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

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

Post by cfx »

On PS4, are there any differences between the versions of Galaxian, Pac-Man, and Dig Dug in the Namco "Arcade Game Series" collection compared to the ACA versions? I understand both are by Hamster. Because Pac-Man is one of the ACA titles on sale now, I was going to get it but wanted to check on this before doing so.
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BIL
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

cfx wrote:On PS4, are there any differences between the versions of Galaxian, Pac-Man, and Dig Dug in the Namco "Arcade Game Series" collection compared to the ACA versions? I understand both are by Hamster. Because Pac-Man is one of the ACA titles on sale now, I was going to get it but wanted to check on this before doing so.
I thiiink the AGS Pac-Man is based on a different revision than the ACA one, so it might be worth keeping around if you're hardcore into that game. I'm not, so I cheerfully deleted all three as the ACA ones arrived (AGS are monstrously large downloads for early 80s arcade titles).

Otherwise, they seem about the same, right down to the optional PCB bootup sequences. AGS were by Gotch, just like the Switch's Namco Museum arcade titles, and I suspect they've been helping out Hamster, ever since Namco joined ACA - quietly, as is their ninja specialist wont.

The most notable AGS entry is probably Ms. Pac-Man, which is PS4-only and apparently took some licensing heft. I'm honestly only a peripheral fan of those games, so I nixed it too, but again if you're hardcore into them it might be worth keeping about in the event of a de-listing.
Last edited by BIL on Wed May 24, 2023 7:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Sturmvogel Prime »

Screenshot for the upcoming Arcade Archives: Rolling Thunder 2.
https://weekly.ascii.jp/elem/000/004/138/4138015/

BTW, is Tetris TGM2 a 32-bit or a 64-bit game?
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by velo »

Here's the full list. First Hamster sale of the year, I think, and it's a big one.

ACA NEOGEO 2020 SUPER BASEBALL
ACA NEOGEO AERO FIGHTERS 3
ACA NEOGEO ART OF FIGHTING 2
ACA NEOGEO METAL SLUG 3
ACA NEOGEO NAM-1975
ACA NEOGEO REAL BOUT FATAL FURY
ACA NEOGEO SAMURAI SHODOWN IV
ACA NEOGEO THE KING OF FIGHTERS '97
ACA NEOGEO TOP HUNTER RODDY & CATHY
ACA NEOGEO ZED BLADE

Arcade Archives DRAGON BUSTER
Arcade Archives DRAGON SPIRIT
Arcade Archives GAPLUS
Arcade Archives MAPPY
Arcade Archives PAC-MAN
Arcade Archives SUPER PAC-MAN
Arcade Archives The Genji and the Heike Clans
Arcade Archives THE LEGEND OF VALKYRIE
Arcade Archives XEVIOUS
Arcade Archives YOUKAI DOUCHUKI
Last edited by velo on Wed May 24, 2023 8:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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BIL
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

Zed Blade aka OPERATION RAGNAROK is a good 'un. One of those NMK titles where they eased off the difficulty a bit without sacrificing an iota of foot-to-floor pace; super nice pickup n' play hori. The scoring is boned (quite literally - hump that floor harder sonny Image), but who cares mirite Image Namiki's gabber is fuckin mental Image (and goddamn, speaking of Ms. Saso!)
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by velo »

I'm trying not to buy whatever's on sale just because it's on sale but that's a killer list.
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BIL
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

Yeah, that's an all-killer lineup. The only one I'd caution against slightly is Dragon Buster. It's a hell of an experience from coinop ARPG standpoint, especially if you dig subgenre archaeology like I do - but by the same token, its 4-way setup is a bit too archaic to recommend universally. They actually patched in a "jump button" of sorts, one year after release - a wonderful gesture, but it's still a real ornery beast to wrest under control. Genpei Toumaden is almost as primordial, and just as crazy in its own way, but much more in line with post-'86 standards.

I was going hard at DB earlier this year, then fired up Rygar to take a break from poor careening CLOVIS-KUN, and was like "God damn." :lol: Within moments I'd already massacred five would-be slayers and stomped a sixth's skull in to grab loot from a tree, all in .5s on pure reaction. Trivial, in Rygar's furied pace - you best be good @ stomping heads sonny Image - but lightyears beyond DB's onerous aerial combat. (Konami's Green Beret, now there's a proper antecedent for Tecmo, much like their respective Castlevania and Ninja Gaiden on FC)

I kinda backburnered DB after. This was right before ACA Metal Hawk and Phelios, which I both played the hell out of. Still, if I hadn't nabbed it at release, I'd grab it now. It has an undeniable asset entirely its own: sheer blistering pace. It moves ridiculously fast, to a degree that still feels genuinely fresh in spite of the ancient 4-way mechanics. Hard not to love something simultaneously so primitive yet face-shreddingly relentless.

(I am forbidden by clan decree not to post Genpei's TV ad whenever it's been a while. Image )

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EDIT: Oh, I see Genpei aka Genji & The Heike Clans is on sale too? Yeah, I'd grab that one before DB, if forced to choose. As said, it's batshit too, and absolutely a coinop ARPG epic in its own right, but significantly better-aged.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by velo »

BIL wrote: EDIT: Oh, I see Genpei aka Genji & The Heike Clans is on sale too?
Yeah missed that one on first pass. It's the rare AA game that's not officially titled in all-caps, apparently. Classy.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

By the by homies, I see Metal Slug Anthology is on sale just like ACA MS3. Don't get Metal Slug Anthology. It's a Shitty Connection-styled port of a port (PS2 to PS4), and the PS2 one was already infamously input-lagged to shit. Even worse on PS4. If you want MS3, just get the ACA one, it's perfect.

Hell, just get the others (MS1/X/4/5... and I guess MS2, if you can withstand that soul-crushing slowdown) individually too, if you want them. You'll probably need a week apiece to 1CC them; Anthology is cheaper, but you'll only end up turning it off in disgust five times over in one night before yeeting/deleting. ;3
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Steven »

Some sort of KOF Orochi collection is on sale, too, although I don't think anyone actually cares about any KOF games that are not 98, 98UMFE, or 02UM (but if you do, let me know because I am curious! I don't really have any interest in KOF, though; Arcana Heart, Real Bout 1/Special/2, and Soulcalibur are more my style). I don't know how good that collection is, but I'm guessing that is best avoided as well.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Sumez »

Sturmvogel Prime wrote: BTW, is Tetris TGM2 a 32-bit or a 64-bit game?
What dictates this, and what does it matter? It's running on an SH-2 CPU (same hardware as a lot of other Psikyo games), but it could be running on anything really.
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Sima Tuna
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Sima Tuna »

Steven wrote:Some sort of KOF Orochi collection is on sale, too, although I don't think anyone actually cares about any KOF games that are not 98, 98UMFE, or 02UM (but if you do, let me know because I am curious! I don't really have any interest in KOF, though; Arcana Heart, Real Bout 1/Special/2, and Soulcalibur are more my style). I don't know how good that collection is, but I'm guessing that is best avoided as well.
That KoF collection sucks balls. I remember hearing it was another infamously lazy and slapdash port job. And this was back in the days of the ps2 and psp, when added input lag wasn't an expected part of conversion. So it's probably extra-laggy now, as a port of a port. ACA KoF '97 is currently on sale. If you want to play an earlier KoF game then play that. Is it any good? I dunno man. It's pre-'98 KoF. My love for '98 is too strong for me to care overly much about any KoF that predates it.

Garou, '98 UM, Samsho II and KoF XI are the big-dick SNK fighting games in my world.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Steven »

Sima Tuna wrote:
Steven wrote:Some sort of KOF Orochi collection is on sale, too, although I don't think anyone actually cares about any KOF games that are not 98, 98UMFE, or 02UM (but if you do, let me know because I am curious! I don't really have any interest in KOF, though; Arcana Heart, Real Bout 1/Special/2, and Soulcalibur are more my style). I don't know how good that collection is, but I'm guessing that is best avoided as well.
That KoF collection sucks balls. I remember hearing it was another infamously lazy and slapdash port job. And this was back in the days of the ps2 and psp, when added input lag wasn't an expected part of conversion. So it's probably extra-laggy now, as a port of a port. ACA KoF '97 is currently on sale. If you want to play an earlier KoF game then play that. Is it any good? I dunno man. It's pre-'98 KoF. My love for '98 is too strong for me to care overly much about any KoF that predates it.

Garou, '98 UM, Samsho II and KoF XI are the big-dick SNK fighting games in my world.
Yeah, I don't really trust most of these collections of older games anymore unless they are made by M2, in which case I know they will be excellent, and perhaps better than the originals, but even M2 still fucks up by doing stuff like including the Castlevania ROM with the crash bug in the Castlevania collection. Oops. Not sure how they missed that one, and I don't know if they ever replaced the ROM with the later fixed version.

Anyway, yeah, it seems that everyone thinks of KOF '98 and '98UMFE as being the best one in the entire series, although 02UM seems to be the second most widely-chosen favourite. I don't have either UM, but I do have the original version of '98 on both AES and ACA on Switch, '96 on AES, and I've tried a few KOF games on the AES with the NeoSD Pro. I don't prefer the 3 vs 3 style of KOF over just having a single character because I suck and am too lazy to want to learn how to play anyone aside from Terry, but at least on AES you can play the mode where you only have one character.

Too bad ACA won't let you play in AES mode. It is called Arcade Archives and not Home Archives, so it's understandable, but it is disappointing that it is missing several features like this that are present in the ROM, as both MVS and AES have the same ROM for this game and most other Neo Geo games.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Jeneki »

Top Hunter is an easy recommend in that sale. Very stylish game with some cool special moves, lots of secrets and things to find, and light hearted humor throughout.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by DenimDemon »

Steven wrote:Some sort of KOF Orochi collection is on sale, too, although I don't think anyone actually cares about any KOF games that are not 98, 98UMFE, or 02UM (but if you do, let me know because I am curious! I don't really have any interest in KOF, though; Arcana Heart, Real Bout 1/Special/2, and Soulcalibur are more my style). I don't know how good that collection is, but I'm guessing that is best avoided as well.
I love them all till 99, own them on AES.
Have a soft spot for 94, love that clunky game.
And 97/98 are my go to.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Martinov »

Rolling Thunder 2 is out today? A casual check, and seems it's only ever had a port on the MD, which is pretty crazy. I already have the Hamster RT1 release, so this is a guaranteed purchase for me.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Rastan78 »

RT2 has existed for quite a while on Switch as part of the Namco Museum. It's a well done with pixel perfect scaling option and clean scanlines. Porting work was handled by Gotch.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Sturmvogel Prime »

Beraboman/Bravoman is June 8th's next game.
https://twitter.com/nkgt5/status/166174 ... 48/photo/1
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beer gas canister
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by beer gas canister »

This is the only time Metal Slug 3 has ever been on sale for Switch, so snag it if you have any interest!
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Sima Tuna
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Sima Tuna »

The fact the final level is half the run length kinda ruins MS3 for me. I love the first couple of stages though. Especially the CRAB BATTLE at the end of stage 1.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Skyknight »

Bravoman is I *think* where the Pistol Daimyou—whose own game we got quite some time ago—debuted?
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

^ Yep! Pretty neat game, that. The ACA ver's tailored autofire is undoubtedly transformative, but I'm guessing for the better. ala Phelios, turns it into a three-button game with a nice palette of shot types.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by TransatlanticFoe »

BIL wrote:By the by homies, I see Metal Slug Anthology is on sale just like ACA MS3. Don't get Metal Slug Anthology. It's a Shitty Connection-styled port of a port (PS2 to PS4), and the PS2 one was already infamously input-lagged to shit. Even worse on PS4. If you want MS3, just get the ACA one, it's perfect.

Hell, just get the others (MS1/X/4/5... and I guess MS2, if you can withstand that soul-crushing slowdown) individually too, if you want them. You'll probably need a week apiece to 1CC them; Anthology is cheaper, but you'll only end up turning it off in disgust five times over in one night before yeeting/deleting. ;3
I didn't notice anything wrong with the Wii version, though I gather they stripped out some of the hitflashes which seemed to upset some people.

Well nothing wrong except for needing a Gamecube controller to avoid a hilarious selection of shitty motion control options! I used a GC to PS2 adapter to hook up an arcade stick and it was still tight enough control for me to 1cc the first game.

But I guess who needs Metal Slug 6 so the Hamster stuff is the modern way to go! I need to give 5 another shot, it never clicked with me even though I liked 4.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BurlyHeart »

BIL wrote:By the by homies, I see Metal Slug Anthology is on sale just like ACA MS3. Don't get Metal Slug Anthology. It's a Shitty Connection-styled port of a port (PS2 to PS4), and the PS2 one was already infamously input-lagged to shit. Even worse on PS4. If you want MS3, just get the ACA one, it's perfect.

Hell, just get the others (MS1/X/4/5... and I guess MS2, if you can withstand that soul-crushing slowdown) individually too, if you want them. You'll probably need a week apiece to 1CC them; Anthology is cheaper, but you'll only end up turning it off in disgust five times over in one night before yeeting/deleting. ;3
"A week apiece.." :scrub tears:

I bought MS Anthology a long time ago on psn, and remember being so confused how I kept falling off the mountains on the original MS Stage 3. I actually managed to persuade Sony to give me a refund!
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BIL
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BIL »

A week a long time for the HARDCORE COINOP KILLAZ we know to frequent our community Image ( :lol:)

Indeed, MS1 st3 is precisely where I'd imagine the input lag biting down hard. All those jumps Nazca lovingly precision-machined to juuust within reach, snow perilously showering down as your character nears the fatal edge... yeah, not something for the goon squas @ Great Value Screensaver Co (or whoever they farmed it out to). Good to hear you got that refund though!
TransatlanticFoe wrote:
BIL wrote:By the by homies, I see Metal Slug Anthology is on sale just like ACA MS3. Don't get Metal Slug Anthology. It's a Shitty Connection-styled port of a port (PS2 to PS4), and the PS2 one was already infamously input-lagged to shit. Even worse on PS4. If you want MS3, just get the ACA one, it's perfect.

Hell, just get the others (MS1/X/4/5... and I guess MS2, if you can withstand that soul-crushing slowdown) individually too, if you want them. You'll probably need a week apiece to 1CC them; Anthology is cheaper, but you'll only end up turning it off in disgust five times over in one night before yeeting/deleting. ;3
I didn't notice anything wrong with the Wii version, though I gather they stripped out some of the hitflashes which seemed to upset some people.

Well nothing wrong except for needing a Gamecube controller to avoid a hilarious selection of shitty motion control options! I used a GC to PS2 adapter to hook up an arcade stick and it was still tight enough control for me to 1cc the first game.

But I guess who needs Metal Slug 6 so the Hamster stuff is the modern way to go! I need to give 5 another shot, it never clicked with me even though I liked 4.
IIRC (been like 15yrs), the Wii original ("Metal Slug Complete") was far more acceptable, barring the daft missing hitflash and even dafter omission of gamepad support. The later NTSCJ ver reinstated pad support. :lol:

Its "Anthology" variant seems to be where they went thoroughly off the rails. I don't know if that's due to it being a port of ports, or what... I do know the PS4 one is infamously said to be even worse, I'm guessing a port of a port of a port. :lol: :lol: :lol: Jeeezus.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

Yep, with the slow-down issue plaguing MVS/AES Metal Slug 2 upon release, MVS/AES Metal Slug X was released to address that particular pressing issue and is the one to own/play over it's counterpart.

Could Nazca have further optimized MVS/AES MS2 to not have slowdown from the get-go the first time around? I understand Nazca was trying to overdo what was achieved with the groundbreaking title of MS with it's 2nd sequel.

I recall that SCEA did include a single stage of MS1 on the Playstation Underground 2-disc set which was cool. I emailed the folks whom did the PU 2-disc sets program about if they were going to release MS1 on the USA region PSX? They responsed back that SCEA was seriously considering doing it but never did. I had to pick a copy of JPN PSX of MS1 to finally be able to play it properly.

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

Post by Jeneki »

Since Gaplus is in the current sale I was looking at it again and ... Perhaps I'm a bit slow, but is the title short for Galaga Plus?
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Sima Tuna »

PC Engine Fan X! wrote:Yep, with the slow-down issue plaguing MVS/AES Metal Slug 2 upon release, MVS/AES Metal Slug X was released to address that particular pressing issue and is the one to own/play over it's counterpart.

Could Nazca have further optimized MVS/AES MS2 to not have slowdown from the get-go the first time around? I understand Nazca was trying to overdo what was achieved with the groundbreaking title of MS with it's 2nd sequel.

I recall that SCEA did include a single stage of MS1 on the Playstation Underground 2-disc set which was cool. I emailed the folks whom did the PU 2-disc sets program about if they were going to release MS1 on the USA region PSX? They responsed back that SCEA was seriously considering doing it but never did. I had to pick a copy of JPN PSX of MS1 to finally be able to play it properly.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
I remember hearing that MS2 had another problem which might be harder to fix. Every time the game draws a lag frame, it draws a second lag frame. So in addition to the game's slowdown, it's super laggy by default. Not sure if this is the kind of thing they could have repaired. Considering Nazca's solution was to just make a second version of the game, I'm going to guess "no," it was not an easy fix.
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by Steven »

This is what trap15 had to say about it.
trap15 wrote:
Steven wrote:Yeah, I figured it's got to be some sort of optimization problem with 2.
The funny part is, while it still does have a good amount of it, the largest factor in why 2's slowdown is so insane is a really simple mistake in their code that locks the game to 30fps. Instead of it slowing down to 20fps, it'll drop to 15, because it's only allowing to drop down to divisions of 30, instead of divisions of 60. As such, instead of dropping to 12fps, it drops to 10fps, etc. (drops to 15 and 10 themselves are correct, but effectively happen with much less load than they are supposed to).
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Re: I'm so glad that Hamster's Arcade Archives are a thing.

Post by BareKnuckleRoo »

Also check out the post he wrote on his website about it:

http://daifukkat.su/blog/archives/2015/ ... urbo_time/
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