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

[BIL]

This praise for NMK has me convinced I've gotta go home and DL Saint Dragon. Been meaning to give that one a look.

Very cool game, but expect a particularly unforgiving IREMesque checkpointer. Nothing you won't be able to handle, with the stuff you've posted scores in.

HachaMecha's really impressed me in my time with it today. Balls-hard for sure, but the smooth controls and generous firepower, and the flawless aesthetic, make it so easy to stay motivated. It wouldn't quite call it a cute 'em up - there's a certain bellicosity with all the cartoon animals barking orders and chucking bombs, and I'm pretty sure a single stage will see more annihilated sealife than the typical Darius, what with you launching salvos of the poor varmints... Wonderful game, I hope it reaches players who might normally shy away from STGs this intense.

[Rastan78]

Got the chance to credit feed through the first 4 stages checkpoints in Saint Dragon. It is very cool and very Irem inspired. The dragon's tail really has force pod like qualities, or maybe it's more like the arms in X-Mulitply. Got through the stage 2 on literally my 2nd try as I realized you can just sit in the top corner and wrap the tail around your head to go full invincible mode. Zero directional input required for the rest of the stage if you don't care about score. You can cheese this stage even harder than the fire stage in Salamander lol.

I did find the sniper rifle robots that quickly come onto the screen and fire an undodgeable fast horizontal projectile kind of annoying. Of course once you memorize their spawns you won't get hit since this is a heavy memorizer, it's just so cheap!

[cave hermit]

Just so everyone is clear:

Hacha Mecha Fighter is out!

Please download and enjoy Hacha Mecha Fighter, my prostate is stimulated by the idea that people are downloading and legally enjoying/supporting NMK's magnum opus

I am hooked into the PSN and eShop APIs via one of those fancy smart vibrating buttplugs so that it goes off whenever somebody purchases Hacha Mecha Fighter.

[BEAMLORD]

Picked up Hacha Mecha fighter. First thoughts:

hardest shmup in the fucking world

[DenimDemon]

Yeah game is hard. Ship is big and slow and enemy fire travels fast.
That cute shooting game vibe that the game initially has, goes away once you play it for a while. Im actually finding it a bit sadistic, with all the animals flying around. Violent disturbing shit.
Was able to grind the 2 flying monkeys bananas trough first boss and all. Btw Porco Rosso as a Boss is cool. And the Beatles submarine has second lol.
Currently 34 position on auto fire enabled, leaderboard. Don't know for how long it will take my attention but its a cool game netharless.


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[BEAMLORD]

Yeah game is hard. Ship is big and slow and enemy fire travels fast.

Yup. I won't be making a dent in either score or survival with this one, but presentation-wise, its spot on. So funny when games that look like this beat you the fuck down and tread on your face

[OldSkoolShmuper]

HACHA MECHA FIGHTER cabinet being played at AM Show 1991 in Japan.


https://youtu.be/STCYkIYkE1M?t=522 (starts at at 8:42)

Cotton at AOU 1991 (Amusement Machine Operators' Union)

https://youtu.be/X3Sg4brHu8g?t=114

Also at 7:00 minutes in, a video wall of CRTs showing off Konami's Xexex.

Aw man it musta' been something to be there in person for all those arcade industry shows in the 90s that took place in both Japan and the USA. You should spot Taito's Metal Black in one of those videos.
I'd just watch every second of both haha.

[Rastan78]

Great vids there. Thanks for sharing.

[OldSkoolShmuper]

NP man

[Marc]

Hmm HMF is a bit weird. Not a fan of everything on screen being so bloody huge, and I can't even begin to figure out my hit box, or if I even have one? Nice presentation, but I think I'll crack on with Harrier for the time being.

[Flashman]

Still no sign of Raiden after over a year of announcement, some of these SHMUPS have been great, but come on Hamster lets get that one out!! I was hoping Raiden 2 would be announced by now.

[Johnpv]

It is weird how Raiden gets announced, and still not out. Meanwhile a ton of things not announced just keep dropping.

[BIL]

Wouldn't surprise me if Raiden is saved for a special release ala Gradius III.

I'm just glad Guevara showed up. That one was hanging on the list for a year-plus, all while its (categorically inferior) SNK stablemates Ikari III and Datsugoku enjoyed back-to-back early 2020 releases. Was worried the title/content had seen it quietly shitcanned.

Zero Team (the OG release, not the subsequent USA/New/2000 revisions) is a huge point in Raiden II+DX's favour. AFAIK it's the only option outside of the board itself, quite the statement for their early Seibu ACA work (plus lovable SonSonesque Wiz). Plus, Hamster have worked with Seibu since at least the PS1 days (Raiden & Raiden DX reissues), so I'm pretty hopeful there.

[OldSkoolShmuper]

Wouldn't surprise me if Raiden is saved for a special release ala Gradius III.

I'm just glad Guevara showed up. That one was hanging on the list for a year-plus, all while its (categorically inferior) SNK stablemates Ikari III and Datsugoku enjoyed back-to-back early 2020 releases. Was worried the title/content had seen it quietly shitcanned.

Zero Team (the OG release, not the subsequent USA/New/2000 revisions) is a huge point in Raiden II+DX's favour. AFAIK it's the only option outside of the board itself, quite the statement for their early Seibu ACA work (plus lovable SonSonesque Wiz). Plus, Hamster have worked with Seibu since at least the PS1 days (Raiden & Raiden DX reissues), so I'm pretty hopeful there.

Guys, tell me all there is to know about that game Zero Team. I had never even heard of it before.
I know it's out on ACA, that's it.

Anyway, I got just got MF and Task Force Harrier for PS4.
HMF I'll try first since I've played TFH many times in MAME
and TFH EX on Genesis.
I'm going ti get Atomic Robo-Kid and Cybattler next.

[BIL]

Zero Team is a badass beat 'em up. Super smooth controls (read the manual, quite a bit of finesse on offer), huge crowds, hyper-detailed graphics ala Seibu. It's some funny shit, too! The extensive weapon-throwing is a riot in 4P.

Nazo no SEAGULLMAN

Spoiler

[OldSkoolShmuper]

Zero Team is a badass beat 'em up. Super smooth controls (read the manual, quite a bit of finesse on offer), huge crowds, hyper-detailed graphics ala Seibu. It's some funny shit, too! The extensive weapon-throwing is a riot in 4P.

Nazo no SEAGULLMAN

Spoiler

Thanks! Will check out. I have a folder on my PS4 just for beat'em ups and one just for shmups.

[Koa Zo]

So downloaded Hacha Mecha Fighter on PS4 and it come with a super cool ACA 7th anniversary Theme. I dont care about themes... But damn does it look cool. Nice.

I'm guessing that 7th Anniversary theme is from the Japanese store only.

I'd never known of Hacha Mecha Fighter before this ACA release, thanks for everyone here bringing attention to it, it's a really cool game. I'm only into the 2nd level and have really enjoyed it. Looking forward to sitting down for a couple hours and really trying to make some headway.
The graphical style and fact that this seems like an unearthed treasure; Hacha Mecha Fighter has me extra hyped for Clockwork Aquario ...not that they're related, other than being from the same era and heretofore unknown.

[DenimDemon]

So downloaded Hacha Mecha Fighter on PS4 and it come with a super cool ACA 7th anniversary Theme. I dont care about themes... But damn does it look cool. Nice.

I'm guessing that 7th Anniversary theme is from the Japanese store only.

Hmm maybe. im on Hong Kong PSN actually.

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[Flashman]

Wouldn't surprise me if Raiden is saved for a special release ala Gradius III.

I'm just glad Guevara showed up. That one was hanging on the list for a year-plus, all while its (categorically inferior) SNK stablemates Ikari III and Datsugoku enjoyed back-to-back early 2020 releases. Was worried the title/content had seen it quietly shitcanned.

Zero Team (the OG release, not the subsequent USA/New/2000 revisions) is a huge point in Raiden II+DX's favour. AFAIK it's the only option outside of the board itself, quite the statement for their early Seibu ACA work (plus lovable SonSonesque Wiz). Plus, Hamster have worked with Seibu since at least the PS1 days (Raiden & Raiden DX reissues), so I'm pretty hopeful there.

Well it certainly wasn't this week, we were instead given the all-time classic "Pirate Pete" In all seriousness it looks kind of cool and I'll probably pick it up at some point, but currently I've got a huge backlog from all the recent PS store sales here in the U.K. - can't grumble there, really good games practically given away. I knew Raiden wasn't coming this week, we've had 3 shooters in a row.

It will be nice if its a special release but really it was around last May when they announced, how special does it need to be.

[BIL]

I kinda rolled my eyes at being greeted by the gaudy stylings of Pirate Pete aka Jungle King aka Jungle Hunt Rev 252345, myself Game itself seems like a poor man's Circus Charlie (Konami's neato "action/platformer skills test"), or maybe a lesser Legend of Kage antecedent. I've a soft spot for those ancient early 80s titles from the marquee devs, so I picked it up.

TBH, I can't take their Taito lineup seriously until they hook us up with Rainbow Islands. That one's best existing home version (PCE-CD) is still far from arcade perfect. Mizubaku will be a nice holdover though!

[BrianC]

I wonder why they chose THIS version instead of the more familiar Jungle Hunt, the version I grew up with and played the 2600 port of.

[BIL]

trap was just saying over in OT that copyright shenanigans may have been afoot (Tarzan yell). I notice the title screen is copyright Taito America, so maybe this is one of those "new to Japan" reverse imports... also, loop 2 ship background will make your eyes bleed, good god damn what was Taito's problem in the early 80s? X_X I might just jack the difficulty up so loop 1 gets all the extra hazards.

[Atariboy]

Cool to see this obscure bit of arcade history make it out thanks to Hamster.

Jungle King obviously has to stay in the vaults for the same reason it quickly got modified back in the day and rereleased as Jungle Hunt, due to the likeness to the Tarzan character and resulting legal troubles that came out of it.

I imagine we'll be getting Jungle Hunt one of these days. Wouldn't make sense to include that here for free since Pirate Pete is a pretty substantial visual and audio makeover and not just a minor rom edit of Jungle Hunt.

[Marc]

I kinda rolled my eyes at being greeted by the gaudy stylings of Pirate Pete aka Jungle King aka Jungle Hunt Rev 252345, myself Game itself seems like a poor man's Circus Charlie (Konami's neato "action/platformer skills test"), or maybe a lesser Legend of Kage antecedent. I've a soft spot for those ancient early 80s titles from the marquee devs, so I picked it up.

TBH, I can't take their Taito lineup seriously until they hook us up with Rainbow Islands. That one's best existing home version (PCE-CD) is still far from arcade perfect. Mizubaku will be a nice holdover though!

Wonder if they're holding off because of the mini they've just announced? I'm probably going to have to end up springing for that thing for a decent Taito selection.

Were the Saturn / PS ports or Rainbow Islands not so good then? I didn't have enough experience with the arcade game back then to tell if they were decent or not. Hell, even the Amiga version seemed pretty spot on to me at the time.

[Rastan78]

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/ ... _to_switch

Looks like they're releasing a collection of Taito stuff by Hamster. Nothing to get too excited about since almost all of these are already available as regular ACA releases.

What I really want is to see M2/Taito announce a Ray series collection in the same vein as Darius Cozmic.

Also it's pretty rare to see new gameplay from T3-CYR-WIZ, but he's been posting Thunder Cross II caravan mode replays from the ACA version.

https://youtu.be/UrvngmHEpGY

[Super Joe]

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/ ... _to_switch

Looks like they're releasing a collection of Taito stuff by Hamster. Nothing to get too excited about since almost all of these are already available as regular ACA releases.

What I really want is to see M2/Taito announce a Ray series collection in the same vein as Darius Cozmic.

Also it's pretty rare to see new gameplay from T3-CYR-WIZ, but he's been posting Thunder Cross II caravan mode replays from the ACA version.

https://youtu.be/UrvngmHEpGY

Apparently it’s going to play out like arcade stadium, with new titles added. It’s not releasing until February, bizarre.

[OmegaFlareX]

Did Switch get all of the ACA releases up to this point? Or is PS4 still the home platform and Switch gets bits and pieces? I know you can buy some on PC using the MS store but only the NeoGeo stuff.

[BIL]

According to the ACA Wikipedia page (it's really well done, kudos to the maintainers), it's just six titles not on Switch. Some might conceivably make the jump (early NMK wobble 'em up Argus, characteristically bizarre UPL sidescroller Mutant Night, and Nichibutsu's interesting vehicle-jacking Commandoesque Holy Warrior Amaterasu), while Darius, Bubble Bobble and Wonder Boy I suspect won't, due to various releases post-ACA: M2's Darius/AGES collections, and Bubble Bobble With Friends, which AFAIK includes a version of the AC game - though I've no idea how well-regarded it is (Sumez gave the PS4 ACA one his blessing, that there is a man who will not tolerate substandard BB/RI )

Speaking of:

Were the Saturn / PS ports or Rainbow Islands not so good then? I didn't have enough experience with the arcade game back then to tell if they were decent or not. Hell, even the Amiga version seemed pretty spot on to me at the time.

Been a while, but I recall grumblings from the hardcore quarters on Saturn/PS Rainbow Islands. I will say the PCE-CD version is very nice for what it is, though its divergences from the PCB are obvious (you can save progress mid-run, as well as revisit islands you've not 100%'d, and even on the "Hard" difficulty, enemies are noticeably less aggressive). Some dangerous sprite breakup when things get nuts too, which kinda muffles the PCB's gorgeous visual overloads. Nice home alt. version, much like Forgotten Worlds on the same platform.

With all the NMK coverage lately, I hope we see Valtric. Perikles always raved about it as one of the best-ever topdown tank 'em ups.

[Rastan78]

Or is PS4 still the home platform and Switch gets bits and pieces?

That's definitely not the case. Even certain releases like Blazing Star came to Switch almost a full year before coming over to PS4. Like BIL pointed out either system has you covered on these. It's actually surprising how thorough they've been in bringing over the older releases to Switch.

Now if only M2 would do the same for Garrega and Sorcer Striker . . .

[Ms. Tea]

Bubble Bobble With Friends, which AFAIK includes a version of the AC game - though I've no idea how well-regarded it is (Sumez gave the PS4 ACA one his blessing, that there is a man who will not tolerate substandard BB/RI )

I haven't played it, but Gotch are credited for the emulation of the original Bubble Bobble in BB4F. Could very well be the same emulation as in the standalone ACA release.