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

[AGermanArtist]

I really am glad Arcade Archives is a thing because I was just looking through some folders on my PS5 and realised there would be no way on Earth I would have a compilation of 12 legit Nichibutsu games. That just wouldn't have happened otherwise.

Does this thing have Terra Cresta II do you know? A HuCard I won't be owning and playing anytime soon

Not sure what you mean. I bought 12 individual ACA Nichibutsu games and made my own compilation folder.
I highly doubt we'll ever see an actual Nichibutsu compilation collection. I just have a love of their b-tier games.
Maybe Terra Cresta 2 will appear on Consle Archives, at some stage.

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Message from Shion "Ms. Vector" Uzuki:
Final Lap is this week's title.

Note: The Arcade Archives release is censored.
All trademarks were removed from the game in a much worse way than Pole Position's at the point of having empty billboards and others replaced with Namco games such as Pac-Man, Skykid and Libble Rabble.

Sadly, that's the future of retro-preservation: Censorship to comply with copyrights and licensing issues.

[Marc]

Damn, those boards are a bit sad.

[Sumez]

Sadly, that's the future of retro-preservation: Censorship to comply with copyrights and licensing issues.

That's not what censorship means

[Skyknight]

Meanwhile, the Console Archives title for this week is Terra Cresta.

[Lemnear]

Meanwhile, the Console Archives title for this week is Terra Cresta.

So now there is an Arcade and Console version (NES I assume)?

[Jucksalbe]

They could have done a bit more to fill those billboards with other things, but I doubt it's all that important when actually playing the game. Certainly better than having the game stuck in license hell.

[professor ganson]

Meanwhile, the Console Archives title for this week is Terra Cresta.

So now there is an Arcade and Console version (NES I assume)?

Interesting-- I've never played anything but the arcade version (Hamster's PS2 port). Absolutely love the game, so I'm mildly intrigued by this news.

[SavagePencil]

Final Lap looks great in stills but oof the car gets awful jittery and some of the stationary object scaling is stiff. I think the combined jank distracts a little too much. Would love to see Final Lap Twin one day.

How does FC Terra Cresta differ from the arcade?

[utsunderthesky]

Taito Milestones 4 just released today. I got my physical along with a CD and some stickers.

Interesting to note, Cameltry used the ACA 2 layout for menus (the red one), but it doesnt have leaderboards yet. It isnt on ACA yet, so Im betting it comes out soon. Meanwhile, Ninja Kids is the ACA 1 layout (the plain black menus).

Cameltry just used the dpad or analogue stick to move, no L/R by default. I wish the Egret Mini controllers were compatible, because i do have the spinner/trackball controller.

[SavagePencil]

Taito Milestones 4 just released today. I got my physical along with a CD and some stickers.

Interesting to note, Cameltry used the ACA 2 layout for menus (the red one), but it doesnt have leaderboards yet. It isnt on ACA yet, so Im betting it comes out soon. Meanwhile, Ninja Kids is the ACA 1 layout (the plain black menus).

Cameltry just used the dpad or analogue stick to move, no L/R by default. I wish the Egret Mini controllers were compatible, because i do have the spinner/trackball controller.

It’ll work with this, I bet:

viewtopic.php?p=1594100#p1594100

[Jucksalbe]

Final Lap is so weird. Why is their a position indicator in the menu if you don't actually race against your opponents and it's always "1/1"? Is there a proper race later? And for some reason I managed to race without opponents after a while. How did I activate this? I still couldn't finish all 4 laps, but it certainly made it a lot easier.

[SavagePencil]

Final Lap is so weird. Why is their a position indicator in the menu if you don't actually race against your opponents and it's always "1/1"? Is there a proper race later? And for some reason I managed to race without opponents after a while. How did I activate this? I still couldn't finish all 4 laps, but it certainly made it a lot easier.

I think 1/1 is for the local network scenario (up to 8 cabinets could be connected). Quite a feature for what, 1987?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Back in the Summer of 1987, at Marriot's Great America amusement park in Santa Clara, California, next to the usual carnival games was an 8-player cab all linked-up of Namco/Atari Games' "Final Lap" setup -- it was quite an awesome sight to see/behold indeed. It cost $2.00 usd to play per credit. There was an barker/announcer game attendant whom was manning the entire thing -- once there were 8 players seated, the race started. On top of each Final Lap sitdown cab was a rotating light that would turn on and spin indicating that said player was in first place. If you came in first place at the end of four laps, you won a prize which was a small stuffed animal. Collect four small prizes to exchange for a medium prize, collect two medium prizes for a large prize = so that meant you'd have spent a whopping sixteen dollars just to scoop up a large prize (assuming that you won each and every race eight times in a row)! I had the rare chance to play an 8-player session of Final Lap only once at Great America back in the Summer of 1987 and it was absolutely incredible playing against seven other complete strangers!

At least with the Atari Games' release of "Final Lap" was presented entirely in English with the ever-so important "MPH" marker instead of the metric "KPH" marker as shown in the original Japanese version release of Final Lap. With the Hamster ACA1 port of Final Lap on the Switch Oled setup, it's a 104mb digital d/l but only gives the end-user the ability to play the original Japanese version of Final Lap and not the proper opportunity to play the "all English language" variant version that Atari Games had the exclusive rights to sell and distribute the Final Lap arcade cabs stateside back in 1987.

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Unfortunately as with the very first Final Lap release from Namco, it only has just the famed Suzuka technical road course to race on whereas with the 1991 Final Lap 2 arcade cab, it had four courses to choose from and with the 1992 swansong release of Final Lap 3 arcade cab, it too, had four different courses to choose from as well.
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The real fun was playing either the Final Lap 2 or Final Lap 3 cabs linked-up with at least a minimum of four players or more for some serious and heated racing action that was never properly replicated at home (the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 port of "Final Lap Twin" sorta replicates a simultaneously two-player racing session but it's lackluster at best) -- it was one of those true "multi-player" arcade racing experiences not to be missed.

If Hamster had managed to implement multi-player capability with Final Lap, that's where the real fun lies in, racing against your friends or frenemies for that matter.

Of course if you score high enough to place in the "Top 6 Rankings" with Final Lap, your best time and high score initials are available for all to see (with up to five characters entered maximum and saved for posterity via NVRAM).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[it290]

Final Lap is so weird. Why is their a position indicator in the menu if you don't actually race against your opponents and it's always "1/1"? Is there a proper race later? And for some reason I managed to race without opponents after a while. How did I activate this? I still couldn't finish all 4 laps, but it certainly made it a lot easier.

I think 1/1 is for the local network scenario (up to 8 cabinets could be connected). Quite a feature for what, 1987?

Kind of a bummer they didn't implement split screen for this like they did with Rave Racer. I guess that's an ACA2-only feature?

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I guess we'll have to see if Hamster enabled split-screen two-player racing action on the ACA2 ports of Final Lap. Did they do so?

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Upon buying the Hamster ACA2 port of Final Lap for the Xbox Series S with an MSRP of $9.99 usd and is a 413.92mb digital d/l -- it too, is a "single player" affair at best. At the very least, it has VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) functionality if you play it on the Xbox Series X console + VRR enabled gaming monitor setup (which is better than the ACA1 port of Final Lap on the Switch Oled setup).
----------

I managed to place in the #6 ranking (assuming if you can race at least 3 1/2 laps minimum) and was able to enter 5 characters maximum for posterity. Hamster has failed "big time" in not including two-player split-screen style capability whatsoever with the ACA2 ports of Final Lap. Oh well -- it is what it is. At least the Xbox Series S/X ACA2 port of Final Lap is easier to play with a dedicated Series S/X gamepad controller analog-wise in terms of "steering-wise" when racing your F1 race car.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[BrianC]

Hamster left a disclaimer in the game description for both ACA and ACA2 versions:
"Note: This title is for single-player only. References to "通信機能搭載(Multi-Player Linkage)" shown during the game are included as a visual element to faithfully recreate the atmosphere of the original arcade version."

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Feels like an April Fool's joke, but this release is not.
ADK's Master of Syougi is this week's ACA Neogeo title.
https://www.arcadearchives.com/en/title/ang-110/

To be honest, you don't miss nothing. Next week is Taito's Polaris.

[Jucksalbe]

Interesting to see yet another Neo Geo release. Not sure if this has anything to offer over the many other shogi games already on modern consoles, though.

[hamfighterx]

Feels like an April Fool's joke, but this release is not.
ADK's Master of Syougi is this week's ACA Neogeo title.
https://www.arcadearchives.com/en/title/ang-110/

I almost wonder if they're ONLY doing this to get to 110 total Neo Geo games, so that SNK can do another 10-game Vol.11 for their ACA NEOGEO Selection retail releases.

Kind of like last month's out-of-nowhere return to ACA NeoGeo with Pop'n Bounce, which curiously showed up on the retail Vol.10 compilation released in December, as the only game in all 10 volumes that wasn't already available as a solo download.

Does look like we're back on the tried and true Hamster formula though, the typical month featuring 1 game each from Namco/Taito/Konami, and any additional weeks being wildcards. Aside from skipping Taito a handful of times, that's what they have now done every month since the start of 2025. SNK has taken one of the extra slots five times since their return to AA/ACA NEOGEO in August 2025.

[utsunderthesky]

Apparently “Polaris” is coming out for ACA2 next.



https://youtu.be/6x_35hB06iY?si=9RSU_haZ-H8vbgTO

[AGermanArtist]

*rejoice*

[SavagePencil]

Perhaps smart people knew this, but it looks like Rage/Rave Racer uses digital input for brake. This means if you’re playing on Switch you can map brake to (digital) B and accelerate to analog RS and get yer heel-toe shifting.

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Taito's Polaris, this Thursday.
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202604/71267

Next week, we will figure out if Hamster brings us something like Raiden II or if the Arcade Archives doesn't give a shit for what we want in our collection and gives us something we don't want (That goes for you Master of Syougi)

[Sima Tuna]

Polaris might be the single ugliest arcade game I have ever seen.

[Atariboy]

Polaris is fun (I spent a lot of time on it on the last Taito Memories volume), but it definitely isn't a visual showcase. That said it does have two charms in that department. The clouds move in the sky (pretty unusual for 1980) and the animations for the dive bomber entering its dive to attack your sub is impressive for 1980.

[BIL]

Yeah, I was gonna say after a quick look at BlackHog-sama's Caravan run - this seems like a really cool expansion on classic scoot n' shoot. Liking the pincer of diverse attacks from above and below VS the player's agile movement. And yeah, the enemy jetfighter is wilding out up there. Submarine warfare is a great concept for gallery STGs, as Ham-chans' stream pointed out.

Winced a bit at the enemy Destroyers being canary yellow on a baby blue sky. >w< This era of Taito STGs always seem to have at least mild chromatic issues... see also Wild Western, super inventive but generally blaring. The worst offender I know of, bar-none, is The Tin Star, a bullet visibility nightmare I would call legitimately tragic. This seems a relatively trivial offender, at a glance.

[JJHLH]

I purchased Polaris today for my Switch 2. This was the first Arcade Archives 2 title that I’ve bought. I can’t believe how much better it looks compared to the dozens of regular Arcade Archives titles that I have. I always thought the regular games looked fine before, but now they look slightly dull and fuzzy in comparison. Now I want to get more of the Arcade Archives 2 titles haha.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I purchased Polaris today for my Switch 2. This was the first Arcade Archives 2 title that I’ve bought. I can’t believe how much better it looks compared to the dozens of regular Arcade Archives titles that I have. I always thought the regular games looked fine before, but now they look slightly dull and fuzzy in comparison. Now I want to get more of the Arcade Archives 2 titles haha.

On the Switch LCD/Oled ACA1 ports, if you enable scanlines, then a slight smoothing is automatically applied to the overall presentation that can't be removed unless scanlines are removed -- it is what it is. Unless Hamster does away with the ugly "smoothing filter" when scanlines are implemented, they're going to continue to do so.

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Do they even listen/read to end-user comments to address this particular "smoothing filter" issue and get rid of it entirely (or at the very least, add an option to enable it or not as a separate "dedicated" option -- assuming that Hamster is trying to replicate/aim for that particular "old-school" CRT-type of aestethic/vibe)?
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I've noticed on the Hamster ACA2 port of Taito's Top Speed arcade racing title on the Xbox Series S/X gaming platforms, if you enable scanline filter, a slight smoothing filter is, also, applied to the overall screen presentation -- why is that so?

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[hamfighterx]

On the Switch LCD/Oled ACA1 ports, if you enable scanlines, then a slight smoothing is automatically applied

In addition to the rest of that accurate summary, worth a clarification that even without selecting scanlines, the default setting for Arcade Archives 1 is scanlines off, but the same (ugly) smoothing filter ON. First order of business for me is always going to the Display Settings, down to Screen Filter, and change 00 (which is the smoothing filter on) to OFF. A1-A5 are varying intensities of scanlines, B1-B5 add a vertically scrolling bar. Every setting except OFF forces the gross smoothing filter on, there are is no option for scanlines/no filter.

There are a handful of exceptions - mostly converted by Gotch Technology, as noted on the title/splash screen - which actually have very good scanlines. For example, a handful of the earlier games from Technos (Double Dragon I and II, Renegade, Shusse Ozumo).

As far as I know, the resolution is the same for Arcade Archives and Arcade Archives 2 (but please, correct me if not). Sounds like AA2 just had the filter off by default, where it's on by default for AA1 games.