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Over 30 years after its original release in the arcades, Hamster is bringing Xevious 3D/G, Namco's divisive 3D revival of its 1983 shoot 'em up classic Xevious, to modern consoles this week, as part of Arcade Archives 2.
Developed for Namco's System 11 arcade board, Xevious 3D/G featured 3D graphics, new weapons and enemies, and a soundtrack from Namco legends Shinji Hosoe and Ayako Saso, and was released to capitalise on the re-emergence of the shoot 'em up genre in the mid-'90s.
Whether or not it was successful seems to be a matter of debate, with Edge stating that "despite its all-new presentation, Xevious 3D/G offers little more than average gameplay."
A PlayStation conversion was released the following year as Xevious 3D/G+, bundling the game with Xevious, Super Xevious, and Xevious Arrangement. However, it should be said that this didn't fare that much better, earning mostly mixed reviews from video game publications at the time.
Of those that reviewed the PlayStation version, IGN was among the more positive outlets, arguing that Namco had "retained the gameplay elements that made the original so compelling." Meanwhile, GameSpot suggested, "if you’re simply thirsting for a good 3D shooting experience, your money would be better spent elsewhere."
All of this doesn't exactly scream "must-have", but we imagine there will be a few shmup fans out there who will want to pick it up, out of curiosity's sake. This release is meant to commemorate the 5th anniversary of Namco's entry into Arcade Archives, and will be the 100th Namco title published, as part of Hamster's ongoing series of retro releases.
Arcade Archives 2 Xevious 3D/G will be released on Thursday, 24th September 2026, across Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S, & PS5, and will cost $16.99 (which is pretty pricey, but pretty much the standard price for Hamster's 3D rereleases).
In addition to the original game, it will also feature three additional modes (Hi-Score, Caravan, and Time Attack), plus a variety of different difficulty and display settings, button remapping, rapid-fire options, and the ability to create multiple save files. You can watch some footage of the game below: