Tecmo Knight
Image: Tecmo

The latest addition to Arcade Archives, Tecmo Knight (or Wild Fang as it known in Japan), has arrived early, thanks to Golden Week currently being underway in Japan. That means you can now get it on the PlayStation Store and Nintendo eShop.

Tecmo's surprisingly gruesome sidescrolling beat 'em up was first released in the arcades back in 1989 and memorably starts with a demon ripping off a person's arm and head before a woman gets her skull driven through with a large knife. Safe to say, this may be one to hide from your kids, with blood splatters and decapitations being something of a regular occurrence as you battle through wave after wave of demonic enemies.

Players take control of a character named Tecmo Knight, who is a warrior who must fight back against a beast army to save an imprisoned kingdom with the help of three mounts. These include a giant known as the Smokeman, a Tiger, and a Dragon. There's also the potential for a second player to join in the action too, but this person will simply control a palette swap of the main character and will possess the exact same abilities.

Your ultimate goal is to find and defeat Deglomes, a powerful horned creature and the leader of the beast people, but in order to do this you will first need to take down various kinds of monsters standing in your way.

As mentioned above, the game is currently available on the Nintendo Switch eShop (£6.29/$7.99) and PS4 (£5.79/$7.99), if you want to give it a try. You can watch a video of it in action below, courtesy of ShiryuGL.