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This week's Arcade Archives release is... Punk Shot (Konami, 1990)

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The Japanese, International (two-player) and International (four-player) ROMs are included. Preference Settings allow players to adjust game speed and, for all versions except International (two-player), select which player side they want to use.

Only one rule on this court- no rules! It's just a little two-on-two street basketball with Stallion (1P) and Basher (2P) as the Ramblers versus their hated rivals, Hair (3P) and Spike (4P) as the Slammers on courts across the city. While it looks like normal basketball with all the long-shots and slam-dunks you can handle and has a fairly-simple control scheme that changes depending on whether you're on offense or defense, there's a few wrinkles here for something a little more violent. For a start, when you don't have the ball, there's no fouls, so you can punch and even suplex your opponent to get possession back! Each of the courts- from the park to the harbour to downtown- also has obstacles like brooms, banana peels and fires, and you can even fall in the drink and get stuck in a shipping crate!

At this point in time, Konami had a few basketball games under their belt- 1984's Super Basketball and 1988's Double Dribble- but they were pretty traditional aside from using a 'dribble' button to actually move with the ball. Punk Shot, though, is definitely more inspired by Midway's 1989 basket-brawl Arch Rivals (Punk Shot was a late 1990 release according to arcade-history, so this makes sense) with a focus on hazard-littered courts and player-on-player violence. It's mostly fine, I think I prefer Arch Rivals but this has its own charm with really great presentation and some funny touches like the crowd and the way you leap forward to suplex opponents. The main complaint I've got is that there's a few things that slow the game down, especially in the harbour court where a shipping crate can completely stop play until it's destroyed (as well as squashing the player, it traps the ball inside) which somewhat ruins the flow you might be in. Otherwise, this is a neat little variant on basketball, although everything I've said here only really applies to the Japanese version.

... That's because the International version might be one of the most over-the-top Konami 'adjustments' to an arcade game I've ever seen, even more extreme than XEXEX. The manual of this version fortunately goes over the differences in a lot of detail, but in a nutshell, the International version divides the game into quarters like traditional basketball, meaning one 'game' will go on for a lot longer... In theory. In practice, each human player now has a health meter that slowly drains as you play and also decreases when your opponent hits you or scores points, but can be very slightly refilled when you score points yourself. There is absolutely no way to play well enough to keep this ever-draining health topped up to last a quarter, let alone an entire match. Arcade sports games are a bit tricky to balance right- some games like Arch Rivals and Baseball Stars 2 just have a timer letting you buy money, but Punk Shot is especially mean about it because it pretends that you have a chance of playing a little longer, but you get so little health back from scoring that inevitably your meter will empty, and when that happens..



... Your player keels over and dies on the court (you can only see this if you're in a multiplayer game, though, otherwise the game abruptly stops to ask for more money). If you don't continue, you get taken off the screen on a stretcher and replaced with a CPU player.

Told you this was a rough court!
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This week's Arcade Archives release is... Gang Busters (Konami, 1988)

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Both the Japanese (Crazy Cop) and International (Gang Busters) ROMs are included. Preference Settings

"... And we'll keep you posted on the restoration efforts of the Lord British ship in the coming months. Meanwhile, in local news, the Dagrus Gang, lead by Mr. Soul, have just pulled off a daring bank heist, snatching a million dollars from the Main Street bank. Reports from the scene indicate the gang is heavily armed but, in a sign of the heist being a little rushed, some of them are still counting the money on the street! Ah, wait, I'm being told just now that two officers from the police station, Smith & Wesson, have been assigned to the case to catch the burglars and retrieve the money, with officials stating they're taking the job on 'with a sense of grim determination'. It seems they're at the scene right now, arresting any gang members they find with dollar bags and sending them to the nearest police wagon to get massive fire power upgrades. There's a giant rock on the scene as well? (Are you sure about th- you are? OK, whatever) We'll have more on this story as it develops, but coming up next on 573 News, Reiko Hinomoto is in the studio to talk about her long-storied wrestling career, stay tuned!"

A top-down shooter with a cops-and-robbers theme, Gang Busters has a lighter tone than something like Jail Break, with more exagerrated, silly character designs (especially the player characters themselves who, yes, really are called Smith & Wesson) and some light touches of humour like comic book-style sound effects and squid you can pick up and put on your head in the dock area. There's also a hostage mechanic similar to Jackal but this time, it's burglars you're capturing to send them to be arrested- each one you pick up gives you upgrades in a specific order like speed boosts and better weapons, and sending them on their way gives you limited super shots to blow enemies away. The strangest mechanic has to be the giant boulder that usually shows up during mob fights at the end of each area, this can be pushed to block shots and eventually explodes but if you can keep it until the next area, you'll get a massive score bonus and an extra life and can keep doing this! LordBBH's 1CC shows this mechanic off and it's such an odd fit for the theming of the game- I wonder if it was made for a completely different game and just shoved into this one? In any case, this one feels a little strange- it has that Contra and Jail Break thing where shooting while moving from a diagonal to a cardinal direction will mean your aim is slightly off until you fully reach the cardinal direction and vice versa, the scrolling is slow so you frequently have to stop and start when moving the screen along, and it can often feel a little cramped and awkward, but it's not a bad game and it has a goofy charm to it. Just watch out though- continues eventually get cut off, a classic Konami move! 
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This week;s Arcde Archives release is.. Juno First (Konami, 1983)

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Just one revision this time, nothing fancy. Preference Settings allow players to display an eight-digit score in-game (the normal score display only shows six digits) and adjust game speed.

At last, Juno First escapes from Game Room jail! Aside from some contemporary home computer ports including C64, Atari 800, DOS and MSX, the only arcade-accurate (sort-of) version of this one was Microsoft's Game Room which is real and can still hurt you so it's nice to have an Arcade Archives release for this. As for the game itself, this really doesn't look like a Konami game of the era- this seems really inspired, especially in terms of visuals and sounds, by American arcade games by the likes of Williams, especially Defender and Stargate, and it actually plays a little like that too, albeit with vertical scrolling, a vanishing-point (similar to something like Radarscope) and you save aliens for bonus points instead of humans. It takes a little time to get used to the idea of moving freely since your movement can be slightly slow, but once you adjust to it, this is a fun little shooter with impressive presentation (the starfield background really sells the perspective well), tense shootout gameplay as you try and wipe out all the hostiles without getting blown up and a rather neat warp button, limited to three uses per wave, that can get you out of a tight spot. If you're sore that there's no Western arcade games from the Golden Era on Arcade Archives, this might scratch that itch.

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

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Both the Japanese (Nyan Nyan Panic) and English (Kitten Kaboodle) ROMs are included. The manual has a full guide with pictures of all 50 (!) stages showing the secret entrances for the shops, casinos and bonus games. Preference Settings allow players to adjust game speed, add an extra digit to the score display and show the current round number at all times.

Two adorable kittens find themselves stuck in 50 challenging mazes! This is a late '80s take on Sega's Pengo with a fresh coat of paint and a few bells and whistles added. Taking an older arcade game and dressing it up a bit is actually a bit of a trend with Konami arcade games around this time- there was also Fast Lane which updated Head On and Battlantis which is Space Invaders if you made it terrible. Ahem. Anyway, here you have the block-pushing of Pengo used to defeat the constantly-spawning enemies, but rather than have a set number of enemies to wipe out, each enemy you defeat drops a key, so grab four and the door to the next round opens! There's also a jump button used for dodging enemies and destroying blocks if you want them out the way, and special blocks strewn around each round can be matched up in sets of three for special effects like invincibility, time stop and screen-clearing bombs. It's a decent Pengo variation for what it is, plus it shows off some of Konami's scaling effects, just like City Bomber!

Probably the most interesting wrinkle here is the plethora of secret screens, found by destroying specific blocks on every round- these can take you to a bonus stage or, more intriguingly, a shop with helpful items and a casino where you can gamble your score! See, your score is actually money, which can be exchanged for goods and services or gambled away on a slot machine. This makes it one of those arcade games where you can actively bring your score down, even back to zero if you want. There's also boss sections that are basically Penguin-kun Wars where the computer is very difficult to defeat. To be honest, I've never actually beaten this game because 50 stages is a lot for a game like this, but the presentation is definitely very cute, and there's something pretty funny about losing a good chunk of your score to a slot machine run by a rabbit in a Playboy bunny outfit. Well, I found it funny anyway.

As an addendum, Kitten Kaboodle is something of a milestone release for Arcade Archives if you're the type of person who looks to the sky when they hear the name 'the Microsoft Game Room', as it's the 19th Konami arcade gamethat was included on that service to make it over to Arcade Archives. There's also only 19 games left, some of which like Devastators and Galactic Warriors have had no other home ports before or since. So, for fun, here's those games still stranded in the Game Room, let's hope they get free someday...
Strategy X (1981)
Video Hustler (1981)
Amidar (1981)
Mega Zone (1983)
Gyruss (1983)
Juno First (1983)
Super Basketball (1984)
Scooter Shooter (1985)
Galactic Warriors (1985)
Konami GT (1985)
Iron Horse (1986)
Battlantis (1987)
Rack 'Em Up (1987)
Hyper Crash (1987)
Blades of Steel (1987)
Trick Trap / Labyrinth Runner (1987)
Devastators (1988)
The Main Event (1988)
M.I.A. - Missing in Action (1989)
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This week's Arcade Archives release is... City Bomber (Konami, 1987)

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Both the Japanese and International ROMs are included, with different factory settings for the time limit. Preference Settings allow players to adjust game speed.

"... Which, if true, means doom for us all. In local news, the legendary cat burglar known only as '305' has pulled off another one of their daring heists, this time stealing an unknown amount of money from a corrupt casino just outside the city limits. As we understand it, they're making a break for it right now in their customised jalopy. Reports from previous heists indicate this is no ordinary car, with a mounted gun that some also claim can be upgraded with cannon fire, the ability to jump complete with wings for extra height and even wilder, gigantic sawblades mounted to the front to rip through oncoming traffic. Outlandish as it seems, this bandits making a break for it, with the police and local legitimate businessmen in hot pursuit. Whether they can make it out in time is anyone's guess, but maybe some of you at home are rooting for this plucky would-be Robin Hood! Coming up next on 573 News, we interview Ninja from USA Racheal on what it's like being a kunoichi in the modern day, stay tuned!"

(Yes, you are a criminal in this game, don't listen to the flyer!)

Oh hell yes, this is a real favourite of mine- I first played it on the infamous Microsoft Game Room where the sound emulation was terrible, but this finally has a good home emulation now! At first glance, City Bomber looks like it should be something like Spy Hunter, and there's certainly similarities, but it plays quite a bit differently. Instead of lasting as long as you can on a limited number of lives, you actually have no life limit, but instead have a strict time limit to deal with. Make it to the gate at the end of each stage before time's up! At first, your car's a little slow and only has a weak shot to defend itself with as well as a jump for avoiding things, but destroying coloured cars gives you power-ups to improve your shot, jump and speed (plus time-limited sawblades for maximum damage) and destroying any car will, at the end of a stage, give you extra time for the next level. You might think a driving game would be trickty to play with a joystick, but it works pretty well- hold Up to accelerate and then let go to maintain that speed (this is useful for making sharp turns) or hold Down to slow down, which is important for not falling off the road in later stages. It's extremely fast-paced and challenging, and while there's definitely a lot of memorisation involved (mostly where environmental hazards are like trees and lava pools), it's an absolute blast to play and has some really great presentation, using a lot of scaling to really sell the action like when you shoot down helicopters from above and the bouncing power-ups! I must admit, the game gets really difficult once you reach Stage 4, but runs are so quick that you'll be compelled to have just one more try... Perfect to play on Switch with a Flip Grip to see how far you can get!

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This week's Arcade Archives release is... Konami's Table Tennis (Konami, 1985)

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Although referred to on EU / US digital storefronts as Konami's Table Tennis, in-game it's still called Konami's Ping-Pong (Ping-Pong is a trademarked name). Preference Settings allow players to set serving tosses / smashes to Up on the D-Pad to allow almost complete control of the game via directional inputs (you still need to hold a button to switch to your backhand stance, or hold Down and use the face buttons).

Here we are, folks, an exciting game of table tennis is about to begin! Sure, it may look like a typical tennis game from the 1980s and players are represented by disembodied hands, but the play is simple and lightning-fast! Either against the computer or a second player, it's the first to eleven points to win, but you don't have to worry about moving left or right to line up your shot or anything like that- your paddle automatically follows the ball, so it's just a case of picking the right type of shot (drives, chops and smashes, all with backhand variants- forehand strokes lean to the left and backhand strokes lean to the right, so use this to keep the ball on the table) and getting the timing just right. Be sure to keep an eye out for Konami's beloved penguin Pentarou in the crowd!

You might already know this game for its Famicom Disk System port where Pentarou gets replaced with Diskun, or perhaps one of the European microcomputer ports with the Martin Galway title screen music, but here's the arcade version for you. I'm not much of a table tennis expert (my table sport of choice is air hockey) but this is a pretty neat and fast-paced interpretation of it, and the fact you don't have to line up shots means timing is everything, so it can be quite challenging! I was a little surprised this supported two players to be honest- the perspective means that the player on the far end of the table is going to have a bit of a different experience from the player at the near end (this is why Nintendo's own Tennis for NES doesn't have two-player versus, you'd need the double-screen arcade Vs. System version for that) but it might be worth a try if you're looking for a good table tennis game.

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This week's Arcade Archives release is... Metamorphic Force (Konami, 1993)

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The Japanese, World and US versions are all included, and the manual lists most of the differences between all three (although they manage to forget that the World and US versions' health number will tick down slowly, Gauntlet-style). Button Settings allow you to assign macros for both jumping attacks (for short and long jumps). Preference Settings allow you to 'adjust game speed'.

In the year 199X... The peace of the world is shattered by the return of the Evil King and his Empire of Horror. His island fortress rises from the sea as he prepares to take over the world. BUT!! The Goddess (identified on the US flyer as Athena, although that thing makes up so much stuff you might not want to take it too seriously) has bestowed upon four humans- Ban the karateka, Claude the fencer, Max the boxer and Ivan the lumber-wielding tough-guy- the souls and powers of the warriors that sealed away The Evil King the last time he tried to take over the world. They now wield the power of the Metamorphic Force, allowing them to transform into powerful were-beasts, strong enough to take on the Empire of Horror's legions of minions and boss creatures across six stages! Now, as the attract mode says, one of the most fierce and desperate battles ever is about to begin...

Well here it is, probably the biggest Konami release for Arcade Archives we'll see in 2024, and it's a doozy. 1993 was the last year Konami would release scrolling brawlers in the arcade, with this game and Violent Storm serving as their last entries in the genre in arcades, and Metamorphic Force is probably (from what I've seen, anyway) one of the most requested Konami Arcade Archives releases, so here it is! The big feature here is in the title, of course, the metamorphosis element, In human form, your characters can handle themselves fine (they even have back-attacks for when you're surrounded and pursuit attacks to kick enemies while they're down) but they're not particularly strong against the wild foes you'll be facing. Grab a Goddess Statue though, and you'll transform into a powerful were-beast (Ban becomes a minotaur, Claude becomes a wolf, Max becomes a panther and Ivan becomes a bear) which enhances your strength, movement speed and jump height plus allows you to grapple enemies (Ivan can even bring them along with him, Haggar-style) and, if you grab another Goddess Statue when transformed, perform a super move to damage anything on-screen. However, take too much damage in beast form and you'll revert back to a puny human, so find another Goddess Statue and get back in the fight!

There's a lot of fans of this game, and it's easy to see why. The mechanics feel a hell of a lot tighter than other Konami brawlers (X-Men especially) and while there's no weapons to pick up, you are the weapon and it feels super-satisfying to lay into goons in your were-form. The pace is pretty frantic too and there's bits of variety like the bonus stages peppered throughout, and it doesn't feel like it overstays its welcome The presentation is also top of the range, with a vivid colour palette, transparency effects all over the place (including some that didn't work in MAME now fully working here), gnarly creature designs and that phenomenal soundtrack (with the Stage 1 theme, The Ruins of Bakyaros, being a perfect song to kick the game off). It's so well-presented that I can almost guarantee that whenever this game comes up, someone will either mention they could imagine this being a Saturday morning cartoon from the era or express surprise that it wasn't. This is the game's first and only home port, and while it's been a long time coming, it's worth it, and hopefully this introduces this one to a wider audience, it's great! Just do yourself a favour and play the Japanese version included here- you'll miss out on some minor expository text, but all the speech samples (yes, this has speech, it's a Konami brawler of course it does) are still in English and you don't have to deal with a health meter that ticks down constantly and reduced health pickups (that last one is apparently a US-exclusive 'feature').

June 2025

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