Digital Eclipse might not necessarily be a household name like certain other game studios but the retro specialist has made a name for itself in more recent years with compilations like the Mega Man Legacy Collection, Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration and TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection.
The company has teamed up with Japanese companies previously, so could we see it work on something related to Nintendo's first-party releases in the future? According to Digital Eclipse's Chris Kohler, although "nothing is in development" the door on a possible partnership hasn't closed, and historically speaking there are already some links. Here's his response to VGC:
Speaking of white gloves, presumably Nintendo isn’t interested in a collaboration yet?
"Well, you know, historically, Other Ocean [who previously owned Digital Eclipse] did Minecraft 3DS Edition for Nintendo, and we’ve done stuff with Nintendo as a company historically in the past. So I don’t think the door is closed, so you know, we’ll see what the future will bring. But certainly nothing is in development at this time."
Kohler also acknowledged how Nintendo appears to have its "own stuff sorted with retro". While nothing was specifically referenced, it most recently released Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition on the Switch and is slowly building its Switch Online subscription service with more retro games.
He was also asked if Digital Eclipse would be interested in collaborating with a team like Nightdive Studios (Turok, Quake) in the future, but admits the team "top out with modern hardware":
"They’re about games that are a little bit later on in terms of, whereas we’re essentially about integrating emulator-based solutions into our engine...I love you Nintendo, but – with the Nintendo Switch, it’s getting on in years and it’s more difficult to emulate later platforms and have them be performant on the Switch. And so, there is a little bit of a division there in terms of what we’re doing."