I think I was asked that at least three times last week at Indiecade. So where is Pixel's Ikachan? We announced it earlier this year for DSiWare, but it hasn't materialized since. Well, we've been working only it on-and-off, but mostly off. Simon, who's handled the amazing DSi version of Cave Story is working on Ikachan with Daisuke and myself. However, it's been a slow-moving process because it's not just a straight port.

Contrary to the wishes of two or three guys on the Internets, we're not just going to rip through games we love just to put out sub-par versions no one is happy playing (that'll give said trolls more reason to bitch). I'm much happier hearing a few guys complain about our games "coming out in 2015-2020" than have something out there that one of our developer friends or I'm happy to release.

We're making new assets and changing things around in the game. First, the artwork is being redone from scratch by Daisuke. Remember he designed Ikachan just over 10 years ago and his skill in just about everything has improved. So, thanks to his efforts, you're going to see a whole new Ikachan world. But it's not just art, we're also making the world you swim around in much larger than it originally was.

And with a new, larger play area we get new enemies, too! The last area is localization. While there was a solid fan translation, we're working to make sure that it's not the same regurgitated content and more fun for new players who've never played Ikachan, Again, Daisuke is literally handling and overseeing all of these elements and making sure that he's happy with the changes. It's like Ikachan+

No, it won't be out in 2011, but it will be out in 2012 and it'll be awesome. I'll have more updates soon so you can have a look at some of the enemy concepts Daisuke's been working on as well as the new tileset for the game.

You can play Ikachan on your DSi or 3DS next year OR you can play it now, if you want.