Bit Boy released in Europe on Friday, so we asked its creators at Bplus to field a few questions from us. We’ve got some detailed info on the upcoming title for you, as well as a sneak peek at their next project for WiiWare.

BLAST: To start, why don’t you tell our readers a little about Bplus.

BPLUS: Bplus is an independent games developer based in Vienna in the heart of Europe. As being total Nintendo fans ourselves, we create our games exclusively for Nintendo systems. All of us have a total passion for what we do and we always put much love, work and sleepless nights into our projects.

BLAST: Bit Boy is a very retro title, which has been a popular theme in gaming as of late. Where did you get the inspiration for the game?

BP: Since the announcement of Virtual Console for Wii, we dreamed of retro-style successors of the games we loved so much. When we came up with the idea to do a retro game ourselves, we were suddenly in the difficult situation to decide in which graphical style the game should be realised. We know that every true gamer has a special place in his heart for the style of the games he started with “" and that’s what Bit Boy!! is all about. We wanted the game to spark true retro feelings in all gamers, regardless the age, so we decided to send our one-pixel hero Kubi on a time journey through the whole history of video games.

BLAST: In Bit Boy, your friends have been kidnapped by pixelated creatures from a bygone era. What can the hero Kubi do to save them? Does the game significantly change in gameplay style as well as presentation as you progress through history?

BP: On his journey, Kubi enters the levels of past generations, each of them in the corresponding graphical style. All worlds are full of dangerous monsters that hold Kubi’s friends captive. To rescue your friends, simply touch them and they will return to their own era with a relieved “Thank you!”. While in the 4-bit era only four of your friends need to be saved, there are already 32 of them in each level of the 32-bit generation. Bit Boy!! really is full of variety and every new level offers something new, a fresh and unique theme.

While Kubi is relatively helpless in the 4-bit era, from the 8-bit era on, Kubi can use special attacks to defeat monsters and later in the game he gains the ability to jump onto objects to hide himself from enemies. They change tactics in each level, so be sure to use the limited number of attacks wisely.

We intended that the Bit Generations themselves are not too long because we wanted to give EVERYONE, even new gamers that generally lose interest quickly, the chance to unlock all of them. If you cannot wait to see the next generations, you can really rush through the game, but that way you will never see your name on the top of the high score tables. Finding out the right tactics for a super-duper score can be really tough, you have to survive to collect all the fruit and defeat as many monsters as possible. As a nice reward, the top score of each bit generation is displayed on the title screen, so get your name there!

BLAST: Was there a lot of difference in how you had to approach each bit generation from a development standpoint? Also, did you have a particular favorite that you designed?

BP: Of course we had to create all these different, unique objects in all the various graphical styles, which was an enourmous task for us. On the programming side, one single engine works for all generations, simulating things such as display resolution, color palette, frame rate, controls and enemy behavior. As for favourite generations:

Bernd Geiblinger: I for one prefer the 16-Bit generation, clearly followed by the 64-Bit generation. I just love bright colours and I fell in love with the cuddly style. I am also a big fan of Super Bomberman and that is why the 16-Bit levels are mostly inspired by it and also by Zelda III “" A Link to the Past.

Daniel Bƒ¶sze: My favourite of all the generations is the 4-bit era. Even though I was very young when these games where around, I find it extremely fascinating how fun a game with such simple technology and graphics can be. I also like the 64-bit generation because when I was young, the games of that era had a kind of perfection I didn’t know before. This perfection was mirrored in such simple things as not having to blow into cartridges to play them or the marvelous sound that hasn’t been possible before.

BLAST: This is a little off topic, but we would like to hear about what kind of games all of you like to play when you’re not hard at work on making your own.

BP: To be honest, we didn’t have that much time to play recently because we were snowed under with work. Often, we play our own games when we finally have them at home on our own Wii consoles, mostly to have fun but also to learn what we can do better next time.

Bernd Geiblinger: I really love good platformers and I am totally into multiplayer games of all kinds because I really love to play together with friends in the same room.

Daniel Bƒ¶sze: I like to cook so the game I probably spent most time with is “Personal Trainer: Cooking” A game that also kept me in front of the screen was Sim City Creator for Wii.

BLAST: Bplus has done a lot of work on the WiiWare service. Do you have any future plans besides Bit Boy that you would be willing to talk about? Have you considered moving into DSiWare development?

BP: Our other Wii Project, Vektor Tank, is coming along pretty nicely; we already have released some juicy in-game screenshots a while ago. We put much work into Vektor Tank and constantly refine gameplay to make sure you’ll have an absolute blast when you get to play it. As for DSiWare, there are some ideas floating around, but nothing tangible right now.

Thanks to the folks at Bplus for taking our questions. You can see more of Bplus work and media at their official website.

Now that the Fourth of July holiday weekend is behind us, I wanted to let you know that we will have plenty of coverage for you here this week at Blast. Sure, the start of the summer lull in game releases is upon us, but there are still plenty of games worth a look on the way, and we’ll have plenty of supplemental content for you as well.

For instance, we interviewed Gaijin Games, the creators of Bit.Trip CORE–which is releasing today at noon on WiiWare–on Friday (in case you missed it while stuffing yourself full of beer and burgers, here’s the link). Later today we will also be publishing an interview with Bplus, the developers of Bit Boy, which released in Europe on Friday, and should be coming to North America soon. We’ve also had a few pieces of equipment sent to us for review, so you should see our thoughts on Splitfish’s FragFX controller soon, as well as on TeknoCreations’ protective case/battery backup DSi case.

We’ll have reviews of some recent titles soon too, despite the infrequent releases. The Bigs 2 is coming out on multiple systems, and we’ll have a review for you arcade baseball lovers soon after it’s out. The newest Harry Potter also came out recently, and we’ll have reviews of that on multiple consoles. The first episode of the Tales of Monkey Island remake is out this week too, and we have been hard at working checking that out for you. Battlefield 1943 is releasing for XBLA and PSN this week.‚  The aforementioned Bit.Trip CORE will be reviewed, and we’ll also finish catching up on June’s very busy release schedule. Don’t forget that later this month, fresh off of the E3 insanity, we will be heading to San Diego Comic Con to get you even more hands-on previews and news from developers and publishers. It’s a good way to get a head start on your holiday purchasing plans, especially since it’s looking like yet another loaded winter for gamers.

Even though this does not immediately benefit those of us in North America, a European release for Bplus’ Bit Boy is a good sign, because it means we will probably see it sooner than later. Now we know that Bit.Trip CORE will be WiiWare game #100 on Monday, but there’s no reason that Bit Boy can’t make it’s way over the pond the week after that, or at least sometime relatively soon.

If you want to check out screens of Bit Boy, we posted a boatload of media last week, including a trailer from E3. This is starting to look like a great summer for WiiWare, one that should help us through the AAA-less months ahead. The aforementioned Bit.Trip CORE is out Monday, Furry Legend and NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits should release later this summer or during the later part of the year, and additional chapters for Final Fantasy IV: The After Years are also on the way. That’s a whole lot of game at low downloadable prices. Start saving up those Nintendo Points now, because we will have reviews for all of these titles after they release, and maybe even some conversations with the developers to help you get to know the games.

Bplus shot us an e-mail stuffed full of images and trailers for their upcoming WiiWare title, Bit Boy, so here I am to present you with loads of screens and art. Bit Boy takes place, graphically, in many different eras. You control Kubi, who is sent back to the realm of 4-bit gaming in order to save his pixelated friends. You move from 4-bit to 8-bit, then to 16-bit, then 32, 64, and 128-bit worlds. Besides graphical changes, you also earn new abilities that are era-specific–the types of movements and attacks that are only possible within the confines of that time in gaming history. It’s a very cool concept, and I’m excited to see how it works when it’s finished and available. The music in the trailer is enough to make me want to give it a shot.