QuByte Interactive has announced Thunder Hoop Collection, bringing together two of the 1990s' weirdest and most obscure run 'n' gun arcade release: Thunder Hoop (1992) and TH Strikes Back (1994). This bizarre and ballistic compendium will launch on PC and consoles October 8.

Developed by Spanish troublemakers Gaelco, Thunder Hoop follows the explosive exploits of the titular hero: a bio-engineered soldier capable of incredible feats of strength, such as channelling fireballs from the palms of his hands (while also bearing more than a passing resemblance to Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball hero, Goku). Thunder Hoop is unleashed on the world after a nefarious bio-terrorist, Professor Genbreak, attempts to conquer the planet with his army of genetically engineered mutants.

While the first Thunder Hoop game is relatively tame, featuring globular, cartoonish monsters and a more youth-like iteration of our hero, TH Strikes Back is absolutely testosteronemaxxing (hello, fellow kids), with Thunder Hoop now a huge, muscle-bound chunk of pure fury, while most of the enemies are replaced by an army of buxom, latex bikini-clad women, most of which quite literally burst on impact. Delightful.

Our boy even goes Super Saiyan powers up for new shmup sections, firing flames and lasers from every orifice while battling alien foetuses and pendulous breast-swinging monsters. Gaelco just loved this stuff. Not even its sports games dodged it. I don't know what to tell you. Nobody in the '90s had any chill... We were all high on Push-Pops and Saved by the Bell.

The Thunder Hoop collection will feature both Thunder Hoop titles, along with a handful of extra features including save states, screen filters, and "rewind" functions. For all its camp, vulgar nature, this is a great release from QuByte. The Thunder Hoop games were never officially ported at release (with good cause?), and so their presence here only adds to the ongoing mission of game preservation.

QuByte is attuned to this, having rereleased games that have typically fallen between the cracks, including Street Racer, (1994) Soccer Kid (1993), Biomechanical Toy (1995), and the excellent Breakers (1996) games. Did these games need preserving? All games need preserving, Jack.

Thunder Hoop Collection launches October 8 on PlayStation, PC, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch platforms. Both titles are also available on Evercade via Gaelco Arcade 1 and Gaelco Arcade 2.