I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

[Carmen]

I just wanted to chime in just to say I've been waiting for two decades plus for a XEXEX port, so finally! I remember back in the day borrowing a PSP and buying Salamander Portable to finally play it, but PSP isn't the best thing to control these games with... In addition having fun playing these other games I had only read about and heard the music for but never tried like A-JAX, Thunder Cross and Trigon.

Though, and I'm sure this has been discussed before, but there's no way to just go for scanlines without the crap smoothing filter is there? Strangely the Konami Arcade Collection... or whatever it's called ("Powered by Arcade Archives") does give scanlines without smoothing, but it also doesn't save high scores automatically. Weird...

[DenimDemon]

I just wanted to chime in just to say I've been waiting for two decades plus for a XEXEX port, so finally! I remember back in the day borrowing a PSP and buying Salamander Portable to finally play it, but PSP isn't the best thing to control these games with... In addition having fun playing these other games I had only read about and heard the music for but never tried like A-JAX, Thunder Cross and Trigon.

Though, and I'm sure this has been discussed before, but there's no way to just go for scanlines without the crap smoothing filter is there? Strangely the Konami Arcade Collection... or whatever it's called ("Powered by Arcade Archives") does give scanlines without smoothing, but it also doesn't save high scores automatically. Weird...

Yeah most games don’t give you scanlines/no Vaseline options…it’s a pity. But some other releases like Gradius 2 or the recent Mutant Night do give you an option for a sharper filter plus scanlines.

ASO 2 it’s one of the few shmups I still have on my modest AES library ( along Aero Fighters 2 and Last Resort).
I really like the game, I’m waiting for a ACA sale do give it a spin for the leaderboard alone
Funnily the AES stuff look sharper trough OSSC on my HD panel than the ACA Neo Geo releases.

[Carmen]

Interesting, so stand-alone Gradius II also has the clear picture plus scanline choice... that my convince me to upgrade from the Konami Arcade Collection release for the leaderboard support. Has anyone put together a list of which games have which type of filter choices? I saw something on Neogaf or someplace but it was far from complete it seemed...

Maybe somebody from Hamster will take note and just go back and update the games to include it, crossing fingers here...

[MJR]

Glad to see some ASO2 guidance. I always loved the colourful, chunkily metallic aesthetic, but I've just never sat down with it, mostly on account of the fairly intimidating menu/upgrade system. Will refer back here whenever I finally give it a go, cheers MJR.

Glad to hear that

I got wiped so many times on ASO II on switch, that I had to give the MVS a go on my cab to see if I had lost my ability to play it.
Got through the whole game on few credits, the recently installed autofire on my cab may have helped.. This disproves what I said about it being impossible to beat with continues, it's not impossible, it's just a bit of a slog. There is also a huge difference if you play with the limited continues of the AES cartridge, or unlimited continues of the MVS cartridge.. BTW, game ended only after one loop, because I used continues.

In any case, it seems that I am just not as good at shmups if I have to play with the switch controllers. I need a proper arcade joystick. Maybe it has something to do with being used to the joysticks with 30-40 year muscle memory, dunno. Still, it's fun to practise the game at couch using switch.

Something peculiar I notice about the arcade archives version: options give you a possibility to use 10% horizontal screen that is apparently unused in the original Neo geo version. Does anyone know anything about this?

[Sima Tuna]

I always click the "wider screen" option in these ACA neo geo releases. I assume it's something to do with having to fit 4:3 home television aspect ratios?

[BrianC]

Most of the Arcade Archives games that have the sharp/soft options credit Gotch at the bottom, which isn't the case with the ACA Neo-Geo or any of the games that don't have the sharp/soft option.

[Koa Zo]

PS4 Mutant Night

What am I missing? I can't seem to find any trace of Mutant Night for PS4?
The Japanese Hamster site doesn't even show it.

I'm new to the whole Japanese PlayStation account; as I just created one this evening, so is there some not so obvious trick to find this (and Atomic Robo Kid)?

[BIL]

Here you go. (and here's ARK)

I'm not as familiar with their US/EU lineups, but it seems Mutant Night's not on the former.

[Koa Zo]

Here you go. (and here's ARK)

dur, oh 2017 release?! Ah it only just came out for Switch.
I was sorting by recently released in the PlayStation store and on the Hamster site.

Thank you!

[BIL]

Haha, yeah, it's one of the last stragglers from PS4. Other than that, there's Ark Area, and Holy Warrior Amaterasu aka Soldier Girl Amazon. I'm sure those'll jump over at some point, given Hamster owns the rights to UPL and Nichibutsu's catalogues.

The other three are much bigger names, and I suspect have some hangup or another. Darius and Bubble Bobble have newer releases (M2's Cozmic Collection, and Bubble Bobble With Friends, whose BB1 emulation is by Gotch just like the ACA standalone), and Wonder Boy is Wonder Boy.

[Sengoku Strider]

In any case, it seems that I am just not as good at shmups if I have to play with the switch controllers. I need a proper arcade joystick. Maybe it has something to do with being used to the joysticks with 30-40 year muscle memory, dunno. Still, it's fun to practise the game at couch using switch.

The Hori RAP V for Switch is worth the investment, unless you only play in handheld mode.

[EmperorIng]

Other than that, there's Ark Area, and Holy Warrior Amaterasu aka Soldier Girl Amazon.

wow, the hits keep on coming

[DazTM]

There's brilliant aren't they
I tweeted earlier that I'd love to see a Mini Arcade in the style of the Taito Egret II Mini, but it's just full of Hamster's games. I'd pay a few hundred for that.
I've just picked up Terra Cresta and Terra Force in the sale and they're both exactly what I'd expect from them in terms of emulation quality etc.

[BIL]

Other than that, there's Ark Area, and Holy Warrior Amaterasu aka Soldier Girl Amazon.

wow, the hits keep on coming

To be fair, they're the literal last two that aren't BB/Darius/WB.

Ark Area is aight. Best feature beyond the agreeable arena strafe is UPL's customarily cheerful batshit technicolor blitzkrieg. I would really like Amaterasu, if it didn't have that goddamn stupid aim lag that seemed popular in the mid-80s, and even got a bit of itself on my beloved Saigo no Nindou. Still, it's minor enough to enjoy its USP, namely some spirited vehicle hijacking ala Front Line. Actually more striking, at least aesthetically, than the iconic Ikari's tanks. Motorcycles, hovercrafts, tanks, it's all up for grabs and they move like hot shit off a shovel!

I see Heavy Barrel's Super Happy Fun Tyme release is on the EU PSN, for a very puntable £4, but I just can't subject myself to subpar LS-30 emulation. 3; SNK40th's is just barely tolerable for the superlatively great SEARCH AND RESCUE - the controls are bug-wracked and nowhere as smartly-done as ACA's, but at least it has point n' shoot.

LS-30 on a Dual Shock-style pad needs button rotation and point/shoot, to cover the full spectrum of microtap accuracy to reflexive speed. ACA does one better by letting you set multiple [turn left/turn right] buttons, so you can have complementary manual+autofire pairs. I think a properly-configured Dogosoken might actually be easier on ACA than a real LS-30, a surprisingly good time regardless.

Lick my red-hot length you gibbering jammy cunts (｀w´メ)

GET OUTTA THERE MIDORI-KUN, I KNOW THEY AINT PAYIN YOU SHIT (｀w´メ)

Spoiler

Cover is for pussies, sword = cock (｀w´メ)

Spoiler

SUPER FUN ROTARY SHOOTAN TRIVIA! Heavy Barrel is a literal fuckin Ikari bootleg according to Obada-san he very self! I STILL ROVE IT THO

[Jeneki]

Ark Area is aight. Best feature beyond the agreeable arena strafe is UPL's customarily cheerful batshit technicolor blitzkrieg.

Technicolor is putting it mildly once you get to stage 16.

If you want to feel really confused also try Nova 2001 (one of UPL's other games on Arcade Archives) which plays just like Ark Area, but with the control scheme reversed; in one game you hold down a button to strafe, in the other you hold down a button to not strafe. Makes it so confusing to switch from one game to the other, well unless you have a fancy joystick that lets you set buttons to reverse-input.

[BIL]

Ah yes... the PCB that launched a thousand board failure / MAME bug reports

That control flip pissed me off so much when I picked up AA after enjoying Nova Stick solution sounds good!

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

So is Thunder Dragon 2 a no go now? I was looking forward to getting that one.

[BIL]

Nah, it'll show up sooner or later - was announced the same time as XEXEX and Black Heart. Gunnail will be around soon enough too, I'm guessing, given the rate of release for NMK stuff (Hamster own the rights to their catalogue).

I don't think a single announced game has vanished in the 2+years I've followed ACA, even if I waited close to a year for some (that bastardly tough Guevara, which I still need to 1LC to complete the DE FACTO Ikari trilogy lousy shitbird Ikari III don't count ).

EDIT: Two years dominated by pandemic, at that.

I hope Valtric shows up, it's one of the few earlier NMK titles they've never mentiond and I wanna get my tank on :O

[BrianC]

I don't think a single announced game has vanished in the 2+years I've followed ACA, even if I waited close to a year for some (that bastardly tough Guevara, which I still need to 1LC to complete the DE FACTO Ikari trilogy lousy shitbird Ikari III don't count )

It's funny how FC/NES is the reverse of the arcade when it comes to Ikari ports. AC the awesome original Ikari, the awesome sequel, and the mediocre Ikari III. NES had two terrible Micronics ports and the definitive Ikari III done by SNK themselves. Though FC also got an excellent version of Guevara, as well.

[BIL]

Ha, indeed! FC Guevara, Ikari III and Datsugoku form their own SNK Army Man trilogy. (Datsu's still a relatively weak beater opposite Double Dragon II and Mighty Final Fight, but it's still entirely respectable, and a big improvement on the AC version. I was shocked at just how much of FC Datsu's content was created just for that cart)

Meanwhile both AC T.A.N.K. and FC Great Tank are rad. x2 good game multiplier, that's what happens when you keep it in-house.

[Udderdude]

You know what's on my wish list? Jump Bug. Yeah, maybe not the most popular opinion. lol

[BIL]

Would love JB, my bann homie Drum (PBUH) would too 3; Sounds like a thorny one legally, but then again, some cool shit has gone on in recent times.

I'm glad Moon Patrol made it out before Irem apparently went on hiatus from ACA. Vehicular jump n' shoot is a neato subgenre.

[Melt the Guns]

Would love to see the Williams/Midway coin ops on arcade archives. Not sure who owns the rights ?

[BIL]

Same - it's always such a minefield, looking for decent modern releases of those games. ACA-quality Robotron, Defender and Stargate would sort things out.

[MJR]

I guess the best (legit) way to play old midway / atari games are the collections released for PS2 / Xbox / PS3 / xbox 360, but even they don't have all the games.

Obviously due to licensing reasons Revolution X never saw an emulated release, only that slightly gimped PS1 port back in the day. It's a shame, since it is my favourite railgun shooter of all time - even though I am not Aerosmith fan at all. The reason for this is that has more hidden bonuses and secret shortcuts than any other railgun shooter, ever. I used to play it hell of a lot back in the day, in 1994-1995, and was able to 1cc it all the way to the end. I managed to find all the secrets except the ark of the covenant, and I wasn't even sure it existed or if it was an internet myth, until I was able to contact one of it's programmers (he confirmed it exists). I have an extensive FAQ written for Revolution X that I did back in the day, saved on an amiga floppy disk, I was thinking of uploading it to the gamefaqs, but I don't think that it has anything that wasn't written on the existing FAQ's already.

[DenimDemon]

Gunnail tomorrow!

https://www.famitsu.com/news/202201/12247193.html

[BIL]

Setting my alarm clock >_>

[Sima Tuna]

I guess the best (legit) way to play old midway / atari games are the collections released for PS2 / Xbox / PS3 / xbox 360, but even they don't have all the games.

Yeah, I was just looking up to see if there were any decent ports to home consoles for the midway stuff. I missed out on so many arcade games growing up. I didn't know NARC existed until recently. But it sounds like Midway doesn't have many good ports. I've heard the Midway Treasures collections on ps2 don't even emulate correctly.

Gunnail coming out is a definite buy for me.

[MJR]

I guess the best (legit) way to play old midway / atari games are the collections released for PS2 / Xbox / PS3 / xbox 360, but even they don't have all the games.

Yeah, I was just looking up to see if there were any decent ports to home consoles for the midway stuff. I missed out on so many arcade games growing up. I didn't know NARC existed until recently. But it sounds like Midway doesn't have many good ports. I've heard the Midway Treasures collections on ps2 don't even emulate correctly.

Gunnail coming out is a definite buy for me.

Yes, older games emulate fine for the most parts, but may have some slight issues, for example, the arcade version of Gauntlet gives you always a random level after lvl 8, but none of the home versions do that. I don't remember even Mame doing that. I played the Gauntlet last year at a local arcade here and double checked that. Narc on PS2 collection has gimped framerate and I dont remember the palette being the same. Xbox360 collection seems to emulate most of the stuff in acceptable manner, but the choice of games is limited.

[Edited for multiple typos due to my multitasking.. sorry]

[BIL]

Oh wao Mucho manlove in muh crib 2-NITE



Tiem 2 git HARD AS NAIL