The Giana Sisters are characters you may know from a pair of recent platformers or from the older Super Mario Bros. clones for British computers. In either case, they're back again, this time in a competitive multiplayer game that is reminiscent of Speedrunners. Fans may recognize the core concepts from the Dream Rush mode that was added to PC versions of Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, and this new release seeks to expand upon them in various ways. That mode also had a cameo from Cosmonaut Comrade, a Speedrunners character, so the team over at DoubleDutch Games are assumed to be on board with the whole thing.

The game looks to be an expanded take on the Dream Rush mode, with multiple new stages and several characters besides the four flavors of Giana Sister. Unlockable characters are said to include a ninja and a robot, and one can only hope that the Speedrunners cameo carries over into the standalone title.

After loading up Twisted Dreams for a moment and checking out the mode, the concept seems solid enough to carry its own with a little expansion. There are power-ups to launch against foes, and each sister has both the fireball dash and the Tiny Kong spin jump from Twisted Dreams at their disposal. The developers have confirmed that all the characters will play exactly the same, so it will be competition based around skill rather than considering the gameplay differences of the punk rocker versus the ninja.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re3OdDwqNCU

The gameplay trailer promises more of the same great soundtrack that was in Twisted Dreams, so that's a definite plus. Dream Rush mode was a PC exclusive, so the arcade gameplay of Dream Runners will be making its debut on Xbox One and Playstation 4 along with a Steam release in the early months of Summer.

Have you played any of the latest Giana Sisters games? Or are you more of an Alfred Chicken player? Sound off in the comments below!