Retro Re-release Roundup, week of December 4, 2025

It's not an old game, but I feel it warrants acknowleding alongside all of this week's vintage reissues: Metroid Prime 4, a game first announced almost ten years ago and whose development suffered multiple bouts of implicit and explicit turbulence and, if early reports are to be believed, a game whose design ethos, characterization and structure are coming straight from 2012. 
 

ARCADE ARCHIVES / ARCADE ARCHIVES 2

Bermuda Triangle

What's this? A vertically-scrolling shooting game themed around the myths of the Bermuda Triangle, originally developed and distributed in arcades by SNK in 1987 and reissued on home systems via the PlayStation Portable SNK Arcade Classics 0 collection and more recent SNK 40th Anniversary Collection; aside from the more immediately distinctive elements like the abnormally large player-ship, which grows and evolves as the player collects up grades, and the occasional tendency to scroll backwards, this game's most noteworthy for employing the eight-way "loop lever" rotary dial stick, made famous by the likes of Ikari Warriors and TANK, for aiming the primary shot, recreated here via right-stick aiming. (Do note that this release isn't coming to Switch 2, at least right now).

Why should I care? You recognize that this game isn't balanced like a more traditional shooting game, nor is the controller gimmick a mere garnish: between the need for precise aiming and the size and relative slowness of the player-ship, the game's tuned with the expectation that the player's going to get hit a lot, and recognizing the precise amount of damage one can afford to tank at a given moment can be tricky, but is not without its charm.

Useless fact: Bermuda Triangle's player-ship is named the ZIG, which I'm sure will tickle internet goers of a certain vintage.

EGG CONSOLE

Lizard (PC-8801)

What's this? A first-person dungeon-crawling RPG, originally developed and published for the PC-6001 computer by Xtalsoft in 1984 and gradually ported to various contemporary computer platforms by various parties, including this PC-8801 version, produced by Riverhillsoft; after the evil dragon-esque "Lizard" takes possession of the all-powerful Book of Truth for its own corrupt ends, the player must traverse the 10-floor tower that houses the book, dispatching enemies and negotiating traps along the way.

Why should I care? Be it a consequence of the game's roots as a game for relatively humble hardware or just the nature of being an extremely early all-original Japan-produced RPG, Lizard is much simpler and more forgiving than the dungeon crawlers and more general RPGs from which it drew influence, as well as the many games that followed, so if you're sick of having your teeth kicked in by the games that EGG digs up every week, this might offer the change of pace you're looking for. (You will have to forgive the visuals somewhat, but again, this is a port of a game made for much less capable hardware.)

Language barrier? The game somewhat arbitrarily presents certain commands and/or input logs in English, but the majority of the necessary text is presented in hiragana or katakana.

OTHER

Blood: Refreshed Supply

What's this? A newly touched-up version of the recently-shuttered Monolith Productions' 1997 shlock-horror pseudo-3D FPS Blood, originally published for PC by GT Interactive and republished with its expansion packs as One Unit Whole Blood, which made its way to digital PC storefronts in 2010 only to be delisted in favor of Blood: Fresh Supply, a remaster produced by a then-fledgling Nightdive Studios in 2019; this second stab not only brings the games to console for the first time but is also bolstered by Nightdive's discovery of the original source code, which gave them the ability to more accurately reproduce the behavior of the original game, as well as implement fixes and reincorporate broken or cut content, either directly or in the game's extensive vault, alongside additional enhancements provided by Nightdive's ever-evolving "KEX Engine" which include refactored split-screen and online multiplayer and support for high resolution and refresh rate. Also are included are two fan campaigns, now deigned official expansions: Marrow, which will be present at launch, and Death Wish, which will be added at an unspecified later date.

Why should I care? Blood isn't merely the most skillfully-crafted and technically-accomplished of the many, mostly-mediocre games produced for 3D Realms' Build Engine, and a game whose relatively understated (to Duke 3D, at least) dark humor and comic-splatter vibes would've been especially welcome on consoles at any point over the last three decades, but a game whose peculiar explosive-centred combat loop gives it a unique cadence that makes it feel truly distinct from Doom and Duke to a degree that few other 2.5D FPS ever achieved. (That said, I would advise playing it on a difficulty setting one lower than your usual default, as it really does not screw around.)

Upgrade path? There currently exists a 66.6% discount on Steam for owners of Blood: Fresh Supply, but the exact duration of the discount and/or the precise discount price have yet to be outlined. Additionally, there's a Switch 2 version coming early next year, but again, no word on whether they'll be offering an upgrade or how much it might cost, if anything.

Simogo Legacy Collection

What's this? A curated anthology of games and other historical content from the history of Simogo, a Swedish studio currently famous for Annapurna-published games like Sayonara Wild Hearts and Lorelia and the Laser Eyes but once known for a string of award-winning smartphone games; in addition to new, refactored ports of seven games originally released between 2010 and 2015, this collection offers playable prototypes, art and music galleries and the preservation of several non-game projects including ebooks and audio dramas.

Which games are included? This collection includes ports of Kosmo Spin, Bumpy Road, Beat Sneak Bandit, Year Walk (which you may have previously experienced on PC or via its revised two-screen Wii U version), DEVICE 6, The Sailor’s Dream and SPL-T, as well as playable prototypes for Year Walk, Bumpy Road and the unreleased, unfinished Rollovski, on top of various ebooks, audio dramas and interactive short stories.

Why should I care? You not only admire the thoughtfulness of the curation, both in terms of porting and adapting these games for newer platforms, displays and/or input methods and also the sheer amount of ancillary content, but you also want to visit or revisit a more optimistic era when developers like Simogo made us all think that there was a long future ahead for creative, ambitious, intelligent, non-exploitative interactive experiences developed primarily for smartphones. 

Upgrade path? Yup: you can upgrade the Switch version to the Switch 2 version for free. (The Switch 2 version offers 4K/60FPS and/or 120FPS/1440p display options, as well as mouse controls.)

ROM HACKS & TRANSLATIONS

Splatter World (unreleased Famicom game) translation patch by Aeon Genesis

Last month saw one of the most monumental Famicom discoveries in quite a while: a dump of the unreleased Famicom RPG Splatter World, a sequel to Namco's prior Japan-only Famicom Splatterhouse parody, subtitled Wanpaku Graffiti, and a game whose existence was basically unknown to even Famicom and unreleased game researchers until footage was discovered on a lost retailer VHS roughly a year ago. Now, veteran fan tanslator Aeon Genesis has produced a translation patch in record time, allowing people to experience this once-lost what-if in English, with a little tweak or two but all content intact (including depictions of a few real-world war criminals, it must be said). If you appreciate the speed at which this patch has been produced, you might also consider throwing Aeon Genesis a buck or two, too.