Yesterday we paid homage to “Throwback Thursday” with Polaroid’s new take on their old classic, the Socialmatic. Keeping in that same vein for “Flashback Friday”, we’re taking a closer look at a project that has taken Kickstarter and the vintage gaming world by storm. While retro gaming projects on Kickstarter are fairly common, this one puts an entirely different spin on the idea. Not only will it be a new 8-bit game for the original NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), but when plugged into a Mac or PC via USB, there will be a modern playable version of the same game.

Mystic Searches’ project lead Joe Granato IV says the concept actually came from a design document he drew up as a seven-year-old back in the 80’s. Like most kids of that time, Nintendo WAS life for Granato in the late eighties. In 1987 he and a friend began designing a game called Mystic Searches, complete with storyline, concept art, and even music and sound effects. They sent Nintendo of America a letter asking to be sent “all the stuff to make our game”, which earned them only a form letter from the company in turn. From there, as tends to happen, the friends grew up and the idea was lost – until last year. While visiting his parents Granato came across those lost designs and was struck by how much the 8-bit worlds of his childhood had actually shaped who he became as an adult – a writer, a musician, a programmer. Coincidentally, all fields that could help him bring his childhood design to fruition. So he started putting together his dream team and with the help of Kickstarter, is now building Mystic Searches– a brand new 8-bit adventure game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, but with an added bonus.

The NES cartridge for Mystic Searches, in addition to being playable on the original NES system, will house a more modern game on flash memory accessible via a USB cable. Granata envisions the two versions being able to “talk to each other”, meaning if you unlock secrets or levels while playing on the NES, it will simultaneously make the same alterations in the modern version. This, he hopes, will offer gamers “a truly unique, multi-platform experience”. He has even embarked on a documentary project to film the progress of creation and development of the game, and hopes to release both the game and documentary one year from the close of the Kickstarter campaign in November of 2015. This is especially meaningful as 2015 marks the 30th anniversary of the NES console’s North American release.

On only their second day on Kickstarter, Mystic Searches is sitting pretty with over half of their $36,000 goal already crowdfunded. Their Kickstarter page offers some pretty interesting rewards for supporting, the coolest of which has to be for pledges of $10,000 or more. Enter this tier of support, and the team will literally take your video game idea and make it a reality. So if you have an old box sitting in your parents’ attic with an idea you’ve just never let go of, this weekend might be a good time to go ancient treasure hunting.