Retro Re-release Roundup, week of October 17, 2024
The Dino Crisis 2 prequel makes its way to modern PlayStation platforms.
Are you aware of the Capcom Test, dear readers? Put simply, it's a term for the time-honored tradition whereby Capcom dredges up an old game from a dormant franchise in order to gauge interest in a potential sequel or revival game... or in this case, a Patrick Tyler decal for your Street Fighter VI avatar or somethin'.
ARCADE ARCHIVES
Violence Fight
- Platform: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4
- Price: $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29
- Publisher: Hamster / Taito
What's this? A belt-scrolling fighting game with a somewhat dubious American comic aesthetic, originally developed and distributed by Taito in 1989 and reissued via the Taito Legends/Memories compilation series for PlayStation 2/Xbox and, more recently, the Egret 2 Mini; players control one of four player-characters and battle opponents inside enclosed arenas, fighting with punches, kicks, and liberal abuse of in-ring objects.
Why should I care? DOGOON!
Helpful tip: Solitary Fighter, the obscure and little-played revision to Violence Fight , has been available on ACA (and the Taito Milestones 2 compilation for Switch) for a year or so, and if you want to actually play this game and not just marvel at the verbiage found therein, that's the version you ought to try.
EGG CONSOLE
- Platform: Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
- Price: $6.49 / ¥880
- Publisher: D4 Enterprise / T&E Soft
What's this? An RPG-themed vertically-scrolling shooting game, originally developed and published for MSX2 by T&E Soft in Japan in 1989, with subsequent adaptations for the X68000 and Sega Mega Drive. Players select one of three characters, each belonging to a specific RPG-type class with a unique stat spread and defensive action, and proceed through a multitude of stages in any order; the player can find and gradually strengthen new weapons and items via treasure chests, and collecting hidden fairies will allow the player to increase their stats after each stage, among other RPG flourishes.
Why should I care? You want to play the evolved, refined sequel to Konami's Knightmare that Konami themselves never made, or you've played the compromised Mega Drive adaptation and want to try a version with a little more depth and a drastically more manageable level of difficulty.
Language barrier? Certain story scenes are presented solely in Japanese, but what little essential menu/system text exists is presented in English.
G-MODE ARCHIVES+
Toudou Ryuunosuke Tantei Nikki vol.4: Namidairo no Shizuku ~Kamezou Shuzou Satsujin Jiken~~
- Platform: Nintendo Switch (Japan)
- Price: ¥1200
- Publisher: G-MODE / Althi
What's this? The fourth entry in a Taisho-era detective mystery series originally developed by Japanese adventure game pioneers Riverhillsoft for Japanese microcomputers, and the third entry originally developed and released for Japanese feature phones. In this volume, Ryuunosuke is summoned by the workers of a certain brewery to investigate an on-site murder that saw their co-worker implicated as a suspect...
Why should I care? Once again, I'm multiple volumes behind and thus cannot offer a first-hand appraisal, but I do at least get the impression that the mobile-exclusive volumes of this series acquit themselves in comparison to the originals.
Helpful tip: They've been going back and forth about posting these on launch vs. a little while afterwards but G-MODE may or may not post an abridged walthrough for the game on their website, should you require it.
PLAYSTATION PREMIUM
October '24 update: Dino Crisis (PlayStation) , (Forbidden) Siren (PlayStation 2)
What're these? The first of Capcom's many dormant not-quite-a-Resident Evil survival horror games, and the original PS2 entry in Sony and Keiichiro Toyama's stealth-laden survival horror series Siren, released as Forbidden Siren in PAL territories (and quite possibly listed on the PS Store under that title in North America and elsewhere, too, due to some peculiar and unadvertised emulation updates).
Why should I care? You were taken aback by Dino Crisis' domination of Capcom's recent wide-ranging user survey and want to see just why this series is in such high demand, and have braced yourself for the very real possibility that the answer may seem tangential to the game itself. (I've forgotten virtually everything I ever knew of Siren, but don't take that as an indictment against anything but my own tastes.)
Helpful tip: This Dino Crisis reissue is one of those PS classic titles that isn't available standalone, can't be redeemed if you owned it on PS3/PSP/Vita and lacks trophies and other modern enhancements.
OTHER
- Platform: PlayStation 4/5, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC via Steam (worldwide)
- Price: $69.99 or equivalent
- Publisher: Nightdive Studios / Ziggurat Interactive
What's this? A remaster of Studio 3D0's FMV-laden first-person horror adventure game Killing Time, originally developed for the Panasonic 3D0 in 1995 and later adapted with significant alterations to PC and Mac; this Nightdive-produced remaster merges assets and design cues from both the 3D0 and PC versions and has been augmented with upscaled FMV elements based on the original blue-screen footage, optional upscaled high-resolution assets, customizable controls with an overall greater and more three-dimensional feel, dusplays of up to 4K resolution and 144FPS, a hidden stage based on beta/cut content and more.
Why should I care? Killing Time's contiguous, no-loading map and juxtaposition of overlaid FMV scenes atop FPS shhooting was and is an intriguing and knowingly silly prospect, and now people might be able to properly bask in the camp without having to fight the controls at every turn
Useless fact: The original PC version of Killing Time was produced by Rebecca "Burger" Heineman, fresh off their work porting Wolfenstein 3D and not-quite-porting Doom to the 3D0 and as such. that version's codebase is very heavily derivative of Doom's (and specifically, the Atari Jaguar version's code branch).
LIMITED-EDITION PHYSICAL PRINT RUNS
PO'ED: Definitive Edition (PS5, Switch, PC) physical editions from Limited Run Games
- Price: $34.99 or equivalent
- ETA: February 2025
Nightdive's least-requested FPS remaster is getting the physical treatment, sans any sort of deluxe collectors' box... even LRG, dogged pursuers of Plumbers Wear Ties, isn't willing to gamble on overweight space chef merch, evidently.
BOOKS? BOOKS!
The NES Era Vol.2 (hardcover) by Jeremy Parish ($69.99 or equivalent)
Herr Jeremy's latest NES anniversary book chronicles the North American home console landscape as it existed from the NES' launch in October 1985 through to the end of 1987. covering not only NES but competing consoles including Intellivision, Atari and Sega Master System, with rundowns of almost 200 games across seven different platforms. Orders close December 1, and include a discount voucher for the inevitable Vol.3. (The ETA is listed as "October 2025" which I optimistically presume is a typo, as Press Run's books have traditionally been advertised as being on-hand at the time of announcement, but I may well be wrong.)
