Retro Re-release Roundup, week of May 1, 2025

Apropos of everything: Retronauts is one of a depressingly small number of games media refugees to successfully escape the bonds of corporate ownership and I think I can speak for all involved when I say that the support we receive from patrons, listeners, readers and peers is not something we take for granted, nor is it a privilege that we feel ought to be reserved for a select few; thank you for enabling us to stand tall, and let's all try to help each other back onto our feet, however we can.

ARCADE ARCHIVES

Super Xevious

What's this? A high-difficulty revision of Namco's big-in-Japan vertically-scrolling sci-fi shooting game Xevious, originally released to select Japanese arcades in 1984, with subsequent ports to the MZ-1500 and X68000 computers, inclusion as part of the PlayStation port of Xevious 3D/G and inclusion on Namco arcade compilations for PC and, most recently, Nintendo DS. This version of the game was based on an obscure European variant of the original game, designed to maximize profit in countries with lower prices for credits, and reintroduced to Japan as an overture to hardcore players; differences includes remixed aerial enemy spawns, revised scoring item placement and point values and additional enemies created from unused data. (This game is not to be confused with Super Xevious: Gump no Nazo, a Famicom-original sequel that was brought to arcades via the Nintendo Vs. System and recently reissued via ACA.)

Why should I care? As reinforced by virtually every one of Jeremy's Video Works episodes, the original Xevious was a massively popular and formative game that wrote the blueprint for virtually vertically-scrolling shooting game that followed and has been ported and reissued a zillion times, so the mere fact that this revision has not had the same longevity should tip you off to how it was received in its day: put simply, it boldly crossed the threshold from "hard" to "just plain annoying". Do I expect the game to be reappraised, now that it's available with quick saves, display options for hidden items and a caravan mode that offers a condensed spoonful of masochism? Hm... nah, but I'm sure some of you have the particular chemical imbalances required to wring some joy out of it, and I'm right there with ya.

Helpful tip: Hamster likes to dedicate the month of May to Namco drops, and they've already made some advance announcements, which include the never-reissued pre-rendered vertical shooting game Nebulasray for next week, and a regular PS4 ACA drop for Ridge Racer alongside the previously-announced ACA2 versions for PS% and Switch 2 on Switch 2's launch day in June.

EGG CONSOLE

Mirai (PC-88)

What's this? A sidescrolling sci-fi action-RPG with a dual-format aerial/grounded setup, originally developed and published by Xainsoft (nee Sein Soft — they didn't settle on a spelling for a while) for PC-88 series computers in 1986. Players seek to explore and survive a system of planets on a pilgrimage from a now-uninhabited Earth; each planet features both above-ground sections, which see the player exploring and defeating foes via a flight suit whose fuel must be managed and replenished, and subterranean maze areas that offer on-foot exploration and a larger player-sprite that engages via hand-to-hand combat.

Why should I care? These earlier Xainsoft games were fairly transparent about their influences, with this one mostly being a rehash of Falcom's Xanadu with a smattering of Namco's Dragon Buster and a hearty handful of clunk, but there's something very Spectrum-y about the above-ground sections that I imagine some of you will find comforting, and one might see this game as slightly less brutal than some of its contempories inasmuch as there are quite a few obvious spots that allow for easy, if tedious, grinding.

Language barrier? What little story text exists is in Japanese, but all the crucial progression-dependent text is in simple English.

OTHER

Earth Saver

What's this? A puzzle-action game themed around dismantling planet-threatening meteorites with explosives, originally developed for the Nintendo DS by Tom Create and published for the Japanese DSiWare service in 2009, with a revised version released internationally for both DSiWare (as part of the "GO Series") and PlayStation Portable in 2010. The player is tasked with placing explosive charges on the surface of each meteorite in order to break it into chunks that will fall and ideally burn up in the planet's atmosphere; chunks bigger than a certain size will damage the planet itself, so the player must not only negotiate the ever-changing terrain and dodging aliens and the explosions caused by their own bombs but also ensure they're fracturing the meteorite into sufficiently small pieces in order to succeed in saving the planet.

Why should I care? It's not hard to see why this game, of all the GO Series, is one that Tom Create's given multiple tries: it's a well-considered amalgamation of ideas from arcade-style classics like Dig Dug 2, Qix, Bomberman and Mr.Driller, and this version contains all the modes from the previous versions and then some (including a new two-player versus mode).

Useless fact: Tom Create's mostly known globally for its original digital titles produced for the handhelds of yesteryear, but their history stretches back to the late '80s and includes a massive number of products released with or for Bandai, including the design and production of the Super Famicom Turbo, Bandai's Aladdin Deck Enhancer-esque adapter intended to facilitate the production and reissue of cheaper games on smaller and less-expensive cartridges.