Shakedown: Hawaii is a bit of a throwback to the old school Grand Theft Auto games before they went full 3D and got all massive and fancy. A game in which you vie for control of part of Hawaii in various satirical schemes, it’s been met with mostly praise. It’s also opening up to more platforms soon, including some that are…very unexpected.

As announced by developer Vblank Enterainment, the game will be coming to the Wii U and Steam come August. While the former is a tad odd, it was known to be releasing for that system for quite some time, and Shakedown also came out for the 3DS and Vita long after support for those systems dried up.

What is probably the biggest surprise is they also confirmed a version would also be coming to the Wii. Yes, that’s the Wii without the U. There is a catch here, though, as the game will only be available in Europe, since it is apparently impossible to get a certification for a new Wii title in America, and will be limited to only 3,000 physical copies. Since the Wii’s online store has also been taken down, meaning there can be no digital version, this will be the only way to get the game on the Wii. Should make for a decent collector’s item, if nothing else.

Shakedown: Hawaii is available now on PlayStation 4, Switch, Nintendo 3DS, Vita and PC via the Epic Games Store. The Wii version will release in July, with the Wii U and Steam versions set for August. You can read an interview we did with the developer last year through here.

Nintendo are flying high right now with their hybrid Switch console. It’s quite the leap from their last home console, the Wii U. That system will most likely go down in history as the company’s greatest failure, being one-upped by only the Virtual Boy. The company abandoned the platform pretty quickly- but it seems it could get one more notable title in Shakedown: Hawaii.

Shakedown is a game that plays much like the Grant Theft Auto series in its retro days, with a top-dow perspective for a modern open world crime thriller (though the game’s creator says it’s not directly inspired by those titles). A recent ESRB rating seems to point to a potential Wii U release, which is just… something. To be fair, the game also released on the PS Vita and the 3DS well after those systems’ shelf lives were long past their prime, so maybe it’s not that odd, all things considered.

Shakedown: Hawaii is available now on PlayStation 4, Switch, PC, Vita, and 3DS. Nothing officially has been announced about this Wii U version as of yet. But get your ‘what year is this’ gifs ready for when the announcement comes.

Shakedown: Hawaii is quite the trip. The game sits somewhere between the old, with its retro style and top down gameplay, and the new, with its tongue-in-cheek satirizing of current media trends like subscription services and microtransactions. The same can be said of the platforms the game released on as well. It came out on the PS4, Switch, and PC (as an exclusive to the new Epic Games Store, no less), but also the Vita, a handheld that has largely been retired. It looks like it’ll also be coming to another (nearly retired) handheld with an upcoming 3DS version soon.

The game has been said to be coming to the 3DS since its inception, but we haven’t heard a lot about it until now. A tweet from vBlank Entertainment shows the game running on a 3DS, along with the message that they will be submitting it for approval this week. That means the game will probably be coming out there fairly soon. So move over, Persona Q2, it looks like the 3DS will get a much more violent swansong instead.

Shakedown: Hawaii is available now for PlayStation 4, Switch, PC, and Vita. It is scheduled to come out for the 3DS soon. Check out our interview with the creator to get an insight into the game’s creation.

#ShakedownHawaii for Nintendo 3DS will be submitted to Nintendo this week. Just in final testing now… pic.twitter.com/9XB7H02vMP

— Vblank (@RetroCR) June 5, 2019

Shakedown: Hawaii, a top down open world indie title, released earlier in the month. The game features a story somewhat in the vein of the old school Grand Theft Auto titles, where you employ business practices satirizing current trends in the gaming industry like loot boxes and subscription services. It’s also getting its first update on certain platforms for a more accessible experience and some additional content.

The Mogul update will include new content as well as some quality of life features. In a press release, developer VBlank Entertainment said they wanted to make the game a little clearer as it wasn’t conveyed well that main missions were the prime source of income. It will also include more shakedown scenarios, improved police chases, bug fixes, and a host of other things. You can look at the whole list of fixes an changes below, or check it out here.

Shakedown: Hawaii is available now for the PlayStation 4, Switch, PC, and Vita, with a 3DS version planned for a later date. The update is live on PS4 and PC now, with the Switch and Vita getting it soon. If you’re curious about the game, we recently sat down with the game’s creator, and you can read our interview through here.

• More shakedown scenarios
• Car repossession
• Weapon pawning
• Shop icons added to the map
• Expands some building interiors
• Unequippable character upgrades
• Faster property and multipliers purchasing
• Quicker salary increases
• Improved police chases
• Horns/sirens on vehicles
• Miscellaneous bug fixes

NOTE: This interview was conducted before the game’s release.

"As I wrote the story satirizing consumer life, the characters and missions simply evolved from there. As I played in the world, ideas for gameplay grew organically. For example, “Wow, shooting a flamethrower from a go-kart is fun! I should try to build a mission around this!”"

How extensive is the destructibility of environments in Shakedown: Hawaii?

Pretty much everything is destructible. For the most part, the only exceptions are the buildings themselves, and walls around the perimeter of interiors.

Shakwdown: Hawaii’s open world that players can wreak havoc in seems conceptually familiar to GTA titles (especially the old school ones), but it looks like the game is putting its own interesting spin on that concept. Was it part of your vision from the get go to build something along those lines?

GTA3’s impact on the open world genre and video game industry as a whole can’t be understated. It planted the genre firmly into new territory, and I’d say that GTA3 influenced the modern era of gaming as much as Super Mario Bros. influenced the 8 and 16-bit eras. However, at this point, I just see the open world genre as a medium to build a story and game on top of. I approached Shakedown as a blank canvas. As I wrote the story satirizing consumer life, the characters and missions simply evolved from there. As I played in the world, ideas for gameplay grew organically. For example, “Wow, shooting a flamethrower from a go-kart is fun! I should try to build a mission around this!”

How large can players expect the game’s map to be?

I estimate the overworld is about 3X larger than Retro City Rampage’s, 4X if you include interiors and other areas, but even more than that, it’s far more interactive with much more to do, more depth, and hidden areas to explore.

Being an open world game, can we expect Shakedown: Hawaii to have plenty of side activities and missions?

Absolutely. It had the main story mode, as well as over 80 shops to shakedown in any order, sidequests, mini games, customization, secrets, and an entire empire building metagame.

"I have a massive color-coded spreadsheet with columns galore that I used to layout exactly how things would flow and ensure there was steady gameplay variety, and the multiple playable characters and antagonists were threaded throughout."

Can you speak about the nature of these activities and what they will offer in terms of variety?

Yes, ensuring there was a lot of mission variety was important. I have a massive color-coded spreadsheet with columns galore that I used to layout exactly how things would flow and ensure there was steady gameplay variety, and the multiple playable characters and antagonists were threaded throughout.

About how long can we expect the game’s average total runtime to be?

It’s hard to say, as I’m the developer and know the game inside and out. However, it takes me 4X-5X longer to speed run than Retro City Rampage did when testing.

Shakedown: Hawaii’s satirical take on corporations and big business is looking like a very interesting aspect of the experience- is that going to be much of a focus in the game?

Yes, it’s the core of the game’s story, and the situational comedy throughout. It pokes fun at the common frustrations we deal with as consumers, but in a playful, tongue-in-cheek way.

As an indie developer, what is your take on the Nintendo Switch, which seems to have become a haven for ambitious indie titles?

I honestly love all platforms. It’s definitely a great platform to develop for though, and the submission process is relatively smooth.

Do you have any plans to launch on Xbox One?

It’s possible in the future, but I chose to just release it on the platforms that the previous game had already been on, for launch. This allowed me to focus on the game, and less on porting and paperwork, as all the groundwork was already done.

"I look forward to playing with PS5 hardware once I can get my hands on it, but haven’t followed the details too closely yet, as I’ve been too busy wrapping up this launch."

How will the PS4 Pro version turn out in terms of resolution and frame rate?

It runs at 60 fps on all PS4 systems, and scales up the pixels crisply on both.

The PS5 specs were recently revealed in an interview with Wired. What are your thoughts on that?

I look forward to playing with PS5 hardware once I can get my hands on it, but haven’t followed the details too closely yet, as I’ve been too busy wrapping up this launch.

Without a doubt, one of the most influential franchises in gaming history is Grand Theft Auto. Specifically, Grand Theft Auto 3, and its open world sandbox model with bags of side content. While other genres are on the rise, you can still see seeds of GTA in most major AAA releases even to this day. There’s less talk about the titles before the third one, which were also open world, but in a top down style and less over-the-top. There’s been a resurgence of sorts in that style, however, with games like Retro City Rampage, the upcoming American Fugitive, and the recently released Shakedown: Hawaii. But with the latter, creator Brian Provinciano actually thinks that idea of inspiration is somewhat limiting.

Sitting down in an interview with OnlySP, Provinciano talked about various aspects of Shakedown: Hawaii– largely its pointed satire at current gaming trends mixed with a retro style. But when it came to speaking about about the influence of GTA, he said the game wasn’t really inspired by it that much, and that he sees the open-world genre as more of a medium in and of itself to build games and stories.

“Years of playing and enjoying open-world games are in my DNA, but I didn’t reference and wasn’t inspired by any in its creation,” he said. “I approached Shakedown as a blank canvas. As I wrote the story satirizing consumer life, the characters and missions simply evolved from there. As I played in the world, ideas for gameplay grew organically. For example, ‘Wow, shooting a flamethrower from a go-kart is fun! I should try to build a mission around this!’

“Grand Theft Auto III‘s impact on the open-world genre and video game industry as a whole can’t be understated. It planted the genre firmly into new territory, and I’d say that GTA III influenced the modern era of gaming as much as Super Mario Bros. influenced the 8- and 16-bit eras. However, at this point, I just see the open-world genre as a medium to build a story and game on top of.”

Shakedown: Hawaii is available now for PlayStation 4, Switch, PC, and the PlayStation Vita. A 3DS version of the game is slated to come at a later date.

Ever wanted to build an empire through gratuitous, retro-flavoured violence? Vblank Entertainment’s Shakedown: Hawaii is the ticket for that ride. The long-awaited sequel to Retro City Rampage finally has a release date. It’s out on May 7th for PS4, PC, PlayStation Vita, and Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo 3DS users can expect it to arrive later, but Shakedown: Hawaii looks like it will be worth the wait. As a parody of big businesses, Shakedown: Hawaii is about marketing spin, false advertising, and being a “legitimate” businessman. While this involves buying property, it also means wrecking shops for protection money, destroying existing properties in the name of rezoning, and much more.

Traverse the city with its parks and suburbs or head into the jungle to carry out your mission. Check out the gameplay overview trailer below. Alternatively, you can check out a trailer for “The Consultant” for a peek at some of the tasks you’ll be asked to complete.