios has also included content that was scrapped from the game’s original release.

The full interview with Nightdive Studios CEO Stephen Kick can be found on the GamerHubtTV YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe there and to Shacknews for more exclusive developer interviews.