Retro Re-release Roundup, week of November 14, 2024

Warcraft III Reforged: kinda-sorta-not-really fixed! GTA Definitive Edition: very-nearly-actually fixed! Rage of the Dragons: the pinnacle of interactive entertainment, same as it ever was.

ARCADE ARCHIVES

Konami's Table Tennis (Konami no Ping Pong)

What's this? One of the very first digital table tennis simulators, originally developed by Konami for the MSX computer in 1985 and very quickly adapted for arcades, with Imagine Software-produced ports released for various European microcomputers (as Ping Pong) and a Nintendo-published version for Famicom Disk System (as Smash Ping Pong), which itself was reissued across the various iterations of the Virtual Console service, including a PAL-region release for Wii, and the Nintendo Switch Online Famicom app, as well as an authentic arcade reissue via the Xbox 360 Game Room service. There's not a whole lot that requires describing for this one: it's table tennis, straight down the line.

Why should I care? You want to see just how close they were able to get to a decent-feeling ping pong game on their first try, and you don't mind that two-player games force P2 to play from the top of the screen.

Useless fact: The little Pentas running around on the demo screens and in the background were replaced by Nintendo characters in the FCDS version, including the hardware mascot Diskun.

DIGITAL ECLIPSE GOLD MASTER SERIES

Tetris Forever

What's this? The latest entry in Digital Eclipse's Gold Master series of "interactive documentaries", produced in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Alexey Pajitnov's ur-game Tetris; in addition to hours of documentary footage, primarily centered on the early history and dealings of Alexey Pajitnov and primary long-time business collaborator and Bullet Proof Software founder Henk Rogers, this collection also offers an annotated timeline featuring materials and trivia across the long history of Tetris, as well as over 15 playable Tetris or Tetris-adjacent games, including several games that have never received an official global release, as well as a brand-new game.

Which games are included? Tetris Forever offers a recreation of the very first Elektronika 60 version of the game; the AcademySoft DOS version; the Spectrum Holobyte DOS and Apple II versions; Bullet Proof Software's Famicom version; the Famicom, NES and Game Boy versions of the Pajitnov/BPSe-produced Hatris, the SEDIC/Chunsoft-developed Famicom game Tetris 2+Bombliss, its BPS Super Famicom conversion Super Tetris 2+Bombliss and the limited-release Genteiban revision; the BPS-developed Super Famicom game Tetris Battle Gaiden; the BPS-developed Super Famicom game Super Tetris 3; the BPS-developed Super Famicom, Game Boy and Game Boy Color versions of Super Bombliss (for which the Game Boy version was originally published globally by Nintendo as Tetris Blast), and, for reasons that are made clear in the documentary, the BPS-developed Famicom go simulator Igo: Kyuu Roban Taikyoku. Additionally, this release includes Tetris Time Warp, a brand-new game with the core conceit of being able to cycle from the modern Tetris look and feel to approximations of a few older games (including a greyscale "1989" version that alludes to the Game Boy game.)

Why should I care? My curmudgeonly self went in expecting to be unimpressed, and while I still heavily question the credibility of a Tetris anniversary piece that does not and cannot include the vast majority of the games that have any real cultural significance, and one whose commercial ties to the official brand mean that the story it's telling is largely limited to retellings of the same narrow corporate mythology we've been hearing for decades with little deviation, I can't front like this isn't a story I enjoy hearing again and again, or that Digital Eclipse hasn't produced what might be the least sensational and most easy-to-digest account of this story yet.

Helpful tip: None of the games presented in this collection offer online multiplayer, so if you were hoping to remotely battle folks in Tetris Battle Gaiden, you're out of luck.

EGG CONSOLE

Ys (MSX2)

What's this? The MSX conversion of Falcom's smash action-RPG Ys, originally developed for the PC8801 in 1987 and ported and remade far and wide over the intervening decades, with the most recent re-release being EGG Console's own reissue of the PC88 original several months back; this version is largely faithful to the original with a few necessary differences dictated by the hardware, which include a slightly lower resolution and choppier scrolling, but a higher color count and new full-sized character portraits for shopkeepers and other NPCs and a high-color title screen.

Why should I care? Most could and should beeline for the PC88 original, which offers a slightly higher level of playability and a lusher soundscape, but this version does have some historical significance: the character portraits, drawn by newcomer and highschool student Ayano Koshiro, would be maintained by all subsequent versions of the game, and the PSG-only soundtrack does contain a few tunes not present in the original game.

Language barrier? As with the original, your primary UI and many item/inventory nouns are presented in English, but character/NPC dialog remains in Japanese and you might find yourself hitting a few roadblocks if you're unable to parse what's being requested of you.

OTHER

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake

What's this? A remake in the massively popular third entry in Enix's wildly influential Dragon Quest series of RPGs, originally released for the Famicom in 1988 and the NES in 1992, with subsequent enhanced ports for Super Famicom and Game Boy Color, and a more recent remaster produced for smartphones in 2014 and ported to 3DS, PlayStation 4 and Switch years later. Developed by Artdink in cooperation with "Team Asano", the Square-Enix studio responsible for the "HD-2D" aesthetic popularised by Octopath Traveler. Triangle Strategy and the Live-A-Live remake, this version presents the game with a HD-2D makeover and a wealth of new additions including an orchestrated soundtrack, expanded narrative elements punctuated with voice acting, much larger and more fleshed-out locales, a new monster-taming class, variable difficulty settings, the ability to loan characters to players on adjoining save files and a vaste swathe of additional content and adjustments.

Why should I care? I imagine a not-insignificant number of you first familiarised yourselves with this series via the never-ported Dragon Quest IX, a game with a freeform party system and relatively combat-centric, narrative-light design that was chiefly informed by that of DQIII, so this remake might serve as both a new way to enjoy an old classic and a welcome return to a specific flavor of DQ that's been absent for a good while.

Helpful tip: The first three DQ entries are a trilogy, with DQIII being the earliest game in that particular chronology, hence why its remake is launching before DQI&II, and so there are narrative advantages to playing the remakes in sequence, but series head Yuji Horii has also suggested there'll be some specific extra twist for those who choose to play the remakes in their original release order, too...

Little Big Adventure - Twinsen's Quest

What's this? A remake of Adeline Software's big-in-Europe isometric action-adventure game Little Big Adventure, originally released for PC in 1994 and subsequently ported to PlayStation in 1997 and smartphones in 2014; this ground-up reimagining features fully polygonal visuals with an updated art style, heavily revised controls and world layouts, a revised script, voice acting featuring returning series actors, re-arranged music by the original composer and more. (The Xbox versions seems to have suffered a last-minute delay.)

Why should I care? None of the hands-on impressions of this remake, from the early demos to the final release, have been especially positive, but I will say that this is a remake the original developers have been openly pursuing for several years and one that seemed destined to never happen, so I'm glad they were able to finally see it through and that, through additional updates, they might earn enough goodwill to somehow greenlight a new game.

Useless fact: Due to publisher Electronic Arts' Japanese tie-up with the company Victor, the original version of Little Big Adventure received a surprising push in that country, ncluding exclusive conversions for FM Town and PC98 series computers.

Rage of the Dragons NEO

What's this? A modern emulation-based reissue of the 2002 Neogeo tag fighting game Rage of the Dragons, originally developed as a tandem production between Mexican studio Evoga, Japanese developer Noise Factory and SNK inheritors Playmore; this reissue comes from the same team that was behind the recent well-received Breakers Collection and offers a similar set of enhancements, which include an extensive training mode, extra play modes like 5v5 and survival mode, the ability to play as the final boss (with a few bugfixes), replays with takeover functionality, online leaderboards and ranked and casual online multiplayer with lobbies, spectator support and rollback netcode.

Why should I care? While the combat's a little staid for a 2v2 fighting game, even by the standards of 2002, this game remains a favorite of Neogeo crate-diggers and a rare example of a global-collab arcade game that exceeded the sum of its parts, so it's nice to see it being introduced to new audiences with all the online accoutrements it deserves.

Useless fact: If anybody knows anything about Rage of the Dragons it's probably this, but I'll lay it out anyway: this game was originally developed with the intention of being a Double Dragon game but, due to a misunderstanding about the status of the license, ended up being released as a legally-distinct original game that just so happens to feature several characters that are heavily reminiscent of Double Dragon, including a pair of protagonist siblings named Billy and Jimmy...

Warcraft Remastered Battle Chest

What's this? An out-of-nowhere bundle containing fresh remasters of the first two games in Blizzard's legendary fantasy real-time strategy series Warcraft, as well as the much-maligned "reforged" version of Warcraft III that was unceremoniously pasted over the original a few years back; Warcraft and Warcraft II (with the expansion pack) have both been given optional high-definition visuals and now boast widescreen support, new UI features, higher-quality music, modern Battle.net integration for Warcraft II and more, whereas Warcraft III Reforged has received an update that offers up-res'd versions of the original assets in addition to touched-up Reforged art.

Why should I care? I mean, Blizzard could use a win, and I think them doing a passable job with these two classics would at least go some of the way towards making up for the extremely shaky Diablo 2 remaster and their hall-of-fame-level terrible work on Reforged, so let's take it on faith that these remasters turned out okay. I suppose they also deserve credit for not giving up entirely on Reforged, even if the tweaks seem like far too little, far too late.

Helpful tip: The new remasters don't overwrite the original Warcraft & Warcraft II like Reforged does to the original Warcraft III, and those original games are included as part of the Battle Chest bundle (but not with the individual-purchase options for either game).

UPDATES & DLC

Grand Theft Auto Definitive Edition 1.112 update (PS, Xbox, Switch)

Somehow, these horrendous mobile-to-home ports of Rockstar's classic PlayStation 2 GTA trilogy received a significant glowup upon their re-adaptation to mobile ia the Netflix Games program, and now those improvements have been mported back to the home versions. The weather effects and lighting mostly look as they should; the models have improved; most of the obvious bugs and incorrect behaviors have been corrected... why, these versions are very nearly okay now.

BOOK BUNDLE

The Holiday Game Book Bundle - Curated by David L. Craddock

This year's holiday bundle includes a total of 12 digital game-related books, including titles from Retronauts' own Bob Mackey and Hardcore Gaming 101's Kurt Kalata, with the option to donate a certain percentage of your payment to the Video Game History Foundation.