Retro Re-release Roundup, week of September 25, 2025

Is... is Pac-Man a yokai? It feels silly to even entertain the thought, and yet, it feel so... correct.

ARCADE ARCHIVES

Dacholer / Kick Boy

What's this? An overhead fixed-screen action game, originally developed and distributed in arcades by Nichibutsu in 1983 and quickly revised as Kick Boy soon after; the player is tasked with clearing each stage of its various roaming enemies by hitting them with a particular ball-esque enemy (Dacholer's turtle, or Kick Boy's plain ol' ball) which can be kicked in a cardinal direction when stationary.

Why should I care? You want a convenient way to A/B how a simple game can jump a letter grade in quality between revisions with just a few simple tweaks, but also just how important a charming aesthetic is to getting players to stick with a game.

Useless fact: One might presume that Dacholer was reskinned as Kick Boy for the sake of international audiences but, to my (admittedly scant) knowledge, only the Dacholer version was released globally, with the Kick Boy version being a Japanese exclusive. 

NINTENDO SWITCH ONLINE EXPANSION PASS

September '25 update: Klonoa: Empire of Dreams and Mr. Driller 2 (Game Boy Advance)

What're these? Two upper-echelon picks from Namco's GBA library: the second entry in the more puzzle-centric handheld line of Klonoa platformers, following the Japan-only Wonderswan game, and the handheld port of the sequel to their surprise-hit downwards-digging puzzle game Mr. Driller. 

Why should I care? Klonoa's handheld action games make up for their lack of cinematic flair by milking every last drop out of the series' core inflate-and-grab mechanics, with the post-game stages offering more challenge than anything you'll see in either of the console entries. As for Mr. Driller, it's a simple and addictive game whose quality was not diminished by any of its many and varied conversions, lack of local multiplayer aside, so one could very well be entirely satisfied with this port and not feel any lingering need to venture further. (Of course, if either of these games whet your appetite for more, Namco remastered the main Klonoa duology and the Mr. Driller apex Drill Land some years back, and both regularly go on sale for quite cheap.)

Useless fact: Despite being a launch title in Japan, Namco didn't bother releasing Mr. Driller 2 outside of Japan until early 2004 in Europe and early 2005 in North America, a few months after the DS entry (not to mention a Japan-only GBA sequel in-between).

OTHER

AQUAPAZZA: Aquaplus Dream Match

What's this? A PC port of Examu's crossover fighting game starring characters from Aquaplus' stable of "gal-ge" series, which include the likes of To Heart, Utawarerumono and Tears to Tiara, originally released in Japanese arcades in 2011 and eventually ported to PlayStation 3 and published globally by Atlus in 2013, but delisted from digital stores some time ago; this new port is essentially a raw conversion of the most recent version from over a decade ago, with virtually no additions beyond a Chinese language option and some basic PC-specific configuration options.

 Why should I care? You may or may not recognise Examu (and/or their current incarnation, Team Arcana) as the developers of high-quality traditional 2D fighting games that include the Arcana Heart series, Million Arthur Arcana Blood and Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel, with a pedigree that stretches back to later Neogeo-era Samurai Shodown, and Aquapazza is a flashy, easy-to-play game that acquits itself among the rest of their catalog, even to those with no knowledge of the source material. Unfortunately, previous games were burdened with uneven performance and bad-even-for-its-time netcode, and this PC port has not only failed to address these issues but added its own in the process, but the silver lining is that, now that the game's on PC in an official capacity, there's a better-than-zero chance that somebody will massage it into a state of adequacy.

Useless fact: A former Examu member is currently working on a rollback-equipped port of Examu's most obscure arcade fighter, Daemon Bride, that may or may not hit Steam by the end of this year.

Mamorukun ReCurse!

What's this? A deluxe port of G.rev and Gulti's yokai-themed overhead run-and-gun shooting game Mamorukun Curse, originally developed and distributed for NAOMI arcade hardwarand in 2008, with an expanded version released for Xbox 360 in Japan in 2009 and an even-more-expanded version produced for PlayStation 3 in 2011, which eventually saw an international digital release in 2013; produced by City Connection, this new version contains all the additional content from the previous home versions as well as content formerly distributed as paid DLC, and offers additional enhancements like a new twin-stick control method, a newly-configured 16:9 version of the story mode and a voluminous sound test that includes every piece of music from every game, soundtrack release and obscure bit of promotional material, plus a smattering of new tunes for good measure.

Why should I care? I have to imagine most of you are at least indirectly familiar with YO-KAI DISCO, an earworm of a chiptune that immediately broke containment and cemented itself within videogame music culture as an instant classic of modern chiptune: well, that tune is from this game, and the entire soundtrack is equally as impressive, so one ought to check it out for that reason alone. As for the game itself, it's the modern, post-danmaku successor to Pocky & Rocky that you might have never known you wanted, developed by a mix of ex-Taito and ex-Raiden developers and freshly ported by the increasingly-reliable City Connection and packed with enough single-player features to tide over anyone who's not necessarily looking for a raw arcade experience.

Helpful tip: Because the publisher understands the immense power of YO-KAI DISCO, they've anchored most of their promotional efforts around the song, including a new official music video for the song in the style of late-'00s era "MAD" internet videos.

Pac-Man World Re-Pac 2

What's this? A remake of second entry in Namco's Pac-Man World 3D platformer trilogy, originally developed and published for PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube and Xbox in 2002 and PC in 2004; following the remake of the previous title, Re-Pac presents the game with brand-new visuals, full voice acting (as opposed to gibberish), an helper mode featuring the fairies from Pac-Land, a two-player assist feature, online leaderboards for the time trial mode, a revised camera, a new and expanded moveset, significant changes and alterations to stage and boss design, new in-stage missions, unlockable costumes and more. (Do note that the Switch and Switch 2 versions are completely separate, with no upgrade path.)

Why should I care? The first two Pac-Man World games in particular were uncharacteristically solid examples of classic arcade-era series adapting to the contemporary 3D home console template, and while current players' structural or locomotive expectations for a 3D platformer may have been forever colored by the rise of schmoovement, I do think there's a workmanlike appeal to these games that goes beyond mere nostalgia.

Useless fact: This remake is offering stages, costumes and other tchotchkes as free, preorder-specific and/or paid DLC, including a paid pack of Sonic the Hedgehog-themed stages and other content sometime soon, in exchange for Pac-Man making a playable appearance in the new Sonic kart racer.

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven

What's this? A characteristically late Xbox port of the recent remake of Square's big-in-Japan, dynasty-spanning RPG, Romancing SaGa 2, originally released for the Super Famicom in 1992 and reissued via all iterations of the Japanese Virtual Console, with an enhanced port produced for Japanese smartphones in 2012 and an ArtePiazza-made remaster released globally across multiple platforms in 2017; this remake, co-developed by Xeen (Trials of Mana), present the game in full 3D with voice-acted cutscenes and offers a reimagined timeline-based battle system that takes cues from modern SaGa entries, multiple selectable difficulty options, a plethora of new tutorial content and in-game explanations/guides for systems or info that has traditionally been more opaque, additional content concerning the titular Seven, the option to play with a newly-orchestrated soundtrack by series composer Kenji Ito or the original SFC tunes, and much more.

Why should I care? Ever since this remake dropped, veteran SaGa fans, particularly in Japan, have been bitterly divided about whether this remake might've been so far backwards in the name of accessibility and convenience and attracting new audiences that it's diluted the series' characteristic complexity and structural aloofness to the point that it's now just another classic-style Japanese RPG among many. Of course, this remake seems to have sold particularly well among recent SaGa releases — far in excess of the most recent brand-new entry, and it's been atypically well-received outside of Japan — so perhaps you side with the growing majority that's appreciated SaGa from afar but has long waited for an entry that presents itself as a halfway-conventional game, and if that's the case, well, have at it.

Helpful tip: Even at its current launch discount of $34.99, the Xbox's version's still more expensive than the existing ports on other platforms, including the recent Switch 2 version; that said, just based on Square's typical patterns, it probably only exists on Xbox in order to be fed to Game Pass, so you may be able to claim it for "free" before long. On the other other hand, Microsoft's still abetting Palestinian genocide so once again, fuck 'em.