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

[hamfighterx]

I'm positively tickled that about an hour ago, at my door I received... Super Sweep's recently released Rave Racer 30th Anniversary Remix CD. Nice timing to arrive mere hours after the Arcade Archives announcement!

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Will this upcoming ACA Rave Racer have built-in support for proper steering wheel + shifter/gas + brake combo setup?

It sure does make a difference with the right racing gear/attire to play Rave Racer as it was meant to be played (none of this "wishy-washy" gamepad stuff either as they won't give the pure arcade racer fan the full and complete setup as intended).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[SavagePencil]

Will this upcoming ACA Rave Racer have built-in support for proper steering wheel + shifter/gas + brake combo setup?

It sure does make a difference with the right racing gear/attire to play Rave Racer as it was meant to be played (none of this "wishy-washy" gamepad stuff either as they won't give the pure arcade racer fan the full and complete setup as intended).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I was able to successfully remap my Switch wheel to provide analog brake and accelerator, but I assume that full accel + full brake turns into net zero input. Was Rave Racer in the arcade a full throw shifter (switch to any gear by navigating the maze) or was it incremental shifting (like paddles) for up/down a gear?

[tzm_rade]

The Japanese Nintendo Direct had Dezaemon Plus for Console Archives which is cool. Hopefully we can get a few PS1 shmups in the future.

[scrilla4rella]

super stoked on the Rave Racer announcement. *high-fives all around*

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Will this upcoming ACA Rave Racer have built-in support for proper steering wheel + shifter/gas + brake combo setup?

It sure does make a difference with the right racing gear/attire to play Rave Racer as it was meant to be played (none of this "wishy-washy" gamepad stuff either as they won't give the pure arcade racer fan the full and complete setup as intended).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I was able to successfully remap my Switch wheel to provide analog brake and accelerator, but I assume that full accel + full brake turns into net zero input. Was Rave Racer in the arcade a full throw shifter (switch to any gear by navigating the maze) or was it incremental shifting (like paddles) for up/down a gear?

It's been ages since I last played on a dedicated Namco Rave Racer sitdown cab setup -- I believe it was setup for "incremental shifting" for up/down a gear (which was quite responsive as it was for it's time if you selected "manual transmission" option before the start of a racing session -- of course, the shifter wasn't used if "automatic transmission" was selected instead at the beginning of a race as well, thus making it a "solely pure" steering + gas & brake pedal affair at best meaning one less thing having to deal in the "heat of the race" with everything going on all at once -- Rave Racer sure kept the arcade racer on his or her toes at all times considering you were spending real money to try to make each racing session "count"/make it worth your time to play it properly and at the very least, place high enough on the high score ranking list if possible).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[it290]

Indeed, it's incremental.

[SavagePencil]

Will this upcoming ACA Rave Racer have built-in support for proper steering wheel + shifter/gas + brake combo setup?

It sure does make a difference with the right racing gear/attire to play Rave Racer as it was meant to be played (none of this "wishy-washy" gamepad stuff either as they won't give the pure arcade racer fan the full and complete setup as intended).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I was able to successfully remap my Switch wheel to provide analog brake and accelerator, but I assume that full accel + full brake turns into net zero input. Was Rave Racer in the arcade a full throw shifter (switch to any gear by navigating the maze) or was it incremental shifting (like paddles) for up/down a gear?

It's been ages since I last played on a dedicated Namco Rave Racer sitdown cab setup -- I believe it was setup for "incremental shifting" for up/down a gear (which was quite responsive as it was for it's time if you selected "manual transmission" option before the start of a racing session -- of course, the shifter wasn't used if "automatic transmission" was selected instead at the beginning of a race as well, thus making it a "solely pure" steering + gas & brake pedal affair at best meaning one less thing having to deal in the "heat of the race" with everything going on all at once -- Rave Racer sure kept the arcade racer on his or her toes at all times considering you were spending real money to try to make each racing session "count"/make it worth your time to play it properly and at the very least, place high enough on the high score ranking list if possible).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

I would say that Ridge Racer with the Hori Mario Kart Pro wheel or whatever it's called was a good feel, but you have to do a special key combo on the device to map the accelerator and brake to right analog stick. This leads me to believe that full accelerator acts as +1 and full brake acts as -1, but I should experiment.

Having never played Ridge Racer in the arcade (only on PSX), I don't know what I'm missing, but it was definitely more playable than digital acceleration & brake.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Namco's Rave Racer has got the same "addictive qualities" as that of both the original Ridge Racer and it's sequel of Ridge Racer 2, thus making RR the definitive arcade racer to devote your time and effort to get better at -- it's really that good. With the banging BGM OST playing in the background, RR really draws you into it's Ridge Racer universe/mythos with style and finesse.

----------
This will be the very first time that Rave Racer has gotten the proper home gaming console release since it's arcade/game center debut back in 1995. How the time flies these days -- RR will certainly sate your "need for speed" come 2/26/2026 indeed. I'll be there on day one of RR's ACA release for sure -- you will not be disappointed with Rave Racer's awesome racing venue/excursion at it's very best afforded by Namco's "in-house" famous arcade dev racing team.
----------

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[Creamy Goodness]

The Japanese Nintendo Direct had Dezaemon Plus for Console Archives which is cool. Hopefully we can get a few PS1 shmups in the future.

There is at least this one.

https://www.dekudeals.com/items/console ... gs-special

[Atariboy]

With two arcade games, two PS1 games, and a PSP entry, I think it's time to make a Ridge Racer folder on my PS4.

I'm not too interested in Console Archives just yet, but it's still welcome news. Looking forward to watching it evolve and will no doubt buy something here and there. Edit: Switch 2 and PS5 exclusive? That's a bit disappointing. I wonder if PS4/NS1 sales have slumped so much that Hamster just doesn't think it's worth pursuing, just months after going 3D with their companion arcade series across both generations.

[Steven]

So Console Archives finally exists now after announcing it like 70 years ago? Huh. Extremely hard sell for me because I have every major console that was released from 1987-2020 except for the PS1 and most Xboxes, but I'm still mildly curious to see if they release any super obscure stuff. Will laugh if they do good versions of Cotton Boomerang or Guardian Force though.

I wonder if these will have actual good scaling options. I doubt they will, but I hope they do.

[scrilla4rella]

I'm positively tickled that about an hour ago, at my door I received... Super Sweep's recently released Rave Racer 30th Anniversary Remix CD. Nice timing to arrive mere hours after the Arcade Archives announcement!

That’s sic!! What kind of music? Dope ass house beats?

[Jucksalbe]

I don't know what jarpigs will be released for console archives but I wouldn't hold my breath on any of the big names. MAYBE Breath of Fire?

Apparently they already announced Rhapsody. Overall they have some very weird choices for their first games, but they are spread among multiple publishers, so that's at least a good sign. And as always they don't seem to care if games have been released through other versions on the same consoles.

Speaking of which, I bought Ninja Gaiden II, despite it being on the Switch Online service already. It plays well, looks good and has the usual Arcade Archives types of options, so I'm happy with this.

[AGermanArtist]

They've got to be scoping out Einhander.

[Steven]

What are the major Saturn and PS1 STGs that are not Einhander, Thunder Force V, R-Type Delta, Gradius Gaiden, rereleases of older games, or arcade conversions? I know they probably exist, but I can't think of any of them right now for some reason.

[tzm_rade]

Zanac x Zanac, Harmful Park and Gaia Seed spring to mind for PS1.

[Steven]

I can't believe I forgot about Harmful Park. Shameful display...

[AGermanArtist]

Shienryu
Night Raid

[Steven]

Those are both conversions.

I should probably clarify: I think there was still a decent amount of compromised arcade conversions on the PS1 and Saturn, ST-V stuff excluded of course, so in those cases I think it would probably be better to default to the arcade versions instead. I'm mostly curious to see what might pop up on Console Archives from that era that isn't an arcade game because the arcade version might still be preferable, unless there are some things where the home version actually is the better version, like... uh... well Radiant Silvergun has (probably?) everything from the ST-V plus the Saturn exclusive mode, although I don't know if people like that because playing all of the stages back to back instead of only some of them takes like a week, but yeah, something like that, that renders the arcade version obsolete, or is a cool non-arcade thing.

I know about most of the rereleases from older consoles (Thunder Force Gold Packs, etc.), so I'm trying to remember what was new on Saturn and PS1.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Blast Wind, but that's a port of an unreleased arcade game.

Hyper Duel.

Sonic Wings Special, kind of.

Finger Flashing, if you're OK with a twist.

Twinkle Star Sprites, Game Tengoku, Sengoku Blade and Sol Divide got remarkable extra content, but doesn't make them better than the original version, save for Sol Divide, I guess.

Many others specially on the PS1, but not really worth a mention. The Time Bokan games, Gatchaman and Geppy-X are really charming stuff which just needed a stronger challenge, though. And some will save the Japanese version of X 2 as well.

[it290]

What's better about the Saturn version of Hyper Duel compared to the arcade board?

[Jeneki]

I was browsing the Arcade Archives website today and suddenly ... wait why did no one tell me they are selling gaming t-shirts now? Turbo Force, Rabio Lepus, Black Heart, Ninja Emeki, Hacha Mecha Fighter, Saboten Bombers, BIg Fighter, etc. I better stop looking, before I feel like obliged to gift an Allumer Dick Stock shirt to BIL haha.

[Sima Tuna]

I don't know what jarpigs will be released for console archives but I wouldn't hold my breath on any of the big names. MAYBE Breath of Fire?

Apparently they already announced Rhapsody. Overall they have some very weird choices for their first games, but they are spread among multiple publishers, so that's at least a good sign. And as always they don't seem to care if games have been released through other versions on the same consoles.

Speaking of which, I bought Ninja Gaiden II, despite it being on the Switch Online service already. It plays well, looks good and has the usual Arcade Archives types of options, so I'm happy with this.

Rhapsody is the NIS game right? Or am I thinking of a different one? I wouldn't say no to a Disgaea 2 Console Archives, assuming such a thing is possible.

You know what unknown jarpig franchise I'd like to see on console archives? Phantasy Star! Phantasy Stars 2-4, I believe, are no longer able to be purchased. They were part of the extremely laggy and barebones "Sega Classics Collection," which has since been delisted at least on Switch. I don't know about the other consoles. Those ports were so laggy that even for jarpigs, you could feel the lag when moving around.

The first Phantasy Star has an amazing Sega Ages port, but even a barebones Console Archives port for Phantasy Stars II and IV would be excellent. I delude myself imagining we could perhaps get Secret of Evermore or 7th Saga as well. Tecmo's Secret of the Stars? Paladin's Quest?

As much money as I shell out for arcade archives ports, I am first and foremost someone who grew up playing snes era jarpigs and my ability to be nostalgia baited to buy them is second to nothing.

[NYN]

... wait why did no one tell me they are selling gaming t-shirts now?

You missed it. I commented on it, others picked it up. It got modestly mentioned here. Look back for evidence.

[Jucksalbe]

Rhapsody is the NIS game right? Or am I thinking of a different one? I wouldn't say no to a Disgaea 2 Console Archives, assuming such a thing is possible.

Yep, that the one. It already got a port by NISA, but I think that was only for Switch. Disgaea 2 is a PS2 game, not sure if Hamster will cover those.

The first Phantasy Star has an amazing Sega Ages port, but even a barebones Console Archives port for Phantasy Stars II and IV would be excellent. I delude myself imagining we could perhaps get Secret of Evermore or 7th Saga as well. Tecmo's Secret of the Stars? Paladin's Quest?

Sega really has to decide what they want to do with their old games. They seemingly stopped doing Sega Ages releases, but they also don't have their games on Arcade Archives. If they don't want to release their games anymore, let Hamster do it. I don't think Secret of Evermore has much of a chance. It's a Western game never released in Japan, and their selection seems very Japan focused. Secret of the Stars seems like something just weird enough to appear here. I wonder what consoles they will cover. More appropriate for this forum: give me all the Aleste games M2 didn't cover yet!

[BIL]

What's better about the Saturn version of Hyper Duel compared to the arcade board?

Beyond some spruced-up graphics (gains some TFIII & IV-esque special effects), and a nice arranged soundtrack, plus a few game tweaks (the third boss is less cheesable, from memory) - the big one is your Mech form can now lock its aiming trajectory. There's a new button just for it, or you can even map [shoot] and [lock] to one button, for Shock Troopers-style strafing. Super comfy!

The Saturn disc includes both Arcade and Saturn modes, so it's a fine pickup either way.

I'm not all that hyped about Console Archives TBH since, like others, I've been hunting down those games on OG format forever. But at the same time, I always love having M2's AGES and Hamster's VS System releases around. So convenient being able to fire 'em up on the same machine that runs Mahou Daisakusen and Gunnail. So I'm happy to see 'em start off strong with NGII.

[Ms. Tea]

I'm pretty confused about Rhapsody, honestly. That one's already got a native port on Switch! It's been out for years. Did Japan not get that version...?

Speaking of RPGs and other non-action games in Console Archives... they got UFO: Day in the ding dang Life!! It's too bad there's approximately a zero percent chance of any of these games getting localized.

[Jucksalbe]

I mean, Ninja Gaiden II is already on Switch, Cool Boarders is already on PlayStation. Like with their Darius and Space Invaders releases as well as many of their Namco arcade games, they don't really seem to care.

[BIL]

tbh what'd hype me up is a Preference Option to make NGII's sword hitbox on par with NG1's. I love all three FC/NES games, I just find NG2's swordbox slightly under-fed, compared to NG1+NG3's bullseye balance of icy technique and head-lopping insouciance. (just Ryu's swordbox, not his clones', that'd be overkill... would play like frickin Saigo no Nindou, now I think about it; that game's furied zako actually warranting such preposterously massive, proto-MetalSlug calibre!)

Press Button! (｀w´メ) ALL DEAD (◎w◎;)

Ah jeez. In the hardcore Famicom R2RKMF sphere... CSA Holy Diver with the boned controls fixed, now that'd be somethin'. Genuinely busted-ass cart. So much heart from those dudes (and ranking IREM M72 OST superstar Masahiko Ishida!), but they couldn't code an action game for shit! Still rove it though.