Greetings, Retronauts readers! As winter loosens its grip on our throats and the Earth thaws (in the Northern Hemisphere at least) we have no less than four new projects designed for the NES seeking your funding to become complete cartridges in the world. There's also an impressive book written about a not-quite-retro-yet console - guess which one as you contemplate your own age! As always, we have no insider information or financial interest in any of these projects, and no one at Retronauts has been compensated for including anything on this page. We also wish to send heartfelt congratulations to the team at Kickstarter who recently voted to unionize their workplace.

Rose of Starcross
Platform: Windows, Nintendo Switch
Campaign ends: March 7
Estimated delivery time: December 2022
Minimum pledge to receive the game: $15 US

Rose of Starcross is a pretty pink-and-purple RPG with a wide variety of inspirations, according to the campaign page: "stuff like The Legend of Zelda, Mario, the MOTHER series, tons of modern indies, Golden Sun, Punch-Out!!, the Souls series, old anime, Scott Pilgrim, Steven Universe, moody lo-fi garbage, modern prog, and about a BILLION other things!" writes Peyton Burnham, the sole developer who adds that the main reason for the crowdfunding is to "cover the cost for Nintendo Switch development." As of this writing the campaign has crossed its goal and then some, congrats Peyton!

Evra the Crow Maiden
Platform: NES, Genesis/Mega Drive, SNES
Campaign ends: March 17
Estimated delivery time: September 2020
Minimum pledge to receive the game: $10 US (digital only)

Did you ever ask yourself why so many video games were about cavemen? I tolerated The Flintstones on my television in the 80s but I didn't want them on my NES. At least Evra the Crow Maiden is more of a barbarian/cave woman, and her platform adventure is inspired by "Rastan Saga, Cadash, Castlevania, Blades of Vengeance and Jill of the Jungle" to name a few action games.
At the campaign's start Evra the Crow Maiden was going to be an NES game but subsequent stretch goals have 16-bit version for both Genesis/Mega Drive and SNES (with more add-ons remaining)!

PLOID
Platform: NES
Campaign ends: March 19
Estimated delivery time: March 2020!
Minimum pledge to receive the game: €10 (about $11 US, digital only)

V.O.I.D. is a game already available on Steam and Nintendo Switch. Ploid X is an upcoming Switch sequel. In between those two games is PLOID for NES. Developer Nate Games says that "development is complete" of this throwback middle chapter, noting that the only purpose of the Kickstarter is to cover the costs of producing physical NES cartridges (yes, there's a gold edition). Note that a €10 pledge only earns a digital ROM of PLOID but it does include a Steam code for V.O.I.D.

PlayStation Vita: The End
Platform: it's a book
Campaign ends: March 26
Estimated delivery time: January 2021
Minimum pledge to receive the book: £3 (about $4 US - digital only)

I hope everyone reading this is comfortable with the knowledge that the PlayStation Vita will turn ten years old (the magic retro number) next year. This is the third of three books dedicated to the life and times of Sony's still-technically-breathing (final?) handheld console. The previous two volumes were both successful Kickstarter campaigns so this will complete the set. There's also a stretch goal (long since smashed) for a bonus zine featuring project author Sandeep Rai's "Top 100 Vita games." I would hope Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate is on that list, Sandeep!

Flea
Platform: NES
Campaign ends: March 29
Estimated delivery time: December 2020
Minimum pledge to receive the game: £5 (about $7 US - digital only)

"Avoid obstacles and collect blood" commands the Kickstarter campaign for Flea, yet another brand-new NES game seeking crowdfunding this month. Flea is an auto-jumper where the hero (name of Henry) perpetually jumps as the player guides him through a series of challenging rooms. £30 backers may choose from standard-grey or blood-red NES carts - cool/gross!

Trophy
Platform: Steam, NES
Campaign ends: April 7
Estimated delivery time: June 2020
Minimum pledge to receive the game: $10 US (digital only)

Trophy is - really? - another brand-new NES game seeking crowdfunding this month, albeit with a twist: this one runs using an MMC3 chip, the same chip that helped make Super Mario Bros 3 so special. But those chips aren't cheap (nor is making physical cartridges) hence the campaign. The developer insists the game is "100% finished" and if funded (which it has been) promises the complete game by June of this year. That's mere months away! 2020 is moving fast.

• kickstarter
• nes
• vita
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