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

[PC Engine Fan X!]

For BrianC,

Thanks for the heads up about the ACA1 port of Mega Zone having tate & cocktail-table orientation mode as well. How do you enable a two-player session on the ACA1 port of MZ?

The actual dedicated upright Mega Zone cabs that the Konami of America arcade subsidiary sold stateside back in 1984 to local vending machine businesses and arcade owners/operators, they came with a 19" Wells Gardner arcade monitor setup (which was "easy on the eyes" when playing it back in the day -- aside from playing it on a converted generic arcade cab setup with a typical MZ conversion pcb kit installed out on "street location" routes -- i.e. pizza parlors, 7-11s, local "Mom 'n' Pop" owned liquor stores, roller skating venues, etc).

Here's a nice Konami Mega Zone pcb with the "old school" Konami logo sticker affixed prominatily in place + the copyright date of 1983 as usual + the obvious "tell-tale" clue of it being a Konami "GX 319" based board that's silkscreen printed on the top layered board as is: https://www.ebay.com/itm/335042053685?_ ... R-CNvb-KZw

and a PDF of the actual American based Mega Zone instruction manual here: http://pdf.textfiles.com/manuals/ARCADE ... gazone.pdf

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FYI: It turns out if you set the MZ dipswitch setting for use on an upright cab setup, it only allows for a "Player 1 only" session at best whereas if you enable the "cocktail table" cab mode setting, up to two players can play -- by alternating turns, of course. Fascinating tidbit/nugget of information to take into serious consideration, indeed.

On the 12 volt line, at least a minimum of between 1.0 amp to 2.0 amps maximum to run the Mega Zone pcb properly as mentioned in the manual (so that means having to dial down the 12v power-line to within tolarable/acceptable levels just to power it up without going overboard with a modern-day arcade PSU nowadays + 5v+ being used to power up the board itself). On the 5v line, a minimum of 5.0 amps is recommended. It seems that the early 1980s-based arcade PSUs were perfectly capable of outputting those very specific 12v & 5v requirements with no problem. Go figure.
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I recall being to one of Dave K.'s legendary shmupmeets back in 2012 and he had a boxed Konami Mega Zone pcb in his super impressive and extensive arcade pcb collection stash alrighty -- those were the days of his generous hospitality hosting such incredible shmupmeets back in the day.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Taito's turn, but its more like a "Meh" level game: Adventure Canoe is this week's release.
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202602/66342

Next week will be much better since we will get Rave Racer.

[Marc]

Christ, we've had some missed lately.

[BrianC]

Taito's turn, but its more like a "Meh" level game: Adventure Canoe is this week's release.
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202602/66342

Next week will be much better since we will get Rave Racer.

Adventure Canoe is a super rare game that most haven't even played prior to the Egret II Mini release.

[Skyknight]

We’ve also got Dezaemon coming up for Console Archives next.

[professor ganson]

I picked up Super Xevious: GAMP no Nazo on Switch when I was browsing through their Hamster Arcade offerings. As a big Xevious fan, I had to get it. I still need to give it a fair shot, but it didn't draw me in the way that Xevious Arrangement and Fardraut did. I certainly wouldn't recommend it at this point.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I picked up Super Xevious: GAMP no Nazo on Switch when I was browsing through their Hamster Arcade offerings. As a big Xevious fan, I had to get it. I still need to give it a fair shot, but it didn't draw me in the way that Xevious Arrangement and Fardraut did. I certainly wouldn't recommend it at this point.

For professor ganson,

Here's the original jamma pcb of Xevious/Xevious Arrangement circa 1995 for sale -- it's the all-English language variant version indeed: https://www.ebay.com/itm/197243246912?_ ... R-6-va6OZw Not too shabby given it's reasonable asking price.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[professor ganson]

Damn, that's cool! It's definitely a favorite, so it's tempting for sure. Thanks for pointing it out!

[OldSkoolShmuper]

It's hard to believe it's just one more week until Rave Racer arrives on consoles for the first time.

Rave Racer was supposed to be ported to PC in 1996, about a year after it debut in arcades.
A demo existed that was doing the rounds at shows like TGS in Japan, maybe Comdex in the U.S. or ECTS ( European Computer Trade Show) but it never got completed.

Here's a video of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBuGwrWP-s4

[Atariboy]

Adventure Canoe is a lot of fun. Glad I spent $8 on it.

I wonder how it managed to avoid the Taito Memories line on the PS2.

[D]

Here's a video of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBuGwrWP-s4

To me it looks like a pre-rendered demo. So not actually running in real time. I could be wrong. So that means nothing was ever done and there are no prototypes ever made.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Quite cool to learn that Namco's original arcade hardware running Rave Racer was none other than the famous Namco "System 22" arcade motherboard setup circa 1995. February 26th, 2026, is definitely just around the corner indeed. Am glad Hamster has the wisdom and smarts to release Rave Racer as an ACA1 port for the Switch non-OLED and OLED variant console releases. Sure, to play Rave Racer at the American arcades was quite an experience not to be missed!

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Come to think about that Rave Racer has never gotten a proper home console release since it's inception in the arcades & game centers worldwide back in 1995 where the "gold choice" to credit it up was with the almighty quarter -- those days are long gone never to be repeated ever again. As the ol' adage saying goes: "Better later than never."
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PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[nogden]

Maybe I’m wrong and I’m just missing it, but is there no button remap option for the high score mode in these games? It’s odd that in the mode where you are trying to perform your best, they would deprive you of that feature

[OldSkoolShmuper]

Quite cool to learn that Namco's original arcade hardware running Rave Racer was none other than the famous Namco "System 22" arcade motherboard setup circa 1995. February 26th, 2026, is definitely just around the corner indeed. Am glad Hamster has the wisdom and smarts to release Rave Racer as an ACA1 port for the Switch non-OLED and OLED variant console releases. Sure, to play Rave Racer at the American arcades was quite an experience not to be missed!

----------
Come to think about that Rave Racer has never gotten a proper home console release since it's inception in the arcades & game centers worldwide back in 1995 where the "gold choice" to credit it up was with the almighty quarter -- those days are long gone never to be repeated ever again. As the ol' adage saying goes: "Better later than never."
----------

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

It's interesting that Rave Racer (1995) runs on the same hardware (Namco System 22) as Ridge Racer (1993) and Ridge Racer 2 (1994) - From what I remember reading in magazines back in 1995, I thought Rave Racer was running on the souped up System Super 22 hardware (which runs Air Combat 22, Tokyo Wars, Aqua Jet, among others),

https://i.postimg.cc/Nsw-tCTHS/tpgvb-bm44l.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/cZZ9C6hd/tnocq-vi6u9.jpg

but it turned out Rave Racer just used the standard System 22 hardware.

[velo]

Maybe I’m wrong and I’m just missing it, but is there no button remap option for the high score mode in these games? It’s odd that in the mode where you are trying to perform your best, they would deprive you of that feature

You'll have to start one of the other non-arcade modes to access the settings, but they should carry over to arcade mode.

[OldSkoolShmuper]

Here's a video of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBuGwrWP-s4

To me it looks like a pre-rendered demo. So not actually running in real time. I could be wrong. So that means nothing was ever done and there are no prototypes ever made.

Not true. There was a demo for the PowerVR card in 1996 and it was running real-time, at 640 x 480 resolution, at 30fps (half the framerate of the arcade) and with a lower polygon count than the arcade version. Yet, it was said to be doing four times the graphical work of the PlayStation version of Ridge Racer.

Here are a few articles from EDGE magazine in the UK and Next Generation magazine in the U.S.

https://i.postimg.cc/YrFrjK4x/Ekor-El-E.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/xfLQnv7v/IMG-1171.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/B4C18pZm/IMG-1140.jpg







Now, here is some artwork from Rave Racer OST CD that is clearly pre-rendered:

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Incoming message from Shion Uzuki...
(Gotta break from the Arsenal Bird on Namco-related news cliché unless this forum says otherwise.)

You wanted it, you get it.
Arcade Archives: Rave Racer is this week's release.
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202602/66966

[D]

Not true.

Cool! Thanks for the articles. Perhaps there was indeed something. Interesting!

[D]

you get it

Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaave Racerrrrrrrr!!!! Dat azz
Should I get it for xbox series X or for PS4?

[OldSkoolShmuper]

Not true.

Cool! Thanks for the articles. Perhaps there was indeed something. Interesting!

There was and Namco just quit working on the PowerVR PC version of Rave Racer, and never said anything more about it after 1996.

Along with Rave Racer, the other two games that were announced for PowerVR cards with the NEC & Videologic deal with Namco were Air Combat 22 and Tekken. With those two, nothing was ever seen. But Rave Racer was demonstrated at trade shows and it was playable.

[OldSkoolShmuper]

Not true.

Cool! Thanks for the articles. Perhaps there was indeed something. Interesting!

There was and Namco just quit working on the PowerVR PC version of Rave Racer, and never said anything more about it after 1996.

Along with Rave Racer, the other two games that were announced for PowerVR cards with the NEC & Videologic deal with Namco were Air Combat 22 and Tekken.





With those two, nothing was ever seen. But Rave Racer was demonstrated at trade shows and it was playable.

NEC Electronics - PowerVR Promotional video with footage of the Rave Racer port.
https://youtu.be/onZi_-Xzqyk?si=jZaZbeMZfEF665OV&t=89

UK show Cybernet, PowerVR graphics card preview, includes Rave Racer port footage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXyAZqoMt2Y

That was 1996 -

It took until 2025 to get Air Combat 22 on console, and 2026 to get Rave Racer on console.

[dmk1198]

When rave racer come?
No sign on eshop

[Klatrymadon]

Anyone know if you can change your car in the high score and caravan modes for Rave Racer? Often your 'preference settings' from the offline modes will carry over to the competitive ones, but that doesn't seem to be happening here. Possibly a deliberate parity decision...

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The Hamster ACA1 port of Rave Racer finally appeared on the USA region Switch eShop portal today, 2/26/2026, with an MSRP of $14.99 usd and is a 268mb digital d/l at best. Expect the usual "arcade-spec" 60fps framerate associated with the Ridge Racer series of Ridge Racer, Ridge Racer 2 and now, Rave Racer.

Does the Switch port of Rave Racer support the analog steering wheel + gas & brake pedal combo deal?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[SavagePencil]

The Hamster ACA1 port of Rave Racer finally appeared on the USA region Switch eShop portal today, 2/26/2026, with an MSRP of $14.99 usd and is a 268mb digital d/l at best. Expect the usual "arcade-spec" 60fps framerate associated with the Ridge Racer series of Ridge Racer, Ridge Racer 2 and now, Rave Racer.

Does the Switch port of Rave Racer support the analog steering wheel + gas & brake pedal combo deal?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I'll give it a go tonight. The first one did. I had to do a button combo on the wheel itself to map gas & brake as right analog stick, which again I don't think is 100% correct (full gas + full brake results in net 0)

[OldSkoolShmuper]

Does the Switch port of Rave Racer support the analog steering wheel + gas & brake pedal combo deal?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I believe it does. The Switch port of Ridge Racer certainly did so I would expect the same of Rave Racer on Switch.

[SavagePencil]

The Hamster ACA1 port of Rave Racer finally appeared on the USA region Switch eShop portal today, 2/26/2026, with an MSRP of $14.99 usd and is a 268mb digital d/l at best. Expect the usual "arcade-spec" 60fps framerate associated with the Ridge Racer series of Ridge Racer, Ridge Racer 2 and now, Rave Racer.

Does the Switch port of Rave Racer support the analog steering wheel + gas & brake pedal combo deal?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I'll give it a go tonight. The first one did. I had to do a button combo on the wheel itself to map gas & brake as right analog stick, which again I don't think is 100% correct (full gas + full brake results in net 0)

It does support analog gas and brake, but you’ll have to ensure your pedals are mapped to the right analog stick and you’ve selected the wheel mode in button setup.

I used the Assign button on the Hori Mario Kart wheel to map gas to analog right stick up and brake to stick down.

Control is a bit odd; to brake you have to release gas and then press brake. This is fine if you’re playing like a normal driver using only one foot at a time. Not sure how this plays with DX mode’s clutch, but seems like it would put a damper on heel-toe shifting.

Game is great. Wish it had mixing options to bump up BGM over SFX/VO.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I've noticed that if you select the "Intermediate" track of City, during certain portions of the curved track sections, there are clipping issues to contend with the closer you are in parallel to the curved track section walls if using the external 3rd-person viewpoint setting (not that it detracts from the gameplay though, far from it). Was this "track clipping issue" present in the actual arcade game cab of Rave Racer as well?

Also, on the default Joy-con controller setting, button X is the Viewpoint button -- awesome to actually see your car from the classic "3rd-person from behind " viewpoint (this cool feature was definitely missing from the original Ridge Racer arcade game indeed). The led lights to indicate the "aerodynamical passing up/slipstreaming" a CPU opponent is another cool touch on the lower righthand-side of the screen.

Apparently, Rave Racer was a linkable up to 8 players maximum racing experience -- too bad it's not possible to play a "linked up" multi-player racing session of Rave Racer on the ACA1 or ACA2 ports (that would've been quite awesome to have been implemented though through modern-day gaming hardware nowadays). Could Hamster "patch in" such 8-player multi-player sessions functionality of Rave Racer nowadays?

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So that'd leave Namco's Ridge Racer V arcade racer left for Hamster to release as both ACA1 & ACA2 home console ports next.
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PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[BrianC]

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So that'd leave Namco's Ridge Racer V arcade racer left for Hamster to release as both ACA1 & ACA2 home console ports next.
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PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I doubt it. That one is on PS2 based hardware and there are still other system 22 racers like Ace Driver that aren't yet on ACA.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

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So that'd leave Namco's Ridge Racer V arcade racer left for Hamster to release as both ACA1 & ACA2 home console ports next.
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PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I doubt it. That one is on PS2 based hardware and there are still other system 22 racers like Ace Driver that aren't yet on ACA.

Yes, Hamster would be wise to release both Namco's Ace Driver & Ace Driver Final as the next System 22 powered racing titles as proper ACA1 & ACA2 ports. I've had the pleasure of trying a sit-down cab of Ace Driver at a local arcade back in the late 1990s and it was a memorable F1-inspired racing title in it's own right indeed.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~