tepidsnake | This Violent Time

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Final Lap (Namco, 1987)

Arcade Archives (previous-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch

Arcade Archives 2 (current-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch 2

Xbox

Only a Japanese ROM is included. The only Preference Setting worth mentioning outside of the obvious analogue controls is the Car Type setting, allowing you to pick one of four cars (this is normally done across two dipswitches but it's been made a single setting here). Sadly, even on the ACA2 version, there's no support for split screen or any sort of emulation of the link play feature, which was a major selling point for the original arcade game, being the first to allow up to eight players at once via linked-up cabinets. I'm not sure why they weren't able to include it here, but it might be an emulation hurdle (don't assume older tech is necessarily easier to emulate!) so while I'm a bit disappointed, I won't hold it against Hamster too much.

... Oh, yeah, something else notable about this rerelease is it had to be heavily edited for legal reasons. A 2019 BMJ Journals research paper (you can read it over here) has a lot of info on the use of tobacco company imagery in racing games from the '80s to the 2010s, but to keep it relevant to what we're talking about, in late 1989 Philip Morris' PM Barry Krivisky noticed Sega's Super Monaco GP in a New York arcade using Marlboro's racing livery without permission (coincidentally after PM CEC was brought to discuss the use of tobacco imagery in video games with Ohio Representative Tom Luken) and sent a cease and desist, which they eventually settled and Sega edited the arcade game to remove all infringing banners and liveries (inclding HOSTER'S which is very, very funny). Philip Morris would ask the same of Atari Games and Namco for Final Lap's inclusion of Marlboro livery and other cigarette company ads, and they came to an agreement too, with Namco editing Final Lap too to remove tobacco ads and liveries and Atari offering a $100 discount on dedicated Final Lap 2 cabinets to arcade operators who complied and changed the ROM chips on their boards. You can see shots of the edited version on this blog (it's currently undumped). The point is, all of this stuff is gone from the Arcade Archives version as well as other company signs like Dunlop and Pirelli, which weren't originally edited out, disappearing too (most signs are either blanked or replaced with Namco logos) as well as the car liveries changed but the obvious F1 driver names in the high score table kept (they were taken out of Namco Collection Vol. 1 on PC). Phew!

Actually talking about the game now... It's easy to be wowed by the 3D Namco racing games we've been seeing on Arcade Archives lately, but before Ridge Racer and Rave Racer (and even contemporary with them), Namco were making strides on the 2D, sprite scaling racing track too, and Final Lap was their next big step after Pole Position. We're on the Suzuka Circuit once again with beefed-up hardware meaning much smoother sprite rotation and more detail across the board as well as extra touches like a bridge you pass under, side mirrors that show what's happening behind you (especially impressive in 2D!) and race queens that start and end the race (complete with a little mischief of the wind) and your car tilting slightly as you hit the side of the road. Praised for its realism at the time, much like Pole Position it takes a bit of time to get used to the steering controls and how to handle corners, as you really have to use the brakes and shifting gears to tackle them at speed but it's got that 'just one more try' feel to it. I started playing this one at a real disadvantage and felt I wasn't getting anywhere with it, but then about 10 tries later I was hooked, it's just the one track but you learn exactly where to lean into the corners and how to maintain speed to reach the finish line under the pretty strict time limit. The analogue controls are also pretty solid by default in this rerelease, and while it won't quite be the same as playing on a real cabinet (which I must admit, I don't think I've ever seen- Suzuka 8 Hours seemed to be more popular in the UK from what I remember), I think anyone with a passing interest in arcade racers definitely needs to give this a try, especially since this is its first rerelease since a PC version several decades ago! I imagine we'll see the other Final Lap games on ACA in the future which is an exciting prospect!

WHY ISN'T CARBUNCLE IN CROSSWORLDS TOO, THOSE ABSOLUTE COWARDS

OOPS!! GUESS WHO'S A BIG DUMMY WHO FORGOT TO POST THEIR MS PAINT ART TO THEIR DREAMWIDTH?? Me. It's me. There's, like, extra steps to putting art on here, so I just forget, sorry!! Ahem. From the top, then, we have...

* UFO-co from Space Invaders Extreme! this was a warm-up both for the UFO-co navigator I was adding to my stream that week and the next drawing, I really love her design so I've drawn her a lot!
* Ellen Joe from Zenless Zone Zero! Ellen Joe is one of my favourite ZZZ characters but it's always intimidating to draw characters like this as there's so much detail to her that it takes a long time for me to draw everything out. Still, I'm really happy with how she turned out, capturing her lazy, sleepy vibe quite well.
* Cat Girl from Catrap! No, really, check the manual, her name is just Cat Girl. She's just called Pit Girl in the Japanese version, Pitman. One of my favourite Game Boy puzzle games, she design is very simple but very cute.
* Anne from Gekirindan! I went through a bit of a Taito phase here, although really, there's always time to draw a Taito cute. Anne's the pilot of the P1-side space helicopter in time-travel shmup Gekirindan, and I get the feeling there's not that much art of her, which is a shame.
* Woolen from Puzzle Bobble 2! More Taito cutes? Yes please. Woolen is one I really like from the early Puzzle Bobbles.
* Cleon from Puzzle Bobble 4! Definitely not my favourite Puzzle Bobble game (that's a mild understatement), but Cleon is absolutely one of my very favourite character designs from the series, she's very tepidsnake-core as she's a sassy little imp. This has both her 1P and 2P palettes because the 2P palette is my favourite.
* Arle Nadja from Puyo Puyo / Madou Monogatari! Did you know Arle's coming to Sonic Racing CrossWorlds? She is! So, I had to draw her, obviously.
* Haruka Amami from THE iDOLM@STER! I've only drawn Haruka once before, which definitely seems like some kind of crime. She really grew on me after watching the anime series, so I decided to draw her in her Namassuka!? Sunday uniform as that's one of my favourite episodes. It's the one where she gets bopped by the box, something that's based on a true story!

I promise I won't leave it so long next time, the writer lied.

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Devastators (Konami, 1988)

Arcade Archives (previous-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch

Arcade Archives 2 (current-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch 2

Xbox

US

Both the Japanese (Garuka- similar to Contra, the title is written in Ateji) and English (Devastators) ROMs are included, with a few differences noted in the digital manual- in particular, you have to beat three loops of the game in the Japanese version before you can see an ending, and it also has more weapons than the English version. No Preference Settings this time, and no edits either, which is notable for three reasons. First, the Microsoft Game Room version edited the title screen to remove the Sylvester Stallone-esque heroes and this version keeps it, it also keeps the "MOVE ALONG!" (or is it "MOVE IT ON?") soundclip from Aliens and, somewhat unexpectedly, the flashing has not been edied either. As far as I can remember, the flashing isn't too intense, but it is there (specifically on the title screen and the boss sprites flashing multiple colours upon destruction) so you might want to keep this in mind before playing it in the dark.

Alright, DEVASTATORS, listen up! You two are the best, most efficient, ruthless, disciplined... And most expensive 2-man team of freedom fighters in the world! That's what your flyer says, anyway. You've been hired at the request of a small country who've been subjected to a brutal takeover by a fanatical dictator and your mission is simple: annihilate their armed forces, rescue the prisoners and overthrow the corrupt government. You only start with a rile and a limited amount of grenades, so the rest of your armaments are OSP (on-site procurement) including rocket launchers for high-priority targets, flamethrowers and even grenade launchers, so grab 'em as soon as you see 'em. Each area you liberate has a boss vehicle at the end, so blow it to bits and move on to the next area- your time is very limited, and if you fail to complete your mission, you will perish! Parachute drop is at 1000 hours, so get ready, and remember, you're doing this for the glory, the money, and to feed the beast inside your bodies! Again, just reading from the flyer. I think you should go with the other one, it's a bit more convincing.

Devastators is a pretty fascinating game, an into-the-screen action game that feels like a massive expansion of the base sequences from Contra that came out the year before, but this has a lot more freedom of movement and forces you to play quite differently due to the incluson of bullet drop, where your rifle shots have a limited range before they hit the dirt. As a result, you have to be more aggressive and get closer than you'd think to shoot enemies, but you still have grenades if you want to keep a little distance and you can also back off a little if you want (you can't scroll the screen backwards, but you do have a bit o an area to move around it). Another interesting addition is the rocket launcher which can only be fired when it locks on to a big target like a sniper tower, helicopter or boss fight, but using it locks you in place for a second, so you need to be sure it's safe. There's also two-player co-op so you and a buddy can overthrow the government together! I really like this one- the presentation is nice with some great scaling and punchy sound effects, there's not many games that have this kind of control system for going into the screen and it's fun and challenging! I'm not wild on the game cutting off continues on the final level (and limiting the number of continues in general, but this can be circumvented according to the Hamster stream as it's determined by how many times the continue screen appears, so having another player join in can prevent that from happening) but it's a Konami game from the late '80s, you have to be expecting that kind of thing. The main thing you hear about this is that it feels like a first draft of a later Konami arcade game, 1992's G.I. Joe which switches to forced scrolling, adds four-player support and runs on much better hardware... But I dunno, I think I prefer Devastators for having its own take on this kind of game. Don't pay attention to me, I'm just a little arcade game sicko~

Speaking of the Microsoft Game Room, as a little bonus... With this release, that means there's only 10 Konami arcade games included in that service that don't have Arcade Archives releases yet, so here they are:

Amidar (1981)
Gyruss (1983)
Scooter Shooter (1985)
Konami GT (1985)
Iron Horse (1986)
Rack 'Em Up (1987)
Hyper Crash (1987)
Blades of Steel (1987)
The Main Event (1988)
M.I.A. (1989)

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Actually, it's a Neo Geo game this time! It's Pop'n Bounce (Video System, 1997)

PSN

Switch

Yes, this is just an ACA release with no ACA2 version, which means no PS5, Switch 2 or Xbox Series reelase. Also, despite the other ACA Neo Geo games showing up on Xbox One in the past, this one hasn't. Don't be too down though, Xbox owners, in this week's Hamster stream they announced that almost all of the Xbox One ACA Neo Geo games have been added to the Xbox Play Anywhere service, meaning you can play them on Xbox, PC or compatible handheld devices, and they've had their UI updated to the ACA2 style. They said not all games have been added to it, and I think this refers to the ACA2 version of The King of Fighters '98 and the delisted football games, so it's basically all of them. Anyway, Pop'n Bounce does have a feature not seen in any other Neo Geo game, paddle support, so you can play with with either a normal joystick setup or with a USB mouse for analogue control

You thought the Neo Geo was finished on Arcade Archives? Not a chance, pal! An ACA version of Pop'n Bounce was included as an exclusive game in ACA Neo Geo Selection Vol. 10 that released at the end of last year for the Switch exclusively in Japan, but now here's the game on its own, This is a strange one, as it didn't release in Japan when it was new- as explained by ohfivepro on Bluesky, around 1997 Video System and Visco (whose credit is found on the Pop'n Bounce and Sonic Wings Limited flyers) ran into difficulties and cancelled or delayed many of their arcade games, with Pop'n Bounce in particular releasing in the West instead (others, like Captain Tomaday and Ganryu getting released a few years later instead). It still has a Japanese language option (under the name Gapporin) but this is standard for Neo Geo releases, as the game's region is picked by what BIOS you're using, so that's included here too, but what a strange situation! The game itself is even stranger- this is the only paddle-and-ball game on the Neo Geo, so it has support for a paddle controller, but unlike The Irritating Maze which used a trackball and I know exists because I've played a cabinet myself, I can't find a photo of any Pop'n Bounce cabinet using a paddle. I imagine it was probably an option to convert an old paddle game, but as Lord BBH pointed out in his Neo Rank Masters episode on the game, to have this setup you've have to dedicate a cabinet to it, so if you have a multi-slot MVS, you'll be limited to this one game 'cause no other Neo Geo games use a paddle. Not a great situation for an arcade operator to be in!

... Oh, right, I'd better talk about the game, huh? It's a Breakout / Arkanoid-style game where you have to clear the playing field of blocks (the field only takes up half the screen to allow for two-player battles) but with a few interesting twists. For one thing, depending on your settings, blocks (represented by different creatures in ever round, with Rabio from Rabio Lepus appearing in the final round!) can move down the playfield when there's a gap, and this can lead to blocks of the same colour fusing together, becoming larger and eventually dropping power-ups for you depending on their colour (mostly typical of the genre like a larger paddle and the ability to shoot lasers). There's also a decent bit of variety in the level designs, with bombs that blow up small areas of blocks and items that blow up all blocks of a particular colour, but what's interesting is the layouts are randomised- each round has a few different layouts that they can be that's picked at random in each playthrough, so you'll have to play a few times to see them all. Finally, there's the ultimate technique, the ATTACK- if you hit the letters at the top of the playfield spelling out this word, then your paddle extends to almost the entire bottom of the field and a load of ultra-fast balls show up to decimate all the blocks! Hitting the top does speed up the ball though, so you'll have to be skilled to pull this off. There's even a versus mode where you battle against another player to clear your board before they do, while sending nuisance enemies over to their side of the screen. This is definitely best played with something simulating the paddle though, the joystick isn't ideal for this kind of game, but it's nice to see this one get reissued as it's pretty cute. And hey, Breakout / Arkanoid fans have been eating pretty well with ACA lately, haven't they? Good for them, good for them.

Now, you might be wondering, is this a sign that more ACA Neo Geo games are in our future? Well, don't get too far ahead of yourself there, sport. The remaining Neo Geo games that don't have an ACA equivalent are mostly games that have some kind of obstacle to overcome before a rerelease can happen, so just for fun, here's an organised list of those remaining Neo Geo games, divided into groups based on the most likely reason they haven't shown up yet:

Ironclad / Chōtetsu Brikin'ger (Saurus / SNK, 1996)
Thanks for Wotter16 on Bluesky for reminding me about this! Although initially unreleased on Neo Geo MVS, it was given a Neo Geo CD release in Japan, and the prototype arcade ROM was later released on Wii Virtual Console (running in AES mode) and GOG and Humble Bundle (running in MVS mode). IIRC Hamster only tends to release arcade games that actually came out, but SNK has repeatedly rereleased this one, so maybe...

Viewpoint (Aicom / Sammy, 1992)
Fight Fever (Viccom, 1994)
Bomberman: Panic Bomber (Hudson Soft, 1995)
Double Dragon (Technōs, 1995)
Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer (Technōs, 1995)
Far East of Eden: Kabuki Klash (Racjin / Red Entertainment, 1995)
Tecmo World Soccer '96 (Tecmo, 1996)
Neo Bomberman (Hudson Soft, 1997)
Nightmare in the Dark (AM Factory / Paon / Eleven / Gavaking, 2000)
Matrimelee (Noise Factory, 2003)
Pochi and Nyaa (Taito / Aiky, 2003)
These are all third-party games from different developers and publishers. If any games are likely to show up on ACA NeoGeo, it's these ones, but Hamster would need to talk to the rights-holders involved (most of these have obvious owners outside of maybe Nightmare in the Dark and Fight Fever, although considering The Eye of Typhoon got a Piko-branded rerelease, maybe they have Fight Fever?)

Windjammers (Data East, 1994)
Super Dodge Ball (Technōs, 1996)
Rage of the Dragons (Evoga / Noise Factory / Brezzasoft, 2002)
These are also third-party games from different developers and publishers, the difference is they have modern rereleases elsewhere- Windjammers was released standalone by DotEmu, Super Dodge Ball was included in Super Technōs World: River City & Technōs Arcade Classics and Rage of the Dragons was released standalone as Rage of the Dragons NEO. Thanks to electricboogaloofunk for reminding me about Windjammers!

Mahjong-kyō Retsuden: Nishi Nihon Hen (SNK, 1990)
Bakatono-sama Mahjong Manyūki (Monolith / SNK, 1991)
These are all mahjong games that all require a special mahjong control panel.

Quiz Daisōsasen: The Last Countdown (SNK, 1991)
Quiz Meitantei Neo & Geo: Quiz Daisōsasen Part 2 (SNK, 1992)
Quiz King of Fighters (Saurus / SNK, 1995)
These are all quiz games with contemporary question sets and, in the case of the two Daisōsasen games, litigation-worthy parodies of celebrities and movie stars like Sean Connery and Marlon Brando.

Eight Man (Pallas / SNK, 1991)
Legend of Success Joe (Wave, 1991)
Minnasan no Okagesama Desu! Dai Sugoroku Taikai (Monolith / SNK, 1991)
Chibi Maruko-chan: Maruko Deluxe Quiz (Betop, 1995)
The Irritating Maze (Saurus / SNK, 1997)
These are all based on outside licensed properties such as manga / anime (Eight Man, Legend of Success Joe, Chibi Maruko-chan which is also a quiz game), celebrities (Minasan no Okage Desu! which also requires a mahjong control panel) and game shows (The Irritating Maze is based on the Japanese variety show Ucchan Nanchan no Honō no Challenger: Kore ga Dekitara 100 Man-en!!).

Andro Dunos (Visco, 1992)
Goal! Goal! Goal! (Visco, 1995)
Puzzle de Pon! (Visco, 1995)
Neo Drift Out: New Technology (Visco, 1996)
Breakers (Visco, 1996)
Puzzle de Pon! R (Visco, 1997)
Neo Mr. Do! (Visco, 1997)
Breakers Revenge (Visco, 1998)
Battle Flip Shot (Visco, 1998)
Captain Tomaday (Visco, 1999)
Ganryu (Visco, 1999)
Bang Bead (Visco, 2000)
These are all Visco games whose back catalogue was purchased by PixelHeart in 2020, and they've been rereleasing them in various forms by themselves since then, including the Visco Collection and Breakers Collection on modern home consoles. The exceptions are Neo Mr. Do! (rebranded as Punky Circus for its Neo Geo CD rerelease, not on modern consoles) and Puzzle de Pon! and Puzzle de Pon! R (Visco licensed out the Puzzle Bobble mechanics from Taito so presumably they'd need to OK it too).

Shōgi no Tatsujin: Master of Syougi (ADK, 1995)
This is just a lonely shōgi game that doesn't fit anywhere else. Poor thing.

And that's it.

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Plump Pop (Taito, 1987)

Arcade Archives (previous-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch

US

Arcade Archives 2 (current-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch 2

Xbox

US

Just the one ROM this time, which makes sense as you can only get different regions by messing around with region flags (as documented on The Cutting Room Floor) and there's no World or US arcade boards out there. Button Settings allow players to use a USB mouse and adjust the analogue settings, while Preference Settings allow players to toggle a score display glitch caused by the Round 3 boss on or off. This rerelease is also slightly edited- the Red Cross on the flag that appears when you get a Game Over is changd to a heart (in the Taito Egret II Mini version, it was just a blank white flag, so this is an improvement).

I always mentally filed Plump Pop (which was the final name after others were considered like Plump Tramp and NYANPOLINE) away as an Arkanoid variant, but after reading The Cutting Room Floor's article... It's Taito's take on Circus, isn't it? You know, Breakout but usually with balloon targets and a human in place of the ball, adhering to gravity and all that. Silly old me! Anyway, this is a very cute take on the concept, with you in charge of one of three adorable animal teams- dogs, cats or pigs, your choice- as they have to destroy all the balloons cluttering the skies, with two animals manning the trampoline and a little baby animal as the ball, which is perfectly safe, honest, don't think about it too much. As more complex patterns of balloons appear, so do hazards like clouds the baby animal slides across (press the jump button and they'll jump too) or just bounce off of and the sun itself being an obstacle (destroy it and the time of day changes). This even has boss fights every four rounds (after the suppertime bonus round, of course) where you need to keep up with balloons being spawned with every successfully bonk on the enemy!

This originally used a paddle controller, and while an analogue stick does a decent jon (when playing on pad, a speed-up button is added to let you move faster), this is best played with a mouse for fine control, and you'll need it- your hapless baby animal starts bouncing slowly, but almost immediately reaches terrifying air-speeds as they smash the balloons, so be careful with them. You can also jump to put a little more oomph into your bounce which you'll also need to avoid various creatures that appear to pester you on the ground. The game becomes even more chaotic in two-player mode where a ledge is added that you can hop up to, because otherwise, the trampolines have collision so you can push against each other, and you can also bounce the other team's baby! Be careful not to screw each other over out there, you're meant to be working together! The original Arkanoid is due for an Arcade Archives release in the future (it's on Taito Milestones 4) so there's yet more Taito paddle games on the horizon, but I have a particular soft spot for this one. It's got that cutesy Taito presentation and also has strange secrets like increasing the point value of bonus items by not letting a single one drop and cute details like the trampoline-holder's head squishing if the baby lands on it (it even launches them at a different angle) so definitely give this one a look, especially if you have a mouse!

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Rave Racer (Namco, 1995)

Arcade Archives (previous-gen consoles)
PSN

Switch

Arcade Archives 2 (current-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch 2

Xbox

Four versions are included here, with Japanese and English versions of the Standard /SD (simple up-down gear shift) and Deluxe / DX (six-gear shifter and clutch) cabinets. The main regional differences are the language and the silhouetted dancer (whose actual model is naked! NSFW, of course) on the City course being replaced with a lit-up arrow sign in the English release. That's why I went with the Japanese version of the Hamster trailer this time, that silhouette is important. No exclusive Preference Settings here (I thought the car selection was, but nope, that's in the Service Mode menu) but you do have plenty of analogue control options and, on ACA2, there's Split Screen Mode with support for up to four players at once so you can see the exclusive 'waiting for entry' screens at your leisure. As with other 3D Namco games, this is double the price of normal Arcade Archives releases. Worth it, though.

This is Radio 765 comin' at you live from Rave City for the Rave Racer competition, the engines sound like they're ready to go! We've got twelve revving roadsters out there ready to take on four exciting racetracks- the City with its elevated highways and the famous hilly descent, the Mountain with its spotty use of safety barriers (careful out there, or you might have to take a different route) and both the short and long courses in the nearby Ridge City, always a welcome sight on race day, especially since they finally finished that under-construction part of the long course! Whether they're using automatic or manual transmissions, these drivers know they've gotta use every trick they've got to stay on top, from drifting through turns to slipstreaming off other cars, so the action's gonna be flaming hot! Racers, start your engines, and let's get it on!

We're only two months into 2026 and we already have another Namco all-time great hitting Arcade Archives, and about time too- it's taken 31 years for Rave Racer to finally come home. While Namco did release Ridge Racer 2 in 1994, it was more of an upgrade to the original than a follow-up, as while it added the rear view mirror support for up to eight linked cabinets to race against one another and a new soundtrack (and a much ruder version of the announcer), it still used the same course. Rave Racer is a full-blown sequel with the short and long Ridge Racer tracks returning but with the brand new City and Mountain tracks, a new slipstream mechanic (you have to get really close to your rivals to get a boost), a view change button to see from behind the car, altered physics (bumping against opponents feels slightly less like you're getting pinballed around), another new soundtrack with 12 tracks to choose from (and a new set of announcers, including other racers trash-talking you) and a fresh look with a slightly more realistic colour palette. Oh, and I've got to mention the leather jacket-wearing lady shown in the game's title demo- contrary to popular belief, it's not series mascot Reiko Nagase, but instead a woman who was given the name "Rave Reiko" by fans and used in Gamest, but she's earned a place in the heart of gamers who ever saw that attract mode.

Now, I can't speak for everyone because my arcade-going experience was usually limited to going on holiday rather than any local arcades- this is probably why I'm still so enamoured with arcade games to this day, it was always a chance encounter for me- but Rave Racer is one I never saw myself, maybe once or twice but certainly not as much as the earlier Ridge Racer games. I've seen it since (in particular at Arcade Club) and loved it, but the fact that it never got a home port or even had its courses reused for many years (eventually showing up in the two PSP Ridge Racer games) gave this one a certain mystique. Fortunately, it absolutely lives up to the Ridge Racer name. This is essentially a real arcade follow-up and it plays just as beautifully as the original, but with little tweaks and additions and, of course, two brand new courses to get your teeth stuck into. Just like the other 3D Namco games of this era, it's easy to learn but extremely fun to try and master, with that 'just one more try' feel as you learn each course and try to get those times down and, ultimately, aim for first place. Just like the first Ridge Racer, this is an incredible racing game that feels just as fun and fluid now as it did over 30 years ago, so this is maybe the easiest recommendation for any ACA rerelease. It says a lot that I was hoopin' and hollerin' when I took first place on the City course last night after several failed attempts, and it just made me think, damn, arcade games kick ass. Play Rave Racer! Play arcade games!!

Time for the debut of the original Xbox on Gaming Hell with Gunvalkyrie, an early game for the system by Smilebit of Jet Set Radio fame, taking on the 3D action genre with an aerial-focused insect hunt. What chaos awaits Kelly and Saburouta on the planet Tir na Nog? Read on to find out! The MS Paint art for this one shows one of my favourite stages. Naglfar's Pit, which has a huge orb you have to make your way up to. How are Sarah and Sniper breathing in space? Don't worry about it.

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Adventure Canoe (Taito, 1982)

Arcade Archives (previous-gen consoles)
PSN

Switch

Arcade Archives 2 (current-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch 2

Xbox

Just the one ROM and no Preference Settings this time, although that's not really a problem, seeing as there's still no publicly-available dump of this game for MAME! This is a rare one, so your only other options are the Taito Egret II Mini (it's included as standard- the PR specialist for the system Yukito Ohayashi, was so insistent on getting the game included that he sourced the extremely rare PCB himself just to make sure it was included) or, well, this release.

Adventure awaits you on the open river! This is a very rare Taito game that was a bit of a mystery even to me, a die-hard Taito arcade rat- In the weekly Hamster stream, they even went to the trouble of sharing a list of games kept by an arcade enthusiast in 1983 (complete with multiple location test games and quite a few American titles like Sinistar and Krull) just to show that Adventure Canoe did show up in at least one Japanese arcade! Although it was in the Taito Egret II Mini, now it's got a much wider release, and it's pretty interesting! This has a similar visual style to Taito games of this era like Alpine Ski and Wild Western, with you rowing your canoe across the river littered with driftwood, whirlpools and exposed pieces of land. You've got a gun to nudge oncoming driftwood slightly (I wouldn't rely on it if I were you) but if you turn, your aiming direction changes too, allowing you to hit animals and unfortunately stereotyped natives for extra points. You'll need that gun for the boss fight (!) at the end of the river (after the high-speed section, where the river turns into green slime, as often observed in nature) where you either hunt down the giant crocodile and take him home for dinner or escape with your tail between your legs, at which point you go on another river adventure.

The movement is pretty interesting too compared to other early shmups (I guess this is a shmup, of sorts) as you slow down and become a larger target while turning and also have an accelerate button, necessary to move up the screen faster. You can even lose one of your oars if you move too close to land, reducing your turning speed! This was definitely one of the surprises of the Egret II Mini for me and I ended up really enjoying it, so if you missed out on getting one, I definitely recommend getting this ACA version, it's an interesting twist on the at-the-time buregeoning shmup genre with a less-often-seen nature theme (the closest contemporary would be Tehkan's Swimmer, but that takes quite a different approach) and the unique movement alone makes it stand out.

From THE iDOLM@STER: CINDERELLA GIRLS, it's Koume Shirasaka and Ranko Kanzaki! Every year I do a little yuri art for Valentine's Day, and since we had Friday the 13th in the same week, I had to make it a little scary! So, the two are watching a horror film together, even though Ranko doesn't handle scary movies very well. Clearly this was Koume's plan all along. As for what they're watching, I had a few thoughts, but decided on The Exorcist III, the part at the nurse's station (if you've seen it, you know) to give poor Ranko a fright. I also wanted to do a bit of lighting here, so I hope my MS Paint style managed to capture the soft glow of the television... These are always fun to do, so I look forward to the pair I'll draw next year!

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Mega Zone (Konami, 1984)

Arcade Archives (previous-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch

Arcade Archives 2 (current-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch 2

Xbox

Just the one ROM this time, and no Preference Settings either. I was a bit confused by the year listed though, as the title screen says 1983, as does arcade-history. However, this book, often cited as a reliable source, lists the game's release as March 1984 rather than 1983... In Japan, at least. This is unsourced, but JP Wikipedia lists the European and American release as 1983, specifying October 1983 for the US. Hamster themselves do, on occasion, get the year wrong too- Dragon Buster is officially listed as 1984 but that released early in 1985 (Namco gets this wrong too IIRC)- but seeing as they're likely to defer to the Japanese release date, we'll keep it as 1984 for now. Arcade release years (and release territories too- never say a game was only released in Japan unless you've got rock-solid proof) are confusing!

Once again, shmups are my area of weakness, but as ever, I'll do my best to bumble through. Another game saved from having its only home port being in the Microsoft Game Room, Mega Zone is a completely fine vertical shmup where you control a floating tank, making its way through enemy hordes to destroy their base. It's got a few things of interest that you didn't really see too often at the time. For a start, there's obstacles like walls and bushes that don't destroy you on impact (only if the scrolling of the screen crushes you against them) and this plays into the branching path system, as sometimes these obstacles force you to pick the left or right of the screen. Once you do, the path splits (and sometimes even scrolls diagonally, fancy!) and you'll take a different route, so you won't see the whole game in one loop. Once you do reach the end of the game (which has a gigantic face as the final boss- shoot out its eyes then take out the core!) you do repeat the game, so you can try the routes you missed if you're good enough to get that far!

There's not much in the way of power-ups, but eyeball turrets drop objects that clear the screen and give you a big points bonus, and energy pellets found in the riverbed (that I assumed were landmines the first time I played so I avoided them, oops) spawn a MEGA sign (truncated to just MEG in-game) once you collect enough, and grabbing it doubles your tank's size and triples its firepower at the cost of one of your spare lives, a bit like the Double Fighter from Galaga. It even lets you take a hit without having to respawn, but being twice the size does make your hitbox larger, so be careful. I think some of the enemies are pretty interesting too, like the missiles that fly diagonally to catch you out, the installations that fire bullets between them and only get destroyed if you fly between the gap (according to the manual, they eventually transform into the wolves from Pooyan!), eyeballs that need to be shot directly in the eye and the walls that appear directly ahead of you that you need to react to quickly. I don't have a lot else to say about it but it's, like, completely fine. It is a shoot-em-up you can play, and enjoy. I think that about covers it, sorry I can't say much else~

From Super Mario Land, it's Daisy! Well, specifically, this is Daisy (Swimwear) from Mario Kart Tour, a game I've never played but has a load of cute outfits for basically every character. And also Bus Driver Waluigi. Daisy's swimwear here is different from the one seen in Mario Kart World, it's a cute flared design and I decided, since I want to try and draw more clothes like this, I'd give it a try. I think it turned out pretty good! Daisy is pretty good too.

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Top Speed (Taito, 1987)

Arcade Archives (previous-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch

Arcade Archives 2 (current-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch 2

Xbox

Both the Japanese (Full Throttle) and English (Top Speed) versions are included (although a UK flyer does show the Full Throttle name), but no extra Preference Settings outside of being able to toggle the Hi / Low Gear display on or off. There's also no fix for the old Taito trick- if you get a Game Over on the final stage, no matter whether you've enabled continues or not, that's your lot, get off the machine, kid!

Before Chase H.Q., there was FULL THROTTLE. Or TOP SPEED if you prefer. In the wake of Sega's 1986 smash hit Outrun, Taito decided to try their hand at the driving genre, running on hardware later used for Operation Thunderbolt with sprite scaling and zooming being the order of the day. You're not looking to outrace people here (outside the nuisance traffic, some of which appear to be Sunday drivers and will not get out the way!), it's just you, a souped-up car (a Mazda RX-7 according to arcade-history, I wouldn't really know) with two gears, three blasts of nitro per stage and a vicious timer to beat. Can you make it to the end of the course in time?

The usual hazards in games like this are present like billboards, trees, cliffs and houses to crash into, but this also has a variation on the Outrun path-split as while you always head to the same destination, the road can fork multiple times in one area so you have plenty of track segments you won't see in a single playthrough. You'll want to master those segments though because this game goes at a breakneck speed throughout, and you'll need those nitro speed boosts to make it to the checkpoints, the timer is pretty strict and one or two crashes will end your run. At least you can activate continues here, although they get cut off on Stage 5, so be careful. The presentation is pretty good too, with bold colours, some tunnel sequences that are really convincing and, of course, some of the hottest jams in existence (although they're somewhat drowned out by the engine noise!) Many of the elements seen here would be seen again in the more well-known Chase H.Q., but don't let the lack of criminals to chase down put you off- this is a tough driving game that you might not clear on your first attempt, but you'll have fun trying!

There's also been a bit of news in the Arcade Archives world this week, with Rave Racer getting a date (26th February, I will be rotating in excitement until the release) and a new line of rereleases from Hamster, Console Archives! As the name suggests, this focuses on console game rereleases releasing on Switch 2 and PS5, starting with Cool Boarders and Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos and with future titles mentioned by gosokkyu including the Famicom Doraemon game, Monster Farm Jump and Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (!!!). There's a pretty eclectic selection of publishers and games already, which is nice!

However... To let you know, I won't be covering Console Archives the way I cover Arcade Archives. I'm a rotten little arcade rat at heart, that's where I live, and while some of the games teased for the lineup are interesting (Rhapsody already has a modern rerelease but I'm OK with giving people another option) they're just not the sort of thing I'd be motivated to cover on a weekly basis like I do with ACA. There'll be other people out there to tell you aobut the Console Archives releases I'm sure! Hopefully you'll understand, and we can continue to look at Arcade Archives games on a weekly basis. Thanks!

From Pokémon Legends: Z-A, it's Canari! I won't lie to you, it's been several decades since I last played a Pokémon game when it was relevant, but the trainer designs in modern games are really cute. So, every now and then, I have to draw a character from a game I'll likely never play, and Canari is one such character. Look at this design! She's so cool! And cute! What was I supposed to do, not draw her? I look forward to the next Pokémon game I will probably not play but will almost certainly have another cute trainer design I'll have to draw.

on her way to steal your girl (she won't, but she'll try)

Oops, guess who forgot to upload their MS Paint stuff again! Me. I did. A bit of variety this time, with Dark Seal / Gate of Doom's Freya Edirne (she's about to cast the famous rat spell!), Love Live! Nijigasaki School Idol Club's Kasumi Nakasu's birthday picture (the opening episode of Nijigasaki Season 2 has all the girls in suits, and I like to think Kasumin thinks she's a total ladykiller in it, but she ain't), Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney's Ema Skye (listening to her theme made me realise I'd never drawn her before) and Detana!! TwinBee's Pastel having a minute on the beach (I'm always a bit nervous about drawing bikinis and swimsuits but it seems I didn't do a bad job here, Pastel is cute). Some day, I'll remember to upload these more promptly, but not today!!

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Quester (Namco, 1987)

This one's shown up everywhere else except the UK store. The US, France, Italy, Germany and the rest of Europe, it's on all those other places except the UK which, annoyingly, is where I happen to live. At least getting Japanese points isn't so difficult these days, even if I'd rather have just paid the six quid to get it easier. Oh well. So, we're just providing US links this time~

Arcade Archives (previous-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch

Arcade Archives 2 (current-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch 2

Xbox

Just the one ROM for this one, which means there's no Quester Special Editionm that's the one with designs sent in by fans to NG Namco Community Magazine and printed in the November 1987 issue (Wikipedia has the page wrong, it's on Page 24). Preference Settings allow you to display the current round and time elapsed to the side of the screen (there's a handy Round Select setting too, but that's a dip-switch on the original cabinet). You can also use a USB mouse or the JoyCon 2's mouse functionality to simulate the original paddle controls, or adjust the sensitivity of the left analogue stick for analogue control.

This is a bit of a milestine release, as it's the final non-3D Namco arcade game that was previously rereleased on the Wii Virtual Console in Japan that's made it over to Arcade Archives. The only ones left now are Starblade, Solvalou and Cyber Sled! As for Quester itself, this is Arkanoid by way of Namco. This has a few different gimmicks, mind you, and one of them is actually pretty neat- once your ball hits the walls (oo-er, missus) enough times, the ball slows down and splits into three which can make it a lot easier to finish up a stage, plus there's special blocks that both speed up and slow down the ball when you hit them. There's also a few power-ups for things like making your paddle incrementally bigger and little barriers that clone your ball when you get them trapped inside, plus bonus stages where you can mash the button to unleash dozens of balls at once! Unfortunately, there's also perhaps one of the most annoying gimmicks I've seen in a Breakout-style game, blocks that constantly spawn new blocks unless you destroy the spawner, and it's actually possible to get stuck for ages trying to get rid of the bloody things. Not ideal, really, but the presentation is pretty nice, with that Namco System 1 gradient look to it and different dings for the different block types the ball bounces off of. Still, I've been spoiled by OOParts when it comes to this kind of game, sorry!

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Labyrinth Runner (Konami, 1988)

Arcade Archives (previous-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch

Arcade Archives 2 (current-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch 2

Xbox

Only two ROMs are here for this one, the Japanese and World ROMs both called Labyrinth Runner. There's another set out there called Trick Trap (possibly Trick Trap -1771- as that's what the title screen has) which MAME lists as a 'World?' version, and this was also the version included in the Microsoft Game Room, but it's not included here. No special Preference Settings either (and yes, this means you have a hard limit of 5 continues! Good luck)

The land of Vegetaria is in crisis! The wicked Devil has been terrorising the land, and even kidnapped the beloved Princess Papaya from another kingdom, who's been taken to his castle! Only one knight is brave enough to make the perilous journey to rescue her. Scaling the castle wall, running through the labyrinth (get it?) and even riding the treacherous mine carts are some of the obstacles in the hero's way, but he will prevail. Not only is he strong and brave, but he also can pick up strong armaments along the way, including upgrading his normal shot, obtaining bombs thrown in a rising arc and lasers that bounce off the walls and even magic spells to damage everything on screen. With compass in hand to make sure he's going the right way, and courage in his heart, he swears to defeat the evil Devil and bring peace back to the land!

OK, I won't lie, this is one of my favourites, Labyrinth Runner is a neat little top-down shooter with an identity of its own. the aesthetic is a strange fusion of fantasy and sci-fi (you have a laser for one thing, and robot-like enemies and environments start showing up right at the end), almost a bit like Battlantis but a lot better. The controls are a little awkward at first, as you have to manually switch between weapons with a Select button, and if you happen to highlight a weapon you haven't picked up yet, bully for you, you'll just fire nothing. Still, you get used to it, and the different weapons are different enough from each other that you'll want to use them in specific situations and you usually get replacements nearby when you die. The game is also extremely fast-paced- your walking speed starts off at a brisk pace and only gets faster with power-ups, and each scene lasts between 1:30-2:00 minutes. There's variety too, with a few maze sequences (use your compass to find the right way) and a minecart chase where you need to pick the right path (you can just barely see far enough ahead of you to make the right call). If anything, it's a bit similar to the arcade Contra in that it feels like it's a little undercooked, mostly in length, it's not very long at all and maybe some of these ideas could've been fleshed out more. To compensate, the game is tough with lots of bullets and enemies heading your way at all times, and with the limited continues (thanks, Konami), you won't conquer it straight away. Konami's off to a good start in 2026 on Arcade Archives with this one, I definitely recommend it!

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Bomb Jack Twin (Tecmo, 1993)

Arcade Archives (previous-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch

Arcade Archives 2 (current-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch 2

Xbox

US

Regarding the publisher, this was originally released by NMK as, similar to Riot, they picked it up after Tecmo didn't see much success in location testing but NMK had more luck by cranking up the difficulty for a loketest in Berlin (this is all mentioned in the Hamster stream for the game as pointed out and translated by Eonstro on the LordBBH Discord, thanks). However, Hamster themselves point out that while they own the NMK library nowadays, this game belongs to Tecmo, so I've listed them as the publisher for consistency. Anyway, we have the JP ROM here and no special Preference Settings (you can select the starting round, but this was a dip switch setting anyway).

Remember Bomb Jack? He's back! In Twin form. This is an update / sequel to one of Tecmo's earliest hits, so early it was back when they were called Tehkan, where you jump through single-screen stages trying to grab every bomb (preferably the lit bombs, which follow a set pattern but only one bomb is lit at a time so you have to be careful) while avoiding the many enemies on the field (only picking up a power coin can stop them). Of course, this is 1993 so we get a fresh coat of paint (and a soundtrack by Manabu Namiki, his very first) and some new features added. Chief among them is the 'Twin' part of the title, allowing for co-op play with a girl Bomb Jack as Player 2! The controls have also been tightened up with more flowing movement (you move faster, there's less of a stop when you land, you no longer have to hold Up to do your max-height jump), you no longer have to pick up a non-lit bomb to restart the lit bomb chain after losing a life, and there's also a new timed bonus stage every other world with no enemies to bother you.

Despite these additions made to smooth the gameplay over a little, this game is hard. As mentioned in the Hamster stream, the location test results indicated that setting the difficulty as high as possible was the way to go, and this really goes all-in on that with numerous and relentless enemies that will not stop, ever, until you are dead. The original Bomb Jack gets a little cramped with its enemy numbers but this feels even more calustrophobic, with more of them appearing at once and them all being faster and more aggressive. The fact that the game is generally faster too makes this something akin to Bomb Jack for Super Players, so if you felt the original was just too easy, this is the one for you. The really cute presentation definitely helps too (Bomb Jack himself has a really cute set of animations) but get ready for a challenge!

(Oh, and if you were waiting for Touchdown Fever on PSN, it's out now in all regions. Why was there a delay? I dunno, don't ask me.)

From Koihime Enbu, it's Chōhi Yokutoku! If you've never played it, Koihime Enbu's a pretty interesting fighter based on an eroge visual novel series with a combo system centered around the Hougeki mechanic where you basically crumple an enemy and get to do whatever the engine lets you get away with afterwards, which is quite fun to mess around with. There's plenty of tepidsnake-core characters here but I decided to draw my main, she's got a big pointy stick and multiple command grabs, what's not to like?

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Touchdown Fever (SNK, 1987)

Arcade Archives (previous-gen consoles)

PSN

Switch

Arcade Archives 2 (current-gen consoles)

PSN

Xbox

US

No Switch 2 release this time (similar to Chopper I) and the PSN version's not out until January 13th, so I'll update this with the working links later. Both the Japanese and English ROMs are included. Preference Settings allow you to control the player three side with player two controls (this is to more easily allow a player versus player game as when the game's set to four players, player one and player two are normally on the same team against the computer). Button Settings are similar to the ones for the other SNK Loop Lever games with the default being using the right thumbstick to control your passing direction, and other options letting you adjust the direction with buttons (no analogue settings for this though, make a note of that) and hold a button to lock direction, or tie aim direction to movement direction. You can also reverse the movement direction inputs, presumably to simulate player a multiplayer game on a cocktail cabinet.

So here's something interesting, a pre-Neo Geo SNK ACA release that isn't on the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection! Touchdown Fever was one of three games (the others being Touchdown Fever II and Fighting Soccer) that used an optical variant of the SNK Loop Lever, the difference being these allowed for much finer control than the eight directions of games like Ikari Warriors. Oh, and Touchdown Fever used a football for a joystick (thanks, ohfivepro!) which certainly stands out. It's also got some scorching-hot jams and the kind of SNK presentation you expect from this era. This is also the first rerelease of this game for quite a while, as it last appeared on PSP on SNK Arcade Classics 0 (Japan only) and as a PSP Mini on PS3, PSP and PS Vita (outside Japan only) so that's something, and I'm clearly running out of things to say because...

Ahem. Unfortunately, I'm at a particularly massive disadvantage this week- this is, of course, an American football game. I don't know American football. My entire knowledge of the sport is derived from game results shown on Channel 4 in the '90s (just before the cartoons, you see), watching other people play Super High Impact (SOMEBODY GET A BODY BAG!) and that one stage in Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose! for the SNES. My understanding of the rules is lacking, to say the least (and the manual does say "Game rules may differ from actual American football rules" but it does define a few terms like Turn Over and Safety at least) and so this game is a real challenge for me. The controls are a little less than ideal too, but while this would definitely work better on real hardware so you have a hand free to mash the Run button (you can move without it, but going faster is always a better option), you don't always need to be aiming for a Pass, so maybe you might have more luck using the buttons to move your aim direction rather than the right stick. I would not recommend using the shoulder buttons for Run because mashing that gets very uncomfortable! There is a neat concession though- once you're moving in a direction, you don't have to hold it, you can just mash Run and head that way, so keep that in mind. Sorry I don't have much to say on this one, but please look forward to a complete repeat of this when we get the inevitable ACA release of Touchdown Fever II!

From Di Gi Charat, it's Petit Charat, better known as Puchiko! Look at how small she is? I finally finished watching all the original Di Gi Charat shorts, it's pretty good, but I hadn't drawn Puchiko yet, which seems odd because she's pretty aggressively tepidsnake-core, wouldn't you agree? In summary: nyu.

Gaming Hell

Arcade Archives: Final Lap

MS Paint World: Catch Up Time 12

Arcade Archives: Devastators

ACA NeoGeo: Pop'n Bounce

Arcade Archives: Plump Pop

Arcade Archives: Rave Racer

New on Gaming Hell - Gunvalkyrie

Arcade Archives: Adventure Canoe

MS Paint World: Date Night Movie

Arcade Archives: Mega Zone

MS Paint World: Hi, She's Daisy

Arcade Archives: Top Speed & Arcade / Console Archives News Station

MS Paint World: PKMN Trainer

MS Paint World: Catch Up Time 11

Arcade Archives: Quester

Arcade Archives: Labyrinth Runner

Arcade Archives: Bomb Jack Twin

MS Paint World: Short but Mighty

Arcade Archives: Touchdown Fever

MS Paint World: Nyu

DATA EAST FOREVER

March 2026