Retro Re-release Roundup, week of March 20, 2025

A trio of From Software classics return to PlayStation consoles.

Between the many and various mecha games being reissued this week, it would be remiss of me to not also mention Xenoblade Chronicles X, the remaster of Monolith’s open-world mecha sci-fi RPG that originally hit Wii U just shy of a decade ago. Unfortunately, it seems Best Buy isn’t running back their free “e-Pizza Cash” promotion for the remaster, but in all fairness, I don’t know that anyone involved could adequately explain why it ever happened to begin with.

ARCADE ARCHIVES

Senkyu

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

What’s this? A falling-block puzzle game, originally developed and distributed in Japanese arcades by Seibu Kaihatsu in 1995 and distributed globally by Fabtek under the title Battle Balls, and followed by a Japan-only conversion for the Sony Playstation; players are tasked with rotating and placing triangular three-piece blocks into a hexagonally-aligned playfield in order to create matches of 4 same-coloured pieces, with cascading pieces rolling downward to (hopefully) create large chain reactions and bombard the CPU or human opponent with garbage. (This release is missing the localized Battle Balls ROM, so the in-game text remains in Japanese.)

Why should I care? For as difficult to intuit as the cascading-ball chaining might initially feel, Senkyu otherwise avoids most of the other design pitfalls that plague the average Puyo Puyo also-ran… and even if you don’t quite figure it out, it’s the kind of game that’ll kinda just dump big chains in your lap every so often, so you might at least have fun bluffing your way through a bout or two.

Useless fact: Years after this game, a Seibu Kaihatsu sub-label would reuse the game mechanics for a series of erotic arcade games that used live-action footage from commercial adult videos that, to my knowledge, have yet to be dumped or emulated.

EGG CONSOLE

Gulkave (MSX)

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

What’s this? A horizontally-scrolling sci-fi shooting game, originally developed by Compile for Sega’s SG-1000/3000 console in 1985 and ported to MSX the following year; the basic shoo-and-dodge gameplay is augmented by a weapon power-up system that sees the player collecting numbered chips to advance a lengthy power gauge and gain access to the various shot upgrades (or downgrades) that correspond to each unmarked square on the gauge.

Why should I care? Very rarely did Compile attempt the horizontally-scrolling format, but all signatures are here: best-case-scenario technical performance, a risk-reward about exploiting the invincibility gained from grabbing chips, and stage/weapon/enemy volume that verges into overkill territory.

Language barrier? None whatsoever.

PLAYSTATION PREMIUM

March ’25 update: Armored Core, Armored Core: Project Phantasma & Armored Core: Master of Arena (PlayStation)

What’re these? The original entry, plus the two expansion titles, in From Software and Shoji Kawamori’s hard-edge 3D mecha combat series Armored Core, originally developed and published for Sony PlayStation between 1997 and 1999; the original game was released globally by Sony and later reissued as a PS Classics title, whereas the expansions were originally only published in Japan and North America and only released as PS Classics in Japan — in other words, this is the first time the expansion titles have been reissued outside of Japan, and the very first time they’ve been officially sold in Europe. (Do note that the customary will-they-or-won’t-they guessing about non-sub availability for these titles is not an issue this time: you can just buy ’em individually, no sub required.)

Why should I care? Thinking big-picture, these releases have not only brought the games to much of the world for the first time but they also indicate a potenial future for reissues of other early AC games that were presumed off-limits due to being localized by the defunct ASCII-owned publisher Agatec. Looking at the games themselves, I suspect that the majority of players whose knowledge of the series begins and ends with Armored Core 6 will completely bounce off the games as a particular consequence of their decidedly unwieldy, pre-DualShock controls and lack of narratively-focused solo content (not to mention the ommision of the original link cable multiplayer functionality), but that same obsessive drive to upgrade and customize your mech might only be intensified by the nostalgic charm of low-poly 3D. 

Helpful tips: Two notes on the emulation front: firstly, the save data transfer functionaliy is not currently supported, but they have provisionally made certain equipment unlockable by default in the expansion games; and secondly, these version do offer top-level button rebinding that’ll let you get some ways towards remapping the controls to modern standards, but it’s still missing helpful settings like binding multiple inputs to a single button.

SATURN TRIBUTE SERIES

Assault Suit Leynos 2 Saturn Tribute

• Platform: PlayStation 4+5, Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
• Price: $24.99 or equivalent
• Publisher: City Connection / Clear River Games

What’s this? An emulated reissue of the side-scrolling mecha action game Assault Suits Leynos 2, originally developed for Sega Saturn and released exclusively in Japan in 1997, and a successor to both the original Mega Drive game Assault Suits Leynos (released globally as Target Earth) and the Super Famicom follow-up Assault Suits Valken (originally localized by Konami as Cybernator, and recently re-localized as Assault Suits Valken DECLASSIFIED). Produced by City Connection, this re-release sports a new English localization and several game-specific options and tweaks like in-game mission hints, weapon and equipment data taken from official supplementary materials, toggles for increased durability, HP, etc and less stringent unlock conditions during the second loop, as well as standard “Saturn Tribute” emulator features like save states, rewind and button mapping. (This release dropped almost a year ago on PC and Xbox but the global PS/Switch release has been held back until now for the sake of the physical version.)

Why should I care? Leynos 2 attempts to both merge and embellish the fundamental approaches of its two predecessors — that is, the eye-of-the-typhoon pandemonium of Leynos and the more cinematic, setpiece-driven approach of Valken — with the result being a game that demands both an understanding of the game’s relatively complex controls and armament systems and the mastery of each of its missions, and I suspect that many of the more critical opinions shared by importers back in the day were a consequence of players simply not understanding what was being asked of them, so this reissue should not only please those looking for vintage mecha-maniac action but also lead to reappraisal from those who didn’t get, or simply couldn’t do, what the game demanded in order to experience it to the fullest extent.

Helpful tip: The most recent quasi-original entry in this series was a remake of the original Leynos, developed by the now-defunct doujin studio Dracue and published globally by Rising Star Games for PS4 and PC, and for whatever reason, it’s been on perma-discount on Steam for multiple years — I suspect the publisher’s functionally dead and that it’s liable to be delisted at any moment, but I’ve thought that for multiple years now, so…

OTHER

Rendering Ranger R2 Rewind

• Platform: PlayStation 4/5, Nintendo Switch, PC via Steam (worldwide)
• Price: $9.99 or equivalent 
• Publisher: Limited Run Games / Ziggurat Interactive

What’s this? An emulated reissue of Rainbow Arts’ notoriously low-print Super Famicom run-and-gun/shooting game Rendering Ranger, originally released exclusively in Japan in 1995 despite being developed in Europe and recently issued on SNES-compatible cartridge; this Carbon Engine-powered release offers both the original release, so titled for its prominent use of pre-rendered sprites, and the initial unreleased PAL build titled Targa, presented with a modest selection of screen and save/load options, a manual/package gallery and a sound test.

Why should I care? Rarity aside, Rendering Ranger is a technical showcase among stock-standard SNES games and a fitting monument to the game’s programmer and primary designer, Turrican series creator Manfred Trenz, and while the moment-to-moment  gameplay won’t necessarily do justice to the visuals, it certainly compares favorably to most of the other European run-and-guns of its day.

Useless fact: As far as I’m aware, the only difference between Rendering Ranger and Targa (aside from 50Hz) is the player sprite, with the Targa sprite being drawn via conventional pixel art.