Putty's 20th anniversary to be celebrated with the honour of being a launch title for the Vita

System 3 has announced the return of one of gaming’s most loved mascots: Putty! The stretchy blue blob is all set to go digital in Vita Vision with Putty Squad the videogame.

The return of the game marks the beginning of a revival of System 3’s classic IPs to tie in with the company’s 30-year anniversary in 2012. The very same year also marks Putty’s 20th birthday, with his first Amiga outing setting screens alight in 1992.

Cited by many gaming publications as one of the best games of its time, Putty Squad follows the story of unlikely hero Putty in an old-skool platform-adventuring quest for his kidnapped friends. With reviews such as “this game is fantastic – 94%” (CU Amiga), “quite simply the best – 91%” (Amiga Power) and “just about perfect – 90%” (Amiga Format), there can be no doubting this game’s proven pedigree.

The Vita version of the game takes things further than ever before with a complete graphical overhaul. Every background, bitmap, enemy and ally has been redrawn and re-rendered to take advantage of the Vita’s display. On top of that Putty Squad will also take advantage of several of the Vita’s unique capabilities such as front and rear touch-screen controls and location-based unlockables.

Some levels and Avatars will only unlock and become available when the player takes their Vita to a specific location. For example, going to a football stadium will unlock a correctly attired Avatar, visiting the natural History Museum will unlock an ancient Inca level or visiting the Science Museum will unlock an outer space level (specific locations and rewards tbc).

The Vita version will also allow gamers access to a whole host of secret levels, which were previously not available. Gamers will be rewarded for their Vita support with nearly double the amount of levels. A number of these exclusive levels will only be unlocked as part of the Vita’s location-based services and others will be made available every few weeks as downloadable content.

Rather than go crazy with touch-screen controls System 3 has chosen to map the actions that make for the best and most natural gameplay experience. The rear touch-pad will be used for various actions in the game, such as inflating/floating. Gamers will also be able to quickly zoom into the action for difficult jumps and even just to appreciate the detailed graphics even more. This can easily be done with a flick of a finger to or fro on the front touch pad.

Putty Squad will also feature a multiplayer game-share options that allow up to four people to compete in tournaments, either versus or in Team Play. Only one person needs a copy of the game in order for their friends to be able to experience Putty Squad, albeit in a limited fashion. When the link is severed the other players will no longer be able to play the game but they will immediately be given the option to buy it from PSN (exact details of game sharing tbc).

Putty Squad (Vita) will be available for Vita’s launch in Europe.