“Another visitor. Stay awhile. Stay forever!”

Those words, creepily emulated by a Commodore 64 running the game Impossible Mission, are a nostalgic touchstone for many a gamer. And the goosebumps those words might create are almost as readily replicated by the name of that game’s publisher: Epyx. Those goosebumps might become a recurring problem soon, because System 3 (the development house that changed its name to Studio 3 and then back to System 3) is bringing back the Epyx name, as well as the Epyx games.

System 3 founder Mark Kale told today that the company has secured the rights to the Epyx Games library and is looking to revamp it for today’s systems. The first two projects on the company’s slate are Impossible Mission and California Games.

Following initial speculation, Epyx has revealed it will be bringing certain Commodore 64 titles over to the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console download system.

Before we get into that though, the studio has announced that Gottlieb Pinball Classics and golf sim Leaderboard Golf will be released alongside the Wii in November. We think it’s pretty obvious how the Wii’s remote will be used in either game. Super Fruit Fall is also down for release on PSP and Nintendo DS via Play It around the same time.

Impossible Mission is the first Epyx title on the cards, and is on its way to both PSP and DS in full 2D glory. It’s a remake of sorts of the 8-bit original, with two new characters (a robot and a female spy) and a two-player co-op mode. “If Impossible Mission was to be put into 3D it would cease to be Impossible Mission and would only be using the name as the hook,” cited System 3’s CEO Mark Cale.

Next on the agenda is California Games - down for May 2007 on PSP and DS - which will include Summer Games 1 and 2 as unlockables, while Last Ninja (also for the two handhelds) will feature all three of the hugely popular Commodore 64 romps. And we do mean hugely popular - back in the day one-in-four Commodore 64 owners had at least one of the Last Ninja games in their collection.

“You gotta keep the gameplay mechanics the same or else it ceases to be the original game and you’re only using the game brand to sell games,” Kale said. “It ceases to be Impossible Mission or California Games or what have you. … What we’re doing is we’re incorporating the original gameplay and mechanics and bringing the gameplay up to date.”

As for Impossible Mission, kale did confirm that the infamous computerized invitation to “Stay forever!” is already included in the game, and System 3 is even using the original animation for the main character. However, players will be traversing updated backgrounds and will be able to choose from newly created main characters as well, including a female agent and an android.

While emulated versions of the original Impossible Mission and California Games aren’t currently planned to be included in either remake, Kale said the team would examine the possibility, “time permitting.”

As for how System 3 will make use of the Epyx brand beyond its initial wave of titles, don’t expect a cheaply emulated compilation of games anytime soon. Kale said he doesn’t think that’s the right approach to take with old games, so the studio will likely continue to single out the publisher’s highlights and give them remakes that preserve the gameplay.

Other games soon to a remake: Winter Games, Summer Games, Pitstop II and Jumpman Junior!

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