Teksette

How fun! I knew that was JACKAL arcade but didn’t know it had a different title in the west.

The marketing back then was truly something!

Now I have an urge to play Rollergames pinball…

On topic: I was a Kickstarter backer for this Mega-Man book, and thoroughly enjoyed flipping through it. I love Phil’s style, and his enthusiasm for the characters and stories of the classic games he has covered (his earlier LOZ guide is probably my favorite). Phil’s books are like the ultimate evolution of the simple maps and notes that so many of us sketched when we played those 8- and 16-bit games back then.

Based on his Kickstarter blog and a couple of friendly emails we exchanged, I imagine Phil would have zero problem with his art being characterized as a refreshing breath of creativity in an age tainted by AI slop.

It’s funny how some people expect the chief editor of a nostalgia-laced retro gaming site to embrace Gen AI.

Please @Damo , don’t cater to the tech bro minority hoping for big returns on their Anthropic and data center stock investments.
I’m sure the majority of your readership don’t want AI. We don’t need AI. And we certainly don’t mind when you call it out as the soulless, destructive slop it is.

I didn’t even know this was a home port of an arcade game! I played Air Busters on Genesis at length with a good friend. I can’t remember, but one of us bought the game or else traded for it, and we didn’t exactly have high hopes based on the cover. What a surprise to learn it was actually an awesome 2-player co-op game! One of the best in the genre at the time, and I still have fond memories of the tunnel sequences and the game’s overall quality.

It’s actually a title I’d love to try and re-acquire now, if it’s not ungodly expensive. Thanks for the reminder, Damien!

Edit: now that I look at eBay listings, yow! It is a premium game now. Can’t say I’m surprised. And maybe we never did try the Kaneko glove - it looks different than what I was thinking of. Must’ve been some other game glove. Memories from the early 90s are rather spotty at this point!

@gmar
Hey we’re all entitled to our own sense of values. If you feel that $8 per game is too expensive, well, that’s your valid opinion and I’m not going to try and change your mind. Our circumstances and how much we value these old games varies, right?

I grew up in the eighties playing these arcade games, and back then I’d pay $40-$50 or more to play an inferior NES, SNES, or Genesis port of them at home. Arcade envy was real back then.
Now I can buy a virtually arcade-perfect port optimized for home and with online leaderboards, for the cost of a sandwich! I’m not complaining.
Go to the arcade in 1985 or 1992 with $8 and see how long it lasts you!

Yes, Capcom and Sega and others have sold compilations where the per-game cost is cheaper, especially when they go on sale. But those are their first-party games. They get to set the sell price as they wish. They aren’t licensing the games and aren’t beholden to the IP holder like Hamster is. No doubt Hamada-san wishes he could slash prices like Sega! But often you can get Arcade Archives games for closer to $5 each, if you wait for sales, or if you’re able to import the physical Taito or NeoGeo collections they’ve produced. I feel Hamster’s pricing is fair, if it helps them stay in business and bring nearly forgotten old games like Mr. Do! to modern consoles, one game every week! It’s incredible, if you ask me.

Another thing I hope you’d understand is that Hamster is a Japanese company porting Japanese games. Their focus primarily is on the Japanese market. They don’t have the capital or reach of a large, multinational company. And while Hamster has had extraordinary success securing game rights in Japan, we can’t expect them to track down and broker deals with all the far-flung foreign IP holders - especially with the console games now. So yeah, there are going to be some games that are Japan versions only, unfortunately. You and I are free to skip those, if we wish. Not even Nintendo bothers to translate everything!

But I’d strongly disagree that Console Archives is “interfering” somehow with NSO/Nintendo Classics. Hamster was a contractor for Nintendo, porting Virtual Console games in the past, and I’m sure the Switch/Switch 2 is the most valuable platform for Arcade Archives. Hamster is not going to impose exclusivity clauses or anything that would harm their relationship with NCL.

But even if Hamster does pull a few games away from NSO, I’d rather have the option to buy and retain a few games I especially like, than have the games all disappear totally when my subscription runs out, or when Nintendo decides to de-list here and there.

@gmar
Friend, why such animosity? Were you watching the same livestream as me? Because trust me, Hamada-san is not up there boasting. He grew up playing many of these arcade games and genuinely loves them and his job at Hamster, managing Arcade Archives. You can feel his enthusiasm and his reverence for every game creator and guest that appears on his livestream. I worked with men like him in Japan, and speak Japanese well enough that it’s clear to me he is not boastful, nor doing this just for the money. Are you a Japanese speaker too? Maybe you’re reading some bad translations?

Also, Hamster hasn’t acquired Universal Entertainment. Hamster is merely in a licensing arrangement with them, same as with Namco or Taito or 26 other brands.

@mjparker77 @MontyCircus
Do! Run! Run! sounds great! I think all the Mr. Do sequels will be insta-buys for me, when they hit Arcade Archives. And I say "when," because Hamster president Hamada-shacho really made a big deal of Universal joining Ake-Aka on today's livestream. It sounds like he has every intention of releasing more Universal games in the future. Fingers crossed!

Today marked Arcade Archives' 12th anniversary, and they welcomed esteemed guests and Mr. Do! creators Mr. Ueda (planning & director) and Mr. Kubota (level design) on the show.

One interesting story they shared was when director Ueda was wracking his brain trying to make a "Dig-Dug" like game per the company president's request. He didn't want to make an uninspired rip-off, but he was running out of time. It was around then that he went to the company loo and noticed somebody left a bouncy rubber "superball" on the windowsill. That's when he thought up the Power Ball idea! And the rest of his Mr. Do ideas just fell into place after that. Ueda-san loved pinball machines at the time, which inspired him to include the "E-X-T-R-A" feature to earn an extra life (like in his earlier game, Lady Bug), and he even included a way to earn a replay (free credit) in the game (pretty rare for video arcade games, but a ubiquitous pinball feature).

To earn an extra credit in Mr. Do!, you have to break open apples and collect a diamond, if it appears. Arcade operators could choose the probability of a diamond appearing: either 1:500 apples, or 1:2,000! So one way to enjoy Mr. Do! is to just farm apples. I don't remember ever seeing a diamond playing Mr. Do! on Colecovision. But then again, it was like 40+ years ago!

Also, I never realized that each level in Mr. Do! reflects its stage number! I.E, before you start digging up the levels, stage two clearly has a big "2" on it, and stage three clearly has a big "3" on it. (Stage 1 is the exception - it looks like "oD" which looks like "Do" backwards to me.) I wonder if the screen layouts on the Colecovision port were different? Again, I can't remember.
Memory is the first thing to go, as you age!

I picked up NeoGeo 1 for my Evercade VS-R (had to have Magician Lord!), and I'd buy more, but I already have all 10 volumes of Hamster's ACA NeoGeo Selections on the shelf, and an AES+ console and some games coming hopefully later this year. That's enough NeoGeo for me! Still, it looks like Blaze is continuing to put together some good collections.

I may be tempted to add Activision 3 to my collection, as I've got fond memories of playing Barnstorming, Laser Blast, and Kaboom! from (yikes!) 40+ years ago. Kaboom won't be the same without a paddle controller, though.

@MontyCircus @mjparker77
Wholeheartedly agree that I winced when I saw Mr. Do! described as a Dig-Dug clone. With the power ball, do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-da cherry collecting, and lots of apples to drop, I always felt that Mr. Do had a personality and feel all its own. A mere clone of Dig-Dug wouldn't elevate the experience in such a way.

@MontyCircus
I hear every word you're saying! My mom never once played our Colecovision (or any game console, for that matter), but my siblings and I all loved the Coleco and Mr. Do! got a lot of screentime. Like you, I never met Mr. Do! outside of Coleco, so it'll be interesting to see how the arcade version feels.

Interestingly, I read that all the Japanese fans are wondering if this Ake-Aka port will play the Mighty Atom theme song when you score an extra life, like it did in the original arcade version.
(EDIT: The theme is intact! Mr. Hamada said during this week’s livestream that they were granted permission by the rights holder to use the music as-is. He gave a vague warning that the situation could change in the future, though.)

This release is rather special - as their first-ever port of a Universal, Ltd game, I think Hamster was saving it for their 12th anniversary celebrations, going on this month. I'm really excited that we may potentially get Lady Bug, and I'm with you - I'd love to try those Mr. Do sequels.

Also, Hamster started a sale of 15 Namco games just this week! I'll have to find time to buy and play Mr. Do! and now Mappy, too!

I’m thrilled to see Mr. Do! come to Arcade Archives. I played so much of this single-screen classic on our family’s Colecovision back in the early-mid 80s. And it’s the first port of a game from Universal! I can only hope that Hamada-san and Co. also bring us Ladybug, Cosmic Avenger, and the Mr. Do sequels.

Sheesh, this will be on the eshop before my copy of Taito Milestones 4 (including Arkanoid) even delivers from Japan. Hamster is not wasting any time.

Clearly, a spinner/paddle controller would be the way to go (Hori, please save us!) but earlier brick-breaker releases on Arcade Archives like Quester and Gee Bee were made decent enough by including USB mouse and Joy-Con 2 mouse mode support.

@mjparker77
I also was not all that pleased with the spinner controller on my Egret II Mini. I imported a fan-made "expander cap" from Japan which increases the diameter of the spinner knob, and it felt quite a bit better.
https://booth.pm/ja/items/3703780

Here it is, in use:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3UmOs6EkxM

@chucksneed
People use tools to improve their capabilities and productivity.

AI uses people to improve its capabilities and productivity.

See the difference there?

That’s why this story matters, and why I think it’s reductive and harmful to think of AI as mere “tools.”

You use a tool, like a wrench or a keyboard, you get the job done and you set it down.
You use AI, and you’re just training your replacement.

Saying nothing of the massive drain of resources needed to power the AI to do the job. Resources that could have helped sustain a gainfully-employed human worker to do the job, and probably do it better.

It matters because if you think it doesn’t matter, you’re a little more likely to wake up someday unemployed with demolition starting for a huge data center being built in your backyard.

Hopefully this is a sign that Sega leadership realizes that rather than abandon your hits of the past, you leverage those suckers for all they’re worth. In the media biz, that’s how you build momentum and a legacy like Nintendo or Disney. You can honor the past while continuing to innovate.

I’m all for re-releases or refreshes of any of the titles they’re listing (especially completely abandoned gems like Guardian Heroes and Dynamite Deka). Please let this produce some quality games and not just some gashapon toys and t-shirts! 🙏🏻

I immediately thought of Crossed Swords 2, but I forgot that it was exclusive to the Neo Geo CD.

I think mostly I would like to see a list of all the Neo Geo games that Hamster never released as part of their ACA Neo Geo Archives. Eight Man comes to mind.

@JoeYabuki
Thanks for the info! I guess the NeoGeo was ahead of its time back then. I suppose it’s a safe bet the AES+ will be compatible with Japanese carts, if I ever encounter one.

Thank you for the justification! My mental gymnastics were not up to the task.

Now I’m wondering if this AES+ console is free from region locking? Was the Neo Geo region locked back in the day?

Damn, it looked beautiful - retro done right! My conscience couldn't keep me from purchasing. Next I'll be fretting over whether to actually unbox and play it!

A nekketsu life, ended much too soon.
He certainly changed the trajectory of arcade and home video games.

RIP Kishimoto-san.

I browse Nintendo Life and Time Extension so often that becoming a supporter has felt like my single best investment over the past couple years. There is always something fun or informative to read. Thanks for being a welcome slice of humanity on the internet! 🙏🏻

I think the preorder I placed at GameStop in 2022 is still open? I’ll have to check. I think now I’d prefer to have these tactics games on S2, unless it’s a dreaded game key.

I bought a VS-R and a selection of carts as a Xmas prezzie to myself last year, and I’m pretty pleased with it! It’s a treat to play games as diverse as River Raid, Karnov, and Zookeeper with minimal fuss.

Is Nexus a new hybrid console like the Switch? One that links to an online hub with global leaderboards or networked play? Maybe they’re planning something bold to go together with their new analog stick controllers coming out later this year. It’ll be interesting to find out.

Seeing Hamster’s reveal video this morning stirred some long-lost memory - I must have encountered this game at an arcade long ago, because I remember taking out those towers with a rocket launcher.

For an instant I thought this was CABAL, which I would absolutely love to play again.

@gojiguy
I’m almost certain that Plump Pop will have USB mouse support for the Ake-Aka version, and USB mouse plus joy-con mouse support for the Ake-Aka 2 version (which will cost a few dollars more but would be the wisest choice for S2 owners, I’d say). This would continue the trend of all the paddle/spinner games that Hamster has ported for us lately, like Gee Bee, Bomb Bee, and Quester. I bet it won’t be long till we see the Arkanoid games!

This game is ridiculously fun on my Egret II Mini. You choose a kitty, doggie, or piggy family and then bounce your CHILD on a trampoline, brick-breaker style, to whack the enemies overhead while jumping over bothersome mini Godzilla’s that harass you. Fail to catch your child 3 times and it’s game over and it’s off to the emergency room. My kids and I have had a few good laughs over this one! 😂

I think I played Plump Pop and Puchi Carat the most of all the spinner/paddle games on the Egret, even more than the 3 great Arkanoid games.

I’m glad these spinner games are joining Ake-Aka, but using the intended spinner controller remains the best way to play them. I did find that the S2 joy con in mouse mode was a fairly decent substitute in Namco’s Arkanoid-like Quester a few weeks ago.

I picked up a VS-R late last year with a selection of arcade carts and have really enjoyed it, but it doesn’t play nice with my HDMI splitter box, plus it borks my TV’s audio detection - hurdles to playing that really bum me out. ☹️

That Activision 2 Collection will be mine - I loved Pitfall II back on the Atari VCS. It was my fave platformer until SMB came out! It’ll be a nostalgia trip to revisit again after so many years.

Best news I’ve heard all week! I could’ve bought this game at retail back when I lived in Japan, and as its priced soared in later years I’ve been kicking myself ever since.
It’s going to be such a mecha nostalgia trip to finally play this game! It absolutely nails the super-robot vibe. Any word on a physical release? I would double dip on this title, no questions asked.

I had a blast playing River City Ransom back in the NES era, and can still hum some of its rollicking soundtrack to this day.
Thank you for sharing your talent and whimsy with us, Sawa-san! You’ll be missed.

@Moroboshi876
You bring up a great point - we get Namco and Taito, NeoGeo, and Hamster-owned IP games offered on sale occasionally, but I think you’re right - I’ve never seen Konami games discounted.

I would really LOVE a Konami sale! I don’t need much of an excuse to grab Jackal, Time Pilot, Vendetta, Track & Field, Rush ‘n Attack, and many more.

I’d never heard of Labyrinth Runner before, but it looks like a decently fun time. I imagine I’d enjoy it in the same way I do Ikari Warriors or Commando or Gain Ground.

This mainly reminds me I have to go buy the Ake-Aka port of Konami’s Jackal, though. It’s just never going to go on sale, is it? 😮‍💨

I recall people being bummed out that Emerald Dragon wasn’t among the games on the PC Engine Mini. I would have loved to try it there, even untranslated.
Even so, the collection of games on that mini is top class, if you ask me. Right up there with the Mega Drive Mini 2, I’d say.

This game looked amusing and the Hamster announcement garnered quite a buzz among the Japanese retro-gamers I follow, so I picked up the AkeAka 1 version this weekend. I played a few minutes and while it is quite hard to follow the in-screen action, I think it will be a fun time getting used to it. It really is a lot like a versus version of Elevator Action Returns, a game I really liked on my Saturn years ago.

I just went with Ake-Aka Switch 1 version, to save the 300yen — I’d have splurged on the Ake-Aka 2 version if it offered online play, but otherwise I’m saving my previous yen. 😁 💴

@Handy_Man
That was a great call, even if Outfoxies is number 499.
Number 500 comes next week, right on Xmas day. Should be a biggie! I wonder now if it’s going to be Arkanoid, now that they announced it for Taito Milestones 4.

Just saw their preview video, and Outfoxies looks like decent fun! I may pick this up. But with it being a 1995 game, I wonder if it’ll get the 1,500 yen price point?

I never picked up on that.
But then again, most of the time I was hitting buttons to skip the intro screen and start playing as quickly as possible!

@OutRun22
Dude, I’ve seen you contribute meaningfully here in other articles, so I’ll resist the temptation to call you “another offended snowflake conservative.”

Some women do play arcade games (I and my daughters enjoy the arcade 1up machines we have at home, in fact) and perhaps there’d be more if not for men with creepy biases.

Also, including women and non-white actors in advertising isn’t necessarily “woke,” it’s marketing. That ad is both pitching to a broader demographic, AND influencing guys to “buy this Arcade 1up, since your gf or wife will enjoy it, too.”
Seems pretty obvious to me, having been subjected to American advertising my whole life, but maybe your Kiwi sensibilities are different?

I bought a Pac-Man countertop and then a “Class of ‘81” countertop from them as family Xmas gifts over the years, and they’re fun enough. I’d be sad to see them go. Hopefully they’re not closing doors and it’s just an acquisition. Although, working at an American manufacturer myself, it’s easy to imagine that deranged Don’s tariffs have had extremely negative impacts on their business.

If indeed they are shutting down, it will be interesting to see if it frees up any arcade game licenses - Namco could re-gain the rights to publish Ms. Pac-Man, for instance.

@beartank
Yes, it’s a bummer. I re-watched the livestream and Tōyama-san from Taito did indeed tell us that Milestones 4 is not compatible with Switch 2 joy con mouse mode. He said that when Arkanoid, Cameltry, and Sylvalion eventually come to Arcade Archives (in 2026, I’d imagine), Hamster will probably release an “Arcade Archives 2” version which supports joy con 2 mouse control.

Having that feature would be nice, for sure, but mainly I’d like to know if this cartridge and my Switch and/or Switch 2 will play nice with my trackball-style USB mouse.

@KingMike
During the livestream they confirmed you connect a USB mouse to your Switch to control Arkanoid, Cameltry, and Syvalion that way, if you like. It looked really hard to control the Vaus with a mouse, but I guess we'll have to try and see.

Years ago Hori surveyed people about a multi-arcade controller for Switch/PS4-5 that included spinner and trackball features, but as yet nothing has come of it. I really hope it happens some day!

Well, I guessed Ninja Kids, but I was way off otherwise.
I really misjudged Taito and Hamster's intentions for this Milestones series. With all the deep cuts this time, I think they intend to keep going a long way with many future volumes, like the ACA NEO GEO collections that made it to ten releases.

I probably should have expected they would expand into the trackball/spinner games like Arkanoid and Cameltry, after Hamster introduced USB mouse controls earlier this year for Namco's spinner games Gee Bee and Bomb Bee.
I enjoy those Taito games on the Egret II, so it'll be nice to try them with a mouse on Switch. Although, if I heard correctly during the livestream this morning, the games on this cartridge will not support Switch 2 joycon mouse mode, which is a major bummer.

I'll be preordering through Amazon Japan to get the bonus soundtrack CD, but Trump's "#$%&"#$% tariffs are going to cost me again.

I’m up for this but really curious which titles they’ll include. Traditionally, these Taito Milestone volumes are just physical compilations of Arcade Archives Taito games that Hamster already released on the eshops, with just a couple of “surprises” not out yet.

To date, there are 61 (!) Taito Ake-Aka titles, and only 30 of those have gotten the physical Taito Milestones treatment.

If I had to guess, I’d say the following will be on Milestones 4:
DARIUS
Space Invaders
Final Blow (basis for Buster Douglas Boxing)
Pirate Pete (closest we’ll ever get to Jungle Hunt)
Volfied (cool sequel to QIX)
Puzzle Bobble
The Ninja Kids
Crime City
Gladiator*
Kaiser Knuckle*

• These last 2 are the “surprises” not yet on Arcade Archives, but have been on Taito’s Egret II Mini for a while. They’d give extra appeal to Milestones 4 for now, before coming to Ake-Aka in 2026.
  There are lots of games they could pull from the Egret in this manner, like Bubble Symphony, Elevator Action Returns, Rayforce (Layer Section), Dan-ku-ga (the sequel to Kaiser Knuckle), and even Mr. Do!

Time will tell! I will definitely check out the announcement.

I never encountered DK Jr. Math backin the NES days, though I wondered about it a few times when I daydreamed about having a more complete collection back then.
Obviously, it didn’t have the shelf appeal of other early games like Kung Fu, Mach Rider, or Ghosts & Goblins - most kids wouldn’t give it a second glance in the Toys R Us aisle.

But I actually appreciated getting to play it on NSO, and even went back to it once or twice - it can be a fun little mental exercise and vs mode against my sixth grader was good for a few laughs. 😁

How about if Atari acquired the Williams/Midway Games IP from Warner Bros? We could finally get ports of Atari arcade games like Paperboy, Xybots, Roadbladters, etc on modern platforms.

I’m an American customer of Super Rare Games in the UK. Monday I received an email from them saying that due to the de minimis exemption ending on Aug 29th, they are pausing all shipments to the U.S. and blocking any orders from the U.S. for the time being. I had 2 games I preordered and paid with them, now stuck in limbo thanks to our luminous angry orange president.

@Porco @Moroboshi876
It’s nice that they’re re-releasing the Egret II Mini system and game expansion packs 1-3 for everyone who missed out earlier. During the livestream today, the project producer Egawa-san cautioned the fans to think of these basically as “preorder-only” items. Essentially, now through early August will be open preorders, but then their production quantities will be set and the preorder window will start to close. So best not to wait too long!

I like my Egret so much (blue “2p-color” deluxe set I bought from Strictly Limited Games in 2022) I went on Amazon JP right away to get my Arcade Collection Vol. 1 on preorder - but I ended up ordering the game bundled with the console, just so I’ll have a backup. The bundle includes a bonus set of the mini instruction cards for sll 40 games installed in the base console, to please the collectors. 😁

It’s just a bummer they’re not making another batch of controllers. Maybe next year! Egawa-san seemed upbeat today and hinted to the viewers that more releases (Taito and non-Taito) were in the works. Imagine an ATARI collection, with Centipede and Crystal Castles…
And my Zoo Keeper dream lives on… 😌

Thanks for the early morning chuckle, BBC!

This reminds me of a news headline I saw last week about Chuck E. Cheese opening a new chain of retro barcades:
LONGTIME RESTAURANT CHAIN OPENS NEW LINE OF ARCADES FOR “ADULTS”
(their quotes, not mine) 😅

But at least you Brits get to enjoy your public television. The sitting U.S. president and his cult are defunding our public TV (PBS) and public radio (NPR) for the crime of daring to report truthfully, rather than being his personal propaganda mouthpiece like Fox News. Oh, also because they don’t enrich billionaires, so what’s the point? 😑

@OnePointZero
I originally got my Egret set through Strictly Limited Games in Germany.
Maybe it’s worth checking to see if any are still in stock at SLG?
I’ve heard the units are no longer available in Japan, except for a premium.

Oh yay! My Egret lives on! Rumors are circulating that we may get some non-Taito games. IIRC the built-in games and Arcade Memories 1-3 were all Taito or Taito-published games, so this fresh series start with Arcade Collection Parts 1 & 2 may bring other publishers?

I just want Taito’s Chase HQ, Zoo Keeper, and Arabian Magic - any of those and I’ll be happy! 😁

I’ll be tuned in on July 17th for sure!

It’s great to hear Yuzo Koshiro is involved with this new Shinobi, as if Tee Lopes wasn’t awesome enough! I loved his Shredder’s Revenge soundtrack.

Koshiro’s work on Revenge of Shinobi was what first opened my ears to how good game music could be. I would leave the game’s attract mode running just so I could hear that “Long Distance” track play a few times.