A final, unannounced game by the Metal Slug team is getting a Switch release 20 years after it was cancelled

The last game made by the Metal Slug development team is finally getting released, 20 years after it was cancelled.

Navinosuke: The Yo-Kai Buster was in development for Game Boy Advance, but was ultimately scrapped before it was officially revealed to the public.

Now, Kohachi Studio – an independent studio consisting of numerous Metal Slug and R-Type developers – has announced that the game will finally see the light of day, with a Nintendo Switch release in 2026.

According to the studio’s director Shinano Ishiguro, the game “was a pixel game that was completed 20 years ago, but was never released to the public”.

“Over the past few years, I’ve consulted with almost everyone I’ve met in the industry and I’ve come close to giving up many times, but finally, I’ve managed to lift the seal,” he wrote on X (via machine translation).

Referring to the game as a “phantom RPG”, Ishiguro describes Navinosuke as “a Japanese-style 2D pixel RPG where you travel with over 150 yokai, scheduled for release in 2026”.

More information on the game was revealed by Metal Slug artist Akio on X (via Automaton), who wrote the game’s story at the time. According to Akio, the game was originally going to use a GPS unit connected to the Game Boy Advance, predating Pokémon Go by a decade and a half.

The game was supposed to be about encountering great figures from all over Japan, but Akio suggested it would be more entertaining if it was about yokai (monsters) instead. “And so, this game began as a Japanese-style fantasy RPG in which a wooden doll that contains the soul of a girl who dreams of becoming an onmyoji travels the Japanese archipelago, sealing monsters and making them friends to reform the world,” they explained.

“However, midway through development, talk of the GPS unit fell through, and the crucial core element of walking around the country and meeting yokai became impossible to realise. The survival of the game itself was in jeopardy, but development continued after modifying it so that it could be played without GPS linkage, and it was completed, but due to various circumstances, Navinosuke was ultimately shelved.”

Akio added: “Looking back now, if development had continued as it was, a game that ‘turns walking into a game’ might have taken shape 15 years earlier than Pokémon GO. Of course, there is no way our creepy monsters could ever have become beloved characters like Pokémon.”

Navinosuke: The Yo-Kai Buster will be released on Switch next year, with an English language version confirmed.