Banana Bash is a forthcoming homebrew action puzzle game for the NES that we first encountered when reporting on the finalists of the MAGFest Showcase of homebrew games, of which Banana Bash was one.

One thing that may elevate Banana Bash above some of the other NES homebrew games out there is the pedigree of the game’s developers, because Work3, the studio developing Banana Bash is made up of former members of iNis, who developed the brilliant Nintendo DS rhythm game Elite Beat Agents, and the original Japanese version of the game, which was titled Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan.

A demo of Banana Bash has now been released by Work3, who have made the demo available as both a NES ROM and as a standalone PC version, both available now for free via the developer’s Weebly page. Once the game is finished, physical releases on NES and Famicom cartridge are planned alongside a digital release.

Work3 will soon be launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund the production of the Banana Bash cartridges, which they say will be “one of the biggest NES games ever made, boasting 4 megabits of pure fun.” Work3 have also  said that they will not be launching the Kickstarter campaign “until Banana Bash is 100% complete and fully functional on real NES hardware,” but you can register to be notified of the campaign’s launch on Kickstarter now.

Features promised in the finished version of Banana Bash include a simultaneous two-player battle mode, an “addictive combo and ranking system”, and “speed runner-friendly gameplay”.

We know that gamers around the world have got the forthcoming Switch 2 on their minds at the moment, and we’re no exception here at Retro News, reporting on Kirby Air Riders, the Switch 2 GameCube library, and the Arcade Archives 2 release of Ridge Racer, but we certainly won’t be neglecting the latest developments for Nintendo’s beloved 8-bit console either, continuing to bring you the latest happenings in the world of homebrew for NES, especially when the games look as much fun as Banana Bash does!