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

[Acid]

You can turn it off in settings.
It's the greatest extra Hamster has yet put in their releases.

Great. Thanks. I looked for a setting, but must have missed it.

[SavagePencil]

Taito Milestones 3 unlocked today. Warrior Blade! Dead Connection! Thunder F!

Fffff!!!

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Seibu Kaihatsu's last entry of 2024 is Raiden's spin-off Viper Phase 1. Why they skipped Raiden II/DX? Just baffles me.
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202412/27183

That only leaves Taito as the last of 2024 before NMK-Banpresto's AA Super Spacefortress Macross (on behalf of BNEI).

[Jeneki]

[hamfighterx]

WHAT?!?!?!?!? The only appropriate reaction I can come up with is:



Why is December always such a STG bounty now? I love it, but holy fffffff. And this makes you feel like surely they'll go back to Raiden II/DX now, just a matter of time.

[D]

VP old & new v.
Amazeballs

[Marc]

Fuck yes!

[BIL]

Holy balls. Amazing.

EDIT:

City Bomber is a lot of fun! Smoother than Sega’s spastic, confusing Action Fighter, less manically intense than Speed Rumbler…it’s kinda chill with its own intensity? Definitely a hidden gem.

Yeah, one of my big ACA surprises this year for sure! A genuine hidden gem amongst late 80s Konami; I've barely heard its name, over the years. The learning curve from cautious early runs to absolute balls-out breakneck is perfect. The rocketing jump/flight mechanic reminds me of those recurring dreams where I can fly and I'm bullshitting how I'm gonna stick the landing.

I particularly like its canny use of powerups. While crashing isn't directly fatal, the loss of upgrades costs you top speed potential, tacitly enforcing skilled driving. The Grenades will keep helis off your ass, the Wings let you vault over vast sections of track. The time-limited Buzzsaw is particularly cool; it's always worth taking a little time to snag it from Reds, to blast a straight line through those dangerously tight groves. Totalling enemy zako is never a waste either, each bumping up your inter-stage time restore.

It's a smartly tight-run game, instantly likeable from blazing 2ALL standpoint. Got some charming art+sound design, too, especially for such a little-heralded title. Functionally cute topdown cityscapes, winningly rowdy explosions (total Contra Hard Corps anachro-flashbacks!), and an OST with its own adrenalised spin on the classic Peter Gunn vibe. You can feel the staff's attention to detail in that wonderful opening micro-caper; RIP garbage cans.

EDIT2:

You can turn it off in settings.
It's the greatest extra Hamster has yet put in their releases.

Great. Thanks. I looked for a setting, but must have missed it.

Just for reference, go to Game Settings, then Preference Settings. Occasionally some real goodies in there! eg Daioh's Rank meter, and Master of Weapon's bullet strobe disable, plus lots of games with P1/P2 ship swaps like Thunder Dragon 2.

[DenimDemon]

I know what I'll be playing tonight.
Incredible. ACA is the best thing happening in gaming right now.

[Jeneki]

One other thought: Since Hamster always includes a caravan mode, this should be really interesting played that way. It takes routing knowledge to get 100% kills, plus holding back on the carriers until they start to retreat to get the extra medals, there's the hidden medal, and finally overkill tick points on the boss as it explodes. It's quite involved to max out the first stage.

[OldSkoolShmuper]

That's a freakin MEGATON right there!

[BIL]

One other thought: Since Hamster always includes a caravan mode, this should be really interesting played that way. It takes routing knowledge to get 100% kills, plus holding back on the carriers until they start to retreat to get the extra medals, there's the hidden medal, and finally overkill tick points on the boss as it explodes. It's quite involved to max out the first stage.

My thoughts exactly! This should be a killer Caravan title.

I wonder if there'll be any way to hear the SPI bootup BGM; maybe via Konami code at the title menu? Or perhaps skippable, ala ACA Gradius's Bubble System warmup. It's the little things.

[BEAMLORD]

Exciting. The screen shots look like premium mid 90s pixel fayre, can't wait to see what it looks like in motion. A new one to me, will be going in blind.

[Sima Tuna]

Seibu Kaihatsu's last entry of 2024 is Raiden's spin-off Viper Phase 1. Why they skipped Raiden II/DX? Just baffles me.
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202412/27183

That only leaves Taito as the last of 2024 before NMK-Banpresto's AA Super Spacefortress Macross (on behalf of BNEI).

Raiden

That's all I needed to hear, baby. Never played Viper Phase 1, but if it's more classic era Seibu Raiden then I want it!

[Daytime Waitress]

I know what I'll be playing tonight.

Whoa there, li'l buckaroo - it doesn't drop 'til tomorrow!

[Lemnear]

a curious acceleration on titles that critically need a porting, first Viper Phase 1 and then Macross. I have good hopes for a Parodius or NebulasRay in 2025 then...Raiden DX and Raiden II maybe.

[BloodHawk]

Taito Milestones 3 unlocked today. Warrior Blade! Dead Connection! Thunder F!

Fffff!!!

I had some leftover eShop credit so I picked up Taito Milestones 3. I was hesitant at first since I already own a couple of the games, but the collection as a whole is really good so it was still worth it. I have only played the 3 new titles for a little bit so far, but Thunder Fox and Warrior Blade feel like home runs for me.

Warrior Blade is a blast, they give you a good amount of tools to work with and your character speed and the number of enemies on screen meshes with the wider aspect ratio really well. It really clicked when I realized you can sprint directly into unsuspecting enemies to grab them (by the skull one-handed if you are the warrior) and immediately chuck them over a cliff like a rag-doll, true Conan the Barbarian style.

Dead Connection is also great, but I keep getting my ass handed to me in that one. The one complaint I have is that it uses the Japanese ROM with no option for an alternative, so the attract sequence intro and story is all in Japanese. Kind of neuters the awesomeness of that intro.

[Skyknight]

I have a feeling porting VP1 first is less about Raiden II and D/X being somehow stickier to make a bespoke emulation for--at least one that isn't fine-tuned to the PSX--and more about VP1 never having been ported at all until now.

[jehu]

I thought all the people wishing for VP1 were at risk of ODing on copium. Color me surprised. Fuck Macross, this is the real Christmas stocking stuffer. Might have to put Under Defeat on hold for a clear of this.

[Daytime Waitress]

Sorry to divert from the Seibu love, but... when the heck was the Stage 6 start option added to Sonic Wings/Aero Fighters' caravan mode?
I don't remember it being there when I first picked the game up.
But I could just be blind.

[Klatrymadon]

Yeah, that was definitely there on day one - it was the only stage I briefly tried! It seems to be common now for the caravan modes to be split between a first stage and a more challenging one.

No sign of VP1 on the Japanese PSN yet, though I hear it's out on Switch. Gutted - the very early caravan mode competition can be a lot of fun.

[Azathoth_0]

Dead Connection is also great, but I keep getting my ass handed to me in that one. The one complaint I have is that it uses the Japanese ROM

I saw this on a couple early reviews and was hoping it was just them overlooking a setting. Is there any logical reason for them to do that? That's definitely a title I've been interested in them releasing.

[SavagePencil]

I’ll cry uncle: what display size and ratio should I be setting for pixel perfection, or is this on a per game basis?

SOMEONE (a formerly beloved child, no doubt) changed the Switch output from 720p to 1080p at some point. I noticed an extra border on City Bomber on the tate monitor and this clued me in.

For 720p output, should I go 100/100? I noticed on Taito Milestones 3 that several games defaulted to 100/99. Cadash at 100/100 seemed shimmery but perhaps it was the IPA talking.

What is thine crispiest recipe.

[BIL]

No sign of VP1 on the Japanese PSN yet, though I hear it's out on Switch. Gutted - the very early caravan mode competition can be a lot of fun.

Midnight Japan time per Hamster, so 3pm GMT.

Odd timing, but at this point in Hamada's epic long game, MFW ACA

[Steven]

I’ll cry uncle: what display size and ratio should I be setting for pixel perfection, or is this on a per game basis?

SOMEONE (a formerly beloved child, no doubt) changed the Switch output from 720p to 1080p at some point. I noticed an extra border on City Bomber on the tate monitor and this clued me in.

For 720p output, should I go 100/100? I noticed on Taito Milestones 3 that several games defaulted to 100/99. Cadash at 100/100 seemed shimmery but perhaps it was the IPA talking.

What is thine crispiest recipe.

I tested a bunch of shit on various ACA games and I'm pretty sure good scaling is completely impossible on ACA. Hopefully I am wrong, but I think I am unfortunately not.

[Daytime Waitress]

No sign of VP1 on the Japanese PSN yet, though I hear it's out on Switch. Gutted - the very early caravan mode competition can be a lot of fun.

Midnight Japan time per Hamster, so 3pm GMT.

Odd timing, but at this point in Hamada's epic long game, MFW ACA

Too true, Biruford.
My brain wants to associate ACA releases with Wednesday 3pm JST (local for me), because IIRC that was when I first splurged on the series (the anniversary one, F/A).
But the releases aren't that regular and, as demonstrated by Klatrymadon above, my brain is, in fact, shit.

Yeah, that was definitely there on day one - it was the only stage I briefly tried! It seems to be common now for the caravan modes to be split between a first stage and a more challenging one.

Thanks for the clarification.
I think I had just as much time on caravan mode with Sonic Wings as I did the vanilla mode, which wasn't much, but wasn't nothing, either.
And maybe I'd mentally obscured it as a "thing what I'll get on with later", but I genuinely didn't remember it being there.
Early-onset senility ftw, apparently.

Gutted - the very early caravan mode competition can be a lot of fun.

Dead-set love that time: when even a scrub like myself can get into the top 100 without much effort

[Sumez]

I have a feeling porting VP1 first is less about Raiden II and D/X being somehow stickier to make a bespoke emulation for--at least one that isn't fine-tuned to the PSX--and more about VP1 never having been ported at all until now.

Obviously VP1 is just much bigger news than "yet another Raiden DX port".
It's also a much better game.

Though honestly it seems to me that Hamster doesn't need much reasoning behind their priorities in general. Shit's out when it's out.

[Steven]

Obviously VP1 is just much bigger news than "yet another Raiden DX port".
It's also a much better game.

That's a good sign, as I kind of don't really like Raiden DX and somewhat regret buying the PCB. The concept of the game, that being a powered up Kyuukyoku Tiger clone with a more advanced scoring system, is fine and even quite excellent, and I have been able to have some limited amounts of fun with it, but actually playing it is one of the most frustrating things I've ever done. I'd much rather just go play the real Kyuukyoku Tiger instead; it's a much better game.

It's going to be cheaper for me to go to Mikado to check out this game than to actually buy it on ACA and play it there for the first time, so I may do that once I have some time.

[BIL]

Oh, it's out now on the PS4 in-console store. Search "Viper," it'll pop right up. Works in US and UK, too! You'll also bring up Farming Simulator 17 DLC: the Challenger MT700E Field Viper tractor, in finest Raiden crimson.

Searching the same on PC browser won't bring up Viper Phase 1, only the tractor. What a shambles PSN can be sometimes. Will try to get a store page link for PC, now I can see it in my library there.

EDIT: Nah, PSN issue. Store link returns an error. Reliable chaps EZ_Takayoshi and ohfivepro saying similar on Twitter. I'm sure it'll update later tonight.

Much more happily, port seems like Hamster's reliably solid work. I was kind of cringing in anticipation of the SPI refresh rate conversion, but it looks (and more importantly feels) solid. Been years since I played Raiden Fighters Aces, but I recall similar at launch with its Original Speed option, there. ("This is gonna hoit! Wait, this is actually ok!") So I'm happy. Got that good Preference Option side-switch for Blue Javelin action, as expected!

You were right about the caravan potential Jeneki, ate an hour like a chicken wing.

Ah man, the medal carrier item *nom* remains a classic scoring wrinkle. Let 'em reach the bottom of their arc and fire their retro rockets before you sideswipe 'em at pointblank, tons of medals to insta-grab. Whack 'em too early and what medals you get fly all over the damn place! Holding fire is easier said than done in the raging heat of battle ofc. NER's run a thing of economical beauty.

[Klatrymadon]

Cheers, BIL! I can find it on the console now, but 2FA woes are scuppering all attempts to buy a card for it. Might just wait for the Euro release!