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

[OldSkoolShmuper]

I remember seeing Mad Shark in EGM

[Jonpachi]

Being a games' journalist back then was so fucking easy. Jesus.

[hamfighterx]

So I picked up AA Magical Speed on Switch (mainly because I pick up every AA game, still funded by selling off a few pricey Neo Geo AES carts around Switch launch). The most notable thing about this release is that Hamster took some real care to enhance the game by adding touchscreen controls that work great! Dare I say the Switch version will be the definitive release of this game until the end of time.

For those who aren't familiar, it's the card game speed with pleasantly cute anime characters. Rules are that two players compete to get rid of all of their cards first, by playing a card that is one lower/higher than the top card on either of two shared stacks in the middle of the table (with a hand of 4 at a time, refilling as you play a card until someone runs out of cards or the round timer ends). No taking turns, you just get in there and slap your card down faster than your opponent if you're both going for the same stack. As you could imagine, tapping your card and which pile you want to play it on is a very intuitive control scheme. A lot better than scrolling left/right through your hand, or even relying on the quicker selection of one of your four cards by one of the four controller face buttons (default Switch controls then have you choose to play your card on the left/right pile by pressing the ZL/ZR buttons).

I wasn't expecting much out of this one, but it's pretty fun and touchscreen mode is a truly great addition. Pleasant surprise and I've had several "just one more game" moments today, and kudos to Hamster for a job well done.

[BIL]

Thanks for the writeup! I've never played so much as Windows solitaire, but I like broadening my horizons (cf Big Tournament Golf; flat-out one of the best arcade experiences there is, even for committed non-golfers like me). The touchscreen controls did catch my eye, seeing how quickly the guys on the Arcade Archiver stream were able to shuffle.

I'm guessing Allumer will play a similar role to UPL and NMK (whose catalogues Hamster also purchased the rights to), as the B-team to Namco/Taito et al. Some real gems with previously-zero hopes of decent home release came out of that arrangement; Omega Fighter and Thunder Dragon 2 the diamonds of the set, but there's countless others, like Ninja-kun II, Mutant Night, Gunnail, HachaMecha Fighter... I like having names from both ends of the spectrum in frequent rotation like this.

[EmperorIng]

I'm guessing Allumer will play a similar role to UPL and NMK (whose catalogues Hamster also purchased the rights to), as the B-team to Namco/Taito et al.

If NMK is the B team then Allumer is the D team lol

by the way do you like 4-second stage bgm's?

[BIL]

TBH on sheer quality as opposed to brand recognition I would rate NMK and UPL the A-Team for TD2 and Omega Fighter

by the way do you like 4-second stage bgm's?

I refer you to the previous page

Anytime a game has bad music (and often even if it doesn't!) I just blast this on loop

[Sumez]

Don Doko Don is that single screen Taito platformer that nobody seems to bring up .. maybe because it never got a localized release outside of the arcade original. Would've been nice to see the Famicom version on the NES.

It's also honestly not that fun IMO. I enjoy Fairyland Story a lot more.

[Bloodreign]

Don Doko Don for Feb 24th. Not bad at all! I always enjoy a Taito single-screener. Been a bit like waiting on Thunder Dragon 2, re: Rainbow Islands. Took forever but some great picks came out of it.

Called it! Taito had released every arcade cute platformer (from 1 screen Bubble Bobble and The Fairyland Story, to the beautiful Mizubaku Daibouken), it was the logical choice to bring that one over.

So glad I have those PS2 Taito Memories compilations, because I don't have the new consoles, and all those games are spread across the 4 volumes.

[Sumez]

At this point, they're gonna bring over Spica Adventure before Rainbow Islands XD

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Will Hamster port the Seibu Kaihatsu SP-1 powered Senkyu (aka Battle Balls in the USA & was officially distributed/sold by Seibu licensee Fabtek back in 1995)?

Of course Seibu did a PSX port of Senkyu that replicates the SP-1 arcade game experience in 1996. Quite an addictive arcade puzzler not to be missed.

Fabtek also sold/distributed the jamma conversion kit of Viper Phase 1 U.S.A. for the American arcade market in September of 1995 as well (that was the first time I had seen it & up running on a full-sized Dynamo upright cab setup indeed). Auto-fire was enabled from the get-go this time around so it was easier on the arcade gamer's fingers.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[BIL]

I do hope so, PCEFX! Senkyu is great. Would be wonderful to see it join M2's release of Toaplan's Teki Paki, another STG-aggressive arcade puzzler.

That 90s generation of AC hardware - Konami GX, Taito F3, Seibu SPI etc - is The Great Beyond for ACA, currently. I think they'll give it a shot, eventually, but it wouldn't surprise me if it takes a move to PS5, perhaps post-PS6. I think it's a good sign they appear to have nailed TGM1's ZN-2 hardware.

[Jonpachi]

^ PS6... 2030 maybe then? With all the slowdowns due to Covid, I think we're gonna have PS5/Series X for a super-long cycle, akin to the 360/PS3 era.

[EmperorIng]

At this point, they're gonna bring over Spica Adventure before Rainbow Islands XD

It's not the world's most intricate game but I would really love a spica adventure port myself

[BIL]

^ PS6... 2030 maybe then? With all the slowdowns due to Covid, I think we're gonna have PS5/Series X for a super-long cycle, akin to the 360/PS3 era.

It wouldn't surprise me - ACA's tenth anniversary is a little over a year away, and we're already well into the 2020s.

At the same time, it's a vastly stronger line than it was back in 2014. Same high-quality/low-frills ethos, but their list of licensees, release frequency, and QOL accoutrements have come a long way. There's also been a few real surprises like TGM. So who knows... maybe they'll pull out a rabbit or two, and figure out F3/GX/SPI et al before then.

Personally, I just want them to keep doing whatever it is that's kept them going. No need to rush, with literal stacks of 80s-through-90s Konami, Namco, Taito, IREM, Tecmo, SNK, Seibu, Technos, and DECO games to cover, both major titles and cult favourites; and that's not even considering the smaller B-tier devs they own the rights to (I still want Ninja Emaki, always loved that Kamui Gaiden aesthetic). ACA Missing in Action, Splatterhouse, Rainbow Islands, Geostorm, Wild Fang, Search and Rescue, Raiden DX, Combatribes, and Midnight Resistance, plus Valtric, Sonic Wings, War of Aero, Ninja Emaki, and whatever other crazy shit UPL did sounds like a good time. I had to sweat over most of those picks as-is, WTB ACA Rolling Thunder 2 and Silkworm.

[cfx]

I think I already wrote some of this previously in the thread, but now that ACA Phelios is out, I want Rolling Thunder 2, Burning Force, and Cosmo Gang the Video. If I'm not mistaken, these are all on the same arcade hardware so with how Hamster seems to do things hopefully they will be forthcoming.

I'd also like Raiden II and/or DX, and in that category of things that don't seem likely, yet, Viper Phase I and the Raiden Fighters games. I never had an Xbox 360, and the RF games are now stuck just on that since they weren't made backwards compatible and aren't available digitially for the newer Xbox consoles.

Macross II was mentioned a few pages ago. I remember playing that years ago, and it's nice except that time out thing it has is weird. Assuming I am remembering that in the right game; sometimes my memory is faulty.

I'm sure there are many other things I would like, but those come to mind.

[BIL]

Yeah, Macross II is a straight Caravan/Time Attack STG; short courses packed full of technical scoring bonuses and secrets. Really high performance ceiling, super-replayable; I'd call it NMK's Dragon Blaze, the way it augments their trademark intensity with high-calibre scoring, but Thunder Dragon 2 is even better at that. NMK's Gunbird 2, perhaps.

Blimey, I completely forgot to include Banpresto in my rundown (I deliberately left out Jaleco ). With their Mazinger-Z arcade game announced for 2023, and Hamster having the rights to NMK's catalogue, there's the slightest ghost of a chance Macross 2 might see ACA release, too. Would be my biggest long-shot wish after TD2 itself.

Incidentally, the first AC Macross title enjoys a fair bit of cultural cachet around here; it's the game that was running in the background of Ian Beale's chip shop on EastEnders for years. No real opinion on the game myself, but I'd have to pick up an ACA release just for that, haha.

[cfx]

I'd probably buy ACA Macross (first one) just to try it out as I've seen pictures but never had any opportunity to play it.

Jaleco: I'm sure it wouldn't happen, but ACA Game Tengoku would be interesting. I have seen the Jaleco Megasystem 32 version, and graphically the arcade mode in the Saturn port falls quite a bit short of that, so it would be nice to have a better version.

[BIL]

Tech aside, I could see Game Tengoku happening, just for Jaleco being such a regular fixture on ACA. There's Cruisin' Mix, but I doubt that'd dissuade Hamster any more than Bubble Bobble 4 Friends or Darius Cozmic did, re: the recent Switch releases of ACA Bubble Bobble and Darius.

The Saturn version of GT - and Cruisin' Mix, since it's based on it - also nerfed the PCB's second loop, so it really does warrant a proper arcade-to-home translation.

Getting Mega System 32 would make NMK's P-47 Aces likely, as well.

I always forget about the immensely cool Cybattler when discussing Jaleco, but it's on ACA already, and its entire existence is a bizarre one-off for me. I'd have assumed it was a contract job, ala Aicom's Astyanax/Lord of King, but AFAIK it was in-house.



With a mecha STG/slasher this badass, I'd have assumed Tecno Soft were responsible.

[Sima Tuna]

Cybattler is one of the best games in the ACA lineup.

[Steven]

I finally got a chance to check out Zero Team. Looks like Hamster put the original version and the later version in here. This game is okay, I guess. Went I found out that Sato-san did the music for this I expected something a bit more like Raiden, but I must say that I'm kind of super disappointed in the music here. Not his best score for sure.

Gameplay is alright, I guess, but I'd have to see how it is in multiplayer. More time needed with this one, I think. Just like in real life, enemies explode into flaming chunks of something when you beat them up!

[BrianC]

TBH on sheer quality as opposed to brand recognition I would rate NMK and UPL the A-Team for TD2 and Omega Fighter

by the way do you like 4-second stage bgm's?

I refer you to the previous page

Anytime a game has bad music (and often even if it doesn't!) I just blast this on loop

Gladiator's music also does the same thing. I found the game very enjoyable, but the kitsch is part of that enjoyment.

[Skyknight]

I finally got a chance to check out Zero Team. Looks like Hamster put the original version and the later version in here. This game is okay, I guess. Went I found out that Sato-san did the music for this I expected something a bit more like Raiden, but I must say that I'm kind of super disappointed in the music here. Not his best score for sure.

Gameplay is alright, I guess, but I'd have to see how it is in multiplayer. More time needed with this one, I think. Just like in real life, enemies explode into flaming chunks of something when you beat them up!

Apparently neither Satou is the composer, but rather one Yamanaka Reiichi?

EDIT: Indeed, while Satou Gou was involved, that was for the sound effects, not the actual music.

[Steven]

I've been playing ACA Raiden for the past week and I'm not sure what to think about this game. I kind of like it, but I also kind of hate it, and it definitely hates me. Recovery seems very difficult, and I still have not figured out how the weird thing where the starting rank changes depending on when you put your coin in during the attract mode.

I finally got a chance to check out Zero Team. Looks like Hamster put the original version and the later version in here. This game is okay, I guess. Went I found out that Sato-san did the music for this I expected something a bit more like Raiden, but I must say that I'm kind of super disappointed in the music here. Not his best score for sure.

Gameplay is alright, I guess, but I'd have to see how it is in multiplayer. More time needed with this one, I think. Just like in real life, enemies explode into flaming chunks of something when you beat them up!

Apparently neither Satou is the composer, but rather one Yamanaka Reiichi?

EDIT: Indeed, while Satou Gou was involved, that was for the sound effects, not the actual music.

Okay. Him not doing it does explain why it isn't at his usual level of quality! I think he did mention something about that last month, but it was pretty loud in the livehouse with everyone talking before the show and I couldn't really hear him. I also have a really shitty memory aside for super unimportant things that nobody ever needs to remember, which doesn't help.

[BIL]

Zero Team's soundtrack is by far its weakest link - though, with the game's innately goofy, Sentai-esque tone, it's not the blow it'd have been to a more serious affair, imo. I'd have hacked in Raiden Fighters Jet's OST.

Getting fired up for Grobda tomorrow! I'm a kill-crazed sort, at heart. All respect to the more oblique Pacs n' Dugs et al but I wanna KILL OR BE KILL nah mean. Also Bosconian n Pole Position pls. They're the Splatterhouse and Rolling Thunder 2 of my early 80s wantwantwant list.

[Udderdude]

Zero Team's music is so wierd because the character select music sounds more like what you'd expect, then the game starts and the music is just like .. generic rousing adventure stuff. What happened? Was the music for a cancelled, completely different game? lol.

[BIL]

Helll yeah, GROBDA is brisk. Psyvariaresque, pushing the shield to its limits threading through asplosions n' laz0rbeams jigoku. Cataclysmic chainsplosions a classic double-edge. Rainbow laz0rs whizz and crack with Defender satisfaction, acceleration mechanic+SFX cute as all hell, brrroom broom! Rogues' gallery is quintessentially characterful golden age Namco, mightily earning the ACA manual's now-traditional "List of Characters" heading. That green bugger and his u-turning bullets who runs like a bitch when confronted, faaack!

Even the 16-way laser sweep works a treat. I find the delay annoying, in lightning-quick action like Senjou no Okami and Top Gunner; but in this more methodical, heavy-metallic context, its broadsiding fury is the perfect exclamation mark to a well-earned outmaneuvering. Turn 'n burn then SPRAY EM REAL GOOD

The shared meter on movement, attack, and shield is an incredibly slick riff. Individual costs are all but negligible. It's when moving and shooting/guarding that you'll notice some drain, with the ultimate blitzkrieg attack - guns blazing, shields up, ramming speed - only briefly sustainable. A natural tug of war quickly arises: rushing down priority targets as they pelt you futilely, leaving them smouldering wrecks as you haul ass for cover to recharge. An excellent judgment call sees movement and attack completely unaffected by the meter... while the shield pointedly is, losing explosion defense at Yellow, and deactivating entirely at Red; respectively challenging and mortally dangerous situations to be in. The shield visibly degrading across a finer spectrum - purple to blue, through green and yellow, then orange and terminal red - is an indispensable detail in the heat of battle.

What looks like a simplistic move n' shoot quickly reveals itself as richly tactical, yet no less as immediate. As an aside - this reacquaintance makes me love Granada even more. When Toyota & co at WolfTeam called it Grobda x Assault, it was no mere puffery. Like all good inspirations, they added their own riff, the inimitable BLASTER BOOST -

BOOSTIN MAEKS ME FEEL GOO~OOD

Spoiler

- but as far as combining Grobda's fiercely characterful varmints, meticulous controls, and super-clean POV with Assault's roving all-terrain seek/destroy, you couldn't find a more bang-on parentage. Faaack I love topdown tank shooting.

Between the big marquee late 80s/early 90s picks like Metal Hawk and Phelios, this is exactly the sort of mirror-sheened elemental hardcore I'm pleased as punch to see given definitive modern home release. Could kill for the similarly ACA Bosconian and Pole Position about now, too.

EDIT1: Noticed a neat little movement tech: revving up while diagonally-facing a wall or block lets you rocket off at top speed. Handy for darting out from behind cover!

KEMONO no ACCERERATINGU

Spoiler

You can also maintain top speed during turns by carefully adjusting in diagonal increments - the treads will bite after just a split-second's interval, they'll only lose traction on full 45' turns. Super HEAVY \M/ETAL feedback, seeing and hearing (+FEELING ) the revving screw treads bite into the ground!

MAX POWWA STEELINGU

Spoiler

I could imagine high-level scoreplay getting pretty nuts, with the hefty bonus on big chainsplosions. For now I'm just enjoying the chainsawing pace though. There's a level select but I don't need it, quite yet, with earlier rounds over in seconds.

EDIT2: Aww man. This is the stuff. Interview with a Grobda master who got the first recorded 1CC - all about the game's mechanics and tactics, its historical context, and other goodies - like fellow topdown tanker VALTRIC, which I sorely wish would get an ACA release. NMK-developed, Jaleco-published, feels like one of those little gems that'll pop up one day unannounced, ala Tecmo's wonderful proto-Cabalesque Senjyou.

[Udderdude]

I need a guide on Grobda's enemies. I have no clue how to fight anything besides the basic enemies, lol.

[BIL]

It's ruff out there in the BATORINGU Seems the shield is truly this game's lynchpin, along with judicious use of cover. An early tip I've found is, the purple weenie tanks are limited to 8-way frontal fire (as opposed to their Hyper Tank brethren, whose turrets are not only 12-way, but can also target you regardless of where they're headed). Good to know when you're facing a couple bad bastards, and a whole bunch of weenies; burn shield on the former's deadly sniping/homing/bouncing attacks, escape to cover through the latter's blind spots.

Ever since Namco joined ACA, I've found StrategyWiki consistently legit on their stuff. Might be worth a look. EDIT: Uh, maybe not so much in this case.

I think that interview with REI-san might be a good primer, albeit requiring translation/JP literacy (it's a delightful read, regardless!). I'm skimming it currently, trying to see if he says anything about your tank's speed increasing over the game's course... StrategyWiki says so, but they can be a bit Engrishy at times. Not certain the author wasn't referring to the tank's innate acceleration mechanic. From mucking about with the stage select, I'm gonna tentatively say incremental, game-length speed increase isn't a thing.

God I love this game's tread and turret mechanics. They weren't half some clever bastards at Namco. This and Libble Rabble alone could last me forever. Ultra-refined mechanics, super-tight focus, absolute topdown hardcore!

Spoiler

Loving the Garegga-style back from grave when enemies dogpile my last life, only to eat shit in the ensuing chainsplosion, post-mortem BIG BOUNS rackin' up.

BATORING COMES ATCHU FAST ;3

Spoiler

EDIT Fuuuck me Look at this little green bastard Matrix-dodging my blase scattershot (while his little homie runs in and eats it )! Seems their tracking shot is "lazy," but not so lazy as to invite complacency (as I shortly found out ).

DODGE DODGE DOOODGE

Spoiler

So badass.

[Jeneki]

For the dodging enemies (Battling 10+), I think you have to trap them against the side wall / terrain. They'll try to dodge and flail about getting hit anyway.

[BIL]

Concurred - they're a lot trickier in open space! Terrain heavily counteracts their agility, funneling them into a deft takedown. REI really emphasises the fundamental role of terrain in that interview/primer.

Sky Kid Deluxe confirmed for March 2nd! The original (also on ACA, and Namco Museum Encore before that) is one of those widely-regarded early 80s standards I've always liked since the PS1 days, but never put significant time on - much like Grobda and Baraduke. Been thoroughly enjoying these chances to catch up a little.