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

[OldSkoolShmuper]

Well well well. Very surprised to see Mad Shark. Even more of a Raiden clone than Rezon was of R-Type.

Was shown in EGM issue 54

[Jeneki]

Holy shit I want to kill that orange truck at the beginning and end of stage 1.

[BIL]

Holy shit I want to kill that orange truck at the beginning and end of stage 1.

I know I was staring like You dare approach (｀w´メ) as it trundled past; I wonder if it was a deliberate sight gag? Only survivor was a rando trucker who floored it while your ship was updating its waypoints - smart! A couple fleeing cars try that in Under Defeat, you have to ruthlessly blow 'em away for 100% kill ratio 3; I tell myself it's the enemy commander booking it with TOP SECRETS, but ho ho holy shit it's a subject that gets dark fast

Or maybe a nod to Same Same's intermission ground crews, or maybe Trigon's powerup trucks (literal pickup trucks... which gets pretty amusing later on, when you start finding them aboard flying battleships and at one point in the middle of a desert minefield). The imagery and lore of Toaplanesques is truly storied!

[Atariboy]

I thought Hamster owned Aero Fighters?

[Steven]

What ever happened to Kaneko's IPs? I want fucking Bakuretsu Breaker.

[SeafoamGaming]

Next week Konami

next week's Arcade Arcade release: Majuu no Oukoku/Devil World, a Gauntlet-y overhead action game from Konami (& the first ACA Konami release in a while) they've confirmed this release will contain the significantly different 3P NA version, Dark Adventure

https://twitter.com/gosokkyu/status/1689599617594462209

Very pleased to see! Hoping Salamander 2 or Gradius IV will follow. Maybe even Vic Viper like was mentioned in that Arcade Classics book. If Console Archives are imminent hopefully Konami’s on board for that, too (mainly so I hope for Crisis Force)

[Jeneki]

What ever happened to Kaneko's IPs? I want fucking Bakuretsu Breaker.

I've asked that question a couple times in different places. I don't think anyone knows who owns Kaneko IPs.

[BrianC]

I thought Hamster owned Aero Fighters?

They do, but they are waiting to release it for some reason.

[OldSkoolShmuper]

What ever happened to Kaneko's IPs? I want fucking Bakuretsu Breaker.

I want DJ Boy and its follow-up, B.Rap Boys.

[BrianC]

When I see the name "Devil World", I think of that Pac-Man like Nintendo game with the blue devil that changes the direction of the playfield.

[mycophobia]

When I see the name "Devil World", I think of that Pac-Man like Nintendo game with the blue devil that changes the direction of the playfield.

me2

[BIL]

There's that ACA Bosconian I was hankering for, next week.



I think that's the full PS1 Museum lineup covered, now? Apart from Vol.2's hidden NTSCJ titles Cutie Q and Bomb Bee, which I can't remember ever playing. More like cutie MY DICK BOY Nah for all I know it's badass like #1 whimsical murder machine TOY POP and its close second TANK FORCE Historically it is never easy to tell!

And a Super Xevious IIRC. Hmm. Just under two years, with longtime criminal absences Metal Hawk and Rolling Thunder 2 and Splatterhouse in the bag, not bad.

[Sturmvogel Prime]

There's that ACA Bosconian I was hankering for, next week.



I think that's the full PS1 Museum lineup covered, now?

Good to know Bosconian is going to be ported.

Just in case how many Namco titles Hamster has already released, we can say they almost released the entire 85-87 lineup along with a few 70's-90's games.


I wouldn't be surprised if Hamster releases the World Stadium games in October due to the World Series.

[SeafoamGaming]

There's that ACA Bosconian I was hankering for, next week.



I think that's the full PS1 Museum lineup covered, now?

Good to know Bosconian is going to be ported.

Just in case how many Namco titles Hamster has already released, we can say they almost released the entire 85-87 lineup along with a few 70's-90's games.


I wouldn't be surprised if Hamster releases the World Stadium games in October due to the World Series.

Really really hoping Solvalou makes a comeback. I played the real cab last year when I went to Galloping Ghost during Midwest Furfest and it was absolutely magical! Hamster could definitely nail that.

[Flashman]

Having a lot of fun with Mad Shark - didn't think I would like it at first, as it couldn't be any more of a Raiden clone if it tried (almost to the point of lawsuit even back then!). But it is done really well and its a good game - quite a bit easier than Raiden too, I can see the 1cc is doable for me here.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Only Namco arcade racing title of "Town & Country" (aka "TX-1" in the USA) is missing from the Namco classic arcade titles within the Hamster ACA collection. It's a deluxe Pole Position racing game with a dedicated three 4:3 based CRT monitor presentation (hence it's overall 12:3 aspect ratio setup). Marriott's Great America amusement park in Santa Clara, CA, had such a cabinet up & running back in the summer of 1984 -- it was licensed to Atari from Namco to be distributed/sold stateside during that point in time. It'd be ace if Hamster were to release T&C/TX-1 on the PS4/Switch platforms.

It wasn't until 1990 that I saw a working/playable TX-1 deluxe sit-down cab at the local arcade hangout, The Game Station Arcade, and gave it a spin/try. It's even better with the glorious three monitor layout + the slick 360 rotating F1 car presentation as you enter your high score initials (assuming you score high enough to do so).

I do recall playing the 8-player linked up Namco's Final Lap deluxe sitdown cab at Great America in the summer of 1987 but it was a whopping $2.00 per credit to play. The winner got a small stuffed animal as a prize while second through eighth place racers got nothing/zilch. You could trade-in four small prizes for a medium sized prize and trade-in two medium prizes for a large sized prize = a grand total of $16.00 spent assuming you won 8 races in a row (considering CA minimum wage was at $3.35 an hour for 1987-1988 timeline -- it wasn't until July of 1988 that it was increased to $4.25 an hour -- in July of 1993, minimum wage was still capped at $4.25 per hour five years later).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Bassa-Bassa]

TX-1 is not a Namco game, though, but Tatsumi. Which sadly seems to have their IPs lost in Limbo.

[m.sniffles.esq]

Really really hoping Solvalou makes a comeback

I would

shit
my
pants

I played the cab awhile back and almost cried

"two of my favorite things in the world are Xevious and Space Harrier, AND THEY COMBINED THEM!!"

[Marc]

Really really hoping Solvalou makes a comeback

I would

shit
my
pants

I played the cab awhile back and almost cried

"two of my favorite things in the world are Xevious and Space Harrier, AND THEY COMBINED THEM!!"

I should probably give this a go on my Egret Mini then. I've got the trackball, but i've never fired this up as I'm sure I played, and hated it, on SNES.

[parodius]

You're thinking about Syvalion, not Solvalou

[m.sniffles.esq]

You're thinking about Syvalion, not Solvalou

I was about to say...
If it's on the egret mini, they did an excellent job of hiding it

[Marc]

You're thinking about Syvalion, not Solvalou

Ah, of course.

Never seen Solvalou before, looks cool.

[Steven]

Got Mad Shark last night. This game seems pretty decent so far. Is it me or does the game have a cap on the firing rate? 15Hz and 30Hz seem to be the same to me.

Also... yes, I too REALLY want to destroy that truck at the end of stage 1 BUT IT WON'T LET ME

[Skyknight]

Just got Cadash. Even after all this time, I’m surprised I got the Ninja through to the middle of stage 3. So somehow not rusty.

[Fingolfin]

Only just playing this today.
Definitely a favorite back in 1981-82.

What a cool early STG: simple but really well executed. Bosconian’s got cool computer-voice alerts, easy controls and great 8 bit graphics and sfx — very fun and at the time of it’s release (1981) pretty unique vs Space Invaders (1978), Galaxian (1979), and Moon Cresta (1980) or even Scramble (1981) or Vanguard (1981).

Considering what came before it, Bosconian is perhaps (?) more like Asteroids in gameplay but with bitmapped/raster graphics (vs. vector) and with player ship able to move 360 degrees scrolling over a large rectangular wrap around field of play. The gameplay in Bosconian is considerably more developed and a bit more complex than Asteroids. In Bosconian the player sees a small part of that much larger field of play: there’s the main tactical screen where the shooting takes place and a purple rectangular map — referred to as radar in the manual — to the right depicting the stage layout (i.e. where the bases are, where the player ship is, and where incoming formation attacks are).

Playing today made me think of Apple Trek with regard to the tactical in-quadrant combat from that game — Bosconian is faster and has more bells and whistles but is still distantly similar to Apple Trek’s in-quadrant combat (though Apple Trek is turn-based).
Phasers or Photon Torpedoes?
(And now I want to play some Apple Trek!).

Apple II Trek https://youtu.be/qaJE1yTUzVU?si=BRtlX60FNQ1QbNib

Edits/revisions: added link for Apple Trek YouTube & specificity

[Marc]

Why do I do this to myself? I thought Cadash was hot garbage on the Egret mini, so why the hell have i picked it up on Switch? This game blows.

Also didn't realise late-game Newzealand Story got so tough. Stage 4-1 can go fuck itself.

[BIL]

Why do I do this to myself? I thought Cadash was hot garbage on the Egret mini, so why the hell have i picked it up on Switch? This game blows.

It's somewhat in the tradition of Druaga and Ishtar, ie, you're expected to play with a crowd of punters all sharing notes and forging the coolest 1CCs, while the op racks up mad profits.

In lieu of a cab to gather around IRL, I strongly recommend Vanguard's character guide, if you ever feel like giving it another go. As he's said, in pure action game terms, it's merely functional. It's the long-term strategy that's notable; 1CCs can be pretty tight-run, with Inn and time extend prices rocketing up after each purchase. Beyond pure survival, it seems to lend itself to low-level/speedrun play. There are a few things I flat-out hate, like the obtrusive HUD, and the generally over-zoomed sprite/screen dimensions, but I've enjoyed nailing down a Ninja 1CC this weekend. Currently figuring out how to sand off the grindan, I've got the time to spare but I wanna look cool.

> ST, Arcade: Character Differences (Vanguard)
> VER: Arcade vs Mega Drive vs PC Engine (Vanguard)
> ST, Arcade: Hidden Secrets [1] [2] [3] (Vanguard & CIT)
> Mega Drive: 1CC Review & PC Engine Comparison (CIT)

VAN's 1CCs: > Priest > Ninja > Mage > Fighter

Character balance is better thought of as a difficulty slider. Priest is by far the best character to learn the game with; excellent weapon, and her Barrier spell makes her practically unkillable in comparison to the others. Ninja's very comfy, with good ATK/DEF and high mobility. Mage is idiosyncratic, with massive pluses and debilitating minuses. Fighter is the hardest, with his lack of range. Ignore the select screen text, it manages to get everything wrong about everybody.

It would've been more ideal of Hamster to include Japan/English/World revs. The former two are identical besides language, and compellingly tight on resources. The last is a genuinely useful training wheels mode, easing up on prices and carry limits, and is in extra-goofy Engrish :3

ACA has two outta three - JP and World - but is missing EN, so if you don't read Japanese and want the harder rev, you'll need to either play World first to suss out the text, or have a guide. It's not all that complicated a game, tbh.

(ACA calls them "Japanese" and "English" versions, but the latter is most definitely what MAME calls "World," with its generous resources and unmistakable script. "How well you came!")

[Kiken]

Got Mad Shark last night. This game seems pretty decent so far. Is it me or does the game have a cap on the firing rate? 15Hz and 30Hz seem to be the same to me.

Also... yes, I too REALLY want to destroy that truck at the end of stage 1 BUT IT WON'T LET ME

I have also been playing Mad Shark, which is easily the most Raidenest Raiden ever to Raiden a Raiden. I swear, that extend in stage 5 is actively trying to kill the player!

Speaking of stage 1, I'm not sure what triggers the sports car halfway through stage (I did manage to find the hidden star, which takes a ridiculous amount of shot to uncover)... sometimes it's there, sometimes it isn't.

[AGermanArtist]

Another Allumer - Zing Zing Zip

Never heard of this one.

Famitsu

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Hamster surprised us again with that one.
Despite having the short-loops like Rezon, its still a decent 194x clone with a rocking styled soundtrack.