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

[BrianC]

Maybe pulled specifically for PSN for some reason - some kind of technical certification issue, discovered a security vulnerability, etc. I initially wondered if an absence could have been due to some licensing issues with publishing rights going to dotemu as of some date, since I know dotemu did the Steam "version" (if you can say that about poor emulation) - and the reason we never got Windjammers ACA Neo Geo is almost certainly due to dotemu having the rights from their (actually not bad) modern remastered version. But that doesn't appear to be the case for TSS.

Pulled from PSN? It has been absent from the US PSN store for a long time. I had to go on the JP store to buy it and that was months ago, if not longer. My guess is that Sony wanted more sales of that PS2 ADK coilection that is emulated on PS4. League Bowling seems to be absent, as well. Odd thing is that a page for Samurai Shodown V that says it has been announced turns up when searching for it, despite SSV being available to purchase on a different page that comes up when you search for SSV.

[Arino]

LOL I thought I had seen it not long ago

What are the best display settings to get an integer scale for crispiest pixels?

I know about setting the screen filter to “negative one” to eliminate blur, but what about ratio and size?

That's what I ask myself every time I play those games. My best guess is that "100" for both values you can change should result in a pixel perfect/evenly scaled image. But there are games where that would make the image too small and other games where you reach the border of the screen but it's still under 100 so I don't know. Plus I think some games were programmed in an aspect ratio that's not 4:3, but with being stretched to 4:3 in mind, which is no problem on CRT but it would result in an unevenly scaled image on non CRT screens.

[Steven]

Did I miss anything important?

What are the best display settings to get an integer scale for crispiest pixels?

As far as I know, not possible.

[Daytime Waitress]

Did I miss anything important?

I only popped in when the orchestra started playing the Valkyrie no Densetsu piece, but I had it on in the background the rest of the time and a short summary from then on would look something like:

- occasional orchestral arrangements
- announcement of Taito Milestones 3 (Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, Runark Thunder Fox, Rastan, Cadash and many other fine acts)
- announcement of Arcade Archives 2 Neo Geo (next-gen console exclusive; netplay capable)
- announcement of some Bamco and Hamster goods on Bamco's online store thingamy, including some arcade poster repros
- some poor shmuck in a Bub costume nearly killing themselves descending a flight of three whole stairs
- an award ceremony where Hamster doled out trophies to each of the big licensees for most sales (most sales coming from overseas seemed to be a big takeaway, there)
- a casual chat with Sakurai and Kamiya where the former admitted to keeping Hamster in business by buying practically everything they put out
- a fun SMB speedrun that got the crowd up
- Hamada positively glowing because he was in a room full of sweaty nerds that love old games as much as him and his company isn't bankrupt and folks like Kamiya and Sakurai will pop in to talk him up

I typically detest the interminable livestream format that modern companies seem intent on subjecting their fans to, instead of stuffing the key points into a svelte, I dunno, 45 minute presentation.
But they tried to make it an event for the folks that would turn up, giving 'em a bit of a concert and giving away prizes - they tried to give it socks, y'know?
But it's probably not worth four hours and fifty-five minutes of your life if you're just after announcements, no.

[velo]

ACA Last Resort doesn't let you map separate buttons for Normal Shot and Turbo Shot, so unless you want to forgo the charge shot altogether, the autofire option is basically useless. I can do without it, but still.

ACA Xevious's options otoh are so thorough I can't figure out what half of them actually do. What's this "enemy table", that displays a mystery number? I assume it's some clue into how Xevious decides what mobs to spawn, but I don't understand anything about that either.

[hamfighterx]

Maybe pulled specifically for PSN for some reason - some kind of technical certification issue, discovered a security vulnerability, etc. I initially wondered if an absence could have been due to some licensing issues with publishing rights going to dotemu as of some date, since I know dotemu did the Steam "version" (if you can say that about poor emulation) - and the reason we never got Windjammers ACA Neo Geo is almost certainly due to dotemu having the rights from their (actually not bad) modern remastered version. But that doesn't appear to be the case for TSS.

Pulled from PSN? It has been absent from the US PSN store for a long time. I had to go on the JP store to buy it and that was months ago, if not longer. My guess is that Sony wanted more sales of that PS2 ADK coilection that is emulated on PS4. League Bowling seems to be absent, as well. Odd thing is that a page for Samurai Shodown V that says it has been announced turns up when searching for it, despite SSV being available to purchase on a different page that comes up when you search for SSV.

Hamster appears to know about this, as reflected on their Arcade Archives website (can change region/platform near the top of the page to get the title list for that region/platform)

Switch NA and Japan, Xbox/Windows NA, and PS4 Japan and Asia regions all have 108 Neo Geo titles listed. PS4 NA shows only 100, and PS4 Europe only has 75.

Specific to the curious case of the 8 missing Neo Geo games on PS4 North America (which also seem to be among the 33 missing in PS4 Europe), those are as follows:
Kizuna Encounter
League Bowling
Neo Geo Cup '98: The Road to the Victory
Ninja Master's
Ragnagard
Super Sidekicks 3: The Next Glory
The Super Spy
Twinkle Star Sprites

For these 8, I'm not 100% sure whether any of them ever released on PS4 NA and were later pulled, but after digging some more it appears from some online searches that they were never released in the first place. Gamefaqs has pretty good release data, including what appears to be proper release dates by region/platform for the ACA Neo Geo games listed (after searching for a game, Home pull down menu -> Release Data, and can get the specific platform release in the Product Filter menu). For all 8 of these, I do see the expected Switch NA/Japan and PS4 Japan dates - but they don't show any PS4 NA release. Checking a few listings of other Neo Geo games that did release on PS4 NA, those dates do show up as expected.

Did anyone here actually get any of those games via the NA PS4 Store to refute that? Unless so, I'm assuming they never did get released. On the chance they were indeed there and were just pulled at some point after launch, OR got flagged by Sony during initial submission and never got released, it's hard to explain why - but perhaps if issues were flagged, Hamster just decided not to bother fixing them or paying any re-certification costs.

While I guess it isn't impossible, blaming the PS4 port of the ADK Damashii collection seems suspect because 3 of the 5 games on that collection ARE still up on (PS4 NA) ACA Neo Geo - Ninja Combat, Ninja Commando, and Aggressors of Dark Kombat (though two of the five, Ninja Master's and TSS, are on the list of MIA games). And this wouldn't be an issue of Sony prioritizing sales of the collection over the ACA games, since Sony isn't the publisher. Would likely be an SNK Corporation issue (they published the PS4 collection), and they have an obviously strong relationship with Hamster.

[BIL]

ACA Last Resort doesn't let you map separate buttons for Normal Shot and Turbo Shot, so unless you want to forgo the charge shot altogether, the autofire option is basically useless. I can do without it, but still.

Sorry to be a broken record (the skipping repeating sort, not the HS forum kind ), but is that on Switch? The Japan PS4 one lets you bind two of your controller's buttons to the MVS's [Button A]. On pad, I go with my usual IREMesque setup: [X] as rapid, and [Square] as manual, so it's a snap going from autofiring to charging.



Really asking as I recall Roo mentioning Switch ACA:NG Blazing Star lacking the PS4's third colour macro. 3;

[velo]

Sorry to be a broken record (the skipping repeating sort, not the HS forum kind ), but is that on Switch? The PS4 one lets you bind two of your controller's buttons to the MVS's [Button A]. On pad, I go with my usual IREMesque setup: [X] as rapid, and [Square] as manual, so it's a snap going from autofiring to charging.

Really asking as I recall Roo mentioning Switch ACA:NG Blazing Star lacking the PS4's extra colour macro. 3;

Yeah it's the Switch version. I'm a tad envious of SonyBronies (unless I'm missing something here) but for me, it's not a dealbreaker for Last Resort. Thankfully Pulstar doesn't have this problem. There are a few other AAs that have similarly primitive mapping options (on Switch, at least) but this is the first case I've seen of it causing an issue, due to the charge mechanic.

[BIL]

Sorry to hear. Good goddamn, I won't complain (too much) about the PS4 revs any more, crusty as their button config is compared to the last four years' mainline ACA.

Been playing catchup, partially to refresh my memory for the index, but also because I've used the first half ot this year to enjoy some long-deferred AA treats. Gotta say, feels good to get back in the saddle. I don't play bad games, but you can't beat the bang/buck payoff of arcade-bred gaming.

On this subject, good gravy, War Of Aero is legit as all hell. I'm bleary-eyed after a basic bitch weekend 1ALL. Stage 5 / Hi Speed is kinda irritating, in exactly the same way Gradius II's original is. Other than that, very impressed; I think this would've done IREM proud as Image Fight Leo. Sinuously tight "living memoriser" design, where even painstakingly-rehearsed routes are a rush to execute. (especially those routes, now I type that)

You can tell it was a passion project, by and for fans. They even mimicked Image Fight's onboard PCB training options (both dutifully preserved in each game's ACA version). And stunningly for an Allumer-affiliated title, it not only has a proper OST, it's often really good. Some genuine moods in here, hints of Rayforce's uneasy waking dream.

Looks pretty..Is "worth"?

If you like Image Fight and IREM-esque difficulty, I think it's worthy.

It doesn't seems "so difficult" judging by the gameplay not as much as Image Fight at least.

Let's support Hamster

1ALL is about as hard as Image Fight's (minus Penalty Zone), ruthless but amenable to a little strategy. You will be cursing those perfidious MEIOUs!

[Steven]

Did I miss anything important?

- some poor shmuck in a Bub costume nearly killing themselves descending a flight of three whole stairs

Well fuck, I guess I have to watch it now.

[Jucksalbe]

ACA Last Resort doesn't let you map separate buttons for Normal Shot and Turbo Shot, so unless you want to forgo the charge shot altogether, the autofire option is basically useless. I can do without it, but still.

There is a workaround, at least. The ZR button is also mapped to the shot button by default, so even if you map your other button to rapid fire, pressing ZR will let you use a normal shot. If you map rapid fire to the ZR button, the Y button will be your normal shot, which feels more comfortable to me, at least on a controller.

[Steven]

Friends don't let friends use AMD GPUs or play on Switch.

[Marc]

Friends don't let friends use AMD GPUs or play on Switch.

What a bizarre statement. My Switch is going to wind up being my most-played console in all my years of gaming. If it isn't already.

[Steven]

Friends don't let friends use AMD GPUs or play on Switch.

What a bizarre statement. My Switch is going to wind up being my most-played console in all my years of gaming. If it isn't already.

It's hardly bizarre if you think about it; it has garbage first party controllers, horrendously poor ergonomics when used in handheld mode without third party controllers, no analog shoulder buttons for racing games or whatever, the USB ports in the dock are so crappy that they add lag, the eshop is the worst modern digital game store by far, Switch games are usually (but not always) inherently more laggy than the PS4 versions, some ACA games have missing features on Switch that are there on PS4, no Battle Garegga, no Mahou Daisakusen, no Ketsui, no Dangun Feveron, multiplatform games almost always are worst on Switch whether due to worse graphics, worse performance, longer loading times, worse controllers, or a combination of several of these problems, the system itself depends on the presence of a battery that will eventually go bad and have to be replaced or the system can't be used, which might be a problem in 20~30 years, depending on how long the batteries last, and probably some other shit that I forgot.

Switch is one of my most used systems too, but that's not because the system itself is good, well-constructed, or has games that I am interested in but can't play anywhere else, it's because I can be lazy and play worse versions of what I want to play on better hardware in bed, which is admittedly really fucking great. I actually REALLY liked the system when I got it 6 months after launch, but over time I've realized that it really isn't all that great, and I like it increasingly less as time goes on.

[cfx]

It's hardly bizarre if you think about it; it has garbage first party controllers, horrendously poor ergonomics when used in handheld mode without third party controllers, no analog shoulder buttons for racing games or whatever, the USB ports in the dock are so crappy that they add lag, the eshop is the worst modern digital game store by far, Switch games are usually (but not always) inherently more laggy than the PS4 versions, some ACA games have missing features on Switch that are there on PS4, no Battle Garegga, no Mahou Daisakusen, no Ketsui, no Dangun Feveron, multiplatform games almost always are worst on Switch whether due to worse graphics, worse performance, longer loading times, worse controllers, or a combination of several of these problems, the system itself depends on the presence of a battery that will eventually go bad and have to be replaced or the system can't be used, which might be a problem in 20~30 years, depending on how long the batteries last, and probably some other shit that I forgot.

100% agreed; awful system.

Replacing that battery also looks very difficult to do due to it being glued into the console. What a shitty design that even when run off electricity it won't function without a working battery, but Nintendo making shitty hardware is nothing new.

[BIL]

- an award ceremony where Hamster doled out trophies to each of the big licensees for most sales (most sales coming from overseas seemed to be a big takeaway, there)

That is interesting! Encouraging to hear they've a strong worldwide base.

- some poor shmuck in a Bub costume nearly killing themselves descending a flight of three whole stairs

Damn, I had my money on a Mappy cosplay! I hope they were ok, looks like they had a Shockmaster kinda night. ;w;7

You better cool down, brother!（＾w´ ）

I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE BOY (◎w◎;)

On the subject of availability, this made me happy. The most obscure ACA title, Wonder Boy (Japanese PS4-exclusive), on the front on the 10th anniversary catalogue.

Also HachaMecha Fighter!

Might not mean anything, but who doesn't like reading the tea leaves, mirite? I like ACA WB, at any rate. Already superbly translated by M2 via PS2 AGES, but Westone are precisely the undersung heroes ACA serve best.

[Steven]

It's hardly bizarre if you think about it; it has garbage first party controllers, horrendously poor ergonomics when used in handheld mode without third party controllers, no analog shoulder buttons for racing games or whatever, the USB ports in the dock are so crappy that they add lag, the eshop is the worst modern digital game store by far, Switch games are usually (but not always) inherently more laggy than the PS4 versions, some ACA games have missing features on Switch that are there on PS4, no Battle Garegga, no Mahou Daisakusen, no Ketsui, no Dangun Feveron, multiplatform games almost always are worst on Switch whether due to worse graphics, worse performance, longer loading times, worse controllers, or a combination of several of these problems, the system itself depends on the presence of a battery that will eventually go bad and have to be replaced or the system can't be used, which might be a problem in 20~30 years, depending on how long the batteries last, and probably some other shit that I forgot.

100% agreed; awful system.

Well, Switch does have some definite advantages over other systems beyond the obvious portability and being cheaper; it has a much better selection of off-the-shelf third party controllers than the PS4, which doesn't have a lot, and especially the PS5, which has like 2 lol. Yeah, you can use pretty much anything on PS4/5 with the Universal Fighting Board, but I don't know if that will fit inside like a Retro-Bit Saturn controller, for example.

The Switch also has a handful of games that are better on Switch than any other system. Of the ones that I know about, 100% of them are visual novels, although some of the phone -> Switch rhythm games are probably also better on Switch than on phones because lol phones.

Nintendo games are a complete non-factor to me. I don't care about any of them at all except Metroid. Fire Emblem I also like, but I'm not sure who actually owns the rights to that. Pretty sure it's Intelligent Systems and Nintendo is only the publisher for whatever reason, but Nintendo has never made a Fire Emblem game. They also haven't made a Metroid game since Zero Mission (20 years ago!!!!), unless you count the acquisition of Retro Studios, who made Prime 2-3 after the acquisition, but...

Replacing that battery also looks very difficult to do due to it being glued into the console. What a shitty design that even when run off electricity it won't function without a working battery, but Nintendo making shitty hardware is nothing new.

It's glued in WTF???? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

[cfx]

It's hardly bizarre if you think about it; it has garbage first party controllers, horrendously poor ergonomics when used in handheld mode without third party controllers, no analog shoulder buttons for racing games or whatever, the USB ports in the dock are so crappy that they add lag, the eshop is the worst modern digital game store by far, Switch games are usually (but not always) inherently more laggy than the PS4 versions, some ACA games have missing features on Switch that are there on PS4, no Battle Garegga, no Mahou Daisakusen, no Ketsui, no Dangun Feveron, multiplatform games almost always are worst on Switch whether due to worse graphics, worse performance, longer loading times, worse controllers, or a combination of several of these problems, the system itself depends on the presence of a battery that will eventually go bad and have to be replaced or the system can't be used, which might be a problem in 20~30 years, depending on how long the batteries last, and probably some other shit that I forgot.

100% agreed; awful system.

Well, Switch does have some definite advantages over other systems beyond the obvious portability and being cheaper; it has a much better selection of off-the-shelf third party controllers than the PS4, which doesn't have a lot, and especially the PS5, which has like 2 lol. Yeah, you can use pretty much anything on PS4/5 with the Universal Fighting Board, but I don't know if that will fit inside like a Retro-Bit Saturn controller, for example.

Fortunately I like the Dualshock 4 and with joytsticks I think it has as much as any other console. While it's a selling point for many, I strongly dislike portables and don't enjoy playing on them at all. I have poor vision and can't see the small screens well, and I just don't find games to be involving or immersive played on tiny screens.

I'm no fan of the PS5 either and refuse to buy one, and I think the new controller sucks primarily because it's too large. It's too expensive and so far has nothing exclusive that I care about.

The Switch also has a handful of games that are better on Switch than any other system. Of the ones that I know about, 100% of them are visual novels, although some of the phone -> Switch rhythm games are probably also better on Switch than on phones because lol phones.

There's a few games I'd like that aren't elsewhere, but I'm not buying one to play them.

Nintendo games are a complete non-factor to me. I don't care about any of them at all except Metroid. Fire Emblem I also like, but I'm not sure who actually owns the rights to that. Pretty sure it's Intelligent Systems and Nintendo is only the publisher for whatever reason, but Nintendo has never made a Fire Emblem game. They also haven't made a Metroid game since Zero Mission (20 years ago!!!!), unless you count the acquisition of Retro Studios, who made Prime 2-3 after the acquisition, but...

Same here, and especially in their current iterations. I might have interest in old Zelda games for example, but less than zero interest in open world Zelda (or open world anything).

Replacing that battery also looks very difficult to do due to it being glued into the console. What a shitty design that even when run off electricity it won't function without a working battery, but Nintendo making shitty hardware is nothing new.

It's glued in WTF???? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

See here...not saying this is necessarily the best set of instructions, but it shows how complex it is and how you have to use something to dissolve adhesive to even get the battery out. Some youtube videos show a system that's already had the battery out and replaced so they trick you into thinking it comes out wihtout being glued in.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Nintendo+S ... ent/112995

[StrzxgvNuvWvfld]

Not defending the battery situation, but I expect when the time comes it will be pretty easy to get hold of a console with a replacement battery in the same way as it's easy today to pick up old consoles with various mods installed.

[Arino]

Srsly what was the last best Nintendo system? The Famicom? Super Famicom?

[cfx]

Suepr Famicom, and I would say Gamecube though the latter just didn't have a lot of games of interest. It's still relevant now for F-Zero GX if nothing else though.

[RobHimself]

Srsly what was the last best Nintendo system? The Famicom? Super Famicom?

Super Famicom

It's still relevant now for F-Zero GX if nothing else though.

It's hilariously ironic that the best Nintendo game ever was made by Sega.

it's because I can be lazy and play worse versions of what I want to play on better hardware in bed, which is admittedly really fucking great

Ditch the Switch and get a Steam Deck

[Steven]

I'm no fan of the PS5 either and refuse to buy one, and I think the new controller sucks primarily because it's too large. It's too expensive and so far has nothing exclusive that I care about.

I actually like the relative hugeness of the PS5 controller; it's super comfortable, perhaps one of the most comfortable console controllers I have ever used. The battery life is atrocious, though.

Same here, and especially in their current iterations. I might have interest in old Zelda games for example, but less than zero interest in open world Zelda (or open world anything).

The original Zelda was open world, and I guess the second one was too. I'd also consider Metroid to be an open world 2D-platformer, but when it really comes down to it Metroid is Metroid, and also better than anything else that ever tried to be Metroid.

Not defending the battery situation, but I expect when the time comes it will be pretty easy to get hold of a console with a replacement battery in the same way as it's easy today to pick up old consoles with various mods installed.

It absolutely will. Unfortunately, I will eternally compare it to the Nomad and the PSP, both of which work perfectly fine with no battery, as they can both be run perfectly with just the PSU. Switch can't do that, apparently. Why couldn't/didn't they?

Srsly what was the last best Nintendo system? The Famicom? Super Famicom?

The Switch, actually; for all of the crap I just gave it, I think it's the best Nintendo system by far and it has absolutely no competition from other Nintendo systems aside from the Gamecube, and the only reason the Gamecube even gets a mention is Rogue Squadron II and the best version of Metroid Prime.

Ditch the Switch and get a Steam Deck

You're over half a year too late; I already bought one in November, which is why my Switch hasn't even been turned on since like February. I am looking forward to the end of year play summary thing because there will be at least 4 months where there won't be any play data. Unlike the Switch but like the aforementioned glorious Nomad, the Steam Deck is also damn comfortable! That fucker is nearly twice the price of the damn PS5 here, but it was totally worth it... unlike the PS5.

[Arino]

Suepr Famicom, and I would say Gamecube though the latter just didn't have a lot of games of interest. It's still relevant now for F-Zero GX if nothing else though.

At least the Gamecube had an (almost) normal controller and you could just set it up by plugging in one cable for video and one for power! How awesome is that? Not like the Wii where nothing works without the sensor bar (because you can't plug the pro controller into the Wii). You had to place the remote thing next to you and plug in the controller that you had to buy separately. Just to find out that the game you were going to play does not support a normal controller, although it is a normal 2D game, like DKC Returns

and the only reason the Gamecube even gets a mention is Rogue Squadron II and the best version of Metroid Prime.

What's wrong with the Switch remaster of Prime?

Also, why is the Switch by far the best N system ever if not for the exclusives? Really curious.

[velo]

ACA Last Resort doesn't let you map separate buttons for Normal Shot and Turbo Shot, so unless you want to forgo the charge shot altogether, the autofire option is basically useless. I can do without it, but still.

There is a workaround, at least. The ZR button is also mapped to the shot button by default, so even if you map your other button to rapid fire, pressing ZR will let you use a normal shot. If you map rapid fire to the ZR button, the Y button will be your normal shot, which feels more comfortable to me, at least on a controller.

Much obliged, that works like a charm. I won't be buying a PS5 to play Last Resort after all.

[Steven]

What's wrong with the Switch remaster of Prime?

No sequence breaking, which means it's the single worst version of the game.

Also, why is the Switch by far the best N system ever if not for the exclusives? Really curious.

Good handheld mode for modern games prior to the existence of Steam Deck.

[cfx]

I actually like the relative hugeness of the PS5 controller; it's super comfortable, perhaps one of the most comfortable console controllers I have ever used. The battery life is atrocious, though.

Maybe that's the case if you don't have small hands but not the case for me. I've seen general complaints that anything before DS4 was too small, which is totally opposite to my experience.

The original Zelda was open world, and I guess the second one was too. I'd also consider Metroid to be an open world 2D-platformer, but when it really comes down to it Metroid is Metroid, and also better than anything else that ever tried to be Metroid.

I would argue that even if that's the case for those 2D Zelda games, there is a world of difference between that and the meandering, boring, empty, aimless time-wasting 3D open areas that is what the term "open world" means now. Mabye it's because open world is now seemingly always connected with so-called sandbox gameplay, which is one of the worst fads ever.

I've never liked any Metroid game so no opinion on that aspect of those.

[Arino]

What's wrong with the Switch remaster of Prime?

No sequence breaking, which means it's the single worst version of the game.

Isn't that only relevant for speed running?

[Daytime Waitress]

I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE BOY (◎w◎;)

As if Hamster's dedication to arcade preservation isn't enough, they're also responsible for restorations of Renaissance masterpieces like this: Fell Flat On His Arse, 1593.

[BIL]

I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE BOY (◎w◎;)

As if Hamster's dedication to arcade preservation isn't enough, they're also responsible for restorations of Renaissance masterpieces like this: Fell Flat On His Arse, 1593.

They continue to demonstrate an eye for iconic works! Also referenced by lost Monet Who Is This Mutha Fucka, 1865.