Imagine if After Burner and Star Fox came together one drunken night and you'll have a good idea of what HyperSolar is all about. We were sent the current build by the developer, and it looks absolutely gorgeous. From rich blue skies to midnight city skylines, everything about this game screams '90s videogames at an extremely high volume.
The current build that we've played allows you to take flight in one of three different stages, namely; Ocean, Lava and City. As you'd expect, each stage offers luscious arcade-style environments based on each of these different locations.
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| Blue skies! |
The city stage is without doubt the most impressive. You must navigate through the various skyscrapers as you tackle enemy crafts and it is easy to get distracted with the view instead of your crosshairs. Buildings are partly lit with office lights left on, vivid neon advertisements demand your attention, and underneath you the traffic is flowing with their headlights on. It's a real treat on the eyes. All at 60fps with widescreen support.
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| The City stage is very easy on the eyes whilst running at 60fps. |
Controlling your fighter plane is done with the analogue stick, whilst the A and X buttons control your machine gun and missiles respectively. Control is crisp and instantly drew a comparison to Star Fox 64 in my mind as to how easy it was to pick up and play.
There isn't much to the game at the moment; it's currently more of a tech demo to set the scene for what is to come. You shoot enemy crafts down with the stage effectively on a loop. The plan for HyperSolar is to include unique stages with boss fights, similar again to how Star Fox 64 is structured.
HyperSolar - Dreamcast Version
— 🇵🇹 Ninja Dynamics (@ninjadynamics) September 6, 2026
This is the final iteration of the city stage, finally running at nearly stable 60fps. It features hexagonal buildings, ground level facades and lighting, cross-shaped trees, new traffic algorithm, lightning and thunder in the sky, audio engine… pic.twitter.com/snMGILORkt
I spoke to Ninja Dynamics about the game and they were keen to highlight that this project does rely on the usage of AI for its code generation, but explained that the design of the game and the algorithms are "very much [their] own".
It's worth reiterating that HyperSolar is still very early in development. The game we've played is a product of just four months of effort. Ninja Dynamics have clearly spent this time making sure the game not only looks fantastic, but also runs great as well.
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| HyperSolar being played at Gamescom 2026. |
HyperSolar was recently shown off at the 2026 Gamescom event where it seemed to gather a lot of attention. It's always pretty cool to see Dreamcast games at "the world's biggest event for computer and videogames" in the modern day!
We'll bring you more on HyperSolar as it progresses.
