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

[velo]

My understanding is that the Milestones compilations are barebones collections of the ACA releases by Hamster, just bundled in 10 game packs with a menu wrapper. Cheaper that way, as well as having physical retail releases, but no difference at all in the actual games.

There are certain differences between the other "powered by hamster" games and the ACA ones aren't there? At minimum, no high score/caravan mode I assume. If all of these games are making it to future Milestones releases it makes for a slight dilemma.

Darius II is a less difficult game than Darius though, for whatever that is worth.

Is that the consensus? I 1cced the Darius 1 (new) with autofire and threw in the towel on Darius 2 after sampling every version. The only one that didn't completely roast me was the MD port.

[cfx]

.

[Samildanach]

Why would you assume trolling? I think the first Darius sucks, and gets away with a ton of shit that a Euro shooter would be lambasted for. If I was trolling, I'd do it in the 'love' thread.

The first Darius certainly has its faults, however when you consider its release date (Feb 1987), how many decent horizontal shooters are there prior to its arrival? I can think of three personally, Gradius, Salamander and Sidearms. Given that context I think it is pretty awesome for its time, but very much superceded since then of course!

[Sumez]

I can think of three personally, Gradius, Salamander and Sidearms.

Those three and Fantasy Zone

[Samildanach]

I can think of three personally, Gradius, Salamander and Sidearms.

Those three and Fantasy Zone

Fantasy Zone sucks

[hamfighterx]

So Hamster put up Jail Break and Finest Hour vids on their YT, and for Jail Break it features links to the Canadian PSN and the UK eShop to buy that game... And both games are still not on the US stores yet? Why? It seems to make no sense and there's nothing blatantly obvious like Marvel Land's issue. Why would *just* the US be geoblocked here. They have ESRB ratings for crying out loud! Jail Break's really the main one I'm hoping to nab, and I'm generally a bit nervous about future ACA games skipping over the US in the future. Don't mind importing if I have to like marvel land, but I'd especially hate to import and then it finally shows up the next week.

I don't think it's a major concern based on Hamster's track record (though two instances in a month is a little eyebrow raising). Over the course of the 381 Arcade Archives and ACA Neo Geo releases prior to Finest Hour, there have only been three* that have not been released in the US. The first relevant example was Marvel Land in December 2022, and recently Jail Break.

*The third, which I don't believe should even count for purposes of this discussion, is the PS4-exclusive Wonder Boy. That one was released on PS4 way back in 2014 as one of the first handful of AA titles, when the series was PS4 Japan only. Probably had licensing issues by the time Hamster started their current practice of weekly worldwide releases, and I believe it was removed from PSN for purchase at some point (I can't find it now, but PSN search is pretty awful). Inin/Strictly Limited Games did license and release Wonder Boy in all regions on Switch and PS4 as part of the Wonder Boy collections they published.

I'm not ready to put Finest Hour on that short list quite yet, since it may show up tomorrow 1 week late. For anything beyond a 1 week delay, I would get a lot more suspicious that it's not coming (since we have yet to ever see that happen with a Hamster release).

There were also just two AA games that did not show up on the scheduled date in the US (likely due to some submission/approval issue), but did get a delayed release. In both cases, the error was corrected the very next week. Did not drag on very long at all.
(1) Empire City: 1931 was supposed to release worldwide on Thursday, March 24, 2022 - failed to arrive in the US on that date, and instead was released exactly one week later (March 31) alongside that week's regularly scheduled release (Wonder Momo).
(2) Itazura Tenshi was supposed to release worldwide on Thursday, November 3, 2022. That one also failed to show up in the US on Switch (IIRC, it did make it on PSN), and was released 6 days later on Wednesday, November 9 (and the regularly scheduled Thursday game for that week, Baraduke, did arrive as planned on November 10)

[BIL]

*The third, which I don't believe should even count for purposes of this discussion, is the PS4-exclusive Wonder Boy. That one was released on PS4 way back in 2014 as one of the first handful of AA titles, when the series was PS4 Japan only. Probably had licensing issues by the time Hamster started their current practice of weekly worldwide releases, and I believe it was removed from PSN for purchase at some point (I can't find it now, but PSN search is pretty awful). Inin/Strictly Limited Games did license and release Wonder Boy in all regions on Switch and PS4 as part of the Wonder Boy collections they published.

Still there, impressively enough with the minefield that IP seems to dwell in.

Found via Hamster's own master list. Kind nice seeing the Westone logo sitting right there a near-decade on.

[Klatrymadon]

Darius II is a less difficult game than Darius though, for whatever that is worth.

Is that the consensus? I 1cced the Darius 1 (new) with autofire and threw in the towel on Darius 2 after sampling every version. The only one that didn't completely roast me was the MD port.

I think the 'consensus' opinion is very much the other way, although I can definitely see why someone would find the original more difficult, and certain routes (especially ones which involve zones L or P) probably are very close in terms of ruthlessness, if not harder. The thing that sends II's difficulty level through the roof is that there is no margin for error whatsoever, because you can't recover from a death beyond the first zone - there aren't enough power-ups left in the game to get you back on your feet. (If you're very good, though, you can survive a death in the final stage, limping over the finish line with your peashooter.)

[SavagePencil]

So where can I get the 2-screen Darius 1? Where can I get the 3-screen one?

Ditto for Darius 2.

Are there differences from the Milestones collection vs. what's available on ACA now?

[Marc]

Why would you assume trolling? I think the first Darius sucks, and gets away with a ton of shit that a Euro shooter would be lambasted for. If I was trolling, I'd do it in the 'love' thread.

Why would I not assume it? Saying it sucks and without any context or reasoning is just being negative and inflammatory. And I think you already know that making it wider isn't going to really change the game overall. The word "sucks" itself is inflammatory given there are people who like the game. It's possible to express an opinion without being insulting about it you know?

Darius II is a less difficult game than Darius though, for whatever that is worth.

Is that the consensus?

No, only personal opinion. No idea what people in general think though I thought I'd at least read similar before.

I clarified that the first; original Darius was the one that sucks. I'm not asking if an extra screen makes the two screen sequel better. I've mentioned why I think the first game is crappy a few times, it was an off hand way of asking if it's more of the same. Chill.

[hamfighterx]

*The third, which I don't believe should even count for purposes of this discussion, is the PS4-exclusive Wonder Boy. That one was released on PS4 way back in 2014 as one of the first handful of AA titles, when the series was PS4 Japan only. Probably had licensing issues by the time Hamster started their current practice of weekly worldwide releases, and I believe it was removed from PSN for purchase at some point (I can't find it now, but PSN search is pretty awful). Inin/Strictly Limited Games did license and release Wonder Boy in all regions on Switch and PS4 as part of the Wonder Boy collections they published.

Still there, impressively enough with the minefield that IP seems to dwell in.

Found via Hamster's own master list. Kind nice seeing the Westone logo sitting right there a near-decade on.

Good find! PSN search, both the web store and on console, is impressively bad - I was really trying to find it and failed lol. It's a shame Hamster needs to list these on their own site in order for people to be able to find them.

[cfx]

.

[BrianC]

I don't think it's a major concern based on Hamster's track record (though two instances in a month is a little eyebrow raising). Over the course of the 381 Arcade Archives and ACA Neo Geo releases prior to Finest Hour, there have only been three* that have not been released in the US. The first relevant example was Marvel Land in December 2022, and recently Jail Break.

And there are a couple that aren't in the US on PSN only like Twinkle Star Sprites and hamster waited for the Switch releases to release a couple of games (which is more than one month). Jail Break still has a chance of being released and I wouldn't rule it out until official news breaks. I'm not thrilled that there's no information at all even with constant searching of Twitter. There also have been games from other companies that have been delayed longer due to delays from both ESRBs and game companies' approval processes. While Finest Hour and Jail Break have ESRB ratings for Canada, their US PSN pages (that still say announced) still say RP.

I bought Darius II off PSN. Had to use an external link (first to the JP page and then let it redirect me to the US page) to find it, but I was able to download the game. Definitely the three screen version, but a 3 screen Sagaia doesn't exist?

[Steven]

How is it even possible for PSN search to be so incredibly dysfunctional that I can't find a new game that launched today? I want to give Hamster my money, but it seems that PSN decided to tell me to go to hell. Between the PSN store being supremely terrible at everything and the Switch eshop always seeming like it's on the verge of crashing, I am amazed that anyone can tolerate these digital storefronts. I wonder if the Xbox store is any better.

[BrianC]

Here's the link

[Steven]

I use Japanese PSN (and eshop too). I know it's on the website, but I checked on the PS5 itself and didn't find it. I'm not at home right now, so I'll try it again later when I go home.

[Sima Tuna]

The PSN search is that shit because Sony wants it that way. Reminder that the ps3/vita eshops used to work much better and it was much easier to search for and find games.

I don't know why Sony wants their search engine to be nonfunctional, but it's definitely intentional on their end. The nintendo eshop search works great and I assume microsoft's search works decently too. Maybe Sony thinks that if they force people to "browse" the entire catalogue rather than search for a specific game, it will lead to more purchases overall. Like how the supermarket makes you run a gauntlet of cookies, candy and chips before you can reach the milk in the back.

[Steven]

In my case, I searched the Japanese PSN store for アーケードアーカイブス ダライアス and of course Thunder Dragon 2, which I already own, is the first result, and then City Connection, which I already own, then Fighting Hawk, which I already own, then Darius 1, which I don't own, then Zero Team, which I already own. Yes, search for Darius and get City Connection, which I already own. It's intentional, right? It has to be. Nothing else makes sense. Even this doesn't make sense, unless it's intentional. Why show me so many things I already own instead of stuff that I don't? Sony's just trolling at this point.

[BurlyHeart]

The cynic in me believes they may want to charge publishers a premium for placing their product on the front page of their store.

[Sumez]

There is no way that's not a thing. That spot has incredibly marketing value.
And would probably have even higher value if the in-console PSN store wasn't a broken, buggy mess.

[cfx]

.

[Steven]

I finally got it, and I'm going to say that M2 did a better job. All of the usual ACA stuff is here, and it's cool to finally play the triple screen version, but M2's control options are better. M2 lets you have 10Hz autofire and also allows you to combine the missile and bomb buttons. ACA won't let you combine the missile and bomb buttons and the minimum autofire rate is the typical ACA 15Hz, which is a bit too fast for the triple screen version while 10Hz is pretty great for the double screen version.

In this case I kind of prefer the triple screen aspect ratio but also prefer the unarguably better control options of M2's release.

[hamfighterx]

Confirming still no sign of Finest Hour (or Jail Break) in today's big Thursday update for the US Switch eShop. Darius II did arrive as scheduled.

Also still no Jail Break or Finest Hour on US PSN, but it's interesting to note that there is a placeholder page for each on the console store that shows the ESRB rating as "RP - Rating Pending". So perhaps there's some hope that the hold-up is that they had to re-submit to ESRB and that's still in progress.

Personally, I give it a week and then just buy the JPN eshop version. I'm not counting on either game being the first AA release to arrive on US Switch eshop more than a week after the Japan release.

And there are a couple that aren't in the US on PSN only like Twinkle Star Sprites and hamster waited for the Switch releases to release a couple of games (which is more than one month).

This is true, so I should clarify that my previous post was more geared toward Switch since that's the platform I am most familiar with. Hamster's Switch releases have always come out the same week across regions, with the small number of exceptions I listed in my previous post.

[BrianC]

It usually takes at least a week to sort out delays with ESRB and storefronts and games have been known to have been delayed for longer when they fail the process. Just because it doesn't usually happen with Hamster doesn't mean it can't happen. I wish Hamster would actually respond to comments. It's frustrating that finding information on delayed games is harder than it should be. Info should be all over the internet and it isn't. At least I was able to purchase them with eshop and PSN credit.

[hamfighterx]

True - but at this point with zero updates from Hamster, I would honestly be surprised to see Jail Break pop up over 3 weeks late. One would think that if there was a delay of more than a week that is outside of their control but it's still coming, they would say something. Much more believable to me that if for whatever reason a game is not going to get released at all (whether that's due to ESRB issues, an internal decision, or something else), the publisher might not talk about that publicly.

I'll just deal with the minor inconvenience of using the JPN store instead. If we actually see either of Jail Break or Finest Hour show up on the US eshop, I'll adjust my future expectations accordingly.

[BrianC]

Zero updates from Hamster isn't unusual. Hamster doesn't usually respond to English posters or emails and don't even respond to most non-English posts on Twitter. The only time when Hamster actually said something about a delay was for a delay in Japan in Japanese (and it was an announcement, not a reply).

Has anyone tried to contact Hamster directly when there's an issue with a game? I can't think of a single time I heard about them responding to a Twitter post or even email. I had zero luck finding information on Reddit about the delays either. Why is it so hard to find any information at all about Hamster's delays from Hamster themselves, even for games that did come back?

Aside from the missing games, there are also games that are behind in updates and games that have an issue only on one platform. There also a couple twin joystick games stuck with analog controls (Crazy Climber and Karate Champ), only to be released later on Switch with the same issue. Not a single response from Hamster on these.

[Marc]

Hmmm I caved and picked it up anyway. Seems marginally better that the original, hut the wide screen thing is simply a gimmick that detracts from the gameplay IMO.
It did prompt me to fire up my MD Mini and play that port for a while, which seems excellent, so not a complete loss.

[MOSQUITO FIGHTER]

I read somewhere that the US isn't getting Jail Break because cops get shot in the game. Guess it would change the rating?

[BrianC]

Can someone who speaks Japanese please contact Hamster so we can find out what really happened?

[BIL]

Better yet, phone them up with this blasting in the background just so them Ham-chans know what time it is