Hamster has revealed the next Arcade Archives release it will be releasing is Taito's 1980s' balloon-based title, Crazy Balloon, which notably sees players trying to navigate a thorny maze without popping.
The game will be released on Nintendo Switch and PS4 tomorrow (June 26th) and will be priced at $7.99, according to Arcade Archives' official website.
Given how the month started with the exciting rereleases of Namco's Ridge Racer across Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, PS4, PS5, & Xbox Series X|S and Video System's Spinal Breakers on PS4 and Switch, we anticipate some people being a bit disappointed with the last two week's selections, which are hearkening back to a simpler age.
Nevertheless, it's encouraging to see these kinds of games being made more widely available on modern platforms, even if the price tag may seem a bit steep for what you're actually getting.
To give you more background on the title, Taito initially released Crazy Balloon in the arcades back in 1980, and manufactured it as both an upright cabinet and a cocktail, featuring a straightforward control scheme that saw players using four directional buttons to guide the titular balloon.
Following its release, several games were released featuring the same premise, including the Commodore 64 game Crazy Balloon from publisher Software Projects and A&F Software's Crazy Balloons, but these are believed to be unofficial clones, with the former simply being referred to at the time as "another arcade classic translated and enhanced for the Commodore 64".
Taito would eventually rerelease the game itself as part of a few compilations, including the Japanese collection Taito Memories Gekan (released outside of Japan as Taito Legends 2), and Taito Legends Pocket (which was later repackaged as Taito Legends Power-Up and also featured an updated version of the title).