Gaudí: Winds of Barcelona, the graphic noir adventure thriller from Shinyuden, the organization behind previously restored titles Traysia and Vixen 357, is coming back. This obscure classic will soon be remastered and rereleased for English, Spanish, and Catalan audiences with a physical collector’s edition of this massive restoration project.
In the game, players take on the role of former Scotland Yard detective Henry Howard, now an “information consultant” based in Barcelona, and guide Henry on a twisting noir journey to stop a devious terrorist threat that threatens the entire country of Spain. Dive into the tense tale where each step moves Henry one step closer to the devastating truth.
Featuring an extensive translation of over 27,000 words from the original Japanese text, Gaudi Winds of Barcelona has been reconstructed from top to bottom in order to preserve the game’s original cultural nuances, the noir tone, and the unique atmosphere in everything from dialog to interfaces. Set in Barcelona in 1992, the game features real locations and monuments of famous architect Antoni Gaudi meticulously recreated with stylish, realistic pixel art.
We sat down for a conversation with the General Manager of Shinyuden, Luis Garcia Navarro, to learn more about the project and the work Shinyuden is doing to restore classic games like Gaudí: Winds of Barcelona.
The GameSlayer: Tell me about Shinyuden. How did the company form, and what is its main goal?
Navarro: Shinyuden’s roots go back to 2013, when a group of friends and video game professionals began working together on independent projects inspired by Japanese games. The company was formally established in Tokyo in 2018, when I co-founded it with Shuichi Nakahara.
Our first major project was Heroes Trials. From there, Shinyuden expanded into localization, publishing, quality assurance, marketing and representation, particularly helping Western independent developers bring their games to the Japanese market.
Over time, our focus evolved towards something that has always been very important to us: preserving overlooked Japanese video games. Today, our main goal is to identify games that have been forgotten, trapped in Japan or never translated, secure their official licences, restore and localize them, and give them a genuine second life through digital releases and carefully produced physical editions. We are not interested in nostalgia for its own sake. We want these games to remain accessible, relevant and properly recognised as part of video game history.
The GameSlayer: What examples of games has Shinyuden worked on so far?
Navarro: Our catalogue reflects the different stages of the company. We began with independent titles such as Heroes Trials and supported the Japanese publication and promotion of games including Fox ‘n Forests, Reventure, Cybarian, Gun Crazy and Concept Destruction.
We later became increasingly involved in bringing classic Japanese games to modern platforms. These projects include titles such as Avenging Spirit, the Cyber Citizen Shockman series, Psycho Dream, Rider’s Spirits, Sugoro Quest and the Aero the Acro-Bat games.
Our physical publishing line includes games such as Traysia, Vixen 357, Zero Wing CC: Cosmic Celebration, Sorcerer’s Kingdom and Rising Dusk. These editions are officially licensed and are designed to reproduce the experience of buying a complete game in the 1980s or 1990s, including translated manuals, reversible covers, registration cards, posters and other physical materials.
The GameSlayer: How does Gaudí: Winds of Barcelona fit into this?
Navarro: Gaudí: Winds of Barcelona may be the clearest expression yet of what Shinyuden is trying to accomplish.
It is a Japanese game that remained almost completely unknown outside Japan, but its story is deeply connected to Spain and Catalonia. Recovering it requires every part of our work: researching an obscure title, locating the rights holder, obtaining an official licence, reconstructing its technology, translating it and creating a physical edition that respects the original.
It also represents the bridge that Shinyuden has always tried to build between Japan and the West. It allows Western players to discover a forgotten part of Japanese video game history, while also showing Barcelona and Gaudí’s architecture through the eyes of Japanese creators working in the late 1980s.
The GameSlayer: Tell me about the project. How has Gaudí: Winds of Barcelona been revived?
Navarro: The original game, Gaudí: Barcelona no Kaze, was developed by Wolf Team and released in Japan in 1989 for Japanese computers including the PC-88, PC-98, Sharp X68000 and MSX2. It is a narrative mystery adventure set during the summer of 1992, shortly before the Barcelona Olympic Games.
The player follows Henry Howard, a former Scotland Yard detective who becomes involved in a case connecting political intrigue, Barcelona’s past and the legacy of Antoni Gaudí. The game uses an interface called the Object Pointing System, which allows players to examine locations, interact with characters and make decisions that can influence how the story develops.
The rights to Wolf Team’s catalogue eventually passed to Edia. After identifying the title in its catalogue and obtaining the licence, we began the process of recovering it. I also managed to locate a very rare X68000 copy in a second-hand shop in Chiba, after searching for the game for years.
The most difficult part is that we have not had access to the original source code. Our technical localization team has therefore had to study and reverse-engineer the game’s logic. The original software was designed around Japanese kanji characters, so we also had to solve its character-width limitations and implement a new alphabet that could support Western languages.
The game contains more than 27,000 words, which have been translated and adapted into English, Spanish and Catalan while preserving its noir tone, cultural references and original atmosphere. We are also adapting the game for modern computers and preparing a Big Box physical edition containing a multilingual manual, a USB game card, the original soundtrack on CD and additional collector’s materials.
The GameSlayer: What would you like players to take away from the experience?
Navarro: First of all, we want players to enjoy it as a mystery. It has a distinctive noir atmosphere, memorable music and a strange, fascinating interpretation of Barcelona.
Beyond that, we hope players discover something unexpected: a version of Barcelona imagined by Japanese developers before the 1992 Olympic Games had even taken place. For Spanish and Catalan players, familiar streets and monuments may feel surprisingly unfamiliar when seen through that perspective. For international players, the game offers a different way to discover the city, Gaudí’s architecture and an important period in Barcelona’s history.
We would also like players to understand that video game preservation is not simply about keeping a ROM file. It involves recovering licences, understanding obsolete technology, reconstructing missing systems, translating cultural meaning and presenting the work in a way that respects its original identity. Ultimately, we hope the game encourages players to look beyond the best-known classics and realise how much of video game history is still waiting to be rediscovered.
The GameSlayer: What’s next for Shinyuden?
Navarro: Our immediate priority is completing Gaudí: Winds of Barcelona and releasing it during 2026. We are also preparing Sol Deace and Final Zone for Mega Drive and continuing the technical work and cartridge testing for the Spanish physical edition of Yuzo Koshiro’s Earthion.
At the same time, we are expanding beyond Mega Drive into other formats, including Super Nintendo and physical PC releases. Our publicly announced projects include Slap Fight CC, Grind Stormer CC, Arcus Odyssey, Psycho Dream and Power of the Hired.
The long-term objective is to build a coherent library rather than release isolated curiosities. We want Shinyuden to become a home for Japanese games that deserve another opportunity: officially licensed, carefully localized and presented with the same attention they would have received if they had originally been published in the West. We already have projects planned well into 2028, so there are still many forgotten titles we hope to bring back.
Gaudi Winds of Barcelona is available to preorder on Shinyuden’s website and will release on October 9, 2026.
