Arcade Archives: Tokyo Wars

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Tokyo Wars (Namco, 1996)

Arcade Archives (previous-gen consoles)

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Arcade Archives 2 (current-gen consoles)

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Both the English and Japanese ROMs are included. There's a minor edit, as the Red Cross has been removed from Shield items. No special Preference Settings this time, but the Arcade Archives 2 version has an extra mode- Split Screen. This simulates the link-up capabilities of the original cabinets, allowing for either two player or four player set-ups with their own section of the screen, and it even goes so far as to replicate the behaviour of the machines when idle- when only two players on a four player set-up have selected their stage, the other two cabinets show a panoramic view of the area, and if a player joins in too late to battle, they can just play their own game. Thanks to HokutoNoShock for the details on this (my PS5 is currently in the hands of Sony as it needs repairs!)

A mighty battle is erupting in Tokyo. At least two areas of the city have been evacuated as a full-scale war has broken out between two tank batallions, the Green and White forces. Whoever wins gets control over whatever's left of the city when they're done! Up to four players in local split-screen (originally two twin cabinets linked together, of course) can choose their allegiance and one of two arenas, the Bay Area and Downtown (plus a selection of music) to do battle with a simple control system- one pedal to move forward, one pedal to reverse, a control column to turn, pivot the tank's cannon and fire and a view change button in case you want to see from a more intense, first-person perspective. Each team of four tanks has a certain number of vehicles in reserve at the start of each match (19 in the Bay Area, 14 in Downtown) and from there, the battle breaks out- wipe out the enemy as fast as you can! Don't worry if your tank explodes, you'll just respawn in a reserve one as long as there's any left, plus any enemy tanks you destroy leave behind a health item . Do what you can to survive- roll over parked cars, blast through obstacles, take out the enemy forces in the time limit!

We're back on Namco's System 22, and this is an excellent pick, the tank battle simulation Tokyo Wars. This is almost a callback to Namco's '80s tank games Tank Batallion and Battle City, using the same system where reserve tanks will populate the battlefield once a tank's taken out, but it also owes a little to Atari's Battlezone but with a simpler control scheme and, of course, full 3D environments, something Namco was excelling at in the late '90s. It's a simple game but presented flawlessly, with bombastic music throughout each fight (multiple tracks to choose from too!), a real sense of weight and heft when you fire a cannon shot, detailed environments (especially Downtown, look out for the video screen with Soul Edge on it!), some interactive obstacles on the field like barrels and barricades you can drive into in the Bay Area and arch walkways you can try to drive up but the stairs crumble under your weight in Downtown, and an enthusiastic announcer shouting things like "Enemy tank to the rear!", "On the mark!" and a panicked "Pull out! Pull out!" when your health is critical (one complaint is that, if this video is accurate, some of the voice clips never seem to come up- you can hear things like "Bingo!", "Bullseye!" and "Enemy tank wasted!" that don't occur in the Arcade Archives release, unless there's something I'm missing). You don't get a long game for your credit- the default is two minutes, although you can increase it to five via the settings- but it has a real 'one more go' feel to it, like many of the other 3D Namco games. Perhaps not to the same extent as something like Ridge Racer or Air Combat 22, and this loses a fair bit without the deluxe cabinet which had force feedback in the form of air blowing at you whenever you fire a cannon, but I've put in a fair few credits since I got it, just wanting one more quick blast on the streets of Tokyo.

My one disappointment is that there's no Network Mode. This isn't me just wishing for an online mode out of nowhere, this was an advertised feature for Arcade Archives 2, but the only game to support it so far is The King of Fighters '98, so maybe Hamster were promising something they couldn't quite deliver from. Being able to play this with far-away friends, either as a team against the CPU or pitted against each other, would've added a lot to the appeal. That said, I'm pretty impressed with the implementation of the cabinet's link capabilities in Split Screen Mode, even if it's only local play. The game itself is quite fun on your own though, and the presentation is thoroughly excellent, so if you've got an interest in this era of 3D arcade games, this is an easy pick.

For a bit of fun, here's a real Tokyo Wars cabinet I saw once! I can't remember where, but it was a pretty popular game, so I saw it a few times when on holiday.