5 Arcade Archives Games of 2025
Dec. 31st, 2025 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tepidsnakeJust for a bit of fun, I thought it'd be nice to highlight five Arcade Archives releases we got this year. Not the best or the most notable necessarily, and they're only in year of release order, but five games I think you should check out if you haven't. This is the joy of Arcade Archives, I feel, finding out about games you wouldn't have seen otherwise!
Dacholer (Nichibutsu, 1983)
Roc'n Rope (Konami, 1983)
An early Tokuro Fujiwara joint where you can see an early implementation of rope-climbing that would show up in Capcom's Bionic Commando years a few years later, this is probably my favourite 'golden era' game from this year, a solid Donkey Kong-esque scale-em-up with nicely-implemented rope mechanics.
Land Sea Air Squad (Taito, 1987)
Taito started strong this year with Dead Connection, and ended it strong with Space Invaders as Game #500, but I'd like to highlight this one, a Commando-style top-down run-and-gun with very satisfying accuracy-based score mechanics, a variety of vehicles to hop into and an infectious military-style beat to back the action.
Spinal Breakers (Video System, 1991)
And to wrap things up, Namco has had an absolutely incredible year on Arcade Archives, and not just because their 3D games like Ridge Racer and Tokyo Wars have started to get proper home releases. High-spec 2D titles like The Outfoxies and Nebulasray have also been rereleased, so you're spoiled for choice. I've decided to highlight Mach Breakers as it's a favourite of mine, one of the best multi-event sports games ever made with only its prequel, Numan Athletics, getting close. You can read more about it on Gaming Hell!
The first Arcade Archives title of 2026 will be Space Invaders Part II, so let's see where the year takes us from them. I hope you continue to enjoy the masterpieces that built a generation for video games, have a happy new year, and we'll see you next time! (Unless I can get another drawing out before the year closes, we'll see)
Dacholer (Nichibutsu, 1983)
There's not that many Nichibutsu titles left for Hamster to rerelease, but this is the one I was waiting for, DACHOLER. At last, you can experience True Ostrich Gaming at home where you kick turtles around simple mazes and try not to hurt yourself in the process, and you even get the Kick Boy version as well!
Roc'n Rope (Konami, 1983)
An early Tokuro Fujiwara joint where you can see an early implementation of rope-climbing that would show up in Capcom's Bionic Commando years a few years later, this is probably my favourite 'golden era' game from this year, a solid Donkey Kong-esque scale-em-up with nicely-implemented rope mechanics.
Land Sea Air Squad (Taito, 1987)
Taito started strong this year with Dead Connection, and ended it strong with Space Invaders as Game #500, but I'd like to highlight this one, a Commando-style top-down run-and-gun with very satisfying accuracy-based score mechanics, a variety of vehicles to hop into and an infectious military-style beat to back the action.
Spinal Breakers (Video System, 1991)
Video System are another company with not that many games left to rerelease (looking forward to Lethal Crash Race in 2026) but Spinal Breakers was probably the funniest game Hamster could pick to release straight after Ridge Racer, the bizarre and bloody tale of Captain Waffle fighting robot Nazis and dinosaurs, with no spines actually being broken.
Mach Breakers: Numan Athletics 2 (Namco, 1995)And to wrap things up, Namco has had an absolutely incredible year on Arcade Archives, and not just because their 3D games like Ridge Racer and Tokyo Wars have started to get proper home releases. High-spec 2D titles like The Outfoxies and Nebulasray have also been rereleased, so you're spoiled for choice. I've decided to highlight Mach Breakers as it's a favourite of mine, one of the best multi-event sports games ever made with only its prequel, Numan Athletics, getting close. You can read more about it on Gaming Hell!
The first Arcade Archives title of 2026 will be Space Invaders Part II, so let's see where the year takes us from them. I hope you continue to enjoy the masterpieces that built a generation for video games, have a happy new year, and we'll see you next time! (Unless I can get another drawing out before the year closes, we'll see)