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

Raziel, Rastan and RSI.

Let me kick off this week’s roundups with a few surprise drops from last week that occurred after the cutoff: Nightdive’s surprise release for their remaster of Computer Artworks’ 2002 third-person shooter based on The Thing, and the long-awaited 1.0 release of Caves of Qud, a massively open sci-fi roguelike that’s been in development in one shape or another for seventeen years. I should also apologize in advance for not highlighting any relevant games that might be released in tandem with any one of the many tacky trailer showcases that might be happening around now, because I ain’t watching a single goddamned one of ’em.

ARCADE ARCHIVES

Viper Phase 1

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

What’s this? A vertically-scrolling sci-fi shooting game, originally developed and distributed in arcades by Seibu Kaihatsu in 1995 and never ported or reissued before now; describing it as “Raiden in space” would be a little reductive, but not exactly inaccurate. (This release includes both the OLD and NEW revisions — the NEW version eases the restrictions placed upon the player’s subweapons, revises the scoring system by adding an extra timing element to the medal-collecting system and other tweaks.)

Why should I care? Hardcore shooting game fans have been waiting decades for this game to make it home, and those of you who’ve been waiting for Raiden II to hit Arcade Archives might find yourself enjoying this game even more than you might eventually enjoy that one, as it offers a similar level of craftsmanship and ease of play with a fraction of the grueling difficult.

Helpful tip: There’s currently a backend bug keeping this game from being purchasable on PS5, but Hamster’s already on it, so sit tight.

EGG CONSOLE

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

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

What’s this? The second game in Falcom’s Dragon Slayer RPG subseries, The Legend of Heroes, which was originally released for the PC-88 series hardware in 1992 and gradually ported and remade for PC-98, FM Towns, PC Engine CD, Super Famicom, Sega Mega Drive, PlayStation and Sega Saturn; set 20 years after the events of the original game, Legend of Heroes II maintains most of the broad systems and many of the environments of the original and follows both the new lives of much of the first game’s cast but also a new generation of characters.

Why should I care? While this wasn’t quite a Ys-to-Ys II situation, this sequel was certainly built on the foundations of the original (perhaps as a consequence of being Falcom’s swansong to the PC-88 platform) and directly resolves some of the dangling plot threads surrounding most of the original cast, so if you went in on the first one, you probably owe it to yourself to see the sequel through. It should also be noted that this is the one game of the classic Legend of Heroes run that has yet to be officially localized in any form, and the various remakes and ports aren’t necessarily faithful representations of the original nor competent in and of themselves, so you might as well just play this original version.

Language barrier? All of the meaningful in-game text is in Japanese, and this is the game where they started to get really, excessively talky.

December ’24 update: Tetris (NES), Tetris DX (Game Boy Color)

What’re these? The Tetris game that’s dominated the competitive Tetris zeitgeist for the last decade or so, and the colorized adaptation of the Game Boy’s killer app, both originally developed and published by Nintendo and both reissued for the first time. (Japan received the same games, with some added info to get across the fact that it’s a different game from the Famicom version.)

Why should I care? One could convincingly argue that the vast majority of Tetris’ significant cultural shifts over the last ten years are anchored solely by NES Tetris — and not any of the modern commercial games, or anything seen in Tetris Forever, or any of the “lifestyle” projects bearing the brand, or even grassroots games like TETR.IO — and for that reason alone, a mainstream commercial reissue is long overdue, even if does not and cannot serve as a substitue for other means of playing the game. Game Boy Tetris with color ain’t nothin’ to sniff at, either.

Helpful tip: If you’re not familiar with the particulars of NES Tetris’ more unforgiving quirks then you ought not do this, but if you wish to begin at a higher level than the in-game level select will allow, highlight a level number, hold A and press start to begin the game 10 levels above the highlighted number.

OTHER

Cho Aniki Collection

• Platform: Nintendo Switch (Japan)
• Price::¥7,480
• Publisher: Edia / Masaya

What’s this? An emulated two-pack containing Masaya’s notoriously silly and hyper-masculine shooting game Cho Aniki, originally developed and published for the PC Engine CD by Masaya in 1992, and its 1995 sequel Ai Cho Aniki; this collection follows other recent Edia-produced collections in offering basic button and screen settings, a rewind function, save states, scans of select printed material and audio/cutscene viewers.

Why should I care? While the price is certainly steep for what amounts to two games thrown in a basic emulator wrapper, these are the two Cho Aniki games that purport some semblance of credibility as shooting games beyond being mere vehicles for wacky homoerotic surrealism, and while I wouldn’t necessarily recommend a Japan-only release if I felt an international release was a foregone conclusion, I genuinely don’t know where international publishers might stand on this series nowadays, so if you absolutely must play ’em, importing may be your only option.

Helpful tip: Edia did also promise to reissue the Super Famicom Cho Aniki “fighting” game as part of the crowdfunding campaign for this collection, but that game’s getting a separate release later down the line and isn’t considered part of the collection proper, despite being a stretch goal.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered

• Platform: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC via Steam (worldwide)
• Price: $29.99 or equivalent 
• Publisher: Aspyr

What’s this? A remastered double-pack of the two games in Crystal Dynamic’s Soul Reaver sub-series of the lore-heavy gothic fantasy action-adventure series Legacy of Kain, originally published by Eidos for PlayStation, Sega Dreamcast and PC and PlayStation 2 and PC, respectively; these new remasters, produced by Aspyr, offer a toggle for remade character/object models and retextured environments, as well as support for up to 4K/120FPS, dual analogue support with modern camera control functionality, the implementation of a scrapped day/night cycle in the original game, remastered music, an extensive gallery of lore, cut content, voice outtakes and much more.

Why should I care? If you were to ask anyone else, they might cite the intricate storylines and best-in-class voice acting, or the bridging of the broad Zelda format with more “mature” aesthetic, or this remaster’s tertiary purpose as an interest check for future, brand new Legacy of Kain content… but you’re asking me, and I’ve retained nothing but a residual dread of neverending box-pushing, so iunno, if you’ve ever wished Sokoban was slower and more unwieldy, Raziel’s got your back.

Helpful tip: There’s been some contention about the remaster “ruining” the music from the original PC ports, so allow me to explain: where the original console versions offered dynamic sequenced audio, the PC version was forced to adopt a smaller suite of pre-recorded, static music that was afforded some extra baked-in effects like reverb; this remasters adopts the original dynamic music with its own modern production enhancements, and if one were to A/B the original console/PC soundtracks, they might find that the PC version’s tunes weren’t as lush as they remember them to be. (It should also be said that the PC version’s music was a constant source of criticism until now, so this reversal of attitute seems a little out of left field…)

Taito Milestones 3

• Platform: Nintendo Switch (worldwide outside of Japan)
• Price: $39.99 or equivalent 
• Publisher: Taito / ININ

What’s this? The third volume of Taito and Hamster’s ten-packs of classic Taito arcade games, released between 1986 and 1992; these particular reissues are largely derived from Hamster’s Arcade Archives library and offer a near-identical feature suite, save for the omission of certain leaderboard-related functionality.

Which games are included? This volume includes Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, Rastan, Rastan Saga II, Champion Wrestler, Cadash, Growl, Thunder Fox, Warrior Blade and Dead Connection; the latter three games are currently exclusive to the collection, but will be released individually via Arcade Archives in the future.

Why should I care? Taito consciously sought to fill this volume with games that would go over well with non-Japanese players, which they ultimately narrowed down to “some Bubble Bobbles, some Rastans and a few games in between”, and I cannot say they made the wrong call —  they’ve offered a healthy mix of bona fide classics, beloved oddballs and deeper cuts, topped off by the never-reissued mobster-themed shooter Dead Connection, and I think players with a taste for the more macho side of Taito’s catalog will be particularly pleased with this one.

Helpful(?) tip: No, there are no emulation issues at play, Rastan II really is that bad. I don’t get how that happened, either.

The Escape Room Chronicles ep1: The Old School Building

• Platform: Nintendo Switch, PC via Steam (worldwide)
• Price: $5.99 or equivalent 
• Publisher: D3 Publisher / Intense

What’s this? A remaster of the second 3DS eShop entry in D3 Publisher’s SIMPLE Series escape room game series THE Misshitsu kara no Dasshutsu, which began life on DS in 2007 and ultimately spawned over 40 games across DS, DSiWare, 3DS, WiiWare, Wii U, PlayStation 3, feature phones, smartphones, Switch and now PC, including several that transcended the SIMPLE Series branding; in this episode, the player controls a prospective ghost hunter who finds themselves locked in an abandoned school house…

Why should I care? This episode’s both more and less reflective of the series overall: it maintains the high difficulty that typifies the series but was absent from the previous game, while also taking a more serious, horror-tinged angle that puts it at odds with the other games, which tended towards the goofy.

Helpful tip: Despite being localised as “episode 3”, next week’s remaster is actually 3DS entry #4.