| Nightmare Busters | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Arcade Zone[a] |
| Publisher(s) | Super Fighter Team[b] |
| Producer(s) | Brandon Cobb |
| Designer(s) | Christophe Gayraud Jean‑Christophe Alessandri |
| Programmer(s) | Christophe Gayraud |
| Artist(s) | Jean‑Christophe Alessandri Lyes Belaidouni |
| Composer(s) | Michel Golgevit Olivier Rabat |
| Platform(s) | Super NES |
| Release |
|
| Genre(s) | Action, run and gun |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Nightmare Busters is a 2013 run and gun action video game developed by Arcade Zone and Super Fighter Team for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the first new game for the console in North America since Frogger (1998), fourteen years after being discontinued in North America. A mobile phone version called Flynn's Adventure was released in 2004. A revival titled Nightmare Busters: Rebirth was announced in 2021 for consoles and PC. The game follows the leprechaun twin brothers Flynn and Floyd on their journey to stop Tyrant from infiltrating and turning children's dreams into nightmares. The player is tasked with fighting off enemies by using playing cards and magic attacks across six stages, populated with an assortment of obstacles.
Nightmare Busters was conceived by late programmer Christophe Gayraud, a former Titus Interactive who worked on The Blues Brothers and The Brainies for Super NES. Gayraud acted as co-designer with Jean‑Christophe Alessandri, a freelance art designer who worked on Prehistorik and Prehistorik Man. It was previewed in 1994 and showcased at Shoshinkai 1994, originally slated to be published by Sony and Nichibutsu, but development stopped when Sony abandoned distribution of Nintendo-related products with the introduction of PlayStation in Europe and Nichibutsu dropped the title for unknown reasons. Arcade Zone shut down due to being incapable of publishing their own games, while subsequent decrease of the Super NES market kept it from being released.
Production resumed in partnership with Gayraud and Alessandri, after Brandon Cobb of Super Fighter Team came across with the mobile phone port and was introduced to Gayraud by Eric Thommerot of In-Fusio. Journalists praised the European animation-style visuals, dark fantasy tone, simple gameplay, and responsive controls, but its audio and other flaws were criticized. According to Cobb in a 2016 interview, Nightmare Busters sold the most units for Super Fighter Team.
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