“For all the people who love music, dance, and games” is the motto of the original musical action game, Space Channel 5, which was first released in December 1999. Set in outer space during the 25th century, Space Channel 5 stars top reporter Ulala, who must solve an incident involving the Morolians, a mysterious race of aliens who are forcing people to dance. In the game, you’ll fight against the invaders by dancing, and win dance battles to gain more viewer ratings for Ulala.

The award-winning Space Channel 5 is considered one of the most popular games from Sega and for Dreamcast. Interestingly, most of the original creators of Space Channel 5 are currently working at our studio Grounding, so Space Channel 5 VR is being remade by the people who know the game best — including the main designer of Ulala and the original motion actor for Ulala. Space Channel 5 is not only a love letter to the fans but also a passion project for everyone working on the game.

Why VR?

When thinking about the latest console for Space Channel 5’s retro-futuristic, funky 60s sci-fi world, we thought VR would be a great fit for Ulala’s style. Space Channel 5 VR is not simply a port of the old game, but reborn as a “Space Channel 5 VR Kinda Funky News Flash!”

This new game will revisit characters and stages from two decades ago. Graphics back then for the Dreamcast were not the high-definition 3D models we are used to; they were simple planar pictures. We are recreating the game from scratch as well as the story for PS VR.

Soundtrack and Voice actors

The music of Space Channel 5 VR has a 60s spy-style sound and pays homage to “Mexican Flyer” in the music and sound of Space Channel 5. Grounding not only paid attention to the music and sounds of the world, but has been working with the people who truly know and love Space Channel 5.

Want to do a big favor for Team Grounding? We’ve been looking for Apollo Smile, the voice actor who made Ulala special from the very beginning. She may have retired… but if anyone knows anything about Apollo Smile, please email us at press@g-rounding.com! We want to bring the original voice actor English voice actor back again! Any help and information would be appreciated to help Ulala become the number one reporter in the entire galaxy!!

Gameplay

In Space Channel 5 VR, the player (YOU) becomes a rookie reporter and joins the report show with Ulala. You might wonder why we didn’t want the player to be Ulala herself in this game. This is because we wanted the player to interact with Ulala in the game. We’re sure it’s going to be more exciting if the player can see her close by and feel that they’re working with her to dance against the aliens to save the earth and march to the end of the galaxy together.

Also, “striking a pose” is a new feature! When an enemy’s beam is coming, let’s dodge with a pose! Beat them with your groove!

Characters

Ulala (pronounced ooh-la-la) is Space Channel 5’s top reporter. A news reporter saved her life when she was young, and it inspired her to become a reporter for the Space Channel. She carries around her trusty microphone and two guns. The Chu Beam is used for shooting aliens, robots and other attackers while the Rescue Beam is used to rescue hostages being forced to dance. When ratings are high, she emits a pink aura, signifying she is full of groove energy.

Lou & Kee (player‘s character) are identical twins. Rookie reporters assigned to cover a breaking dance news story. Ulala is their boss.

Morolians are alien creatures. They have invaded Earth, forcing people to dance. In Space Channel 5 VR, they invaded earth, forcing people to dance again.

New characters appear to the game later!

Stories behind the development

In order to evolve characters from the low polygons for Dreamcast into the current style, the development team creates and destroys each character repeatedly. We’re carefully creating and developing the game, so that it shows the love we poured into the game.

The demo for Space Channel 5 VR Kinda Funky News Flash will be available at PlayStation’s booth at PAX East in Boston, MA from March 28-31. By playing the demo, you will see the nostalgic but strangely new Ulala and Morolian to this time and age.

Development status

We’ve completed roughly 40% of the game. This is the information that nobody in the world knows. Stay tuned for more info and updates!