Retro Re-release Roundup, week of April 17, 2025

Almost three decades after the release of the original Armored Core, the impossible has finally happened: the series has finally made the jump to Nintendo platforms, in exactly the manner y'all always hoped it would.

ARCADE ARCHIVES

Tatakae! Big Fighter (Sky Robo)

What's this? A horizontally-scrolling sci-fi shooting game, originally developed and distributed in arcades by Nichibutsu in 1989, with the global release titled Sky Robo; the game's defining mechanic is the ability to switch the player-ship from fighter form to mecha form, with the mecha form being larger but able to more easily attack in eight directions.

Why should I care? You love a good Macross ripoff, or you want to try a Nichibutsu shooter that isn't bombarding you with eight before-their-time mechanics at once.

Useless fact: This was Nichibutsu's final conventional arcade video game; everything that came later was some variant of prize game or mahjong game of both the horny and non-horny variety.

EGG CONSOLE

Dinosaur (PC-8801)

What's this? A first-person, turn-based RPG with a tarot card motif, originally developed by Nihon Falcom for PC-88 series computers in 1990 and soon ported to PC-98 and FM Towns, with a PC remake titled Dinosaur Resurrection released in 2002; players traverse the world in pursuit of the individual goals of each party member, shaped by those they do or don't encounter on their journey, with the ability to not only accrue individual techniques over time but pass those techniques onto their comrades when they've each been sufficiently leveled.

Why should I care? You want to play something with a substantially grittier tone than Falcom's usual fare, or you're interested in the early creative endeavors of folks like Lunar creator Kazunami Tomi and Xeno series creators/designers Tetsuya Takahashi and Kunihiko Tanaka. Just to throw out a long shot... any Sorcerous Stabber Orphen fans out there? A lot of the more overwrought spell names seen in that series were lifted from spells or phrases used in this game.

Language barrier? Virtually all the text is Japanese, and you're not going to be able to bluff your way through and/or past it.

G-MODE ARCHIVES+

Armored Core Mobile Mission

What's this? the first in a series of feature phone games based on From Software's hardcore mecha combat series Armored Core, original released for Japanese phones in 2004; while this game maintains the heavy mech customization element of the mainline games, the action has been reconfigured for an overhead format not unlike certain late-'80s Namco arcade games.

Why should I care? Not only does this reissue represent yet further unraveling of the international rights quagmire surrounding the series, as well as a broader win for the proliferation of obscure media, but the game itself is so darn quaint — From's commitment to cramming as much ultra-low-poly mecha junk into one tiny wrapper is commendable, as was their attempt to cram some relatively complex input commands onto devices that absolutely were not up to the task (and are undoubtedly far less cumbersome on this hardware).

Helpful tip: This game will be available on Steam very soon, so hold tight...

OTHER

DOKAPON! Sword of Fury

What's this? A remaster of the fourth entry in Sting and Asmik Ace's long-running Dokapon series of friendship-destroying multiplayer-centric RPG boardgames, originally released for the Sony PlayStation in Japan in 1998, remastered for the Switch in Japan last year and released earlier this year for PC; in addition to the first-ever English localization, this remaster boasts online multiplayer functionality, fast-forward toggles of up to x5 speed, the ability to switch the BGM to music from other Dokapon games and a wide suite of adjustable options, dubbed "Secret Sauce", that allow players to tweak or disable the game's many overbearing systems.

Why should I care? The other Dokapon games released globally, including the recent Dokapon Kingdom Connect, have been remakes of classic entries which carry their own pros and cons in terms of the complexity and/or balance of the original material, but this remaster's a little different: Sword of Fury was the series' first jump to CD-based platforms and saw them experimenting with discrete, named characters and a substantial voice-acted story that was largely absent from future titles, and some of the new systems like the treasure system, which largely leaves character speccing up to the semi-random discovery of some intensely powerful hold items, and the alliance system which lets players formally team up to screw over others and/or each other with maximum ruthlessness, stand out even in a series known for capriciousness and dickery, so it's a little harder to recommend as a series intro. That said, the fast-forward really does do a lot to combat the slowness of the added narrative elements, and while you won't necessarily understand what to tweak and what to leave alone on a first playthrough (nor can I guarantee you'll still have friends to play with after your first game), the Secret Sauce settings give you as much control over the sillier aspects of the game as you could reasonably expect.

Useless fact: One of the only streaming guidelines for this game requests that players remain friends when they're done, which... is a big ask.

I, Robot (remake)

What's this? A remake of Atari's tech-pioneering multi-perspective polygonal shooting game i, Robot, originally designed by Missile Command/Tempest creator Dave Theurer and distributed in arcades by Atari in 1984, and recently reissued for the first time via the Atari 50 compilation; now reimagined by Jeff Minter (Tempest 2000, Gridrunner, etc), this new version sports cutting-edge psychedelic audiovisuals in the Llamasoft tradition, as well as expanded mechanics that take more than a few cues from Minter's back catalog.

Why should I care? The original I, Robot was a game that prioritized the shock-and-awe of real-time polygonal visuals over all else, and while it'd be a little unfair to suggest that Minter's oeuvre has largely followed that paradigm... I mean, c'mon.

Helpful tip: VR support is currently PSVR2-exclusive and will remain so for the immediate future, but support for other formats may come if Llamasoft can justify the commitment (ie if it sells well enough for them to bother).

Lunar Remastered Collection (April 18)

What's this? A remastered two-pack of the PlayStation remakes of the first two games in Game Arts' breakout RPG series Lunar, originally developed for the Sega/Mega CD and released in North America by niche publisher Working Designs; the first game, subtitled Silver Star Story, was adapted, retranslated and/or ported to numerous additional formats including PlayStation Portable and iOS, whereas the second game, subtitled Eternal Blue, has never been ported nor reissued in English since the PlayStation release. These versions present both games with the ability to play in 16:9 widescreen or "classic" 4:3 and offer upscaled cutscene video, the option to choose either the original Japanese voice performances or all-new English performances, multi-language subtitles, an expanded shared inventory, battle speed settings and more.

Why should I care? I don't know if these games are going to be intrinsically appealing to anyone who wasn't around to witness the cult-like fervor surrounding Working Designs and the larger fanaticism around the earliest high-level intersections of video games and "Japanimation", but I have to imagine there are people out there hungry for more earnest, surface-level JRPGs that aren't trying to subvert the milieu or aren't bogged down by decades of recursive nonsense, and if any classic JRPG series is set to fulfil that particular need, it's Lunar.

Helpful tip: These games largely retain the contentious Working Designs-penned English localizations, with some light editing to remove some of the more tasteless language and/or shoehorned references to '90s American pop culture. They do not include the original English voice performances, as Working Designs founder Vic Ireland claims to still own the rights to those performances and has been attempting to get Game Arts to license and/or buy them for many years, to no avail — you might've been able to play the Sega CD versions on your Genesis Mini 2 years ago, if not for the tussle surrounding the voice acting.

Monument Valley 

What's this? The first-ever console ports of ustwo games' award-winning contemplative optical-puzzle adventure game Monument Valley, originally released for smartphones in 2014 and ported to PC in 2022; this version uses the "panoramic" portrait-to-landscape PC version asits foundation and includes the expansion pack, available elsewhere as paid DLC.

Why should I care? You somehow completely missed one of the most critically-acclaimed indie smartphone games of the last decade, and you feel like spinning some Escher paintings around for an hour or two.

Helpful tip: The sequel's also out today, and both of these ports are being released as a leadup to a PC/Switch port of the third game, which has been locked to Netflix Games for the last half-year or so.

Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds Ultimate 

What's this? A new revision of the RPG-tinged brawler spinoff to the 2011 fighting game Phantom Breaker, originally released for Xbox 360 by 5pb./Mages in 2013 and ported to PlayStation Vita and PC, with a revision subtitled Overdrive released for PlayStation 4 in 2015 and Nintendo Switch in 2017; now under the ownership of spinoff studio Rocket Panda Games, this version sees the game recreated in Unreal Engine 5 and offers readjusted combos and general hit feel, new and newly-playable characters, adjusted character leveling system, the inclusion of previous DLC, a new soundtrack option and online multiplayer for up to 8 players with cross-play.

Why should I care? There was a time where, in the absence of readily-available alternatives in the underpopulated lane-based-brawler-with-RPG-elements subgenre as codified by Guardian Heroes, people made do with this game and even managed to convince themselves that they enjoyed it; that time has long since passed, but I can say that the team behind the recent Phantom Breaker revival has been very sincere about revamping and representing them to new players, so I would like to give them the benefit of the doubt by stating that this version probably represents the series at its best.

Helpful tip: For technical reasons, Switch players can join, but not host, an online game with a full 6/8 players.