Clockwork Aquario: Game Guide, Developer and Facts

Clockwork Aquario is a platform game developed by Westone and published by ININ Games for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Microsoft Windows. The gameplay involves defeating waves of enemies, picking up power-ups and items, and destroying bosses across multiple levels to stop Dr. Hangyo from taking over the world. Clockwork Aquario was intended to be the last arcade game by Westone, developed in 1992 for Sega System 18 and push the hardware to its limits; however, it was canceled due to the increasing popularity of 3D games and fighting games in arcades as well as negative feedback during location tests in 1993. In 2017, Strictly Limited Games acquired the rights from Sega, with ININ Games collaborating on a restoration work alongside former Westone staff members as certain elements from the project's source code were lost. Clockwork Aquario holds the Guinness world record for the longest time between the start of a video game project and its release, at 28 years and 81 days. Clockwork Aquario garnered mixed reception from critics; praise was directed to the unconventional pick-up-and-throw combo-chaining system similar to Treasure titles due to the controls, colorful visuals reminiscent of the Mega Drive era, soundtrack and co-op multiplayer, but other felt mixed in regards to the gameplay, difficulty, superfluous ideas, mechanics and overall presentation, while its short length was universally criticized.

Catalogue facts

• Title: Clockwork Aquario
• Developer: Westone Bit Entertainment
• Type: Video game
• Wikidata ID: Q102349699

Text adapted and reformatted from Clockwork Aquario on Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Structured facts are from Wikidata, available under CC0.