Retro Re-release Roundup, week of February 6, 2025

Apologies for not mentioning Ninja Gaiden 2 Black last week, folks — I was preoccupied by all manner of things, including playing Ninja Gaiden 2 Black. 

ARCADE ARCHIVES

Marchen Maze

What's this? An isometric action game with an Alice in Wonderland motif, originally developed by NH System and distributed in Japanese arcades in 1988, with an authentic conversion produced for the Sharp X68000 computer and a more drastic top-down reimagining produced for the PC Engine, as well as an emulated reissue via the Japanese Wii Virtual Console; players attempt to traverse twisting stages suspended high above the ground, engaging in occasional platforming while attempting to negotiate a constant deluge of enemies and projectiles that can knock them off the stage, fighting back with a chargeable bubble shot.

Why should I care? You're a sucker for games that pair cutesy visuals with maddening difficulty, you're one of those rare specimens who has no issue platforming in games drawn with ambiguous perspectives, or you're just curious to see how much was changed between the original game and the far more played (but no less challenging) PC Engine version.

Nothing to do with Marchen Maze, but...: if you've been waiting for ACA Viper Phase 1 to hit the PlayStation 5 store, it should finally be available for purchase.

EGG CONSOLE

Carmine 88 (PC-8801mkIISR)

What's this? A sc-fi adventure game with a heavy emphasis on 3D maze exploration, originally developed and released for PC-98 by Microcabin in 1986, with conversions produced by PC-99 (hence the title Carmine 88) and Sharp X1 computers. Players pilot the "armored fighting walker" Galleouse as they explore a research facility in the hunt for rampaging "bio-dolls"; combat borrows the format of the turn-based RPGs of the day but minus any sort of character leveling or upgrades, making enemy encounters more of a puzzle than an application of accrued abilities.

Why should I care? Exploring the mazes can sometimes feel a little like simply trekking from progression trigger to progression trigger (especially if you can't or aren't reading any of the character actions), but there's something impressive about the game's ability to impart the feeling of clunking around in a big robot within a framework that very rarely concerns itself with the kinetics of walking a maze. 

Language barrier? Certain menu options are presented in English, but the vast majority of the game's text is in Japanese.

OTHER

Suguro Quest: DIce Heroes

What's this? The first-ever global release of Technos Japan's boardgame-themed RPG Sugoro Quest: Dice no Senshi-tachi, originally released for Famicom in 1991 and reissued by Technoc catalog owners Arc System Works across various incarnations of Nintendo's Japanese Virtual Console service; in addition to a brand-new English localization, emulation house Rataliaka has added their typical suite of enhancements, which include save states, various screen filters, cheat modes and a gallery of select manual scans and promotional art.

Why should I care? You want to experience one of the earlier attempts at boardgame/RPG fusion, from a time when designers didn't necessarily have a second idea beyond "iunno, what if they rolled a dice?"

Helpful tip: There was a second, multiplayer-centrid Sugoro Quest produced for Super Famicom, and you'll be able to play a translated version of that game on an upcoming compilation of Technos' deeper cuts later this year.

Under Defeat

What's this? A port of the HD remaster of G.rev's alt-WW2-themed vertically-scrolling helicopter shooting game, originally released in Japanese arcades in 2005 and ported to Sega Dreamcast in 2006, with an expanded HD version produced for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the Nesica arcade platform in 2012; this version retains all the new features and additions of the 2012 HD version, which include high-resolution textures and effects, a "New Order" arrange mode optimized for 16:9, dual-analog play, additional player ships, online leaderboards, replays and an arranged soundtrack, and adds some smaller tweaks like a visible rank display, subtitles for in-game chatter and another brand-new arranged soundtrack by original composer Shinji Hosoe.

Why should I care? You've been waiting for a more austere, straight-down-the-line military shooting game in the older-school vein and somehow missed this one — there are a zillion lapsed Raiden fans who are going to kick themselves for not having played this game earlier, and for better and worse, you'll be hard-pressed to find another arcade-style shooting game with polygonal graphics as confidently executed as this one. (One word of advice: maybe don't start with the new soundtrack...)

Useless fact: The original Under Defeat was largely created by just two people, as an exercise to see how much a tiny team could still achieve on their own in the mid-'00s; at the time, the rest of G.rev's team was busy assisting on Gradius V.

HOW'D I NEGLECT TO MENTION THESE?

Ninja Gaiden 2 Black

What's this? A surprise revision to Team Ninja's monumental 3D action game Ninja Gaiden II, originally released for Xbox 360 in 2007 and subsequently revised for PlayStation 3 as Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, revised further for PlayStation Vita in 2013 as Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus and ported to contemporary platforms as part of the Ninja Gaiden Master Collection in 2021; this latest version revamps the visuals in Unreal Engine 5 and promises a definitive experience that merges and reconciles all the best elements of both the original Ninja Gaiden II and the Sigma revision, which include the re-implementation of the original upgrade system and a return to the original version's level of enemy dismemberment and gore.

Why should I care? If you've never played any version of this game then congratulations, you've been gifted a modern-looking and sufficiently responsive version of one of the very best 3D melee action games ever made, and one that largely supersedes the recent port. If you're intimately familiar with this series and game, or at least familiar enough to know that there are significant and substantive differences between OG NGII and Sigma, and are hopeful that this revision will serve the audience clamoring for a port of the OG, you might be disappointed: this is largely just Sigma with a few overtures towards the OG, but on the bright side, it's so just a gussied-up Sigma that all the existing OG-to-Sigma mods work in Black with minimal tweaking, so even if Tecmo won't give you what you want, you might be able to fix it yourself.

Helpful tip: A lot of people seem to have forgotten that OG NGII is playable on modern Xbox consoles via backwards compatibility with a locked resolution and massively improved framerate; it ain't on PC, no, but it definitely ain't nothin'.

The Sims 1 & The Sims 2 Legacy Editions

What're these? 25th-anniversary reissues of the first two games in Maxis' colossally popular life sims, originally released for PC in 2000 an 2004, respectively; these versions are more compatibility updates than remasters, with basic modern display support and the inclusion of prior expansions (save for licensed content).

Why should I care? I'm wayyyy out of my depth on this one, hoss.

Helpful tip: A patch has gone up within the last 24 hours to address minor bugs like... not being able to atl+enter? Damn.

JUSTICE FOR XBOX

MARVEL vs. CAPCOM Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics finally makes it to Xbox ($39.99 or equivalent)

Months after conspicuously and inexplicably skipping Xbox, Capcom's overwhelmingly well-received collection of Marvel crossover games has finally graced Xbox... and so has Justin Wong, so watch your backs.