tepidsnake | This Violent Time

took a lot of restraint not to draw the witch costume for her (maybe we should do that for hallowe'en)

From Sonic Adventure 2, it's the jewel-loving thief and spy, Rouge the Bat! I recently replayed Sonic Adventure 2 on my stream and I'd forgotten how sassy Rouge is throughout the story, she's got some pretty good lines. Anyway, I did say last year I'd try and draw more anthro-like characters, and I think I'm getting better at it. For whatever reason, drawing the proper Sonic-style eyes works a lot better for them than my usual line-style of eyes, but they're still there inside the eyes in spirit.

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Scrambled Egg (Technōs, 1983)

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Only the Japanese ROM is included here- there was a localised Western release by Universal, Eggs, with completely different character designs, that isn't available here. No extra options either, sorry!

Jaleco and SNK are one thing- their last ACA releases prior to this month were in 2021- but Technōs is going all the way back, their last ACA release was Double Dragon II: The Revenge in 2016. Almost a decade ago! I was definitely not expecting them to ever return to ACA as they recently put out their own half-arcade game collection, Super Technōs World: River City & Technōs Arcade Classics, but this game isn't included on there, so while I wouldn't expect any of the games on there to show up on ACA, maybe we'll get a Mysterious Stones or a Minky Monkey out of this. What older company will come back next, I wonder?

Anyway, as for Scrambled Egg itself, this game is weird, I'd sort-of never heard of it before! By that I mean I was only familiar with the Datel bootleg ROCK DUCK which has incorrect colours but I mean, you can see the duck thrusting its crotch constantly, right? Anyway, this is a maze chase game with less of the emphasis on the 'maze' part, where as the hero, BOSS (some kind of strange robot thingy) you have to free all the chicks from the eggs by kicking them. Kicking an egg scoots it across in the direction you kicked it, and if it hits another egg, it'll send that one flying in the same direction, until an egg hits a wall, and the whole thing happens again in reverse until they're back in position, but with each egg a little closer to cracking open. Once the chicks are out, kick 'em off the screen to get them out of danger! Poor BOSS gets pestered by two enemy types, the Sukiyaki Bros. who can undo the damage you've done to the eggs or turn freed chicks blue to make them worth less points, and the Tuna Head who usually circles the edge of the screen but comes in from time to time to chase you. You can fire off your eyes (!) against the Sukiyaki Bros. to stun them, but that won't work against Tuna Head, so you need to kick an egg and hit them with it to take them out temporarily. You'll even find a red helper chick to swat away bad guys that can turn into a hen that helps crack the eggs too. Just be careful, if you get sandwiched between moving eggs, you're poached. Save all the chicks and move on to the next board!

I won't lie, on my first few credits I didn't get anywhere with this game and was ready to write it off, but I decided to persist and it does take a little getting used to, but it's pretty fun! The movement in particular is a little strange, it works on a grid system but since there's more open spaces than something like Pac-Man, it can be hard to see where one tile stops and another starts at times, so I found myself not quite moving where i wanted to. I haven't gotten much better at it, but you sort-of adjust to it in time. The main habit you have to stop yourself from indulging in is hanging around on the outer edges of the maze- Tuna Head will spend most of its time circling it, and you can't attack it from there. Instead, you're better off sticking inside the maze, taking potshots at Tuna Head when the opportunity presents itself and dealing with the Sukiyaki Bros. using your eyes while using chain reactions to work on as many eggs as you can at once. The egg patterns eventually become more complex and more Sukiyaki Bros. show up, so it starts challenging and only gets more so as you get through the boards. It'll take a few credits for you to start to 'get' it, but I think this is a neat little game! A few gameplay elements would show up in another Technōs game a year later, Mysterious Stones: Dr. John's Adventure although that game's a lot more elabarote with way more going on, but I suppose it shows just how quickly arcade games were advancing at that time, eh~

Arisu is internally screaming at her producer for this outfit but I think it's cute.

Multiple people were introduced to Magical Hoppers when I posted this one, just spreading the word and doing my job.

you hear the jingling of bells in the distance

Yep, forgot to keep up with this, what else is new? You can tell how far behind I am because one of these is dated at the end of July! Yep, that's Arisu Tachibana's birthday art there from July 31st. Sorry! Obviously, that's based on an Alice in Wonderland-style outfit for her, it's very fitting. We also have Guppy from Magical Hoppers, the Japanese localisation of the Crystal Dynamics' platformer Pandemonium!- did you know this existed?- as well as Pastel from the TwinBee series (one of my very favourite Konami characters) and Yamai from Wasteful Days of High School Girls, a show that's absolutely not for everyone but I enjoyed watching over the past month or so. It's hard to pick a favourite character, but Yamai is up there.

Watch on YouTube

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Chopper I (SNK, 1988)

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This game is also available on SNK 40th Anniversary Collection for all major systems, although not as standard- it's part of a downloadable update that adds a bunch of games. Both the English (Chopper I) and Japanese (Koukuu Kihei Monogatari / The Legend of Air Cavalry) ROMs are included.No real Preference Settings this time (there is a menu for them but they're all options you could get on the original board) but this is first non-3D, non-Namco ACA1 title to use the 'new' interface which means quite a few things. Most of the new features listed here are added except Time Attack, Network and Variable Refresh Rate, which means proper save states, rewind and, especially useful for this game, menus that properly rotate when you switch to vertical screen! The price, however, is the same on PS4 and Switch as it's always been, and the PS5 and Xbox versions are only a fraction more expensive compared to the 3D Namco ACA2 titles.

*crackle* *buzz* "... Come in, Cavalry I! The enemy army's got twelve mega-weapons (well, six of them are repeats, but don't worry about that) ready to decimate us, and just one chopper left to destroy 'em- you! Fortunately, your chopper is one of the best around, with a machine-gun that can be upgraded to a full-on vulkan cannon and optional homing missiles, plus limited-use armaments like a squadron of napalm bombers and giant explosives. You'll have to be careful though, the enemy's using all the tricks in the book, including netting that'll prevent you from firing if it catches you, so be careful out there. Wait, the enemy's surrendered? Nah, must be a crossed wire. Take 'em out Chopper I, over!"

A few weeks ago we had Jaleco return to ACA with D-Day, and now we get a surprise return from SNK whose last ACA release that wasn't a Neo Geo game was Guerilla War in 2021! I'm OK with this mind you- there's been a pattern mostly of Namco, Konami and Taito games for a good while lately, and while I imagine that's likely because their game libraries are so massive that it'd take a long time to get through them, having other publishers show up after a while is nice. Admittedly, SNK wouldn't be one I'd pick, mostly because a lot of their pre-Neo Geo arcade games are already covered on SNK 40th Anniversary Collection, but the feature set's a little nicer here.

I don't have much to say on the game itself, unfortunately- it's a military-themed vertical shooter with a chopper, a few different bomb types you can hold up to four of and while it's fine enough (I like details like the little infantry guys who can still shoot you down, although they're hard to actually shoot!), it's quite difficult with those weird netting bombs really screwing you over if you get hit by them (and they're not just thrown by enemies, they're thrown off from unseen assailants off-screen!) and, well, it just doesn't particularly stand out for me... Except for one thing. Between stages, your commander gives you instructions and encouragement in typical SNK English, but once you reach the second loop, he tells you the enemy's surrendered... But goes on to say you should keep fighting anyway. These messages are all shown off in LordBBH's Push to Reject segment on the game and they're pretty strange, he just keeps going well after the war is supposed to be over! Maybe this is one I need to spend a bit more time with, but it's completely fine.

Watch on YouTube

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Aqua Jet (Namco, 1996)

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Both the Japanese and English ROMs are included. The Demo Sound option is found in Preference Settings this time, and as with other ACA2 games, you have a lot of control options. You can fine-tune your analogue settings (you'll find this in Settings > Button > Custom Button Settings > Advanced Setting) as well as toggle on gyro controls (PS4, PS5, Switch and Switch 2 only) and change how the analogue sticks work- by default, the left stick controls your left and right movement and the right stick controls moving the handlebar pole up or down, but you can set these to the same stick if you so wish. The manual also contains the cheats for Penguin Mode, Mirror Mode and Penguin-Mirror Mode, although the instructions are a little unclear- the trick is to hold the direction listed then press Start, and when you get to the final step, release both the direction and Start before you press the accelerator. It's tricky, but keep your inputs clean and you'll get it eventually.

It's a beautiful sunny day*, the perfect weather for the Namco Mermaid Beach Cup! Everyone's ready to go at the starting line on their Namco-branded jet skis (please don't sue us Kawasaki, we're using your brand name in a more general way, honest) with 550cc action on the Novice course and high-octane 1100cc speed on the Expert course. As well as turning, you can move the handlebar pole up and down to affect your height and distance on jumps- angle it right and you'll even take a dip under the waves for just a moment, keep an eye out for fish! As well as racing for first place and the best time, both courses have a jump contest to see who can grab the most air time on a series of big ramps. Just remember to look behind you before stepping off the mach- oh, wait, I mean, your sofa, this is a home port..
* For the purposes of this Arcade Archives post, please assume that the weather is sunny but mild with a nice breeze, and not the current heatwave in the UK that is turning me into a puddle as we speak.

Hamster, please, you can't just keep dropping unported-until-now 3D Namco arcade games on us like this! I figured they'd play it safe and do something like Ridge Racer 2, but nope, we're now getting games with specialised cabinets. Aqua Jet is to jet ski racing as Ridge Racer is to car racing, as you pick one of two courses (and mirrored versions via a code) and ride the waves to get to the end. This means a greater emphasis on navigating waves in certain parts of the course and giant ramps to launch off of. There's perhaps slightly less complexity here than Ridge Racer (although you might pick up some tips from ohfivepro's Caravan Mode run) and not having the big cabinet where you have to lean to turn and squeeze the accelerator might take away some of the appeal away for some (something I think Hamster could alleviate by providing a picutre of the actual cabinet to give players a sense of what it was like- luckily, Aqua Jet has a 3D model of it in its attract mode). Even so, this works pretty well on a standard controller and it's still important to make these kind of games available without having to fight with MAME's analogue controls, you know? Besides, the presentation is immaculate- blue skies, blue waves, sharp polygons, hot jams and the low camera that really gives a 'feel' for being there (as does dipping under the water for a brief moment after leaning in to a big jump). I'm wondering what this means for future 3D Namco arcade games, as a lot of them had specialised controls like this, even just on System Super 22 like this game- Cyber Cycles? Alpine Racer? Prop Cycle? We'll just have to wait and see, won't we?

This week's Arcade Archives release is... D-Day (Jaleco, 1984)

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Just the one ROM this time, and no Preference Settings either, too bad!

Well, this is a surprise- welcome back, Jaleco! The last time we saw a Jaleco game on Arcade Archives was Soldam all the way back in 2021, so I figured we wouldn't be seeing them again, but here we are! Unfortunately, the game they chose to come back with isn't exactly a classic, and it's not even a Jaleco game- this was developed by E.L.S. as mentioned in the comments of LordBBH's Push to Reject video on the game, who mostly appear to have done work for companies like Jaleco and Sega. This is a weird vertical shmup of sorts where you control a rather awkward battleship making its way across the ocean, taking on land, sea and air targets along the way. The way you do this is by juggling two different targetting reticles- one that fires machine-gun fire upwards to take out anything in the air (this includes missiles launched by sea targets, so keep that in mind) and another that fires missiles to target ground and sea-based targets. These reticles move at different speeds and stop moving at different parts of the screen, so actually aiming where you can get tricky, especially when you factor in that your boat only moves once you drag the aerial cursor to the left or right edge, and it moves s l o w l y. You'll have to master moving this thing too, because land masses along the way will sink you if you graze them!

I can sort-of see what they were going for here, but it's a very slow, plodding game that feels really awkward to play. Keeping track of which reticle you need in which part of the screen gets really confusing, so you'll try and hit something with the wrong reticle and die because there's absolutely no way to course correct fast enough (especially since you can't move diagonally- this is a four-way game only) and dodging any missiles or shots coming your way is not an option. It's just not a game that really grabs me, which is a shame. Still, I get the feling Jaleco may have taken notes from this game for Field Combat, which has a similar slow player ship with a reticle but does more interesting things with it. Field Combat is one of the games not currently in Arcade Archives, so I'd definitely like to see that in the future. There's not a huge amount of Jaleco arcade games left for ACA, but Avenging Spirit and NMK's Jaleco-publoshed Psychic 5 would be nice (especially since the latter's modern remake is apparently not very good at all). The big fish, though, is Chimera Beast. C'mon, it doesn't matter that it never got officially released, make it happen!

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Field Day (Taito, 1984)

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Only the JP ROM (The Undoukai) is included. Preference Settings allows players to adjust game speed.

"... Can the band stop playing for a second, this microphone isn't... OK, have we fixed the feedback? Ahem, ahem, test one-two, test one-two... Right, we're on. Welcome, everyone, to Some Womens' Dorm's Sports Day, or Field Day, or The Undoukai, the kids at the local elementary school made signs for all three names, it's confusing. Let's hear it for our athletes, everyone! (Pause for applause) So, we've got a lot of events today! We'll start with the Ball Toss (get the angle right to dunk the balls, please don't throw the balls at each other), the 3-Legged Race (timing and being in-sync with your partner is key), the Bell Ringer (get the timing right to ring that bell), the Obstacle Race (get over the pommel horse, grab the food with your mouth and more), the Softball Toss (throw that sucker as far as you can, but only the first bounce counts), the 120-Meter Relay Race (pass the baton to the next person along) and of course, the grand finale, the Tug of War (don't give up, get that rope over the line). Let's cheer on our competitors without getting too rowdy, because they've got to hit the qualifying time to move on to the next event! And let's all stay hydrated as well, there's water stands all around and it's a warm one today, so be careful everyone. Let's also thank our sponsor, Taito, who supplied... What the hell is a Chack'n? You're making that up,that's not re- oh, balls, we're still live, ahem, ahem, let's all have fun, everyone!"

Oh this is great, my job's way easier this week- I've written about this game at length before! Yes, go and visit Gaming Hell for all your Field Day needs! I'll still give a little summary here though. This is of course a multi-event sports game very much in the vein of Track & Field, but themed around a traditional Japanese sports day or undoukai which you can learn more about here or consult this concise video guide so the events are a little different. The buttons are the standard for a game like this- two power-building buttons and one action button- and it works pretty well, with a nice variety of events and some that are probably easier than some of the Track & Field events (looking at you, High Jump). The qualifying times are also fairly lenient if you're decent at mashing and timing, and there's a lot of cute details in the presentation, like the band playing notes wrong in the intro, hidden bonuses like Chack'n appearing and the vibrant colours, that make this one of my favourites of the genre from this point in time. Another Taito charmer, as expected~

From THE iDOLM@STER: SHINY COLORS, it's Kaho Komiya! Her birthday was yesterday and sure, I've not actually played SHINY COLORS, but hey, the character designs are cute, so who cares? The characters in this iM@S series have a slightly different vibe to them than some of the other sub-series, and Kaho's really cute. The hair especially, although a challenge to draw, was really fun to put together! Next year, I'll have to draw the outfit where she's using her school bag as armour, that's a good one.

a slightly more mature-looking imp (but she's still an imp)

bottom-tier on the tier list, top-tier in my heart

Oops, fell behind again! That's OK, because these three are kind-of related, almost- they're all cute characters! First is the Sonic Adventure redesign of Amy Rose (can you believe this is the first time I've drawn her in my style?), Nico Yazawa from Love Live! School idol project (it was her birthday this week, and I was honour-bound to acknowledge it) and Momoko from The King of Fighters XI (who is a favourite of mine from the series, which is almost certainly the least surprising thing you've heard today). They've all got elements of pink to their design, so they're fine to bundle together like this, right?

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Stinger (Seibu Kaihatsu, 1983)

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Two versions are included- Version A (with a black background for space scenes, radars that don't shoot at you and invincibility frames for bosses after they're shot) and Version B (with a blue background for space scenes, radars that fire at you and no invincibility frames for bosses), with Version A (seen as the easier version by the manual) being used for Hi Score and Caravan modes. Preference Settings allow players to adjust game speed and display the current loop number in the top-left corner. The game has also been edited to tone down the red flashing when you defeat the boss in the enemy's base, presumably to reduce the possibility of epileptic seizures.

We're back in my favourite kind of Arcade Archives release- the kind I've never even heard of! Yes! It is a shmup so I'm out of my depth as usual, but I'll do my best. This is Seibu Kaihatsu's first game- so early it was released under their original name, Seibu Denshi- and it's a horizontal shmup on a vertical monitor, a bit like Scramble or Super Cobra, where as the Stinger Fox ship, you must make your way through waves of Biotron lifeforms to destroy the enemy base and save the galaxy! You're not alone fortunately, as a friendly robot called BONGO (no, not that Bongo, and yes, it's all in capitals) is here to help- you start with two and can use them to chase after enemies and destroy tough enemies easily, but they don't last long. There's more BONGOs to find on deserted space stations, and this is a unique mechanic- to rescue these helpful robots and also take down ground targets, you'll need to lower your altitude and skirt across the surface (which takes up half of the screen) and grab them, while defending yourself with short-range ground bombs. Thing is, shots from aerial enemies get blocked by the surface so you're safe from them, but your movement speed is massively reduced, so you have to balance between getting an extra BONGO and keeping yourself out of trouble. Eventually you'll find the core of the enemy base, so blow that thing and go home, kid!

This one's a little slow and awkward, but it's got some pretty interesting ideas- I really like how you can essentially 'take cover' from enemy fire at the cost of your movement speed, and you actually get a bonus for stockpiling BONGO robots (get five of them and charge up the meter by trying to pick up another robot and you'll get a rear shot until you use up one of your BONGOs!) which encourages you not to rely on them too much. There's a few neat visual touches too, like the shadow that appears when you're flying over the space stations (which helps you figure out how close you are) and the enemy base appears in the background, getting closer each time it appears and it even starts to fire at you! This one was a nice little surprise, so if you can reckon with the fact it's a horizontal shmup on a vertical console (maybe get it on Switch and get your Flip Grip out if you've got one) this is pretty neat!

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Super Basketball (Konami, 1984)

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Just the one version for this game, and the almost-standard-at-this-point 'adjust game speed' option in the Preference Settings.

It's been a minute since we've had a sports game, but this is perhaps more conventional than Punk Shot. We're on a regulation court with five players on each team, and we're working our way from the juniour high school leagues all the way to the world championships. This also does something pretty clever that I've seen only a handful of sports games do- rather than play a full game, you start every game in the middle of it, and your team is losing. Close the gap before you run out of time, and a draw doesn't count! You can earn extra time by scoring baskets to reach the target score, but mistakes will cost you a few seconds (thanks for the reminder, ohfivepro!) Its other innovation is perhaps a bit weirder, as this is a three-button game- pass and shoot are on their own buttons as you'd expect (with the passing working quite nicely, as the team member you're free to pass to is highlighted) but the third button is dribble and you have to mash it to move with the ball. It's a bit strange at first but if you're OK with mashing, it works pretty alright and tries to simulate the physical act of dribbling, although it might be a bit of a strain for some, but that's what the rapid fire function of all ACA rereleases is for. Double Dribble would also keep this unusual dribbling system, but scrapped it for the NES home version (only having two buttons there didn't help, I imagine).

I found myself pretty charmed by this one- it's not a super-advancecd basketball simulation by any means and it does stop and start a lot as it keeps as many of the rules and fouls of basketball as it can, but there's neat touches like a penalty shot system that plays like a micro Track & Field game (get the angle and position right!) and the synthesized voices, a staple of Konami games in the '80s, are really charming, they're doing their best. There's even a bonus shoot-out round from a slightly different perspective where you try to score as many baskets as possible before time runs out! A bonus round in a sports game, can you imagine?

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Super Dimension Fortress Macross II (Banpresto / NMK, 1993)

Unlike last time, this one is available across the world at double the normal Arcade Archives price because of the license. Thanks to Retro Pals Discord member bVork for explaining the Macross licensing situation to me very simply- the original Macross TV series is tied up with the deal between Harmony Gold and Tatsunoko, hence the first game's ACA reissue not making it outside of Japan, but the Macross II OVA series was made without Tatsunoko's involvement, so Big West can release it outside of Japan with no issue. As with other licensed games like Mazinger-Z and the first Macross game, this is double the normal price.

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As with the first Macross arcade game, the language selection is done via dip-switches so there's no separate ROMs, but you can select the Japanese and English setting just like with every other Arcade Archives release. Preference Settings allow players to select the player two side ship when playing solo (which is slightly faster, but only when played alone) and adjust game speed.

NMK are at it again with another shmup based on the Macross series, but this is quite different from the last one. Not only has the screen flipped from vertical to horizontal, but the structure is also quite different from any other arcade shooter of the time. This takes a 'caravan' approach where you have a hard time limit of two minutes on every stage and a target score to reach if you want to move on to the next area on your selected course (there's three to choose from with three stages each and a final shared stage). There's actually no lives here- getting hit either stuns you if you've picked up power-ups or sends you flying off the screen if you haven't (and if you've switched forms to the mecha, you'll switch back to the standard ship) but while you'll recover quite quickly, you'll lose any power-ups you've grabbed and, more importantly, the score multiplier on picking up medals gets reset.

As with many caravan-style games it's a pretty neat challenge, as the faster you get rid of enemies on-screen, the faster the next set will show up, so being efficient and grabbing as many bonus items as possible is the key to getting to the end, and I found myself having just one more go when playing this for the first time to see if I could reach the par score quicker! Add in some great presentaton (big fan of the Minmay hologtams in the first Beginner stage) and an absolutely killer soundtrack and you'll find this is one of the more interesting shmups to make it to Arcade Archives in recent times, so I'd recommend this to those who aren't necessarily that big into shmups to give it a try. There's one more arcade Macross game- Macross Plus from 1996- so maybe that'll be in our future, we'll see~

And yes, this still has the normal Arcade Archives Caravan Mode, which is still timed! You get to do two full stages on any route and have just over a minute to rack up points in the third stage, so it's a slightly different kind of challenge.

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Air Combat 22 (Namco, 1995)

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Both the Japanse and English ROMs are included. There's a whole load of control options available here. As well as the standard controller with dead zone / analgoue sensitivity adjustment settings (as with Ridge Racer, they're a little hidden- go to Settings > Button > Custom Button Settings > Advanced Setting), the PS4, PS5, Switch and Switch 2 versions have gyro controls you can toggle on and off (this works extremely well, so I'd recommend you give it a try) and all versions have flight stick support (including, on PS4 and Switch with a convertor, the USB CyberStick!). I can't check the Xbox One version for control options unfortunately, but I assume flight stick controls are in there at least. Preference Settings allow players to adjust how much time you get upon continuing.

Bandits at 10 o'clock! This is not a drill, this is the real deal! Commandeer one of three top fighter jets and strike out at the enemy bogeys across three intense missions- two Cadet missions (with with training tips) with Aeries to counterattack against an enemy strike on a friendly base, a Top Gun mission with Top Gunners to support ground troops, and a Dog Fight mission with Aces to duke it out over 32 levels of pure dog-fighting. All three of your aircraft come fully equipped with machine guns, a limited supply of missiles and lock-on capabilities, but those enemies are pesky and can outrun your missiles, so be sure to give chase by using the throttle to control your speed. A dramatic climactic air battle awaits brave pilots who make it to the end, so wipe 'em out before they knock you out of the sky!

I didn't think we'd see a 3D Namco game so soon, but here it is! The follow-up to 1993's Air Combat, this is called Air Combat 22 because it's running on Namco's Super System 22 (or is it System Super 22? Both have been seen on official sources, so who knows- thanks electricboogaloofunk in the stream chat!), an upgrade from the System 22 that Ridge Racer ran on, and similar to its predecessor comes on an absolute monster of a cabinet (and operators can upgrade their old Air Combat cab if they want!). Unfortunately, flight sims are absolutely not my area of expertise and I've certainly never seen a real cabinet of either game, but even with my limited experience, it's easy to see why Namco would keep making these games on home consoles to this day. I suppose the closest comparison would be Sega's G-LOC in the arcade as you have a set number of enemies to take down in each area, but while that was 2D trickery, this is all 3D with texture-mapped polygons and an incredible sense of speed and control as you take out enemies to get precious seconds added to the clock.

It's quite a short experience, even for an arcade game- four stages in the Cadet, five in Top Gun and 32 in Dog Fight but you'll have to be good to get that far- but there's multiple routes and terrain to fly over depending on your altitude when you end a mission, so repeat playthroughs are definitely encouraged. Just like Ridge Racer, it's a very 'one more go' kind of game, where you want to just dive straight back in to try again and do better. The presentation really helps too, with excellent music, superb polygons for the time and lots of great radio chatter like "What a manouevre, son of a gun!" when an enemy breaks away from your locked-on missile and even little launch sequences at the start of a game. Even if you've no interest in flight sims, this is way more arcadey ('cause, you know, it's an arcade game) and more accessible than I'd anticipated, so I'd say it's worth a try, as even without the impressive cabinet this is a lot of fun!

One thing that was nice to see with this one was that when it was announced, a lot of people outside of the usual arcade rats (read: me) were really excited about it. Ace Combat celebrates its 30th anniversary of the first home console game this year, and so this was announced as part of that and people were really happy to see this game finally come home! Again, my understanding is limited, but even as it's become a home console series over time, there's still roots of the arcade games in there, which makes a lot of sense. A friend of mine who's very much into the series (hi, sharc!) also noted that even as far back as these arcade games, the developers' interest in aircraft was a lot broader than other games, going beyond the typical F-14 Tomcat and other American-made jets you'd usuall see, something that would continue throughout the series. I'd really like to give the series a try myself one of these days, even if the best pilot is stuck in a delisted free-to-play game~

It's my PNGTuber, The Streamer Whose Name Was Stolen.

They're doing the Sonic Adventure Pose. Or trying to.

They slightly sprained themselves trying to do it, so they're not quite doing it properly, but that's OK.

... I'm really excited to stream Sonic Adventure this week.

From Girls' Frontline, it's Kalina, the shopkeeper, secretary and general assistant of your in-game commander! I hope everyone's enjoying Umamusume: Pretty Derby now that it's out, but while I've given that a little try (had to get some wins as Haru Urara, of course)... I finally got an iPad that won't explode if I look at it funny, so I've been trying games I wasn't able to play on my old one, and the one I think I'll be sticking with is Girls' Frontline. It's really interesting and fun, with quite a lot of charm in it, and at least some of that is because of Kalina, your ever-ready assistant. She's always trying to butter you up when you enter the shop (one of her greetings is "Do you wanna eat first or shower first, Commander? Or do you wanna…shop!" which gave me a good laugh) and her design is really cute. Reports that I've been crying "Girls, hold the line, you can do it!" during the battle sequences are completely fabricated. Probably.

Watch on YouTube

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Crazy Balloon (Taito, 1980)

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Only the one ROM version here. Preference Settings allow players to lower the volume of the popping sound of the balloon, in case you get jumpscared easily.

A real vintage Taito classic this week! Crazy Balloon is an example of Taito being ahead of the curve and trying out new concepts in arcade games way before anyone else- this is a maze game quite unlike any other from the era. As the titular Crazy Balloon, you've got to make your way through the mazes of deadly spikes- oh, wait, I mean rose bushes according to the manual. The balloon sways to the left and right, so it's not just a simple case of rushing to the exit, you have to carefully move, taking into account the swaying, to squeeze through crevices and safely make it to the goal. Hang around (or should that be float around?) in the same spot for too long though, and a horrible face will appear to blow your balloon into motion (it even laughs at you if it kills you, which is a nice impish touch) so don't dawdle. While there's only three courses, variations keep getting added- the balloon will sway faster, some rose bushes will start moving, even the maze itself will start shifiting direction in an effort to pop your balloon. Attack as many mazes as you can! Well, the stages all start with the text LET'S ATTACK! so I'm just going with what they're saying.

I quite like Crazy Balloon, and I promise it's nothing to do with the fact that The NewZealand Story, my favourite Taito game of all time, started life as a proposed sequel to it (that's probably why it has that mysterious 'this game is dedicated to all maze game fans' message- it's referring to Crazy Balloon). It's a very simple concept but it's effective at what it does, and there's a lot of tension when you have to make a tight move taking the balloon's swaying into account. You might think digital controls would make it difficult to be as precise as you need to be, but I think they work well enough for what the game asks of you, and it's easy to get sucked in- it says a lot that I actively jump whenever I die, just like when you pop a real balloon! If you don't like high-tension arcade games, this might not be for you, but if you live dangerously, give it a try. There were a few home computer ports but otherwise this has only shown up on some of the Taito collections on PS2 and PSP (and a remake both on the PSP set, Crazy Balloon 2005, and a PS1 remake I didn't even know existed until this week, Crazy Balloon 2000) so it's nice to see it get a modern rerelease. I particularly recommend LordBBh's Push to Reject segment on Crazy Balloon just so you can see how tense and stressful it is.

Watch on YouTube

This week's Arcade Archives release is.... Strategy X (Konami, 1981)

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Only the one ROM this time. Three control schemes are offered- one for normal controllers using the right analogue stick or buttons to aim, one for arcade sticks that just uses buttons to aim, and one approximating the arcade cabinet where you have to click in the analogue stick to fire. Preference Settings allow players to adjust game speed.

The evil IMMORTALIAN lurks at the end of this battlefield crawling with their rotary cannons, attack jeeps and sturdy tanks. Are you going to keep them waiting? Your highly-advanced tank has a fully-rotatable turret with shells strong enough to blast through brick walls, but it's a little slow and doesn't exactly get great gas mileage. There's fuel depots littered across the theatre of conflict, so be sure to dock in and refill your tanks, but be careful they don't get caught in the crossfire, they can be destroyed! Your tank's also a little delicate, so don't go crashing into any walls or no-go zones. And, er, we forgot to put any traction on those treads, so watch out for ice. Get to the enemy base and complete your mission!

Oh nice, another Konami arcade game previously trapped in the hellscape known as the Microsoft Game Room has been saved! This is a really early example of what would eventually be classified as a twinstick shooter, even earlier than Taito's Front Line, but this uses an unusual control scheme seen on the hilarious Stern flyer ("even Patton would spend all his quarters" indeed)- a joystick with a button on top for firing, and two buttons for rotating your cannon's turrets. It's not as immediate as something like Robotron: 2084 for changing direction, but that kind-of works well in this game- you have to balance advancing, taking out enemy threats and keeping your fuel topped up all at once, so it really does require a bit of strategy and so having slower but more deliberate aiming works in its favour. I quite like this game, it's one of my favourite early Konami games- it feels very satisfying to nail targets from far away (the crunchy sound effects definitely help) and there's enough terrain variety to keep you going forward. Definitely recommended if you haven't played it before!

From the Wii Edition of Project Zero 2 (the series known in the US as Fatal Frame), it's Mio and Mayu Amakura exploring Minakami Village! I picked up the Japan and Europe-only Wii version of this game pretty recently- it's a remake of sorts that incorporates elements and features from Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, in particular using an RE4-style behind-the-shoulder view instead of the fixed cameras of the original- and I quite enjoyed it! I haven't played the series before, so it took a little time to get used to the combat (it doesn't help that your shots are really weak at the start) but I really got into it by the end, and it uses the Wii remote's speaker very effectively! Anyway, Mio and Mayu are good. They also have Mario and Luigi outfits, not shown here.

'... And then the game was published by... WB Games, so it was shut down within a year!' 'KOUME NO THAT'S TOO SCARY'

It's a two-fer this time, as we have Rainy Day Roll from Mega Man Powered Up and Koume Shirasaka from THE iDOLM@STER: CINDERELLA GIRLS doing her traditional Jason Voorhees outfit for Friday the 13th! I drew these real close together, so it's OK to pair them up, right? The Rainy Day outfit is absolutely adorable (it's just as cute as the witch costume in the same game, maybe even more so) and, well, it's Friday the 13th today, and it's a silly tradition of mine to draw Koume cosplaying as Jason. This time, she's using his Multiversus design, although maybe that jacket's a little too big...

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Spinal Breakers (Video System, 1991)

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The Japanese, International and US ROMs are included, the main differences being to the first stage, which was renamed from Germany to Europe in the International and US ROMs and a gate was completely removed from the background in the US version because, well, it was the Auschwitz gate. That gate has also been edited in the Japanese and International ROMs for this rerelease- the sign with text above it has been removed. The Red Cross has also been removed from a health item. Preference Settings allow players to display their current kill count and hit rate (using the in-game font, displayed in the border to the side of the screen).

HILDROIDS. They were living organisms created by mankind to do tasks too dangerous for normal humans, just workers and nothing more... But in the aftermath of a nuclear war that no-one knows the starting point of, the Earth's axis shifted and this changed the Hildroids, making them start to think and act on their own, killing their human hosts. As decades pass, Captain Waffle awakens from hybernetic stasis aboard a space station, and notices the Earth's axis shifting again, but this time... People and creatures of the past begin to appear, and the Hildroids take over their bodies and even start to change history. If the Earth's axis shifts again, it might be too late, and the Hildroids might change the past irrevecobly! Leaving his wife and daughter behind, Captain Waffle heads down to Earth in a one-seat escape ship, determined to end the Hildroids, find the cause of the nuclear war from long ago and save the past. It won't be easy- the shifting axis sends him through Nazi Germany, Ancient Greece, even prehistoric times with Hildroid-parasitised dinosaurs and cavemen baying for his blood! Can Captain Waffle do the impossible and save the past, present and future?

A crosshair shooter with horizontal scrolling a bit like SNK's NAM-1975, this has most of the mechanics you'd expect from a game like this- movement of the crosshair is tied to character movement unless you hold the button to fire wherein your target reticle speeds up, destroy background objects for fun and items, etc.- but there's a few odd things outside the plot. Most importantly, rolling from side to side, usually a 'get out of trouble' button in this genre, does not give you invincibility frames, so if you brush against any bullets or projectiles mid-roll, you're taking damage. The thing is, Waffle's roll brings him very low to the ground, so the trick is to use the roll to 'duck' under projectiles instead of using it with wanton abandon. There's also quite a few items including stronger normal bullets and grenade launcher rounds which are very handy for clearing the screen and uncovering more items. Finally, each stage has a time limit but you don't need to worry about that too much, you mostly have enough time, but if you let it run out, well...

If that story hasn't clued you in, Spinal Breakers is a lot. Like, a lot a lot. Fight Nazis, dinosaurs and horrible flesh-creatures across mulriple time periods! Destroy background objects like trees and corpses that explode into piles of gore! The final boss is just a gigantic pile of gore and wires trying to kill you to start a nuclear war! The protagonist is called Captain Waffle!! (That last one, according to the Hamster stream and as translated by Gosokkyu, is because the development staff really liked the waffles at a local convenience store, so they added a waffle item and named the hero after them) The whole aesthetic is very low-rent, back-of-the-video-shop VHS stuff, and while it can be in bad taste at points- at least they removed that sign in this version, but the corpses exploding are really grim and the bad multiple endings, showcased in LordBBH's 1CC video, are bleak (CW: implied suicide)- I kinda like it. Very video-nasty style, it has to be one of the gorier pre-Mortal Kombat games in the arcade, and it plays... Fine. It's a little clumsy in its implementation of the roll meaning some attacks are just going to hit you, the scrolling is a bit slow and Waffle is a gigantic target, but I think this game activates the part of my brain that loves shlocky horror movies and it's pretty satisfying to nail each enemy, especially with the crunchy sound effects and super-detailed sprites. This is not a game for everyone and you might prefer to stick with the likes of Cabal and NAM-1975 that are more polished and better games overall... But this one is memorable, you'll remember it long after you play it.

Oh, and if you recognise Waffle, he's in another Video System game as a secret character in Aero Fighters 3, piloting the Diabloon from Turbo Force! The Aero Fighters series has a lot of characters from all over the Video System world, including Lethal Crash Race, Karate Blazers and even Tao Taido. It's a vast universe.

Also, no, you don't break any spines in Spinal Breakers. Boo.

Gaming Hell

MS Paint World: Fly in the Freedom

Arcade Archives: Scrambled Egg

MS Paint World: Catch Up Time 8

Arcade Archives: Chopper I

Arcade Archives: Aqua Jet

Arcade Archives: D-Day

Arcade Archives: Field Day

MS Paint World: Bear

MS Paint World: Catch Up Time 7

Arcade Archives: Stinger

Arcade Archives: Super Basketball

Arcade Archives: Super Dimension Fortress Macross II

Arcade Archives: Air Combat 22

MS Paint World: Can't Hold On Much Longer

MS Paint World: Battlefield Secretary

Arcade Archives: Crazy Balloon

Arcade Archives: Strategy X

MS Paint World: The Lost Village

MS Paint World: Rain at Crystal Lake

Arcade Archives: Spinal Breakers

DATA EAST FOREVER

August 2025