Retro Re-release Roundup, week of October 10, 2024

Nintendo's surprising run of global reissues of Japan-only GBA games continues with F-ZERO CLIMAX, the much-requested final handheld F-ZERO game that crams in more mechanics, features, modes and interpretations of series-wide content than most would think possible... and if that whets your appetite for more classic F-ZERO, know that the NSO-exclusive F-ZERO 99 just added a suite of content adapted from the obscure, never-reissued Satellaview F-ZERO episodes. Why, it's almost as if they're laying the groundwork for a brand-new game...

ARCADE ARCHIVES

Power Spikes (Super Volley '91)

What's this? The second arcade entry in Video System's popular side-view volleyball series, originally developed and distributed by Video System in 1991; this version iterates on the original Super Volleyball with a new serving system and several more advanced moves, as well as a few updates flourishes to the off-court presentation. (Despite being sold globally as Power Spikes, this release only contains the Japanese ROM, which lacks English-language text commentary and limits the player to playing as Japan, but does offer the ability to play as the womens team, which was absent from the international version.)

Why should I care? Both the prequel and the sequel game have been available on ACA for many years, but my understanding is that Power Spikes was far and away the most commercially successful entry, so perhaps you specifically want this one.

Useless fact: Super Volley '91's player names are all obvious allusions to real-world contemporary Japanese volleyball players, and I believe some of the digitized images present during the ending screens might depict real players, legality be damned... but I haven't played nor checked the ACA version, so I don't know whether they remain intact for this reissue.

EGG CONSOLE

Templo Del Sol: Asteka II (PC-8801mkIISR)

What's this? A treasure-hunting mystery adventure game set in the ruins of the Mayan civilization, originally developed and published for PC-88 series microcomputers by Nihon Falcom in 1986, with subsequent ports for PC-9801, Sharp X1 and Fujitsu FM-7, a substantially reworked adaptation for Famicom by Compile (released on NES under the title Tombs & Treasure) and mid-'90s remakes for PC and Sega Saturn. In addition to allowing players to interface with the world via a relatively conventional first-person, icon-based command-selection system, the game also features a vast overworld, explored from a top-down perspective, from which the player must locate and enter/exit important vistas, as well as a pseudo-real-time system in which time progresses whenever the player enters or exits areas from the overworld.

Why should I care? Putting aside the fact that Aztecs are not Mayans and vice-versa, this game does offer a well-written and fairly earnest adventure with puzzles steeped in ancient Mesoamerican history, and the production values are befitting of an immediately-pre-Ys Falcom game. That said, the store listing for this page is very upfront about this being a game that was consciously designed with puzzles that were impossible to brute-force by picking every command in the menu, and one that has no compunctions about locking the player into a fail-state with no warning or indication that they can no longer progress, and I want you to think about just how difficult the game must have been to be singled out for its difficulty among other mid-'80s ADV and whether you have what it takes to struggle with this one. (One detail that might add some context: most subsequent versions of this game feature an overworld that's 36 screens big; this original version's overworld is 255 screens large, and most of it seems to exist for no other reason than to get you lost, stuck or otherwise waste your time.)

Language barrier? Certain menus offer icon-based commands but all of the text is in Japanese, and you're not going to get anywhere nor enjoy anything if you can't read any of it.

NINTENDO SWITCH ONLINE EXPANSION PASS

October '24 update: F-Zero :GP Legend and F-Zero Climax (Game Boy Advance, available from October 11)

What're these? The second and third of the three handheld F-ZERO games, each developed for Nintendo by the defunct studio Suzak: the internationally-release F-ZERO: GP Legend, which prominently features characters and story beats from the contemporary F-ZERO anime, and the Japan-exclusive F-ZERO Climax, which built upon the foundation of the previous game while adding and adapting a substantial amount of new content and features from across the series and is being released internationally for the first time (in its original, untranslated Japanese form, as far as I'm aware).

Why should I care? For whatever criticisms were leveled at the game in its day, F-ZERO: GP Legend is the one game in the series designed with newcomers and less cutthroat players in mind, and Climax is a game that massively overcompensated to address criticisms of GP Legend by throwing in an absolute smorgasbord of tracks, modes, content and features, to the point where many a F-ZERO fan would say it completely invalidates its predecessor.

Helpful tip: Nintendo has confirmed that the Japanese NSO reissue of GP Legend has been modified to contain the full suite of additional content that could only be unlocked or accessed via the e-Reader accessory; as of right now, I don't know whether the international version has been afforded the same treatment, especially given that those version did not originally have access to all the same content and/or natively contain some of the content that was e-Reader-exclusive in Japan.

OTHER

Silent Hill 2 (remake)

What's this? A remake of Konami's beloved psychological survival horror game, originally released for the PlayStation 2 in 2001, ported to Xbox and PC soon thereafter and contentiously remastered as part of the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 Silent Hill HD Collection in 2012; produced by horror specialists Bloober Team, this new version offers fully-remade, cutting-edge visuals and a new behind-the-shoulder perspective, expanded areas and enviroment, significant mechanical changes to combat, a completely new voice cast, among many other changes.

Why should I care? Beats me! I'm more of a Countdown Vampires dude.

Useless fact: If you feel like spending an extra $10, you can also buy a deluxe edition that lets you play the game wearing a Pyramid Head mask made out of puzza boxes. SURVIVAL HORROR!

DELISTING NOTICE

LittleBigPlanet 3 (PS4) game + DLC delisting on October 31

Sony's celebrating ten years of LB3 by...yanking it, and the entirety of its DLC, off the PS Store at the end of the month. I'm sure attentive fans were already bracing for an imminent takedown after the temporary-to-permanent server shutdown earlier this year,