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

[OldSkoolShmuper]

Always hilarious to see those early EGM reviews. Barely high school newspaper quality. Crazy that was acceptable as "journalism" at that time.

1989, man.

No, there’s no excuse for that. Even as a kid I would roll my eyes at the bad copy. At least they were trying I guess? But film reviews had existed for decades; there were templates.

That year was the first year I started getting gaming magazines. I was just glad to be seeing what was coming out, as their was no internet and no TV programs I knew of dedicated to video games.

Anway, a few more reviews from other mags on GW from the same timeframe.

GamePro


Game Players


arcade version, Computer and Video Games (UK)
https://i.imgur.com/rD4plVO.jpeg

[Atariboy]

Space Invaders is a fine pick. It's not going to get the attention it deserves since it's been so widely available in arcade accurate form since the mid 1990's, but they don't get much more iconic than this one.

I was thinking Rave Racer since I believe that this year was the game's 30th anniversary, but perhaps they're keeping it locked up until the anniversary event for the game next February that got announced by Namco a while back (no guarantees even then, but it makes sense and Hamster now has a proven emulator for it). My second guess for the 500th was a surprise Raiden II or DX release.

[Steven]

I think at this point there is nothing that I want that is particularly realistic, and I don't mean for the 500th title, but in general. F3 and Kyuukyoku Tiger II would be interesting. Elevator Action Returns would be absolutely incredible. Otherwise, I can't think of much. I missed the entire arcade era and my knowledge of it is not great, so maybe that's why.

[BIL]

If there's one thing ACA's been consistent on, it's series chronology - so I suspect we'll see Ridge Racer 2 before Rave Racer.

I know RR2's more of an upgrade/revision than a true sequel, but, well, there's ACA New Rally X and ACA Assault Plus. Actually, I shouldn't speak of Assault Plus that way, and it's very possible I'm impugning New Rally X, as well. ASAPURA is genuinely a "For Maniacs (co-starring FUCKEN MONKEY FROM PSIKYO ;3)" compilation. I'm just spoiled by Namco Museum Vol.4 bundling it as a hidden game.

Also RR2's soundtrack is AMAZIN and worth a pickup imo. Echoing Sumez, how I'd love to see a port of Ridge Racer Revolution (PS1)'s courses to RR2. (RRR sporting RR2's soundtrack) Probably way too much heavy lifting involved though. It'll be great just to have a definitive home port, indeed the first home port at all. PS5 Ridge Racers 2 is a decent compromise there. (don't play it on PS4, it has a nasty frame-hitch... does my head in with 3D games)

I was pleasantly surprised and impressed that RR1's OST made it to ACA fully intact, with MEGA/AYA/SANODIGY and co's prodigious sampling. I hope they can keep form with the latter two. Ridge Racers 2's only real weakness in my book is the BGM selection from pre-R4 games suuucks. So many missing icons and deep cuts alike. I wondered if it was a legal thing.

Anway, a few more reviews from other mags on GW from the same timeframe.

Ahaha, holy shit! I had no idea DECO (or at least a division of theirs) published the Apple+Commodore versions of Guerrilla War! I wonder what Obada thought, after those marvelous shitbirds stole his Ikari code. Dude's a true ge-sen soldier, probably something cool.

He's actually said Guevara's Mike Dukakis tank sprites were inspired by an Ikari bootleg PCB that garbled the player and tank sprites into nightmarish chibi-Quake II abominations of flesh and steel. Great read, that... amongst my favourites of blackoak's estimable work. Obada and his crew would scope out the competition's noise levels with a dB meter, then jack up their own boards to drown 'em out. ACA Ikari definitely captures that, it's a thumpingly noisy game right from the intro.

[MJR]

Always hilarious to see those early EGM reviews. Barely high school newspaper quality. Crazy that was acceptable as "journalism" at that time.

1989, man.

No, there’s no excuse for that. Even as a kid I would roll my eyes at the bad copy. At least they were trying I guess? But film reviews had existed for decades; there were templates.

Quality of game magazine writing varied wildly from place to place.
Zzap!64 had actually some well written reviews during 1985-1988 run - of all places. But I didn't collect that entire run from ebay just for that. I did it for the spirit and enthusiasm, which was mixed succesfully with the well written (and slightly less well written) pieces.

That, and for the photos of Sensible Software washing their dishes and photo of a developer of Ghosts'n'Goblins C64 conversion, Chris Butler, rowing a boat

[Lord British]

It's kinda cool that EGM was made only a mile from where I'm typing this rn. Blew my mind when I realized that as a kid. I think Martin Alessi was 3-4 years older than me. What a first job that would have been.

[SavagePencil]

VG&CE stalwart over here. It was like night and day compared to EGM and GamePro, mostly because the authors there had already come up in the computer magazine scene from earlier in the decade.

[BIL]

VG&CE stalwart over here. It was like night and day compared to EGM and GamePro, mostly because the authors there had already come up in the computer magazine scene from earlier in the decade.

I always liked 'em too, in the years before they switched up and became a snarkier, skinnier mid-90s GamePro. Even as a young kid, I could tell they were a different crowd and valued the contrast. I remember their Raiden Trad (Genesis) review where the dude talked about the inbuilt autofire being good for his arthritis, lmao.

I don't think we ever got Game Players' earlier 90s run. Definitely their mid/late 90s one, though, where they (likewise) snarked it up. I thought they were pretty good fun, still do actually... Bill Donohue (sp?)'s psycho boomer persona was a laugh. Loved his enraged critique of chase view in racing games. "When I'm on the road I'm not looking at my rear bumper! I'm in the driver's seat, one hand gripping the wheel, the other an ice-cold brewski!"

A lot of TEH GRUNGE flannel n' denim in them pages, now I think back.

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Namco this week makes me feel like it's less likely we get them again on the 25th, but hey, maybe it is Rave Racer or Tekken. I guess it wouldn't be that shocking.

But IDK, I find it very conspicuous that we haven't seen Taito in November or December... Space Invaders would not be out of place as a milestone release, I'll make that my guess! First F3 release would also be significant.

Good call
https://www.famitsu.com/article/202512/60463

Looks like we'll be gradually building a Space Invaders Invincible Collection of some sorts on our PlayStations.
Also, it is good that we will start 2026 with an Arcade Archives game that is not Namco.

[m.sniffles.esq]

Always hilarious to see those early EGM reviews. Barely high school newspaper quality. Crazy that was acceptable as "journalism" at that time.

In all fairness, I wouldn't really call that "journalism", and I doubt anyone at EGM would either. I mean, EGM was a trade that suddenly developed a consumer readership of 11 to 13-year-old males. Writers who attempted to exceed that level usually found themselves unemployed. (and it goes without saying that advertorial is the bread-and-butter of trades. Even critics from true pillars of journalistic integrity like the NY Times have been caught being on the studio payroll. Just saying)

And while things like the aforementioned VG&CE cropped up attempting to be a 'highbrow' alternative, they quickly lowered their brows (If memory serves they spun off a 13-year-old-male friendly version, grabbed people from Flynt to run it, then went out of business anyway).

[hamfighterx]

If there's one thing ACA's been consistent on, it's series chronology - so I suspect we'll see Ridge Racer 2 before Rave Racer.

I know RR2's more of an upgrade/revision than a true sequel, but, well, there's ACA New Rally X and ACA Assault Plus.

This is kind of what I was thinking too. Good examples with Rally X and Assault, and I'll add Xevious and Super Xevious to the list. I also think about stuff like Pole Position to Pole Position II (also a bit of a revision with additional tracks). Speaking of which, still waiting for Final Lap!

I'm allowing myself to get a little excited about Rave Racer eventually showing up though. Just recently snagged SuperSweep's "Rage Racer Remix 20th Anniversary" arrange soundtrack.

Space Invaders is a fine pick. It's not going to get the attention it deserves since it's been so widely available in arcade accurate form since the mid 1990's, but they don't get much more iconic than this one.

Yeah, it makes sense as a major milestone, with so many Arcade Archives games (hell, arguably the entire series) owing SO much to Space Invaders. I'm also kind of happy that a team that obviously cares so much about this stuff and treats it with such respect had the privilege of getting to release freakin' SPACE INVADERS in their own AA series. Just being allowed to work on such an iconic game, or do a fun 500th release stream with Taito luminaries, has got to be a cool experience. Good for them.


I do have a question, maybe someone here has some insight:
How is Hamster arriving at this as the 500th title? I don't get quite the same count.

According to my count, Space Invaders will be the 499th release in the Arcade Archives/ACA Neogeo series. For the "Arcade Archives" line, including Space Invaders, I think Switch has 390 and PS4 has 391 (the single PS4-exclusive title being Wonder Boy, released way back in 2014). There are also 108 "ACA Neogeo" games. 391 + 108 = 499. Is there something else I'm missing?

[Steven]

I was looking for this game on ACA a while ago. Maybe a few years ago. I was surprised it wasn't there, seeing as it's the most important game in the genre and one of the most important games ever made and all of that.

I did finally play this game for the first time in either late December last year or very early this year. It's... fine. At least I got to play it on PCB. I wonder how many people born after the 80s have played it on PCB...

BTW Sailor Moon, Outfoxies, and Super Mario World arcade version spotted at Taito Hey yesterday. Nobody ever believes me when I say there is an arcade version of Super Mario World, but there it is. Haven't seen it since I was a little kid, so it was nice to see it, although I'm not going to play it. I can play it for free on one of my three SFCs at home because I have the cartridge. I realize now that I forgot to play Sailor Moon... I've been looking for that PCB for a while now and can never find it. That was my chance to play it and I forgot. Guess I'll have to go back before they swap it for something else.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I was looking for this game on ACA a while ago. Maybe a few years ago. I was surprised it wasn't there, seeing as it's the most important game in the genre and one of the most important games ever made and all of that.

I did finally play this game for the first time in either late December last year or very early this year. It's... fine. At least I got to play it on PCB. I wonder how many people born after the 80s have played it on PCB...

BTW Sailor Moon, Outfoxies, and Super Mario World arcade version spotted at Taito Hey yesterday. Nobody ever believes me when I say there is an arcade version of Super Mario World, but there it is. Haven't seen it since I was a little kid, so it was nice to see it, although I'm not going to play it. I can play it for free on one of my three SFCs at home.

If you attend the Santa Clara, CA based annual California Extreme classic arcade game & pinball show, you can play both the Midway MFG Co. variant cabs of Space Invaders & Space Invaders Part II upright cabs fully restored & in 100% working/playable condition. I've had the chance to play 'em both at CAX indeed.

Even the rarer cocktail-table variant Midway MFG Co. manufactured Space Invaders cab appears from time to time at CAX as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Arcade Archives Space Invaders, only for your PlayStation, XBOX and Nintendo Video Computer Systems.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms3SB0QfPbE
https://www.arcadearchives.com/en/title/aca-392/

*To the tune of "Have you played Atari today?" jingle*
Have you played (pick the option below)...
- PlayStation today?
- Nintendo today?
- with XBOX today?

[Lord British]

Space Invaders '95 or GTFO

My first game for the TI/994A was TI Invaders though, so the nostalgia is there

[Yoshi]

Space Invaders '95 or GTFO

I have to agree. I have the others on the Switch Invincible Collection. I believe '95 was some Amazon day exclusive nonsense in Japan.

[hamfighterx]

Space Invaders '95 or GTFO

I have to agree. I have the others on the Switch Invincible Collection. I believe '95 was some Amazon day exclusive nonsense in Japan.

Space Invaders '95 (The Attack of the Lunar Loonies, aka Akkanvader) was not available on the Invincible Collection, including via DLC. It has shown up on:
* The Taito Memories Gekan (PS2 Japan) and Taito Legends 2 (PS2/Xbox/PC, North America) compilations
* The PSP (Japan) Space Invaders Pocket compilation (which is excellent)
* The Taito Egret II Mini's "Arcade Memories Vol. 3" add-on card

It also feels inevitable to show up on Arcade Archives once Hamster starts doing Taito F3 games.

The Amazon Prime day exclusive DLC for the Invincible Collection was the Mega Drive version of Space Invaders '90. Eventually, Taito did go back and make that available to purchase separately on the eShop. Same deal with other previously Prime-exclusive DLCs for Taito's collections: R-Gear, Darius Extra (MD version), Sagaia (GB version), etc.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Those eshop extras are only in Japan though. Sagaia (GB) and R-Gear are locked to Strictly Limited physical releases otherwise, Darius (MD) and Space Invaders '90 are nowhere to be seen.

Seems wild too that PS4 didn't get Space Invaders Invincible or the Taito Milestones compilations. It'd mean we'd get something new for Arcade Archives xmas. But then, that'd probably make all these Taito releases too simple - and we can't be having that!

[hamfighterx]

Those eshop extras are only in Japan though.

And? IDK, I generally assume that lots of STG stuff is Japan-only. Kind of comfortable with that at this point, and it's not as if it's particularly difficult to buy a game off the Japanese eShop regardless of where you are. And of course, the Mega Drive games are also playable via... the actual MD releases (or emulating those).

The retail pre-order exclusive stuff AND Strictly Limited physical exclusives suck, but eh, at least Taito got around to making the downloadable games buyable. R-Gear was the worst since that was unavailable in any other way, so getting that as an easily available standalone download release is a good thing in my book. Maybe eventually SLG will even ship the physical Ray'z deluxe collection (hahahaha what a clown show).

[TransatlanticFoe]

It's considerably more faff than it needs to be is all. Making a digital game JP only is technically better than nothing but let's not laud bare minimum - if it's out on the JP eshop it can go out on other regions too. It's not as if localisation is a barrier, EGGCONSOLE untranslated PC-88/MSX games are up - and this is Taito, these games are well-known enough to generate sales.

Neither MD Darius nor Space Invaders 90 have PAL optimised versions, so the real thing is not necessarily a go (we don't all region mod our consoles). Yes emulation (piracy) is an option and arguably is defensible when the legitimate way to buy something requires the customer to jump through hoops - but is easily avoided by slapping the damn things up in all regions.

[hamfighterx]

Good chance that ININ/Strictly Limited Games (United Games Entertainment GmbH) is at fault for these Taito ones. They intentionally hold back games from their eshop and standard retail releases, to include them on the Strictly Limited Games collectors editions instead. That's exactly what has happened with both Darius collections, Space Invaders Invincible Collection, Ray'z Arcade Chronology.

Taito is somewhat to blame for licensing the games to ININ for western release, but I'd put the blame more on ININ here for the bonus games not getting eshop releases.

Taito doesn't get a total pass though, it was already a shitty move to have DLC content be exclusive to Japanese Amazon Prime members for a matter of days. And it took them a long time to make those games buyable on the eshop, but to their credit they did eventually show up.

[Yoshi]

Space Invaders '95 or GTFO

I have to agree. I have the others on the Switch Invincible Collection. I believe '95 was some Amazon day exclusive nonsense in Japan.

Space Invaders '95 (The Attack of the Lunar Loonies, aka Akkanvader) was not available on the Invincible Collection, including via DLC. It has shown up on:
* The Taito Memories Gekan (PS2 Japan) and Taito Legends 2 (PS2/Xbox/PC, North America) compilations
* The PSP (Japan) Space Invaders Pocket compilation (which is excellent)
* The Taito Egret II Mini's "Arcade Memories Vol. 3" add-on card

It also feels inevitable to show up on Arcade Archives once Hamster starts doing Taito F3 games.

The Amazon Prime day exclusive DLC for the Invincible Collection was the Mega Drive version of Space Invaders '90. Eventually, Taito did go back and make that available to purchase separately on the eShop. Same deal with other previously Prime-exclusive DLCs for Taito's collections: R-Gear, Darius Extra (MD version), Sagaia (GB version), etc.

Thank you for this. I was only aware of Bubble Bobble getting that treatment.

[NightBeast]

For someone who has the Space Invaders Invincible Collection on Switch, does the ACA release have anything new and unique?

[BrianC]

For someone who has the Space Invaders Invincible Collection on Switch, does the ACA release have anything new and unique?

Better sound emulation? It also has some nice screen options like the original backdrops and cellophane. Some nice features like an optional counter keeping track of UFO score and shots fired.

[Lord British]

VG&CE stalwart over here. It was like night and day compared to EGM and GamePro, mostly because the authors there had already come up in the computer magazine scene from earlier in the decade.

Just came across this
https://youtu.be/6A9If-pRqBA?si=LWCyM7zOL4F0x_5r

[OldSkoolShmuper]

VG&CE stalwart over here. It was like night and day compared to EGM and GamePro, mostly because the authors there had already come up in the computer magazine scene from earlier in the decade.

Just came across this
https://youtu.be/6A9If-pRqBA?si=LWCyM7zOL4F0x_5r

Nice!

I just found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3z3K5y5iB0

[BrianC]

No mention of this week's game? Same as last week with "Part II" added. Is this the first time AA released the sequel right after the first game?

[Atariboy]

Is the Deluxe Space Invaders backdrop included as an option, or just the Japanese Space Invaders Part II backdrop?

[BrianC]

Is the Deluxe Space Invaders backdrop included as an option, or just the Japanese Space Invaders Part II backdrop?

Sadly, no backdrop at all for Part II. Images I could find of the JP cabinet don't appear to have one, though that Quarter Arcade version of it has a backdrop. A bit disappointing since SI1 had three different backdrop options.

[hamfighterx]

No mention of this week's game? Same as last week with "Part II" added. Is this the first time AA released the sequel right after the first game?

Yeah, pretty sure that is a first for AA. About the closest we've seen is that Puzzle Bobble and Puzzle Bobble 2 were announced together for ACA Neo Geo, but those didn't release back to back (Puzzle Bobble released on December 20, 2018, with the sequel coming a month and a half later on February 7, 2019).

The King of Fighters series also got releases two weeks in a row for ACA Neo Geo - KOF'98 launched with Switch along with 5 other games on March 9, 2017, and KOF '94 was the weekly game the following week (March 16). But I kinda don't count that - for one, the KOF games are all quite different, and we got the 5th one first and the 1st one the next week. And just that whole special release week of 6 Neo Geo games to coincide with system launch week throws things off a bit.