ReclaimedAcclaim rises from the dead, with help from the founder of Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion's publisher, and a guy who once said "It's Mr Slap Nuts to you"The classic publisher is being resurrected, with the goal to "support indie developers and reignite classic franchises".Image credit: Acclaim News by Mark Warren Senior Staff Writer Published on March 4, 2025 Remember Acclaim, the publisher of a bunch of classic 90s games including NBA Jam, Turok, and the original Mortal Kombat (alongside Midway), declaring bankruptcy in 2004? Well, it's being ressurected as a fresh venture which will aim to "support indie developers and reignite classic franchises". No, we don't know if it'll be doing stuff like offering people cash and an Xbox to change their name to Mr Turok this time.This revival, which comes just over 20 years after the original Acclaim bit the dust, is being headed by CEO Alex Josef, who previously founded and led Graffiti Games, the publisher of indie puzzlers Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, Turnip Boy Robs A Bank, and several games that don't involve a boy that's a turnip.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Now, he's in charge of this relaunch, which hopes to "provide much-needed resources such as funding, marketing and PR support, giving independent studios the opportunity to bring their creative visions to a broad audience". Plus, it'll be aiming to bring back a bit of the old Acclaim, by embarking on a mission to "resurrect and revitalize [the classic publisher's] beloved portfolio of classic IP enjoyed for years by millions of players"."Its an absolute honor and pleasure to be leading the charge in bringing Acclaim back to the forefront of the games industry, Josef said Were fortunate that we have an extremely talented team and that weve already signed some incredible indie titles, which well be revealing soon."If you need a refresher, in addition to the titles mentioned earlier, the list of Acclaim published games from the halcyon days of Blur, Michal Jordan in a Bulls jersey, and Tony Blair also includes Criterion's first two Burnout games, the distribution of Wallace & Gromit in Project Zoo across Europe and Australia, plus a bunch of WWF and ECW wrestling games.That last bit also factors into this revival, with one of the people on new Acclaim's advisory board being wrestler Jeff Jarrett, who featured in some of those 90s wrestling games, before going on to found his own promotion, and wrestle for a bunch of other companies. He's long been associated with the catchphrase "Slap Nuts" or "Slapnutz", often said not long before Jarrett hits someone over the head with a gimmicked guitar. One time in the 90s while wrestling for WCW, he did this to four foot three man, and then proceeded to say something to the effect of: "It's Mr Slap Nuts to you"."For more than three decades, I've had the privilege to have been a part of both the wrestling and gaming universes, and I'm thrilled to now be a partner in the revival of Acclaim, an iconic publisher known for releasing some of the most legendary games of the 80s and 90s," Jarrett said.Are you excited to see the Acclaim name back in the news? Do you want Jeff Jarrett to slap your nuts? Let us know below!