Konami has been on something of a WiiWare roll as of late with their ReBirth series, offering up new, bite-sized chunks of their glorious gaming past with graphics and sound clearly meant to evoke the earlier heyday of franchises such as Gradius, Contra, and most recently, Castlevania. And naturally, one would expect they will only be looking to add more to the mix.

Kotaku reports that an "undisclosed" and "unannounced" Wii project by Vancouver's Deep Fried Entertainment has been uncovered, yielding the screenshot you see above. Thought to be Jackal, they have reached out to Konami for comment. I bet that if they get a response, it amounts to "won't comment on rumors and speculation" or "we have nothing to announce at this time," but we'll see.

It's unknown if it made it past the prototype stage, but some things about their analysis of the screenshot don't quite add up.

Unlike Contra, Gradius, and Castlevania, which have taken on an oldschool look and even reused some old assets in certain cases, this looks anything but old. In fact, it looks more like something I would expect to see running on an HD system.

Of course, that may just be my mind comparing this to what I remember from days of old, and there is also the likelihood this was taken from a development kit of some kind, possibly further reflecting the difference. While it could be WiiWare, I wonder if Konami would label it as a part of the "ReBirth" series, or if it might be something more akin to their recently-announced Rocket Knight Adventures game for Xbox LIVE Arcade and the PlayStation Network.

If you're interested in more, you can find more screenshots and a little extra info at the art portfolio for Eric Testroete.