Watermelon’s long-awaited Mega Drive brawler Project Y has finally been given a final name and a release date. Paprium is scheduled to become available on 16th September 2017 and is slated to use the intriguing “Datenmeister” chipset, and will be the largest Mega Drive game ever at 80 megabits (a size we’re frankly more accustomed to seeing from Neo Geo games).

Paprium takes place in a post-apocalyptic megalopolis of the same name, located at a point equidistant from Shanghai, Tokyo and Pyongyang. The game offers 24 stages and five playable characters, and contains a condensed arcade mode as well as an original mode with multiple paths, the ability to affect the ending and save game support.

The game will be available in three limited edition versions for $89.99, with artwork adopting the Japanese, North American and European Mega Drive/Genesis packaging styles. A regular version with the classic black grid design will also be available for $69.99. All versions will be compatible with both PAL and NTSC Mega Drive hardware. For the truly hardcore, the Grandstick III arcade stick will also be made available in limited quantities for $150.

We’ve been following this project for a long time now – we first covered it in the magazine in issue 126, three years ago. Time will tell if the game design matches up to the clearly lavish production values – we’ll let you know how it’s turned out when Paprium becomes available for review. In the meantime, you can find out more about the game or place a pre-order at paprium.com.