Retro Re-release Roundup, week of March 8, 2019

Ya gotta feel just a little for the people at Hamster: they've been openly working for years to bring SNK's loop lever games to the Arcade Archives line, only to arrive just in time to be sandwiched between a better-publicized and more content-packed alternative. Then again, one might consider the version that doesn't come bundled with Ikari NES to be the superior option. Choices, choices!

ARCADE ARCHIVES

Ikari Warriors

What's this? SNK's mega-popular top-down run-and-gun action game, developed and published in arcades in1986. Aside from being the origins of King of Fighters' Ikari Team, this game is most notable for its use of the "loop lever" rotary joystick which allowed for independent directional inputs for aiming and firing, a feature that Hamster has adapted to several different control options including dual-analog shooting, manual left/right aim rotation and the option to map the shot button to a fixed direction.

Why should I care? You didn't buy the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection for Switch and aren't planning on buying the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection for PS4 next month, I suppose. Format aside, Ikari Warriors remains the representative loop lever game and this version looks to include the necessary amendments to make it playable on standard controllers, which wasn't and isn't always true of similar re-releases.

Useless fact: The Rambo franchise's impact on Ikari Warriors goes beyond mere influence — SNK originally had the go-ahead from Sylvester Stallone to release the game as an officially licensed Rambo game but ultimately decided against it once they saw how much excitement their pre-release "eye-kari" game was generating even without the tie-in.


PHYSICAL CARTRIDGE REISSUES

Piko Interactive pre-order madness

Piko Interactive's steady acquisition of forgotten gaming oddities continues unabated, with this week seeing them offer not one but twelve new cartridges across six different platforms; the line-up contains more than a few "Euro-computer action game a, now on console b!"-type options alongside a few oddities, like a full localization of the unlicensed Taiwanese Mega Drive strategy-RPG Fengshen Yingjie Zhuan (or Canon - Legend of the New Gods to me and you), a SNES run for the rare, obscure and very weird Super Famicom brawler Gourmet Sentai Bara Yarou and, perhaps least importantly, the heretofore unreleased N64 version of 40 Winks, a PlayStation-exclusive platformer whose sole claim to history is coaxing an inexplicably effusive quote out of the UK's Nintendo Official Magazine — "move over, Mario!" — and then plastering it front-and-center on the PlayStation box art. Aren't you excited to see what all the fuss was about?


SOUNDTRACKS & VINYL

Silent Hill 2 double-LP from Mondo... is already sold out 

I've failed you, dear readers. Mondo's been teasing this one for a hot minute and while I was anticipating a surprise release, it dodged the late-week window that has become typical for limited-run gaming junk and instead went up for sale a day or so ago, with both the standard and red/white splatter variants selling out extremely quickly. Oh well, you can always grab one of the remaining copies of the OG Silent Hill vinyl reprint if you're quick on the draw. 


DISCOUNTS & DEALS


Classic Sega sale on Switch

A handful of legacy Sega releases — the excellent Sega Ages versions of Outrun, Phantasy Star, Sonic the Hedgehog and Thunder Force IV, plus the less-than-excellent Sega Mega Drive Classics compilation — are on sale in Europe until tomorrow, perhaps as pennace for the widening gap between the Japanese and international releases of the Sega Ages line. 


Square-Enix / Final Fantasy PSN sale 

Square-Enix's massive library of PSN games is on sale in North America, with Europe seemingly limited to a Final Fantasy-centric sale — minus some of the more conspicuous remasters or soon-to-be-remasters, crucially, but at least that guarantees a deal on Final Fantasy VIII!


StoryBundle's pay-what-you-want Spring Fired-Up Game Bundle book collection

StoryBundle's back with another game-centric collection of books: pay whatever you can afford, give to charity and get a variety of different books from the likes of Unseen64, Boss Fight Books and Game Boy Works, whatever the hell that is.