
There’s been much reminiscing among PS5 owners of late, as Astro Bot stirred fond memories of a bygone PlayStation era for fans. Well, if you’re the kind of person raised on a diet of Vib-Ribbon and Ape Escape, you absolutely should be playing Mister Mosquito, an outright barmy PS2 exclusive developed by Japanese studio Zoom.
Published by Sony in Japan and later brought overseas by Eidos, you assume the role of the titular bug having taken up residency alongside a family of unsuspecting humans. Your goal is to gorge yourself on their blood supply through the summer in order to build up enough sustenance to help you live through the difficult winter ahead.
While there’s no real easy genre analogue to Mister Mosquito, it’s perhaps best described as a type of stealth game, as you’ll need to extract said crimson from specific body parts without alerting detection. Humans follow a set pattern, so there are different windows of opportunity to attack, but suck too fast and you’ll be struck down.
While the title didn’t exactly attract rave reviews at launch, it’s become something of a cult classic in more modern times. It’s exactly the type of outright oddity that a lot of PlayStation nostalgia is built on, and from 17th September you’ll be able to download an emulated version with PS Plus Premium for PS5 and PS4.
This re-release will include quality of life improvements, including save states and rewind – although we’ll need to wait a few more days to get confirmation of whether Trophies will be included. Regardless, this is a delightful little classic that deserves to be played – and it’s especially indicative of a very specific era of PlayStation that many fans feel has been lost.
[source News: 13 More Games Join PS Plus Extra, Premium Next Week]
Comments 29
I beg this has a platinum attached to it 🙏
I really hope it doesn't have trophies. No reason. I just hope it doesn't have any.
This is such a goofy game, but it's a fun little time.
Removed - off-topic
I'm buzzing to revisit this one!
I would buy a physical edition version of this day one. The PS2 version is always so expensive besides the demo disc I own.
Mr Mosquito is certainly one of the most underrated PS2 games. PlayStation definitely needs more of this energy. THIS is the PlayStation that I love. I’ll take the weird over the remasters, live service, and bland any day.
Speaking of Vib-Ribbon too, whatever happened to that one getting ported to PS4?
@somnambulance Stretch Panic was another great one.
This was one of a handful of games released under Eidos’ Fresh Games label, which if I remember correctly, was created to bring overlooked Japanese games to Western audiences. While I’m looking forward to getting to play Mr. Mosquito again, Fresh Games released another diamond in the rough called Mad Maestro that I poured hours into when it came out. Here’s hoping it makes an encore appearance.
Great to see. What a great game. So when is Mr Domino, Demolition Girl or Megumi coming to PS+? XD
@Almost_Ghostly I miss Treasure.
Well, I prefer the PS2 version in physical release so I don't need to get from ps plus.
I would love a new Mister Mosquito game. But for now i'll put this port on my wishlist.
Btw, From Mister Mosquito wiki page:
"According to Famitsu, Mister Mosquito was the fifth best-selling video game in Japan during its release week at 41,006 copies sold. Approximately 160,210 copies were sold in the country by the end of 2001. The game was released as part of Sony's PlayStation 2 the Best line of budget titles the following year. Sales of Mister Mosquito in other territories were apparently much poorer."
Japan loves this weird / wacky game but sadly other regions like US or EU doesn't like it.
@Almost_Ghostly Yes! Absolutely! In sometimes struggle to remember why I was so active in the PS2 era, but it’s totally rental culture and games like that. Man, Stretch Panic is also so great. Bring it back!
It's still a trip to see this on Plus. I randomly rented this as a child and never thought I'd see it again. If I remember correctly it was pretty challenging.
@Amnesiac That’s right, it was part of the Fresh Games label! Well remembered!
@Amnesiac Mad Maestro might be difficult to put on the PS4/5, since it required the pressure sensitive buttons. I do hope they find a workaround for it, as I enjoyed the heck out of that game.
@MasterVGuides That’s right! I’d completely forgotten. And here I was thinking that it would be a slam dunk to rerelease because the songs are all in the public domain. Seems like I may have to go box diving in my basement if I want to play it again.
While we're bringing back the best of the PlayStation library, why not also include Power Diggerz (Power Shovel)
@Sequel Happy times to be sure.
Fresh off his cameo in Astro Bot 😅
I like the concept, but watching the video makes it seem like it controls like worse than a shopping trolley. Perhaps only one for the rose-tinted replayers.
I'm excited that we get these oddities which show off Sony at its best, but after a long humid summer I need a break from mosquitos.
I was planning to buy the sequel, Let's go Hawaii, on the japanese ps3 store sooner or later, so this is a pleasant surprise.
I never played or even saw it on the shelves so I'll buy it asap.
I watched for 8 minutes. That title font is great, best part of the game. Followed by that freaky scary voice lady who was giving me the shivers. But then it all got a little bit too "Summer on Epstein Island" and I had to stop watching. 😎
@Czar_Khastik the world is not ready yet for power diggerz
Looking forward to playing this weird hidden gem for the first time.
Hopefully trophies are included.
Delighted to see this released - think I’ll have to get this. I haven’t played it before but remember seeing this game and Mad Maestro in shops when they were released (I was about 13) and was interested in them both but with limited buying power had to go by magazine reviews (I think this was probably 6 or 7/10 at best from memory). Actually, I was recently hoping this would be released on PS5 as I was considering buying a PS2 again on ebay along with this (but mainly to play my old disc of Gregory Horror Show - now that was a great game that needs a re-release). It’s great when something obscure like this comes back.
Finally! Been waiting for this one to he remastered for years. Now we just need Mad Maestro and I’ll be quiet for a while.
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...