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

[BIL]

Sheesh, a little respect for the arcane, please? All persistent hits all the time gets boring fast. (Granted I like neither boredom nor excitement. I want the middle ground of contentment.)

Still, between Empire City and Dead Angle, I can see how Seibu fully expected Dynamite Duke to be its "killer app", if you'll forgive using an anachronism. They had experience and results with that genre. Then DD failed to make the necessary impression, and they were temporarily reduced to potboilers like Raiden.

And Raiden kept the pots boiling for quite a few years, ha ha...

The Miclus shows up in Empire City. Gotta love reoccurring mascots.

A Seibu game revolving around fatal snipings is all too apropos, really.

Well, let's go for a kill time.



EDIT: Daww, this is adorable. Dapper n' deadly depression/prohibition-era gangland aesthetic paired with elemental gun shooting. Crisply efficient shooting - emphasises speed and steely accuracy over firepower. Has a Just Evade mechanic, which seems to work great in concert with the onscreen warning - nice balance of reliability to harrowing danger. For its age and zenlike simplicity, it's surprisingly seamless, organic action, plugging goons you've got the drop on, diving for cover as their lurking comrades attempt to bushwhack, returning fire on those dirty rats, too.



Decided to nab it up, partially out of curiosity as to whose trademark the ACA license would go with; MAME displays at least one Taito variant. As I'd hoped, it's Seibu Kaihatsu's own version - gotta keep those dreams of ACA Raiden II + DX alive.

[Tarma]

Does more Seibu stuff mean we could finally see the Raiden Fighters series one day?

[BIL]

Strictly conjecture, but I suspect if Hamster ever take on those beefier mid-to-late 90s platforms (Seibu SPI, Taito F3, Konami GX, etc), it might be whenever they've moved onto current-gen hardware. M2 have made similar noises, re certain hotly-demanded late 90s games like Batrider.

At any rate, I take some solace in OG Zero Team getting its home debut via ACA, so they've certainly set a healthy precedent going forward. (honestly, just a current-gen reissue of Gulti's marvelous RF Aces would be more than sufficient... man, the PS3/360 hardware is a pain to keep operational)

[Rastan78]

At any rate, I take some solace in OG Zero Team getting its home debut via ACA, so they've certainly set a healthy precedent going forward. (honestly, just a current-gen reissue of Gulti's marvelous RF Aces would be more than sufficient... man, the PS3/360 hardware is a pain to keep operational)

A reissue of RFA might be the way to go. Gulti opted to port all three RF games instead of emulating with the goal of shaving off all unnecessary input lag. A nice side effect of that was the elimination of the intense flicker you sometimes see on large sprites with original SPI hardware. So something like what Live Wire did with their Cave ports, essentially just bringing the 360 code over to modern hardware, would be perfect.

Re: maintaining older hardware. This is one of the reasons I don't stress too much about the whole digital vs physical debate. You just dont know what a Switch or PS4 will even be like down the road. And I'm sure they'll be a bitch to repair compared to an old MD or NES. Waiting months or even years for physical software that may not even include necessary patches or DLC just ain't that appealing. Not only that in 10 or 15 years, if I still want to play the retro arcade stuff I usually buy, I'll probably be on an FPGA or whatever else comes next.

[EmperorIng]

Getting impatient waiting for my shitty arcade game wonder momo.

[BrianC]

Getting impatient waiting for my shitty arcade game wonder momo.

Maybe Athena will tide you over?

[Jeneki]

I suggest Kuri Kinton.

[Rastan78]

For that masochisitc gaming fix you could always fire up Tower of Druaga via Namco Museum. Yeah I know the game was a huge hit in Japan and laid a groundwork that would influence pretty much every ARPG ever made, but damn if it isn't just about unplayable by today's standards.

[EmperorIng]

I've made it to floor... 25? on a single credit in Tower of Druaga myself. I've 30cc'd the whole thing (or something like that) before.

Have the namco museum ps1 copy with the hintbook in my lap as I play

I suggest Kuri Kinton.

I haaaaaated this on Taito Legends 2, felt like nothing I could do could hurt the bosses. I don't know if I can ever go back.

Now Athena though... there's an intriguing thought. And the game, too!
Maybe I should boot up Psycho Soldier instead.

[Sima Tuna]

Those Valis games got ported recently (not by hamster). You could always try them out. They look pretty kuso.

[trap15]

For that masochisitc gaming fix you could always fire up Tower of Druaga via Namco Museum. Yeah I know the game was a huge hit in Japan and laid a groundwork that would influence pretty much every ARPG ever made, but damn if it isn't just about unplayable by today's standards.

It's probably more playable than you think it is, but you absolutely need the secret items from the first bunch of floors. Without some of that equipment it's a bit nightmarish.

[hamfighterx]

Has Empire City shown up at all on Switch in NA? I checked Thursday (the normal AA release date), Friday (occasionally the weekly release, like for AA games from Nintendo), Saturday... and no sign of it, unless it was up briefly then pulled for some reason. I'm guessing/hoping it was just an error to be corrected next week...

Appears it is up in other regions though, and on PS4:
Australia eshop: https://ec.nintendo.com/AU/en/titles/70010000049164
US PSN: https://store.playstation.com/en-us/pro ... C000000001

First week since Switch launch without a Hamster Arcade Archives/ACA Neo Geo release (!!!), I'm kinda sad!

[m.sniffles.esq]

Has Empire City shown up at all on Switch in NA?

I haven't seen it.
No idea what happened (or didn't)

[EmperorIng]

Those Valis games got ported recently (not by hamster). You could always try them out. They look pretty kuso.

I played the valis games long ago on the pc engine and suffered through their increasingly bad stage design (hitting the absolute low point with Valis IV, which isn't even on the collection lol). I kind of like them.

[Skyknight]

Considering the Valis games were created by Telenet, I imagine inconsistency is to be expected...

[hamfighterx]

LOL and how's that for timing... they just announced a second Valis collection is coming, with Valis 4 (PCE), Valis 1 (MD/Genesis version), and Syd of Valis (MD/Genesis). I've always sort of appreciated Telenet's platformers like Valis, or the Wolf Team El Viento trilogy. But yeah, you have to be comfortable accepting some mediocre stage design and just general jankiness/weirdness.

[Steven]

I'll probably skip this new Valis collection. I haven't played 4 yet, but I do have a real copy of Japanese Mega Drive Valis 1 and Valis SD is... yeah, it's not great. I've never been able to actually get much enjoyment out of Valis as a whole. Like, why play Valis when I can play something else, like... basically anything? I don't know. That Reiko fight in MD Valis 1 is busted as shit, though.

Anyway, Wonder Momo is here now. I have always been curious about this game, mostly because the PC Engine version is cheap as hell, but from what I have heard, there is a reason for that...

[hamfighterx]

The US weekly Thursday eShop update is now live, and includes both Wonder Momo and and last week's presumably accidental omission of Empire City: 1931. Seems that was just a regional shop availability error, since Empire City did make it out last week in other regions on Switch (and WW on PS4) as planned.

So, maybe it still counts as Hamster continuing the streak of weekly Switch releases that began in March 2017 around the launch of the Switch. JP/EU got 5 ACA Neo Geo games (KOF '98, Metal Slug 3, Shock Troopers, World Heroes Perfect, Waku Waku 7) day and date with the Switch system launch on March 3, 2017. NA got its first batch, consisting of those 5 plus the WW simultaneous release of Nam 1975, on March 9, 2017 - another minor regional technicality in the impressive "every week a new game" run Hamster has been on for these past 5+ years. No, I'm not Hamster PR lol, but it's been cool to see the consistency.

I'll probably skip this new Valis collection. I haven't played 4 yet, but I do have a real copy of Japanese Mega Drive Valis 1 and Valis SD is... yeah, it's not great. I've never been able to actually get much enjoyment out of Valis as a whole. Like, why play Valis when I can play something else, like... basically anything? I don't know. That Reiko fight in MD Valis 1 is busted as shit, though.

Yeah, this 2nd collection is not exactly a superstar lineup. My game preservationist heart is happy to see Valis IV and the MD versions being more available, but the compilation of the first 3 games is clearly the better package and should be sufficient for most people just wanting to check out the series. Minor quibble: if their goal was to do a 2nd compilation to provide a more complete package of the series (minus the Windows eroge VN, quite understandably), it would have also been nice to toss in the SFC/SNES Super Valis IV, which is quite a different game than the PCE original.

And I feel you on the why not play something else sentiment. Playing Valis games actually DOES usually put me in the mood to play something else. Something... better. Personally, I usually end up getting inspired to play PCE Rondo of Blood, or jump over to Genesis for some Castlevania: Bloodlines or Alisia Dragoon.

[Jonpachi]

Fairly off-topic for the thread, but while we're talking Valis and Renovation, this dropped the other day: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09MV ... UTF8&psc=1

For $20 USD, it seems like a steal. Got my copy on the way.

[EmperorIng]

Considering the Valis games were created by Telenet, I imagine inconsistency is to be expected...

Magnificent Telenet, whose games ran the gamut from "shit" to "fucking shit!"

[Sengoku Strider]

How soon they forget.



El Primero.

Ichiban.

Uimhir a Haon.

[Jonpachi]

Has anyone ever seen that shirt either in real life or at auction? Every now and again I'm reminded of it, and go looking, and I've never found one.

[Sengoku Strider]

Has anyone ever seen that shirt either in real life or at auction? Every now and again I'm reminded of it, and go looking, and I've never found one.

Retro-bit is offering a run of them for their Gaiares repro. I don't know if it's shipped yet, preorders only closed mid-December. So you may still have an avenue through them.

[garrz32]

Hahahaa that's brilliant

[CRP]

Pacland next week, and whole month is just namco

[EmperorIng]

I hope that means good namco games.

I expect good but unsurprising though: Pac Land followed by Metro Cross, Baraduke, etc. Good games for sure, but I want the Inspired.

You know, something like Valkyrie no Densetsu, Outfoxies, Fighter & Attacker, Splatterhouse... I think I will only be lucky and maybe get one "creative" game.

[BrianC]

I hope to see the follow up to Pac-Land, Marvel Land, though I hope the title isn't a problem. I'm excited to see Pac-Land, though. Very fun game. Hopefully, it will let me do an all button config on joystick. Not expecting keyboard support, the earlier non-Arcade Archives version of Pac-Man on PS4 actually has it. I hope Mine Loader isn't doing the emulation for Pac-Man Museum Plus. They did the emulation for the first Pac-Man Museum and emulation wasn't as good as Xbox 360 Namco Museum Virtual Arcade or the stand alone XBLA games like Ms. Pac-Man. This is why I'm more interested in the AA version of Pac-Land.

[Sengoku Strider]

I hope to see the follow up to Pac-Land, Marvel Land, though I hope the title isn't a problem.

The Genesis version was released under the name Marvel Land back in the day, so presumably it checks out. If they wanted to head off any trouble they could use the name they gave the PAL version, Talmit's Adventure:

[Skyknight]

I'm having trouble locating the announcement for Pac-Land. Although a 1984 game isn't doing much to pin down what the other three April releases will be (as in figuring out what timeframe Namco is focusing on, since Rolling Thunder and Wonder Momo were 1987).

(No, I'm not anticipating Gee Bee.)

Anyway, pre-1991 things that stick out to me...

CLASSICS THAT WELL DESERVE AN OFF-MUSEUM RELEASE

--Bosconian
--Dig Dug
--The Tower of Druaga
--Baraduke
--Thunder Ceptor
--Pac-Mania
--Galaga '88
--Final Lap
--Assault
--Chozetsu Rinjin: Bravoman (if only because we have the follow-up Pistol Daimyou no Bouken)
--Ordyne
--Splatterhouse (not sure if this risks an M rating or not nowadays...)
--Valkyrie no Densetsu (wonder if Namco can find a way to release Valkyrie no Bouken with it?)
--Burning Force
--Dragon Saber
--Rolling Thunder 2

MORE ARCANE FIGURES

--Gaplus
--Grobda
--Metro-Cross
--Motos
--Youkai Douchuuki
--Blazer
--Finest Hour

Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen, place your bets...

[Steven]

Just downloaded a patch for Xexex on PS4 and Switch. PS4 patch notes just say bug fix, so I don't know what it does, but it's better now in some way.