Retro Re-release Roundup, week of September 12, 2024

Marvel vs. Capcom, free at last.

This week’s headline release — the long, long, long-demanded re-emergence of the Marvel vs. Capcom series for contemporary platforms, complete with rollback netcode — is exciting for a number of reasons: new and returning generations will finally get to play ’em again, for one, but the mere fact that they’re back suggests that the ice between Marvel and Capcom has finally thawed, and that there might actually be hope for a brand-new MvC that won’t be smothered in the crib by overbearing Marvel edicts. Now, might they finally add Leon Kennedy or Frank Castle to one of these games, or would they be a bridge too far?

VS. Battle City

• Platform: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4
• Price: $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29
• Publisher: Hamster / Namco

What’s this? The VS. System arcade conversion of Namco’s overhead tank shooting game Battle City, originally developed and published for the Famicom in 1985 (and bootlegged far and wide elsewhere), with later conversions for Game Boy and certain Japanese microcomputers and reissues via the various incarnations of Virtual Console, as well as the recent Namcot Collection/Namco Museum Archives collections; to my knowledge, the arcade version’s identical to the Famicom version, save for the removal of the stage editor.

Why should I care? Well, this game is a remake of the early Namco arcade game Tank Battalion and was in turn remade as a dedicated arcade game, Tank Force, and both of those games are available for ACA, so perhaps you specifically need to own this arcade version rather than the home version, iunno.

Useless tip: Hamster’s added the option to add an extra digit to the score counter, not that you’d ever want to play this game for score, let alone for the amount of time it’d take to hit a counter-stop.

EGG CONSOLE

Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (PC-8801mkIISR)

• Platform: Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
• Price: $6.49 / ¥880
• Publisher: D4 Enterprise / Nihon Falcom

What’s this? The sixth game in Nihon Falcom and Yoshio Kiya’s Dragon Slayer series and first entry in the Legend of Heroes sub-series, originally released for PC-8801 in 1989 and ported to various Japanese computers, with console adaptations produced for the Super Famicom, Sega Mega Drive (via Sega Falcom) and the Turbografx/PC Engine CD; breaking from tradition, this game is not an action-RPG nor an attempt to explore the foundations of RPG design but is instead a relatively conventional post-Dragon Quest RPG with turn-based battles and a focus on the narrative, which centers on the exploits of Prince Celios, heir to the throne of Isrenasa and would-be avenger of his father, killed during a monster invasion organised by his traitorous adviser.

Why should I care? You want to see the modest roots of the sub-series that has come to dominate modern Falcom’s output, or you simply want an entry point to this series that won’t demand eight thousand hours of your time. In and of itself, this is a very streamlined RPG with a lot of forward-thinking amenities like a detailed suite of auto-battle options, a random battle system that isn’t actually random and the ability to configure the controls for one-handed play, and the overall difficulty and progression curve compares extremely favorably to contemporary JRPGs, including Dragon Quest.

Language barrier? The vast majority of the text is in Japanese, and while this particular game’s not as verbose as later games in the series, there’s still a lot of dialog.

OTHER

Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP

• Platform: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox, PC via Steam (worldwide)
• Price: $49.99 or equivalent
• Publisher: Dragami Games

What’s this? A remaster of Grasshopper Manufacture’s campy, crass cheerleader-vs.zombies action game, originally published by Kadokawa and Warner Bros. for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012; produced by several of the original developers, this remaster brings the game up to 4K resolution and 60FPS (30FPS on Switch) and offers both an original mode and a “RePOP” mode with modern post-processing and new visual effects, multiple tweaks and changes to core systems like camera, input delay, ability acquisition and combo system, adds several new weapons and collectibles, a new speedrun-focused mode with online leaderboards and more.

Why should I care? While I cannot say I’m hearing good things about the technical state of this remaster, I will state that the original Lollipop Chainsaw was perhaps the most imechanics-first single-player action game Grasshopper produced, and the idea of them further sharpening the game on a mechanical level does, on paper, seem like a fine idea. This game’s writing and tone was also sculpted by a pre-Guardians of the Galaxy James Gunn and his voice is all over this game, for better and worse. That said…

Helpful tip: …the vast majority of the licensed music that defined the identity of the original game, as well as all the referential/collaborative character costumes, are not present in this remaster. More like “DePOP”, huh.

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics

• Platform: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC via Steam (worldwide)
• Price: $49.99 or equivalent
• Publisher: Capcom

What’s this? A collection of beloved Marvel Comics arcade games developed and published by Capcom from 1993 to 2000, all of which have been absent from home consoles for at least a decade and some of which have never received authentic home reissues; this collection was internally produced by Capcom and offers emulated versions of each game with English/Japanese ROM selection, training modes and hitbox viewers, immediate access to hidden characters and playable bosses, various screen and controller configs including easy control options for one-button specials/supers, an extensive museum of official art, developer documents and music and online play with lobbies, spectator modes and rollback netcode.

Which games are included? X-MEN: Children of the Atom (specifally, the final, least-busted ROM), Marvel Super Heroes, X-MEN vs. Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and, as a respite from all the fighting games, the Punisher  brawler.

Why should I care? The games in this collection not only exemplify the evolution and expansion of the fighting game genre post-Street Fighter II and demonstrate the absolute peak of a certain era of 2D pixel art and animation but one could also argue that they established one of the strongest aesthetic and design benchmarks for a stable of characters that currenty define pop culture — there was a time when these games were considered to offer the absolute coolest visual representations of Marvel’s characters, and the current folk in charge of Marvel’s various media arms have unquestionably taken huge influence from Capcom’s work, and it’s frankly ridiculous that they’ve been out of circulation for so long. It’s also a relief that these specific versions seem to be worth playing, too, as that hasn’t always been the case when it comes to fighting game reissues.

Helpful tip: The physical Switch/PS4 versions won’t be out until November, and the Xbox version, which until very recently was off the table due to a communications breakdown with Microsoft, will be getting a digital-only release next year.

The Hokkaido Serial Murder Case: The Okhotsk Disappearance ~Memories in Ice, Tearful Figurine~

• Platform: Nintendo Switch, PC via Steam (worldwide)
• Price: $44.99 or equivalent
• Publisher: G-MODE

What’s this? A remake of Yuji Horii’s command-based detective mystery adventure game Hokkaido Rensa Satsujin: Okhotsk ni Kiyu, originally developed and published by the software branch of the computer magazine LOGiN for the PC-6001 and PC-8801 computers in 1984, with various computer ports produced thereafter, and a Famicom adaptation produced in 1987. This remake, produced by retro mystery adventure game devs Happymeal Inc., presents the game with full high-quality illustrations newly drawn by original Famicom-version designer/illustrator Kazuhiko Arai, full Japanese voice acting, alterations to the in-game hints and blackjack system, newly-arranged music and new vocal themes and an extra bonus scenario supervised by Yuji Horii, among other things. (You wouldn’t know it from the utter lack of promotion it’s getting, but yes, this is getting a global release, localized into English.)

Why should I care? You want to play a never-before-localized Yuji Horii adventure game that isn’t just an attempt to acclimatise oldheads to the wonders of AI by forcing a barely-functional chatbot to wear a classic game like an ill-fitting skin suit.