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

[Sumez]

I love Ridge Racer. I'm just sad because the best RR games were on consoles rather than arcades. We need Hamster's Console Archives.

Or you can just buy those console games

[D]

https://theotakuauthority.com/nebulasra ... -archives/

And Nebulas Ray on 15th.....

[Lemnear]

Spoiler

I've said this before, with ACA Zero Team and ACA Metal Black, but I swear the harder IRL Bullshit fucks with me, the more awesome and intense my ACA backlog/new release schedule grows.

So, does God exist? Did you hear me?

I'm happy for us both Lem ;w;7

We Have To Struggle For Our Future Against Our Doubt (｀w´メ) (*'ω' *)

I've wanted this for a long time because even though it's from a giant like Namco, it's the last shmups they've ever made, plus it's strangely "obscure" since it seems to be very rare, a bit like Viper Phase 1.

Well, now there are only a few left and with ACA2 who knows what else there will be, I hope it gets to 2005-2006. I want Arcana Heart!

So, it finally happened. BNEI really surprised us with that one.

So if Konami game of the month is missing...it must be Parodius! (any one), or Gradius IV maybe

And what will the ACA2 contain? Will they come out on a regular basis or will they be much slower? For example, the NeoGeo2 line has been at a standstill for a while now.

I wonder if the reason for the pause was due to just waiting for Switch 2, and we'll start to regularly see simultaneous PS5/Switch2/Xbox ACA Neo Geo 2 releases, and PS5/Switch AA2. I also recall that ACA Neo Geo was more sporadic until the Switch 1 launch, when Hamster started getting serious about weekly releases.

Maybe AA2/ACA2 just uses the better emulator features on their platforms? And sometimes we might still see some of the same games getting new releases with the older emulation frontend on PS4/Switch (like Ridge Racer coming to PS4 AA).

Heavy duty Namco news though! I'm glad to have been wrong about thinking NebulasRay wouldn't show up this month!

Maybe so, so as not to have to do too many ports for Switch 2 at a later time. BUT, what does the NeoGeo2 line have more than the original? Multiplayer and online leaderboards?
If so, many games would never receive this update, and almost all of them would be fighting games.

Also... when ACA2 arrives, will ACA1 continue or not?
I mean my question is "what is the REAL difference between ACA1 and ACA2?
Does it just mean that they are now native for current-gen?
Or is it a subdivision for 3D games from 2D ones?
It is definitely NOT a 8-16Bit subdivision from 32Bit because NebulasRay is an ACA1 and is 32Bit.
So it is a "polygonal/non-polygonal graphics" subdivision?
Will they take a smaller range with only 32Bit 3D games or will it also include the 64 portion? (or will that be ACA3?).

However Ridge Racer 1 existed in a PS1 version at 60fps! but it only had one opponent in the race and not 12, it was a sort of demo disc that they gave together with some versions of Type-4.

[Bassa-Bassa]

This:

Does it just mean that they are now native for current-gen?

You also get bonus features such as online mode but with the announcement of AA: Ridge Racer (PS4) and the existence of AA2: Neo-Geo seems pretty clear AA2 and AA will co-exist till they decide the latter isn't profitable on past generation systems.

[Lemnear]

This:

Does it just mean that they are now native for current-gen?

You also get bonus features such as online mode but with the announcement of AA: Ridge Racer (PS4) and the existence of AA2: Neo-Geo seems pretty clear AA2 and AA will co-exist till they decide the latter isn't profitable on past generation systems.

Weird, or does this mean that for ACA2 they will only focus on games that can benefit from Online? So a lot of racing games and fighting games I guess...

[Bassa-Bassa]

Yeah, it's equally plausible the scenario of both, AA and AA2 always co-existing, even if the former stops getting its games released for PS4 and Switch eventually and just gets a silent native build for current systems, dedicating the latter to special titles.

[Steven]

So what's the best weapon for Viper Phase 1? N missile seems the best unless I'm missing something.

[hamfighterx]

BUT, what does the NeoGeo2 line have more than the original? Multiplayer and online leaderboards?
If so, many games would never receive this update, and almost all of them would be fighting games.

They did list some additional features for the ACA2 NeoGeo series alongside the KOF '98 launch - https://www.arcadearchives.com/en/aca2n ... roduction/

- Variable Refresh Rate support
- Better save states: now with 4 save slots and 1 quick save slot, and quick save/quick load can be assigned to buttons (big improvement over the 1 kind of clunky suspend save from the "normal" Arcade Archives)
- Rewind funtion to go back ~5 seconds
- Some option menu differences, including vertically oriented menus when you have your screen set to TATE, differences in how it pauses the game when you enter options, etc.
- Additional screen filters (I've not played ACA2 KOF '98 to see whether they're any good, but I don't care for the existing standard ACA/AA filters that can only be enabled with smoothing on - with the exception of the fairly small number of Arcade Archives games done by Gotch Technology)
- Better controller config and ability to save up to 5 different button layouts, more rapid rife options
- Additional time attack mode (Hamster says that's for "Supported games only")

I mean my question is "what is the REAL difference between ACA1 and ACA2?
Does it just mean that they are now native for current-gen?
Or is it a subdivision for 3D games from 2D ones?
It is definitely NOT a 8-16Bit subdivision from 32Bit because NebulasRay is an ACA1 and is 32Bit.
So it is a "polygonal/non-polygonal graphics" subdivision?
Will they take a smaller range with only 32Bit 3D games or will it also include the 64 portion? (or will that be ACA3?).

Well, ACA2 NeoGeo is all gonna be 2D games. Feels to me more like it's the updated emulator features + online play. There's also the element of just marketing, sticking that "2" in to make things feel newer and more exciting, as well as signifying native PS5/Switch 2 versions.

However Ridge Racer 1 existed in a PS1 version at 60fps! but it only had one opponent in the race and not 12, it was a sort of demo disc that they gave together with some versions of Type-4.

Hehe you know it, still have that 60FPS disc myself! I love all the quirky little Ridge Racer-related stuff we saw in the PS1 era. The NeGcon and Jogcon controllers, that 60fps Ridge Racer experiment, link cable support (which I used when I picked up my first PS1 system along with Ridge Racer Revolution).

[MJR]

So what's the best weapon for Viper Phase 1? N missile seems the best unless I'm missing something.

W - wide shot

[Steven]

Okay yeah, I did some testing and you definitely need the 100% destruction rate to get score and the only way you can really do that is with W. Guess everything else just goes in the trash, then.

[hamfighterx]

Don't think I saw it mentioned here: NebulasRay is a premium priced game, ¥1500 in Japan. Same Japanese price as Mazinger Z and Macross, so probably the same price as Mazinger Z in other regions ($14.99 in the US).

They talked about it a bit on this week's Hamchan stream, basically were just "eeeeeto, it's a 32-bit 3D game on new hardware and celebrating 11 years of Arcade Archives, so pay more!"

[BIL]

HamHams gettin' that bag

I'm cool with it tbh. I've mooted in the past that if that's what it took for Gundhara, or Denjin Makai II, or Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, or *dramatic squirrel zoom* Akuu Gallet... or to bring aboard names like Westone, TAD, or Mitchell, I'd be happy to see them leverage the premium a couple more times a year.

Ultimately, as with M2, I just want them to survive, so this rare epoch can last a bit longer. Whether that means a marginal shift away from the current schedule/price paradigm, or another half-decade of it, or somewhere between, I'll be down. As long as they continue chasing Hamada-kun's dream.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Okay yeah, I did some testing and you definitely need the 100% destruction rate to get score and the only way you can really do that is with W. Guess everything else just goes in the trash, then.

Back in 1995 when Viper Phase 1 U.S.A. was up and running at my local arcade joint, I used to be able get a 100% Destruction Rate on Stage 1 on a regular basis with the "W-power up -- widespread shot" -- there's a certain trick to nab all the fightercraft shown at the beginning of the first stage indeed (which is quite tricky to pull-off sometimes, resulting in the more aptly earned "99% Destruction Rate bonus" given instead). Given enough practice, it's certainly doable/acheiveable nevertheless.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Marc]

HamHams gettin' that bag

I'm cool with it tbh. I've mooted in the past that if that's what it took for Gundhara, or Denjin Makai II, or Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, or *dramatic squirrel zoom* Akuu Gallet... or to bring aboard names like Westone, TAD, or Mitchell, I'd be happy to see them leverage the premium a couple more times a year.

Ultimately, as with M2, I just want them to survive, so this rare epoch can last a bit longer. Whether that means a marginal shift away from the current schedule/price paradigm, or another half-decade of it, or somewhere between, I'll be down. As long as they continue chasing Hamada-kun's dream.

Exactly this.

[Sima Tuna]

Don't think I saw it mentioned here: NebulasRay is a premium priced game, ¥1500 in Japan. Same Japanese price as Mazinger Z and Macross, so probably the same price as Mazinger Z in other regions ($14.99 in the US).

They talked about it a bit on this week's Hamchan stream, basically were just "eeeeeto, it's a 32-bit 3D game on new hardware and celebrating 11 years of Arcade Archives, so pay more!"

As long as Nebulasray comes to switch, I will buy.

[hamfighterx]

Oh, absolutely I'm in too. Happy to support the Simple HamHam 1500 Series when we get a premium game. I'd pay even more for Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon!

[OldSkoolShmuper]

https://theotakuauthority.com/nebulasra ... -archives/

And Nebulas Ray on 15th.....

Whoa! I didn't think Nebulas Ray would happen.

EGM #59 (June 1994) covered it.

[D]

Nebularsray, lol They kept on using that consistently throughout the article!
They really hyped it up. I must've read that back then or perhaps in Edge Magazine, they had great screenshots

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Hamster decided to put a winner in the Arcade Archives court.

Konami's Punk Shot is this week's release.
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202505/41469

Next week is NebulasRay.

[Daytime Waitress]

That flyer is like a godsdamned Renaissance painting, Prime!

I might have only had a very brief rental of Arch Rivals on the NES (I remember it not being great?), but it was actually pretty formative, because I'd go on to spend an inordinate amount of time with NBA Jam/Hangtime thereafter.

And the one thing all three had in common was that they desperately needed more German suplexes.

[MJR]

https://theotakuauthority.com/nebulasra ... -archives/

And Nebulas Ray on 15th.....

Whoa! I didn't think Nebulas Ray would happen.

EGM #59 (June 1994) covered it.

It was summer 1994, at my first game industry job, when my boss returned from his summer holiday (we had just shipped Elfmania for amiga), he said he had seen the ”best coin op in the world”, and then raved about this ’Nebulas Ray’ for the whole day. I was always looking to play it, but I never saw the coin op anywhere, ever.

Nice to get a legit home version. This one certainly brought memories.

[BIL]

Ah man, intense Vendetta/Crime Fighters 2 vibes from that Punk Shot screencap. Full of rude vigour and a bonhomie warding off mere gauche cruelty.

HEY PUNK! (｀w´メ) ARE YOU TUFF Enu... NOT ME FOOKIN PLUMS M8 (◎w◎;)

Never heard of it, like a surprising number of late 80s/early 90s Konami coinops. (surprising for this once self-described ~Konmai Konnoisseur~) Not really my genre, but the promise of BIRD INTERFERENCE and that lovably brutal style warrant at least a test run. I felt similarly about Escape Kids - colour coded 4P uniforms boyeee! - but that one's just way out there for me. I don't do well with Hyper Olympic-esques, tend to get carried away.

That flyer is like a godsdamned Renaissance painting, Prime!

Too right Konami's late 80s/early 90s flyers are an under-heralded run. So many cute broads and scowling, sweaty men! Deserves an inline:

KONMAI stands for KOMPOSITION (╭ರ﹏•́)

Shoutout @ muh CBGBs queen in the polka-dots and booties on the fire escape, demurely regarding the ghastly scene! I bet she has a rad vinyl singles collection! <3 Also hollerin at ref lady rockin the pit vipers #1 must go to my mans in the lookout position, rocking that vest and scopin 4 PUNKZ with bossly aplomb!

Incidentally, had a devil of a time keeping Dark Adventure's flyer uploaded, maybe because the game is an ass-criminal quarter muncher, but perhaps for nailing that ~cokey teh cat~ 80s zeitgeist a little too squarely ;3

YAMI OPERATIONS (*'ω' *)

Rando feel free 2 steal 4 squib, you and you alone can have that gif FO FREE

[Randorama]

Oh yes, I see that there will be an improptu squib coming up this weekend.

This game is outrageously fun, even if it suffers from not really having proper teams that players can choose from. Number 1's choice of videogames for a certain country bumpkin coming down from their mountain villages and thinking that videogames are all about bashing buttons as hard as possible (gee, that's the first version of Street Fighter, lads!).

I remember having at least a few scuffles after one German Suplex too many during matches, with a couple of unibrow rednecks complaining that "we were cheating". We resolved everything with love and knowledge, of course ("now, follow me. Get behind the other player, press A+B and the direction of the moving player and pop! Goes the spine!"). At any case, "country bumpkin" vs. "city thug" sounds like a fight from a Technōs fighting game (or a Technōs sport game or, well, both.

I am finding the way Hamster and Konami are proceeding in releasing titles somewhat hilarious. I suspect that they are trying to atone for decades of absolutely evil corporate obsession with money and sequels by releasing most of their downright obscure (e.g. Punk Shot, Crazy Cop) or at least cult-like games (e.g. Surprise Attack) to the masses. It would be *absolutely fricking hilarious* if somebody in Konami's upper echelons is thinking of something like "Screw money, with HamChan's we are doing the right thing!" (...maybe while burning a 10k yen banknote to light up a cigar ).

[BIL]

In all this excitement I somehow forgot The new possibility of MAHFUCKIN STARBLADE. Ho ho hoooly balls that one has aged sublimely well. Oldschool discipline with filmic flair. Respect @ Badass Rival Ace, God willing my GEOSWORD will face you again soon

AFAIK Tekken 5's bonus game port is solid, I remember enjoying it... but you can't beat HamHam archival standard. I actually kinda like the Mega CD port, which sounds utterly barbaric on paper - streaming BG with wireframe models - but actually captures the experience quite well. A little too well IIRC, as the final assault on RED EYE is wicked intense and the framerate suffers, unlike the buttery-smooth AC ver. Still, lovely curio. The PS1 revs were 30fps IIRC... a lot of that acronym in this post so will hang it up for now.

But yes! STARBLADE and CYBER COMMANDO pls. <3

[Lemnear]

It's right to support the developers you prefer, but I see the departure of EA/Ubisoft more likely than teams like M2/Hamster honestly hahaha

[hamfighterx]

Love these kinds of weeks - Punk Shot is a game I've never played, but looks like one I'll really enjoy discovering.

Thinking about it,I guess I'd have to say I am indeed into the arcade combat basketball subgenre. Always had a soft spot for Arch Rivals back in the day. Data East's Street Hoop/Dunk Dream is one of my Neo Geo favorites, sneaky underrated game and my favorite from DECO on the system - yes Windjammers, I said what I said (!!!). And I've played a LOT of NBA Jam. So yeah, I'm down for Konami's take! And the late 80s/early 90s street punk theme is just marvelous.

While I never encountered Punk Shot, did frequently see Run and Gun in 90s arcades for the more realistic basketball experience from Konami. Haven't thought about that one in a while but that's a good game too. Now I'm hoping it shows up some time on Arcade Archives. That one was on the Xexex hardware, so Ham-chan has dipped into that board once before.

I see the departure of EA/Ubisoft more likely than teams like M2/Hamster honestly hahaha

I was just saying something similar to others yesterday. Yeah, modern AAA development doesn't feel very sustainable, does it? But Hamster will be here for us, every week without fail (now with ~4 hour weekly livestream lol), predictably making enough money to keep this thing going and spreading the gospel.

[Jonpachi]

So it's like Arch Rivals: Street basically?

[Randorama]

....with German suplexes, environmental hazards and other special moves, really.

[SavagePencil]

Yawn, I’ll just hang out with all my Lynx-owning friends and play Basketbrawl. What’s that? He’s busy?

Then I will hang with my weird euro friend and we can play SMS Basketball Nightmare before he asks to drink red wine and wrestle around in our underwear for a while.

[Daytime Waitress]

While I never encountered Punk Shot, did frequently see Run and Gun in 90s arcades for the more realistic basketball experience from Konami. Haven't thought about that one in a while but that's a good game too.

lol I was gonna mention that, too, because I played an inordinate amount of Give n Go - as it was known in the PAL territories - but figured it was too close to the sim side of things.
Though on second thought I'm pretty sure the only reason I took Charlotte to multiple championships was by using Larry Johnson + shove button.

SMS Basketball Nightmare

And there's another one I omitted!
The difficult in that scurred kid me - pretty certain I never got past... whatever was after the stage one BASKETBALL WEREWOLVES.
But I kept it in my collection.
Because BASKETBALL WEREWOLVES.
Dose dunk animations!