Retro Re-release Roundup, week of April 9, 2020

I'd originally intended to use the preamble to today's update to promote a not-quite-classic game that also came out this week — Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories, a survival adventure game that was originally canceled by publisher Irem in the wake of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and arduously salvaged by its original developers for release almost a decade later — but I suppose I ought to give mention to a little game I inexcusably forgot to mention last week: the Resident Evil 3 remake, of which approximately eighty million copies have already been sold and all of you have probably already beaten twice over. What can I say? Work from home is breaking me.

ARCADE ARCHIVES


Flak Attack (MX5000)

What's this? A military-themed vertically-scrolling shooting game, developed and distributed in
arcades by Konami in 1987 and reissued just once before as part of the Microsoft Game Room service
in 2010; Flak Attack mostly adheres to the aerial-shot, ground-bomb format established by Namco's
Xevious but mixes things up during boss fights, in which the screen locks and your jet is able to
move and fire in all directions, in a manner not dissimilar to Konami's own Time Pilot.

Why should I care? Flak Attack doesn't offer the novelty or craftsmanship of peers like Salamander
or Gradius II but it is much easier than other Konami shooters of the day, and the music was so
catchy that select tunes were repurposed for other, slightly more recognizable games like
Devastators and Sexy Parodius.

Helpful tip: If the Switch release conforms to the PS4 version from a few years ago, and I suspect
it does, then you'll need to enter the Konami Code on the Arcade Archives title screen in order to
unlock the overseas version of Flak Attack, titled MX5000.

OTHER

Final Fantasy VII Remake

What's this? The Japanese RPG that cemented Japanese RPGs in the international mainstream and helped propel the Sony PlayStation to massive global success, originally released in 1997; this release serves as the first episode in an indeterminate series of games that completely reimagine FFVII with modern graphics, an expanded narrative and world and a brand-new real-time action combat system.

Why should I care? The idea of Square ever remaking such a monumental game seemed like a ridiculous glass-break proposition until very recently, so the fact that they're doing it at all, let alone in such a non-conservative manner, warrants your attention, if not your immediate interest. I mean, when's the last time Square steered you wrong?

Helpful tip: FFVII's whopping 100GB file size does, at the very least, include a quad-language dub of English, Japanese, French and German, so no import shenanigans are required to get the voices you want.

SOUNDTRACKS & VINYL

Resident Evil 4 vinyl box set from Laced Records

Can you believe it's taken this long for somebody to produce a Resident Evil 4 vinyl set? The soundtrack to the Gamecube's most important game is being sold as a 4LP vinyl box in both standard black and "muddy gold" variants, both sporting new art and illustrations by Boris Mancel of Black Mane Design, with orders expected to ship in late June. (They also have vinyls for RE1, RE2, RE3 and Code Veronica in stock, in case you missed those.

DISCOUNTS & DEALS

Nintendo eShop Spring Sale

The precise games and discounts differ a little between regions but Nintendo's currently selling hundreds of games at quite reasonable prices: roundup-relevant highlights include most if not all of the Sega Ages Switch series being sold for 33% to 50% off (and the Sega 3D Classics being sold for 50% off in North America), the Namco Museum being sold for 66% off in Europe, half-off sales for the Spyro and Crash remake trilogies, half-off the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection in Europe and more.

StoryBundle's Boss Battle Game Bundle, curated by David L. Craddock

StoryBundle's helping the fight against COVID19 by offering a pay-what-you-want bundle of digital gaming books in support of Doctors Without Borders; any amount will get you four books, including Jeremy Parish's Anatomy of Super Mario, while the complete $15 tier has ten books in total, including Jeremy Parish's Anatomy of Mega Man and many others besides. If Jeremy can put aside his long-standing and irrefutable prejudice against Treasure to allow his works to be sold alongside HG101's Treasure digest, the least y'all can do is throw a buck or two to charity.