Retro Re-release Roundup, week of October 26, 2017

It's not often I get to highlight the goings-on at Microsoft around these parts but this week marks a momentous occasion; the long, long  long-awaited rollout of OG Xbox backwards compatibility on Xbox One. Bloodrayne 2, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Fuzion Frenzy... what more could one need?

XBOX ORIGINALS ON XBOX ONE

What's this? The first batch of playable OG Xbox games for Xbox One, available for individual digital purchase or as free backwards-compatible downloads for those who own the X360 download version or even the original Xbox discs. These games are running under emulation and are being rendered — not upscaled! — at 4 times the original resolution on Xbox One and 16 time the original resolution on the upcoming Xbox One X (very close to 1080p & 4k, in other words), with other per-game improvements to performance issues like frame rate. Local System Link multiplayer is supported, including between XB1, X360 and OG Xbox, but online multiplayer is not avalable due to the closure of the original Xbox Live servers. 

Which titles are available? 13 titles have been released so far: BLACK, BloodRayne 2, Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, Dead to Rights, Fuzion Frenzy, Grabbed by the Ghoulies, King of Fighters Neowave, Ninja Gaiden Black, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Psychonauts, Red Faction II, Sid Meier’s Pirates!! & Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic; these games are to be delivered in batches, with the next batch scheduled for release in spring of next year. Additionally, Ninja Gaiden Black is also available for free as part of Xbox Game Pass. (Some titles may not be available in all countries: Ninja Gaiden Black is not available in Australia due to classification issues, for example.)

Why should I care? Every one of these games is someone's favourite and a few of them (Ninja Gaiden Black, Star Wars: KOTOR) are practically canonical, and playing them on Xbox One looks to be the best possible way to visit or revisit these games for the forseeable future. (Tech and time permitting, I hope to offer a fuller rundown of the launch lineup and emulation suite sometime soon.)

Helpful tip: The Xbox Live servers may be dead but the XLink Kai tunneling application allows players to play many System Link-compatible games online, including Crimson Skies.

ARCADE ARCHIVES

Elevator Action

What's this? A minor arcade hit from Taito that blends elements of platforming, shooting and mild stealth tactics, released in 1983; it's been ported, arranged and remade countless times but this is the untouched arcade original.

Why should I care? It's a little more complex than the average 1983 arcade game and it's an obvious inspiration for later games like Impossible Mission and Rolling Thunder.

Useless fact: One of the more inexplicable Elevator Action followups, 2009's Elevator Action: Death Parade, reimagines the game as a first-person lightgun shooter, played via an arcade cabinet equipped with fake elevator doors that open and close in front of the screen.

ARCADE ARCHIVES NEO GEO

Mutation Nation

What's this? A 1992 brawler from SNK that stars two happy-go-lucky fellas in a stunlock-or-be-stunlocked fight to reclaim their city from a crazy geneticist.

Why should I care? The game's menagerie of mutants are animated with enough grotesque charm to carry one's interest for a clear or two.

Useless fact:  Mutation Nation is one of the pricier Neo Geo cartridges on the market and the Arcade Archives version marks the first re-release for consoles and the second re-release including the version included on the best-forgotten Neo Geo X handheld.

OTHER

Kowloon's Gate VR suzaku

What's this? A VR recreation of one of the environments from the cult Japan-only 1997 Playstation "JPEG Dungeon" FMV adventure game Kowloon's Gate, developed by several members of the original development team and funded via the Japanese crowdfunding site Campfire. Kowloon's Gate VR suzaku is not being promoted as a sequel or even a game; it's intended to serve the function of a "virtual exhibit" that lets people experience the atmosphere of the characters and game world at their own leisure.

Why should I care? The original Kowloon's Gate is a heady, dense, weird hodgepodge of Chinese spirituality and Ghost in the Shell-inspired cyberpunk babbling, themed around an alt-history version of Hong Kong's storied walled city of Kowloon; I can't pretend to have fully understood it (symbolically or literally, as it's entirely in Japanese) but I'll never forget it, and the fact that it's being resurrected now and in VR — is fascinating.

Useless fact: Kowloon's Gate has never been playable in English but an official English-language release was hinted at with the distribution of a translated trailer on a cover disc for the magazine Ultra Game Players; rumours say the game was fully translated and mastered but only a couple dozen full copies were ever produced.

SALES & MISCELLANEA

Nintendo eShop Halloween Sale

Nintendo's first seasonal sale is upon us and, as you might expect, the discounts on Switch are quite modest (get Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove or Plague of Shadows for a whopping 20% off!) but the legacy titles for 3DS and Wii U fare a little better, with 30% off legacy titles including The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (both 3D and VC), Resident Evil 4, Pandora's Tower, Fatal Frame/Project Zero, the Castlevania and Ghouls 'n Ghosts series and the indomitable 3D Altered Beast. (Nintendo did not provide exhaustive lists for each reason, so apologies for anything I've missed.)

Playstation Network "Sale of the Dead" (Week 2)

Sony's Halloween sale continues with a fresh batch of horror(ish) games discounted for Halloween; the retro pickings are slim (where's Silent Hill?) but the ever-dependable Resident Evil 2 and 3 and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night are present, as well as The Warriors, Rockstar's oft-overlooked PS2 brawler based on the 1979 film of the same name.