Retro Re-release Roundup, week of August 8, 2024

Look, I mained Luvia in Fate/Unlimited Codes, that's all I got for ya.

ARCADE ARCHIVES

Tecmo Stackers (Dero~n Dero Dero)

What's this? A head-to-head falling-block puzzle game, originally developed and distributed in arcades by Tecmo in 1995 and ported to PlayStation and Sega Saturn soon thereafter; this game unabashedly pulls its core match-four mechanics from Puyo Puyo but piles on many gimmicks besides, including a once-a-round bomb for clearing garbage, a roulette minigame used to protect certain screen columns from attacks and, most obviously, a mechanic whereby clearing colored blobs will cause their neighbors to sprout tentacles that stretch across the playfield and potentially link with other same-colored blobs to extend your chain.

Why should I care? There are surprisingly few falling-block puzzle games available via Arcade Archives and, as of right now, this is the only explicitly post-Puyo Puyo game on the service, and it's not a bad one, either: the genre-hopping soundtrack and cast of outlandish characters exemplfy the aesthetic that ruled this genre for a good decade, and the puzzle mechanics are deliberately loose in a manner that facilitates unforeseen comebacks and unplanned massive chains and can lessen the gap between players of differing skill levels, if only by a little.

Useless fact: Hamster has traditionally been diligent about removing homosexual caricatures from their reissues but there's a character in this game who most certainly fits this description and has returned intact; I can only presume they were cleared because they're not being used as a punching bag.

EGG CONSOLE

Arguice no Tsubasa (PC-8801mkIISR)

What's this? An RPG starring a prince (and, later, princess) on a quest to recover their kingdom from invading monsters and, in turn, uncover the secrets of their legacy, originally developed and published by Kogado Studio in 1988 for PC-88 computers and, later, PC-98 and MSX; the game is presented in a multi-window, multi-format way, with town exploration happening in side-view, overworld exploration happening in overhead view and the semi-automated battles displayed in their own single-screen side-view window.

Why should I care? This game's overly-cluttered screen might remind you of an old Master System RPG called Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord, and that's no coincidence: that game, title Haja no Fuuin in Japan, was a precursor of sorts to this one, and this particular style of adventure-heavy quasi-RPG was Kogado's house style for a minute. Unfortunately...

Language barrier? ...not only is this game untranslated and extremely text-dependent but the game was designed in tandem with a 100-page manual/lore book that contained explicit hints and information that was necessary to solve the game's puzzles or decipher some of its text; that book is present and accounted for in the gallery, but you obvously need to be able to read it if you want to make any real progress. 

JALECOLLE FAMICOM VER.

Yokai Club

What's this? An RPG-tinged action game starring a boy with psychic powers in a war to liberate the world from an invasion of ancient Japanese spirits, originally developed by TOSE and published by Jaleco exclusively for the Famicom in 1987 and officially localized in English for the first time today; aside from JALECOlle's standard feature suite — save states, rewind, basic speedrun timers, screen settings, materials gallery, achievements, Englsh-to-Japanese/Japanese-to-English subtitle overlays and border gadgets — this release also offers rapid fire, a thorough real-time explanation for all the items and abilities gained upon level-up, more precise readouts for some of the more vague in-game UI elements, names and health bars for the bosses and the toning down of a certain item that induces severe screen flashing.

Why should I care? The stated purpose of this new reissue line was to rehabilitate the reputation of some of Jaleco's lesser-regarded games, and I do think Yokai Club is a game that gains a lot from these relatively minor enhancements: this game's hardly nipping at the heels of Castlevania or GetsuFuumaDen but the game's latent, earnest charm shines a lot more brightly when you're not confused about what your items do (or too afraid to use them for fear of inducing a seizure) or why the bosses won't die.(I should also point out that the tunes in this game are some of the earlier compositions of Kouji Murata, whose work you might recognize from the Game Boy Bionic Commando and the later Game Boy Mega Man titles.)

Useless fact: Jaleco ended up recycling Yokai Club cartridge shells for their wildly successful and notoriously busted baseball game, Moero!! Pro Yakyuu (Bases Loaded): you'll know if you got a later version if the cartridge is black rather than red.

NINTENDO SWITCH ONLINE EXPANSION PASS

August '24 update: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (Game Boy Advance)

What's this? The first entry in the long-running Pokemon-themed sub-series of Mystery Dungeon roguelikes, originally developed by Chunsoft and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance in Japan in 2005 and globally in 2006, in tandem with a Blue Rescue Team version for Nintendo DS; players become one of sixteen Pokemon, as determined by personality quiz, and go on a journey to rescue Pokemon and complete quests within randomly-generated dungeons, enact step-based battles laden with familiar Pokemon precepts and unravel the mystery behind humans being transformed into Pokemon...

Why should I care? In an era where roguelikes were scarce and commercial roguelikes of any kind, let alone handheld roguelikes, were virtually unheard of, the sheer novelty of seeing this meaty, information-dense style of game being repackaged for children and casual players turned a lot of heads; nowadays, roguelikes and -lites of all varieties are plentiful to the point of banality, so I'm not confident that this simpler take on the format is going to retain much of the appeal that it had two decades ago, but it's fun to observe and be surprised by just how well Pokemon was able to enmesh with Mystery Dungeon, and the dramatically different tone of a Pokemon plot in which the Pokemon, like, talk.

Helpful tip: The most recent PMD game, and the only other one available on Switch, is a remake of Rescue Team — Nintendo rarely allows remakes and original versions to co-exist, so one has to wonder why they made an exception here. I should also point out that Spike-Chunsoft recently put out their frst mainline Shiren the Wanderer game in almost a decade. and if you have any interest in PMD then I'd urge you to try out (or jump ship to) Shiren the Wanderer 6 at some point, too.

OTHER

Fate/stay night REMASTERED

What's this? The first ever official global, localized commercial release of TYPE-MOON's smash hit visual novel Fate/stay night, originally released as an adult game for PC in Japan in 2004, cleaned up and expanded for release on PlayStation 2 in 2007 and further touched up for release on Vita and smartphones in 2012, not to mention the many, many other games, anime and other media that spawned soon after, including the mobile juggernight Fate/Grand Order; this remaster is based on the Vita version, which contains most of the additions and content edits of the PS2 versions (which included voice actings and extended true endings to certain stories) and added new animated intros for each story route, as well as a wider array of resolution options.

Why should I care? I'm going to level with ya: despite this series getting a million different media adaptations and a significant amount of crossover with other games I've played, and even a fighting game that I put a stupid amount of hours into, I couldn't tell you a goddamned thing about it beyond the basic "legendary historical heroes fight it out for the Holy Grail" premise, so this might be a learning experience for all of us. Whatever the case, I'm happy that the rights holders deigned it acceptable to spent an iota of their daily FGO profits into getting this game in front of a global audience in a real, credible way. (No offense to the fan translators, of course, but you shouldn't need to do thier job for them.)

Useless fact: For a brief moment, it seemed like the Steam remaster might be staying true to the legacy of the original PC game by forcing overseas players to switch to a Japanese language set or otherwise jump through arcade technical hoops in order to play the game, but it seems like they've already fixed it. Boo, but cool, but still boo.

LAST CALL BEFORE DELISTING

Mushihimesama (Nintendo Switch) is leaving the eShop on August 10

The heretofore unknown publisher Live Wire surprise-dropped this port of the Cava danmaku favorite Mushihimesama some three years ago, as the first salvo in a trio of Cave shooting game ports that has since expanded to cover Treasure's Radiant Silvergun... but now, for whatever reason, Live Wire cannot or will not re-up their license, and so Mushi's being pulled from sale in just a couple days, but they were at least able to discount it before it goes. (Curiously, the physical version won't be launching in Japan until the end of this month, and there's a European physical version queued up for the near future, too. Also note that the PC version is the domain of another publisher, and isn't going anywhere.)

LIMITED-EDITION PHYSICAL PRINT RUNS

Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition (Switch, PS4, PC) physical versions from Limited Run Games 

I'm not especially fond of ROTT and thus take no particular pleasure in declaring this recent remaster one of the most all-encompassing and definitive commercial reissues of any game ever produced, if not the absolute pinnacle, but the sickos behind Ludicrous Edition really, truly earned every last bit of praise that might be offered to them for this one.