Retro Re-release Roundup, week of April 24, 2025
River City Residuals.
Almost three decades after the release of the original Armored Core, the impossible has finally happened: the series has finally made the jump to Nintendo platforms, in exactly the manner y'all always hoped it would.
ARCADE ARCHIVES
Pinball Action
- Platform: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 (worldwide)
- Price: $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29
- Publisher: Hamster / Tekhan
What's this? A digital pinball game with four tables, originally developed and distributed in arcades by Tekhan (later Tecmo) in 1985 and reissued on the Tecmo Arcade Classics/Tecmo Hit Parade compilation for Xbox/PlayStation 2; aside from being able to transition seamlessly between tables, this is a fairly faithful and not especially video-game-y adaptation of pinball.
Why should I care? There are shockingly few other digital pinball titles on ACA — just the Vs. System version of Nintendo's Pinball, if I'm not mistaken — and this is certainly the better option of the two, irritating music be damned. You might also recognize it from countless x-in-1 arcade packages and feel compelled to compensate somebody, somewhere, in a somewhat legal fashion.
Useless fact: This game was the development debut of Hideo Yoshizawa, future lead on Tecmo home hits mighty Bomb Jack and the Ninja Gaiden NES trilogy (and, later, Namco's Klonoa and Mr. Driller.)
JALECOLLE FAMICOM VER.
- Platform: Nintendo Switch, (worldwide)
- Price: $7.99 or equivalent
- Publisher: City Connection
What's this? An emulated two-pack containing the 1990 Jaleco-published Famicom action game Magic John and its majorly bodacious NES reworking, Totally RAD!; in addition to the standard Jalecolle feature set (save states, rewind, border options, speedrun mode, art galleries and the "Subtitle Guide" overlays that translate Magic John into English and vice-versa), this release offer border gadgets that display invisible or hidden-in-menu stats and info, quick-select buttons for magic abilities and other little augmentations.
Why should I care? These JALECOlle releases tend to fall into either the "ambitious trainwreck" or "flashy underachiever" categories, and I'd put this one squarely in the latter: it's a solid, eyecatching game that, with just a little more meat on its bones, could've been a bonafide cult classic. Language buffs might get a kick out of A/B'ing the Japanese translations of Totally RAD's over-the-top surfer-dude lingo — there aren't many FC-to-NES localizations that are quite this out there.
Useless fact: This game's magician theming was inspired by Mr. Malic, a TV magician who found popularity in the late '80s, and the arranged BGM that plays on the menus of this reissue (as well as the goober in the sunglasses waving their hands around in the trailer) are references to that magician.
G-MODE ARCHIVES+
- Platform: Nintendo Switch (Japan)
- Price: ¥1900
- Publisher: G-MODE / Atlus
What's this? A feature phone-original entry in Atlus' popular Shin Megami Tensei series of dungeon-crawling RPGs, originally released in 2004 and never reissued until now; set years before the events of Shin Megami Tensei II, this game adopts the core aesthetic and game systems of SMTII while also adding a new "sword fusion" system that allows the player to not only fuse demons but also fuse weapons with demons or other weapons.
Why should I care? Atlus' record for high-quality feature phone originals is shockingly strong, and the classic SMT format might strike one as a more natural fit than some of the other series and sub-series G-MODE has reissued thus far.
Helpful tip: This one's coming to Steam next week (entirely untranslated, as always).
NINTENDO SWITCH ONLINE EXPANSION PASS
April '25 update: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (Game Boy Advance)
What's this? The third Game Boy Advance entry in Intelligent Systems and Nintendo's long-running strategy-RPG series Fire Emblem and the second-ever entry to be released internationally, originally hitting GBA in 2005 and later reissued on both 3DS (as part of the early-adopter-exclusive ambassador program) and Wii U Virtual Console; set in the heretofore-unseen continent of Magvel, this entry offers a unique dual-character scenario with exclusive maps for each protagonist, as well as an overworld map and other systems that hearken back to the more adventure-ish elements of Fire Emblem Gaiden, and character illustrations by ex-SNK artist Senri Kita, most famous for their work on various Samurai Shodown titles and SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium.
Why should I care? This was the first entry in the series that was consciously designed with at least half an eye on the international market and as such, it sought to offer an accesible and inviting entry point to the series without skimping on mechanical complexity; to that end, it does skew a little less challenging and a little less narratively daring that pretty much every game that followed, but given the kitchen-sink nature of more recent entries, I'm sure many people will welcome something a little less committal.
Friday drop watch: As has become recent habit, Nintendo dropped a few more NSO games a couple weeks back, right after that week's roundup: Sega Genesis/Mega Drive compilation stalwarts E-SWAT, Streets of Rage and Super Thunder Blade.
OTHER
Jaleco Sports: Bases Loaded & Super Bases Loaded
- Platform: PC via Steam (worldwide)
- Price: $12.99 or equivalent
- Publisher: Sickhead Games / Rock-It Games
What's this? An emulated two-pack of Jaleco's popular NES baseball title Bases Loaded and the first Super Nintendo entry, Super Bases Loaded, originally released in 1988 and 1991, respectively; the original NES game's been reissued many times over the last decade or so, but this is the first reappearance of the SNES entry. Released with little forewarning by by Rock-it Games and developed by Sickhead, you're basically just getting the two games with an emulator frontend.
Why should I care? Not my hemisphere of expertise or sentimentality, unfortunately, but I'll have a few words for y'all when somebody finally dredges up Super International Cricket, I promise.
Useless fact: To my knowledge, this package is literally just a commercial implementation of johnmph's Portable NES emulator and Mednafen.
No, Xain'd Sleena's not a typo.
Super Technos World: River City & Technos Arcade Classics
- Platform: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, PC via Steam (worldwide)
- Price: $14.99 or equivalent
- Publisher: Arc System Works
What's this? A collection of odds-and-ends from the Technos catalog spanning arcades and Super Famicom, now owned by Arc System Works and emulated by escape room adventure game devs Intense; this collection offers first-ever localizations for multiple Kunio-kun/River City games and the first reissues, in Japan or the world, for multiple other low-key Technos titles, alongside per-game bug fixes and enhancements for issues like sprite flicker, online multiplayer functionality, save states and more.
Which games are included? This package includes new localizations of the Kunio-kun Super Famicom library — River City Renegade (Shodai Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun), Kunio's Dodgeball Time, C'mon Guys! (Kunio-kun no Dodgeball da yo Zen'in Shuugou), Downtown River City Baseball Story ~Play Ball, Kunio!~ (Downtown Nekketsu Baseball Monogatari: Yakyuu de Shoubu da! Kunio-kun) and Kunio's Oden (Kunio no Oden) — as well as the rare, English-only Super Dodge Ball Neogeo entry, the arcade and SNES versions of brawler The Combatribes, the arcade versions of China Gate, Xain'd Sleena and Shadow Force. Also included are the Super Famicom party-RPG Suguro Quest++ DICENICS and the action-RPG DunQuest, but do note that, despite initial claims to the contrary, neither game has been localized.
Why should I care? Given the recent deluge of Kunio-related paraphernalia, I probably needn't sell you on the value of most of the classic-era stragglers being introduced into the global canon, so lemme go to bat for the freak picks: Combatribes and Shadow Force demonstrate the merit of the Technos arcade brawler house style — and more specifically, the Double Dragon style — in a post-DD world, and Xain'd Sleena's a not-entirely-unknown-in-Europe action/shooter hybrid whose influence can be clearly felt on more than a couple of noteworthy turn-of-the-90s European action games.
Useless fact: For whatever reason, this collection has been specifically blocked from release in New Zealand... anyone wanna hazard a guess as to why?
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
- Platform: Xbox, PlayStation 5, PC via Steam (worldwide)
- Price: $49.99 or equivalent
- Publisher: Bethesda / Virtuos
What's this? An Unreal Engine 5-powered remaster of Bethesda's 2006 genre-setting open-world RPG Oblivion, originally developed for PC and ported to Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3; this version offers cutting-edge visuals and redone textures with support for up to 4K resolution/60FPS framerate, new and/or re-recorded voice acting where feasible, a redone HUD/UI and additional accessibility features in like with more recent Bethesda titles and a litany of changes to the character creation, leveling, skills, NPC AI and other game systems.
Why should I care? I'd love to give you an answer but every one of these games has glanced off me for the better part of thirty years so iunno, you tell me. It's Minecraft for gen-X folk, right?
Helpful tip: This remaster can wait.
