Tecmo turns their angelic gaze to Arcade Archives.

One would possibly marvel if Touki Denshou ANGEL EYES deserves to be described as considered one of Hamster’s most-anticipated Arcade Archives, however I might argue it is a description that is solely warranted, not simply because it is an absurd mishmash of mechanics and visible kinds that work despite themselves but additionally as a result of they introduced it, like, two years in the past.

ARCADE ARCHIVES

Touki Denshou ANGEL EYES

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

What’s this? A lighthearted all-female 2D preventing recreation, developed and distributed in Japanese arcades by Tecmo in 1996, with a Japan-only port for Sony PlayStation launched the next yr; apart from the overall wacky tone of the sport and its characters, this recreation is notorious for its inexplicable mixture of conventional pixel-art characters and pre-rendered CG characters. (Hamster’s added a really fundamental coaching mode, accessible from the title display screen.)

Why ought to I care? For one factor, it is the primary conventional preventing recreation to hit the non-Neogeo facet of Arcade Archives, imagine it or not. Beyond that, Angel Eyes is beloved in sure circles for providing a mish-mash of very foolish recreation methods, chief amongst them a particularly quick homing sprint and a combo scaling system that makes successive hits do extra harm as an alternative of much less, that result in extraordinarily frantic video games that, in the precise arms, can finish in mere seconds… in different phrases, one would possibly say it performs precisely the way it appears.

Useless truth: This recreation was borne out of the cancellation of a Neogeo sequel to the Ninja Gaiden arcade brawler, of all issues.

OTHER

Alan Wake Remastered

• Platform:Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
• Price: $29.99 / €29.99 / £24.99 (with 20% launch window low cost
• Publisher: Remedy / Epic

What’s this? An out-of-nowhere port of D3T’s remaster of Remedy’s small-town horror-adventure recreation, initially launched solely for Xbox 360 in 2010, on PC just a few years later and remastered for present consoles and PC through Epic Game Store a yr in the past; this model accommodates all of the additions and adjustments made for final yr’s remaster, which embody the adoption of latest higher-spec visible belongings for sure parts together with the player-character, a commentary observe by author Sam Lake and the implementation of the unique recreation’s downloadable content material into the bottom bundle. (This port’s stated to run at 1080p docked/720p handheld, 30FPS on Switch, however imagine it if and once you see it.)

Why ought to I care? I’ll totally admit to not having regarded into the state of the remaster because it launched on different platforms however my understanding is that, past subjective complaints about Alan Wake’s new face, this remaster had unusual technical faults that one wouldn’t count on to be improved on Switch, in order all the time,you might wish to wait it out for just a few days earlier than taking the plunge… however, within the occasion that the port’s tremendous, you are a really pulp-y, Americana-inspired tackle a style that, within the present period of horror video games being cynical streamer bait, appears nearly quaint in its reservedness.

Helpful tip: This remaster doesn’t — and, from the sounds of issues, in all probability will not ever — embody the standalone XBLA side-game Alan Wake: American Nightmare.

LIMITED-EDITION PHYSICAL PRINT RUNS

Astro City Mini V & Astro City Mini restock from Limited Run Games

• Price: $159.99 (Astro City Mini V) / $129.99 (Astro City Mini) 
• Availability: open pre-order from October 20, 10:00 Eastern till November 20, 23:59 Eastern

Sega Toys’ shooter-centric, multi-publisher vertical-screen successor to the favored Astro City Mini mini-arcade plug-and-play was met with a relatively chilly reception when it launched in Japan just a few months in the past, however for individuals who don’t have any illusions about shopping for what could quantity to an interactive paperweight, LRG’s providing worldwide patrons the possibility to seize each the brand new model and the OG, which has been restocked after months of unavailability. (Two factors of curiosity: one, LRG’s model of the Mini V has an unique recreation — Super Zaxxon — that is not current on the Japanese unit; and two, the unit’s substantial enter delay is even worse with out using an AC adapter of no less than 5V/3A, which must be bought individually.)

Dariusburst CS Core + Taito/Sega Pack (Switch) collectors’ version from Strictly Limited Games

• Platforms: Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
• Price: $29.99 / 29.99€ (normal) / $59.99 / 59.99€ (collectors’ version)
• Availability: from October 23, 00:00 CET, restricted to 3000 items (LE) / 2000 items (CE)

Annouced a pair weeks in the past as a part of Taito’s “Darius Day” anniversary celebrations, and out subsequent week on the Japanese eShop, is the most recent in an more and more sophisticated set of Darius ports: Dariusburst CS Core + Taito/Sega Pack, a port of particular console-exclusive modes carved out of the 2014 PC/PS4 launch Dariusburst Chronicle Saviors, which itself was an expanded model of the arcade recreation Dariusburst Another Chronicle, just lately ported to Switch as Dariusburst Another Chronicle EX+ as each a stand-alone launch and a double pack with G-Darius HD titled Darius Cozmic Revelation. Capiche? (The “Taito/Sega Pack” half signifies the inclusion of Taito/Sega-themed DLC content material from Chronicle Saviors, however that recreation additionally had Capcom, Cave and Raizing-themed DLC content material that will not be included with this model.)

Snow Battle Princess Sayuki (Switch/PS4) collectors’ version from Strictly Limited Games

• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
• Price: $29.99 / 29.99€ (normal) / $49.99 / 49.99€ (collectors’ version)
• Availability: from October 23, 00:00 CET, restricted to 1000/2500 items (PS4/Switch LE) / 500/1500 items (PS4/Switch CE)

Originally developed as a brand new entry within the Kikikaikai/Pocky & Rocky collection underneath license from Taito, Starfish’s overhead run-and-gun in the end launched on PS2 and Wii in restricted portions as the unique, unaffiliated title Heavenly Guardian/Legend of Sayuki and, in recent times, was delivered to fashionable platforms as Snow Battle Princess Sayuki…and now, contemporary off the success of Natsume-Atari’s Pocky & Rocky Reshrined, comes a bodily model of the Kikikaikai that wasn’t (and nonetheless is not, as talked about everywhere in the advertising and marketing copy).