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

[Sturmvogel Prime]

This week's release is Taito's Volfied.
https://www.famitsu.com/news/202403/27338155.html

Now we can only wait for what Hamster's planning for April (I won't be surprised if they drop a "Namco Month" like they did a few years ago).

[SavagePencil]

Maybe it’s the touch-is-almost-guaranteed-death, but I’m getting (arcade) Shadow Dancer vibes over OG Shinobi in Surprise Attack. The jetpack is kinda lame, but I am digging it.

[AGermanArtist]

Do we know if there's a situation with Hamster and Technos? I haven't seen a Technos game in a long time.
We've got Exciting Hour and Double Dragon 1 & 2, but it's seemed to have stalled.
I'd love Xain'd Sleena

edit : also Renegade

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Do we know if there's a situation with Hamster and Technos? I haven't seen a Technos game in a long time.
We've got Exciting Hour and Double Dragon 1 & 2, but it's seemed to have stalled.
I'd love Xain'd Sleena

The same thing with Data East and IREM. I'd definitely pay to play Vapor Trail and the R-Type series.

[Marc]

This week's release is Taito's Volfied.
https://www.famitsu.com/news/202403/27338155.html

Now we can only wait for what Hamster's planning for April (I won't be surprised if they drop a "Namco Month" like they did a few years ago).

Time to cash in my Egret while it still has a few exclusives!

[Lemnear]

Do we know if there's a situation with Hamster and Technos? I haven't seen a Technos game in a long time.
We've got Exciting Hour and Double Dragon 1 & 2, but it's seemed to have stalled.
I'd love Xain'd Sleena

The same thing with Data East and IREM. I'd definitely pay to play Vapor Trail and the R-Type series.

There is a chance for R-Type Leo somewhere?

[AGermanArtist]

Doubt it. It looks like Inin have IREM boxed off and seem to be making an utter bollocks of it.
Looks like we're having a month of Namco games for April?

https://twitter.com/EZ_takayoshi/status ... 0362652142

[ryu]

Inin seems to be a publisher so I really doubt they've been working on the software for the irem collections. My guess is that Tozai is handling development since the hub menu on the collection is very reminiscent of the one R-Type Dimensions uses.
They probably just rushed the first release because the original plan was to publish 4 collections in the span of a year. Now that they've learned that they need more time I would expect further releases to do better.

They've been patching the initial releases and frankly I could not find a single bug in any of the games on my japanese release to begin with. There's also more features relevant for scoring practice than I've seen in the Hamster releases I own so far.

[AGermanArtist]

That's what I meant before you jumped in with your overwhelming need to sperg at me.
You don't need to tell me who Tozai are, I'm not a stupid cunt.
Inin are publishing the game, it's on them and every week there is seemingly some new fuck up that needs patched.
A competent outfit would have had this out w/out the need to issue this many hotfixes.
I'm sure it'll be a delight in 18 months when they eventually get their shit together and maybe then the added options over the ACA games might be worth it when it's a 10th of the current asking price in a sale. In this time, we could've had every IREM game via Hamster all running beautifully.
Fuck Inin and Tozai. If you're going to t-bone us at least be fucking competent.

[Bassa-Bassa]

Dimensions was not developed by Tozai, and there're people saying this Irem collection isn't either:

viewtopic.php?p=1540503#p1540503

[Jeneki]

also Renegade

That was an earlier release on psn and switch.

[AGermanArtist]

Yeah... I forgot to include that in the list of Technos games we've got already. Hence the obvious edit.

[hamfighterx]

Dimensions was not developed by Tozai, and there're people saying this Irem collection isn't either:

viewtopic.php?p=1540503#p1540503

It's definitely Ratalaika doing the dev work, and Tozai published the Japanese physical release. And TBH, I think the quality of their work on the Japanese retail Vol.1 release is just fine. Responsive controls with minimal lag, some clever optional additions like right stick control of your options, good save state features.

Maybe the download version has been a different story, but I was bracing myself for the worst before I picked up the Switch JPN cart (which shipped as v1.0.3 and is still on that version) and I really am not seeing major issues.

Yeah... I forgot to include that in the list of Technos games we've got already. Hence the obvious edit.

We've had six Technos AA releases: Double Dragon 1 and 2, Renegade, Mat Mania, Super Dodge Ball, and Shusse Ozumo. The last one was Super Dodge Ball in 2020, everything else was 2019 or earlier - with that being the case, would not be surprising to me if Hamster doesn't currently have any license rights for other Technos games.

Also notable that ACA Neo Geo did not get any of the three Technos Neo Geo titles: Double Dragon, Super Dodge Ball (the Neo one, not the other game with the exact same name), and Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer (that one is understandable, as there are likely other IP licensing issues).

[AGermanArtist]

Maybe I should have said the Technos games I have. I'd still love to get Xain'd sleena.

[ryu]

Dimensions was not developed by Tozai, and there're people saying this Irem collection isn't either:

viewtopic.php?p=1540503#p1540503

You're right. I keep forgetting about them because they have so little presence in my life otherwise. Had never heard of them before, really. If you check their website they don't seem to have a history of porting arcade games at all. Makes you wonder what the people behind the project were thinking hiring these guys for something they had clearly little expertise in.

I didn't even know about the irem collections until few weeks before the japanese retail release. And I had the same experience as hamfighterx with the games working fine from the get-go. But it looks like it's a different story when one has been anticipating the release for years.

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Doubt it. It looks like Inin have IREM boxed off and seem to be making an utter bollocks of it.
Looks like we're having a month of Namco games for April?

https://twitter.com/EZ_takayoshi/status ... 0362652142

"Namco Spring Festival 2024"
Monthly Namco for 2024!
We will be releasing Namco's works for 4 consecutive weeks

That's it, a whole "Namco Month" is on the way next Thursday.
What do you expect? More older than NES games?, We will finally get the releases of F/A, The Outfoxies, Pac-Man Arrangement and NebulasRay?. Looks like this month will be quite interesting.

[Jucksalbe]

What older stuff is still left? I'm expecting stuff like Märchen Maze, Blazer, maybe Blast Off, basically games from around the late 80s. I mean, I'd also take Ridge Racer, but I'm certainly not expecting that. Would be nice if they also put their older Namco releases on sale.

[Sturmvogel Prime]

What older stuff is still left?

Gee Bee, Bomb Bee, Cutie Q, Takara Sagashi and S.O.S. to complete the 1979-Early 1987 lineup.

[Jucksalbe]

Thanks! I guess one of those could be part of it, probably not S.O.S.

[AGermanArtist]

My guess

Super Xevious
Dirt Fox
Galaxian 3
Nebulas Ray or possibly Fighter/Attacker first?

[jehu]

I'm putting Blast Off, Assault Plus, F/A and Marchen Maze on my bingo card.

F/A seems tantalizingly likely, NebulasRay much less so.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The High-Spec 60fps running in 480i mode Ridge Racer that came bundled with Ridge Racer Type 4 on the PSX/PSone consoles was awesome for it's time but ti'd be nice to get a proper Namco Ridge Racer arcade version with the Hamster ACA port (if it is greenlit/released, of course).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[OldSkoolShmuper]

https://twitter.com/EZ_takayoshi/status ... 0362652142

"Namco Spring Festival 2024"
Monthly Namco for 2024!
We will be releasing Namco's works for 4 consecutive weeks

Heh, that is amazing! Love the Arsenal Bird.

[Jonpachi]

The High-Spec 60fps running in 480i mode Ridge Racer that came bundled with Ridge Racer Type 4 on the PSX/PSone consoles was awesome for it's time but ti'd be nice to get a proper Namco Ridge Racer arcade version with the Hamster ACA port (if it is greenlit/released, of course).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Maybe I misremember this, but isn't there some compromise to the 60fps mode? Only time trials, or only one rival racer, or something like that?

[hamfighterx]

The High-Spec 60fps running in 480i mode Ridge Racer that came bundled with Ridge Racer Type 4 on the PSX/PSone consoles was awesome for it's time but ti'd be nice to get a proper Namco Ridge Racer arcade version with the Hamster ACA port (if it is greenlit/released, of course).

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

Maybe I misremember this, but isn't there some compromise to the 60fps mode? Only time trials, or only one rival racer, or something like that?

Yep, you cannot race against more than one other car. Some of the track variants have a 1-on-1 race, and some are time trial only. It makes the tracks feel pretty empty, but is still cool to mess with the buttery smooth 60fps version.

Also: I have a suspicion that Hamster is holding off on some of the stuff like the Namco 3D-focused boards (System 11, 21, 22, etc.) until the launch of the new Nintendo system, to make a big splash. Maybe not necessarily due to needing extra power, but more as a marketing approach - kind of like how they really ratcheted up the Neo Geo focus alongside Switch launch. There had been a few PS4/Xbox Neo Geo ACA releases at that point, but Switch launched alongside Neo Games and they continued doing weekly releases from that point on.

[Atariboy]

I wonder if the continued absence of Gee Bee, Bomb Bee, and Cutie Q perhaps suggests that the Hori controller collaboration is still in the works. I'd love a PS4 and Switch arcade stick tailored for the Arcade Archives line with a track-ball, spinner, etc.

Have they released anything like a spinner controlled game since that news hit a year or two back? If not, maybe they really are sitting on some of these waiting for that project to come to fruition.

[Jonpachi]

Very hard to imagine a hardware manufacturer creating a complicated product like that on the hope that a $10 download gets popular enough to compel people to buy the fancy add-on.

[hamfighterx]

We've seen some crazy shit these past few years though, so I'll never say never. Looking over incredulously at my Micomsoft XE-1 AJ USB Cyber Stick, that they made basically in connection with the Mega Drive Mini 2, then did another run alongside the Egret 2 Mini Vol.2 add-on pack. And Sanwa is currently still taking orders for the ¥68,200 Tanita PS4 Virtual On Twin Stick controller (http://www.sanwa-d.shop/shopdetail/000000000085/), which is for a PS4 series compilation that released in 2019 (and the anime spinoff from even earlier).

That being said, maybe more likely to see something like that in a dedicated mini? The Taito Egret II mini has the neat little trackball + spinner/paddle controller, and they've been releasing additional game packs. IDK that it's realistic, but perhaps a collaboration with Namco to include some or all of those Namco games on a future pack? Or maybe something like that shows up in a Namco mini?

An aside, I will always keep my launch Nintendo DS, if only because I have the Taito spinner for it (goes into the GBA cart slot, feels wonderful, matches the silver finish of the OG DS). Super fun with Space Invaders Extreme, Arkanoid DS, and Space Bust-a-Move!

[Skyknight]

Just to be sure, does April hold any sort of Smash Bros. anniversary? Just wondering if any one week would be especially apt for The Outfoxies.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

If you haven’t previously played these earlier arcade shooting games, and you’re so inclined and able to play them, I highly recommend

Thanks again for these recommendations, I got to play a bunch of older arcade games at a meet a few weeks ago, and they were pretty fun! The solo twin stick experience of Space Dungeon was pretty fun, I enjoyed it a lot. There's some neat 80s era games out there, hopefully I'll get to immerse myself more in them.