Konami's early arcade billiards game Video Hustler (known as Lil' Hustler in the West) is coming to Nintendo Switch, PS4, Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S tomorrow (September 11th) as part of Arcade Archives.
Released in arcades back in 1981, the game is sometimes described as "a simplified version of pool" and sees players potting number coloured balls on a billiard table, with the score you get for each ball depending on the number on the ball and the multipliers that appear over each pocket.
Obviously, by today's standards, the game may be considered a little bit crude given the year in which it was released and the technology that was available at the time, but it does have some historical significance, which might make appealing for fans of Konami's arcade output.
That's because not only was it Konami's first billiards-based game (the company would later release Rack 'Em Up/The Hustler in 1987), but it also ended up inspiring the incredible multi-directional shoot 'em-up Time Pilot, according to the former Konami arcade employee Masahiro Inoue.
Speaking to Time Extension back in 2023, Inoue happened to tell us the following about Video Hustler's impact on the famous shooter, "The programmer Takahide Harima had previously made the pool game Video Hustler in 1981. That game traced a white ball's path as it bounced around and gave us the idea of trying to depict countless bullets being shot from the center of the screen. I was the programmer in charge of sound, so I don't know all the details, but I can tell you the secret behind Time Pilot's graphics."
Besides the original arcade release, Video Hustler was later ported to the MSX in Japan in 1983 (it was also released in some European countries under the name Billiards), while the original game would also be reissued on Game Room for Windows and Xbox 360, as part of Game Pack 5, in 2010.
This latest reissue of the game will cost $7.99 on PS4 & Switch, and $9.99 on current-gen systems, with the latter featuring a bonus Time Attack mode that has been newly added for this release.