PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate Coming to PS4, PS Vita This Summer

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PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate Coming to PS4, PS Vita This Summer

PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate on PS4 and PS Vita

All of us here at Double Eleven are excited to announce that PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate is coming to PS4 and PS Vita this Summer, and we can finally start to talk about it!

PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate is a twin-stick shooter that’s as much about blasting things as it is about exploration, puzzle solving, and collecting things. Within Shooter Ultimate, players interact with environments that run an advanced fluid dynamics simulation. These interactions are needed to solve puzzles, overcome enemies, and progress through levels.

For those who remember the original PixelJunk Shooter games, Ultimate combines the campaigns of Shooter 1 and 2 into a single experience. It certainly doesn’t stop there, as we’ve done a ton of work on top of that to make this the third game in the series!

So here’s our list of nine things that hopefully make our PixelJunk Shooter worthy of the title “ultimate.”

1. Full Visual Upgrade on PS4

When we were trying to decide what a PS4 version of Shooter should look like, we knew that it needed to remain true to that classic, razorsharp, vector-based aesthetic — which continually threw new ideas at the player — while still being able to stand besides modern PS4 games. From a gameplay perspective, we wanted to make combat more intense, engaging, and overall provide for a more rewarding experience.

So, we decided to introduce real-time environment lighting, along with a host of new visual FX for things like projectiles, explosions, thrusters,and more. And it didn’t stop there — we’ve also worked on making the fluids look even better by increasing the resolution of the particles, improving shaders, and adding anti-aliasing to the edges of the fluids. We’ve also revisited the color palette, and color grading has been added to every scene, which hopefully makes it look and feel more immersive.

PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate on PS4 and PS VitaPixelJunk Shooter Ultimate on PS4 and PS Vita

2. A Redesigned Ship on PS4

Something that a lot of people loved about the ship in Shooter 1 and 2 was the way it managed the relationship between momentum and resistance to changes in motion. This is not something we wanted to mess with, but we did want to improve the visual feedback to the player, to make that relationship more accessible.

To achieve this, we decided to introduce a 3D ship, which allowed us to add animations for aeronautical maneuvering that gives better visual feedback. The ship is also treated to the newly introduced real-time lighting, as well as the other visual improvements.

3. 60 Frames-per-second on PS4

For the uninitiated, higher frame rates capture much more of the action every second, so there’s much less opportunity for action to blur when you’re in the thick of it. Behind the scenes, our physics and fluid dynamics simulations also run at 60 FPS, meaning that the game is more responsive to how the player interacts with the various environments. It also improves on the control feedback and responsiveness.

4. Awesome Environments on PS Vita

One of the most understated aspects of the Shooter series of games was the highly complex fluid simulation. Most of the puzzles in the game require the manipulation of various fluids (water, lava, magnetic fluid, acid), each of which are made from several thousand particles to get the simulation looking perfect.

The computational power to run this has even given some quad-core PC processors issues, so bringing this game to a portable handheld was always going to be a major challenge. This has all been made possible thanks to some excellent research and development by our team, and we’re really excited that we can bring this experience to PS Vita.

5. One Seamless Experience

PixelJunk Shooter introduced us to the Yellow Dart, and its mission to save trapped scientists. PixelJunk Shooter 2 picks up exactly where the first left off. In PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate, you can enjoy an uninterrupted and complete experience, with all the new features introduced in Shooter 2 — such as the super spin — across all chapters.

PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate on PS4 and PS Vita

6. A New HUD

Ultimately, we wanted the HUD (heads-up display) to be more intuitive and informative. After evaluating the original HUD elements, we also realized that too much screen real estate was being used up — that was particularly problematic on PS Vita.

The newly designed minimalist elements have a level of opacity, which allows for more action to be seen. More so, we thought about what other information the player should know and we’ve added new elements to reflect this.

PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate on PS4 and PS Vita

7. Cross play

As gamers, we love it when consoles and handhelds work well together. So cross play was one of the first things we looked into. Now you and your friend can play together, without both of you needing the same device.

8. Cross Save

Another thing we find useful as gamers is cross save functionality, and this is something we’ve added to Shooter Ultimate. With this, you can take your save game on the move on Vita, and then continue your experience at home, with all the new graphical effects on PS4.

9. New Scoring System

We’ve reviewed the entire scoring system, and without giving away too much, we’ve hopefully balanced it to accommodate those who are just starting out, those that enjoy competitive play, and to those that would challenge their friends on the leaderboards.


We’re really pleased with how PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate is taking shape, and we can’t wait for you to grab it on PS4 and PS Vita this Summer.

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71 Comments

  • Well i will support this because i like the developers PixelJunk alot. One of the best indie developers out there that never disappoint. Now what would really complete this if there could be added world & new challenges through dlc. Also for that already own both games how will this work as not to be buying what we own already?

  • You guys do know that they’ll be losing money buy doing “cross-buy” right?

  • Dat soundtrack. Can’t get enough of those High Frequency Bandwidth tunes.

  • Any love for those who bought the first 2 games?

  • OMG! One of my all time fav games on the PSN is coming to PS4!?

    SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY! NOW!

  • Seems like a lot of people posting REALLY want you to know that these ports every week are a good thing for us, because, well, paying twice for the same thing makes complete sense. We should be honored the developers are testing a new console by letting us buy and play these games again and then again on PS5. All the while paying double and then triple.

    How lovely an honor you do us, Sony. All the while doing this stuff instead of “working” on some media capabilities for the PS4 like music ownership and video streaming from PC. This all makes sense now.

    Can’t wait for God of War 1080/60fps Collection.

  • I loved Pixejunk Shooter on PS3. I always thought that it would be awesome on the go. Wish has been granted. I will be getting the PS Vita version. For those asking about crossbuy, it is highly unlikely as the PS4 version is slightly better. They basically had to have two separate games.

    Honkayjeezus: You do understand that they have to translate the code into a PS4 version and PS Vita version, right? That costs money. You also have the option not to purchase it. For Sony to give it up for free to people who own the PS3 version, would mean that they would be loosing money on this. I have the PS3 versions, and I will bet getting this update to play on the Vita. I am also looking forward to God of War Collection on PS Vita.

  • I remember buying a lot of the PixelJunk games for $1 each, and I haven’t even started a few of them, but I remember liking SideScroller a whole lot. A guy could dream of a Vita version… meanwhile I guess I’ll get this game too…

  • I’m still playing PJM on Vita!! This is awesome news for Vita. Will pick it up day one for Vita. I hope our support will help you guys make a new game! Like a PJM-2 for Vita with up to 4 players online tougher monsters!!! Or PJShooter 3

  • I love PJ:S and the idea of a remastered PS4 edition, but I too am not digging the new liquid graphics. I never felt that the water and lava didn’t look good enough on PS3. It is SUPPOSED to be cartoony like that. Judging by the screenshots, the new liquid graphics look reallllly out of place. When I first saw the title of this post, I knew I’d be buying it, but you guys have taken too many liberties, messing with an already winning formula and I’m not sure I’ll buy this after all.

  • LOL @56 Right!? I really hope this isn’t a trend. Hope this is the LAST remake. I LOVE these games but I really want something new..

  • This game will contains new levels or just the remade levels from the two predecessors?

  • first, do we get to hear the AMAZING music in HD (24-bit/lossless) quality?

    do any sounds come out of the DualShock4’s speaker?

    will there be a discount for people who already own the originals on PS3?

    gotta say that the look of the game is totally different now, and takes away quite a bit of the charm for me. that being said, my husband and I loved playing this in co-op.

    will there be online cross-play with PJS2 on PS3?

    will we be able to play online co-op between Vita and PS4 with the same PSN accoount?

  • That is great! but… I wish there was Pixel Junk Monsters 2 on the ps4, that would be awesome!!

  • Any plans to port all the Pixeljunk games to Vita? That would really make my day.

  • I have the original on PS3. Please, bring out a PixelJunk Monsters 2 on PS4.

  • Will this be coming to pc as well?

  • @16, Battle- PJM is an entirely different experience. That’s a tower defense game while Shooter is a Resource/Environmental shooter. As I own a few of them, the PJ team are really skilled at producing easy pick-up-&-play titles w/ varying gameplay.

    @50, Rez- I’m sure the development of PJS3 will depend on the sales if this Ultimate pack!

    Double Eleven is a talented bunch; can’t wait to try this on the Vita.

    A few points:

    1. Any chance of a lower difficulty? The PS3 version is killing meh!
    2. This series def. needs a level editor!

  • Fine don’t know about getting this game on my ps vita it’s a water shooting game looks kinda cool but, really into games like COD and other games like that that I play online, and this game not really interseted in.

  • I’m not sure I understand this theory..
    “Ultimate combines the campaigns of Shooter 1 and 2 into a single experience. It certainly doesn’t stop there, as we’ve done a ton of work on top of that to make this the third game in the series”

    In comparison that would be like Super Mario Bros. 3 containing the full games of SMB1 & SMB2 with some additional tweaks and Nintendo calling it a true sequel.

    Anyway, I am a huge fan of their PJ Shooter games. I bought both 1 and 2 at full price, but I just don’t see myself spending more than $8 to play through it again. Perhaps they can offer a Cross-Discount like Farsight has done with Pinball Arcade. They put a lot of additional work into their PS4 version so it’s a very similar situation IMO.

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