System 3 has revealed a new look at Putty World, its ambitious reimagining of the classic Putty series, which is currently scheduled to launch on Nintendo Switch 2 in Q2 2027.
While much of the current retro revival continues to look back toward the pixel-art era of the 1980s, System 3 is taking aim at a different period of gaming history. Putty World is built around the idea of what mid-1990s games might have looked like if developers had access to the kind of technology available today, during the period when rendered animation frames were giving 2D characters more depth and expression before real-time polygonal graphics took over.
That idea is the foundation of System 3’s new “What If?” series, which looks at how classic games could have evolved if their original creators had access to modern hardware. For Putty World, that means reimagining the original Putty games with higher frame rates, greater visual detail, improved resolution, more memory and modern controller functionality while retaining the personality and humor of the originals.
“With Putty World, we are not simply asking how we can reproduce a game from the past, we are asking what we might have created in the mid-1990s if we had access to the technology available today,” said Mark Cale, founder and CEO of System 3. “The original Putty games were shaped by the imagination of their creators and the capabilities of the hardware at the time. Our ‘What If?’ concept allows us to revisit that same creative vision without those technical limitations.”
The version being shown at Tokyo Game Show 2026 is still an early playable technology and graphics demonstration rather than a representation of the finished game. System 3 is continuing to develop the visuals, controls and gameplay while adding new enemies, levels, bosses and other content ahead of the planned 2027 release.
Putty World will bring together the worlds of Putty, Super Putty and Putty Squad in one connected experience, with players unlocking recreated and updated levels inspired by different entries throughout the series. The game is planned to feature 75 new or extensively updated levels alongside more than 45 new enemies, with expanded enemy behaviors and additional ways for opponents to react and attack.
Putty himself is also receiving a significant makeover. The updated character will feature more than 50 facial-expression combinations, allowing him to react more dynamically to events and his surroundings. Bosses and dedicated boss battles are also being added as part of the game’s expanded content.
System 3 previously demonstrated the scale of the transformation at gamescom by comparing the Nintendo Switch version of Putty Squad with Putty World running on Nintendo Switch 2. The comparison showcased recreated graphics, more detailed character renders, richer animation, modernized controls and improved overall fluidity.
The goal is to capture the character and feel of a distinctive mid-1990s platformer while removing many of the technical limitations that shaped games during that era. Putty World is targeting a stable 60 frames per second, with support for 1080p resolution in handheld mode and up to 4K when played on a TV.
Putty World is currently scheduled to launch for Nintendo Switch 2 in Q2 2027, with System 3 planning to reveal more gameplay and details about the game’s content as development continues.