Planet GameCube sat down with Hudson Entertainment, the US branch of Hudson Soft, to discuss future directions within the company. Despite a long history as a video game company, Hudson has not attended E3 in many years, so their appearance is quite notable.

The biggest news is that Hudson is completely committed to Wii Virtual Console and is planning to re-release 100 TurboGrafx-16 games (PC Engine in Japan). While the selection of games is currently undecided, it will certainly encompass all of Hudson’s major franchises. As a preview, Bonk’s Adventure was available for play in Nintendo’s booth at E3. Hudson is also working to bring TurboGrafx-16 third-party games to the Virtual Console. There is some difficulty since many of the developers and publishers of these games no longer exist, but they are working hard to track down the owners of the games in order to re-release them. The price of downloadable games is not currently finalized, though it is likely to mirror Xbox Live Arcade game prices. While franchises like Bonk and Bomberman are pretty much guaranteed to appear, the Ys series is also likely to appear. Many of the Hudson employees are big fans of the series, and it is a favorite of the president of the company. It is not currently clear how the Virtual Console will handle previously CD-based video games, but the company believes that they will make it work.

Konami’s buyout of Hudson last year had many concerned about the future of the company. However, operations have not changed at Hudson and they continue to develop their games independently, with financial support from Konami. Hudson was Nintendo’s first third-party developer, so we were curious whether it was Hudson or Nintendo that came up with the idea for TurboGrafx-16 games on the Virtual Console, though it was apparently Konami who mediated the deal.

In recent years, Hudson has focused primarily on the cell phone game market. With limited resources, it was not economically feasible to develop many console games. Hudson is continuing their cellphone development, including new games featuring old franchises. However, with their new financial backing, the company is simultaneously planning to return to the console business in full force. While it’s not likely that we will be seeing the Japan-only Hudson remakes of classic games that were released on GameCube, many new games are under development.

Hudson wasn’t originally intending to demo Bomberman Land, but Nintendo pushed them to show it at E3. While the E3 demo featured only mini games, the final version should include both minigames and the standard game. Bomberman Land for Nintendo DS is also under development and will feature mini-games that can be played over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

Hudson’s previously uncovered flight game for Wii is well into development and its controls are operational. However, Hudson chose not to show it off at E3, as its graphics are currently at GameCube level. Hudson confirmed that the game is not the new PilotWings. The game only features airplanes, no gyrocopters or birdman suits. Hudson did say that the game could be thought of as an very expanded version of the airplane portion of PilotWings. The game will be controlled only with the remote, and is designed to be a fun, intuitive game that anyone can pick up and play.

In another surprising move, Milon from Milon’s Secret Castle is returning soon. A new puzzle game, Milon’s Star Paradise, will arrive on Nintendo DS. The new game will feature game play elements somewhat similar to the Bubble Bobble series. The main character blows colored “snot bubbles," each with different special attributes, into other bubbles in an attempt to clear the screen. Additionally, the game will feature co-operative multiplayer and unlockable mini-games.

Hudson recognizes that their fans have kept much better track of their franchises over the years than they have, and are extremely open to hearing from them. They would like to hear which games people would like to see on the Virtual Console as well as any comments regarding games. Hudson has begun to work directly with fansites to promote their franchises. The company is also exploring other ideas, such as bringing Bonk back as their mascot. With all of these new developments, there should be much more exciting Hudson news within the next year.