Retro Re-release Roundup, week of August 7, 2025

M2 pulls double-duty with Konami and Taito.
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In an uncharacteristic show of cross-publisher solidarity, you can grab both of this week's excellent M2-developed arcade compilations — the Konami-published Gradius Origins Collection and the Taito-published Operation Night Strikers — as a discounted bundle on Steam for the next little while. In an all-too-common attempt to trick you into paying money for dreck, you can also grab either comp in a bundle with Cygni or Operation Wolf Returns, respectively.

ARCADE ARCHIVES

D-DAY

  • Platform: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
  • Price: $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29
  • Publisher: Hamster / Jaleco

What's this? A military-themed vertically-scrolling battleship shooter, originally developed and distributed in arcades by Jaleco in 1984 and converted for MSX, but never reissued in authentic arcade form until now; the player is not only tasked with aiming and firing on airborne or grounded targets using a pair of reticles controlled simultaneously, but also with guiding the slow-moving battleship in anticipation of enemy attacks and volleys.

Why should I care? You want to play something markedly different from the many early-to-mid-'80s shooting games already present on ACA, and you can tolerate morse code as approximated by primitive chiptunes.

Useless fact: upon entering the Famicom market, Jaleco announced a port of this game as part of their opening salvo, but it never made it to market.

EGG CONSOLE

Xak Precious Package: The Tower of Gazzel (PC-88)

  • Platform: Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
  • Price: $6.49 / ¥880
  • Publisher: D4 Enterprise / Micro Cabin

What's this? A spinoff in Micro Cabin's popular action-RPG series Xak, originally developed for PC-88 and released for PC-88, PC-98 and MSX2 across 1991; set soon after th ending of Xak II, this entry eschews most of the series' RPG trappings and focuses on straight-ahead action and light puzzle-solving, with a new gimmick allowing for the player to enlist and swap between four different helpful partner characters in order to clear obstacles and progress.

Why should I care? This isn't so much a Zelda-esque remix so much as an action-RPG that starts you with the numbers maxed out, but of all the micom action-RPGs that might gamble with standing purely on their moment-to-moment action, Xak stood a stronger chance than most.

Language barrier? Some of your basic menu nouns and HUD/UI options are in English, but most everything else is in Japanese.

G-MODE ARCHIVES+

Tantei Kibukawa Ryousuke Jiken-tan Vol.17: Midoumaru-tei Jiken

  • Platform: Nintendo Switch (Japan), PC via Steam (worldwide)
  • Price: $7.99 or equivalent
  • Publisher: G-MODE / And Joy

What's this? Volume seventeen of And Joy's (formerly Genki Mobile) series of popular detective mystery adventure games, originally released for smartphones across 4 episodes in 2011 and presented here in one package; set during Kibukawa's childhood, this story sees Kibukawa taking their first steps into detectivehood by investigating a string of harassment perpetrated on the residents of a wealthy household, which soon escalate to murder... (As is customary, the Steam version's seen a last-second delay; it'll be out August 20.)

Why should I care? Every long-running detective series is bound to paint its way towards an origin story sooner or later.

Useless fact: G-MODE recently announced a physical Tantei Kibukawa compilation for Switch — they don't seem to know precisely how many games it'll include or what sorts of bonuses might be released alongside it, but the demand is certainly there. Thanks, Paranormasight!

JALECOLLE FAMICOM VER.

Saiyuuki World II & Whomp 'Em!

  • Platform: Nintendo Switch, (worldwide)
  • Price: $7.99 or equivalent 
  • Publisher: City Connection

What's this? An emulated two-pack containing Jaleco's 1990 Sun Wukong-themed action-platformer Saiyuuki World II and its 1991 Native American-themed NES reskin, Whomp 'Em; in addition to the standard Jalecolle feature set (save states, rewind, border options, speedrun mode, art galleries and the "Subtitle Guide" overlays that translate Saiyuuki World II into English and vice-versa), this release offer border gadgets and other overlays that display invisible or obfuscated counters and stats, as well as a handy chart that'll show you precisely what the end-of-stage upgrades do and how to use them.

Why should I care? Those familiar with the original Saiyuuki World, be it from years back or via the recent JALECOlle reissue, will know that it's a rather slapdash remix of Westone's Wonder Boy in Monster Land, and therefore might be expecting more Monster Land-isms from this game, but if so, you'd be off the mark: this all-original sequel is more of a straight-ahead action game that draws more than a little influence from Mega Man, and unlike a lot of JALECOlle releases, which focus on games with unrequited potential or whose quirky charm supersedes their flaws, this one is an unreservedly solid later-era action game and one that doesn't need a whole lot of up-sell. (You might also get a kick out of A/B-ing both versions and noting just how few Wukong-isms the devs bothered to purge from Whomp 'Em.)

Useless fact: City Connection's already revealed the next JALECOlle reissue: Rod Land!

OTHER

Earth Saver

  • Platform: PC via Steam (worldwide)
  • Price: $6.99 or equivalent
  • Publisher: Tom Create

What's this? A puzzle-action game themed around dismantling planet-threatening meteorites with explosives, originally developed for the Nintendo DS by Tom Create and published for the Japanese DSiWare service in 2009, with a revised version released internationally for both DSiWare (as part of the "GO Series") and PlayStation Portable in 2010, and ported to Switch a few months back as a deluxe version with all the previous modes and a new two-player mode. The player is tasked with placing explosive charges on the surface of each meteorite in order to break it into chunks that will fall and ideally burn up in the planet's atmosphere; chunks bigger than a certain size will damage the planet itself, so the player must not only negotiate the ever-changing terrain and dodging aliens and the explosions caused by their own bombs but also ensure they're fracturing the meteorite into sufficiently small pieces in order to succeed in saving the planet.

Why should I care? One could argue that very few of Tom Create's GO Series titles stood the test of time, but I'd certainly rate Earth Saver as one of the better ones, and it's definitely benefited from its many revisions; it's a slight game, but one that warrants this attention, and I'd like to hope they're able to revisit some of their other bite-sized games down the line, too.

That one useless fact I shared last time, again: Tom Create's mostly known globally for its original digital titles produced for the handhelds of yesteryear, but their history stretches back to the late '80s and includes a massive number of products released with or for Bandai, including the design and production of the Super Famicom Turbo, Bandai's Aladdin Deck Enhancer-esque adapter intended to facilitate the production and reissue of cheaper games on smaller and less-expensive cartridges.

Fate/hollow ataraxia REMASTERED

  • Platform: Nintendo Switch, PC via Steam (worldwide)
  • Price: $29.99 or equivalent
  • Publisher: Aniplex

What's this? The first officially-localized version of the 2005 PC visual novel entry in Studio TYPE-MOON and creator Kinoko Nasu's ever-expansive Fate mediaverse; this new global port is based on the 2014 Vita remake, which offered voice acting, expanded minigames and the removal of certain sexually-explicit content, and to my knowledge it's more or less identical to the Vita version, save for the removal of the Capsule Servant tower defense-esque minigame (due to it being spun off as a standalone smartphone app, presumably).

Why should I care? I cannot speak with any authority on anything Fate that isn't the 8ing fighting game, but I do have a vague memory of being told that, of all the many games that follow Fate Stat/night that may or may not be canonical, ataraxia is the game that would most plausibly fit the definition of a true sequel, so I suppose you might want to file this one away as "not inessential".

Helpful tip: Fate/Stay night's not only discounted on PC right now but it's also bundled with ataraxia, should you be jumping in anew.

Gradius Origins Collection

  • Platform: PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PC via Steam (worldwide)
  • Price: $39.99 or equivalent
  • Publisher: Konami

What's this? An emulated collection spanning several mid-'80s to mid-'90s arcade entries in Konami's classic, genre-defining horizontally-scrolling shooting game series Gradius, plus a new game for good measure; emulated by shooting game sommeliers M2, this collection presents 21 game versions across 7 different titles, including rare and unreleased versions previously thought lost, and equips them with no-damage and easy modes, a bevy of training options that include hitbox/collision viewers, a suite of general and "maniac" options that allow the player to change or fix specific aspects of each game at an extremely granular level, on-screen border gadgets that display useful and/or hidden info, save states, rewind, online leaderboards, screen settings and more.

Which games are included? This collection includes the original Gradius (both the Japanese ROM & Bubble System version, the NA & EU Nemesis versions plus an unreleased NA Nemesis prototype), Salamander (Japanese and NA Life Force reskin), the Japanese Life Force overhaul, Gradius II (all three Japanese revisions plus the NA Vulcan Venture version), Gradius III (both Japanese revisions, the Asian version and the legendary "AM Show" pre-release version, which was thought lost for the last ~35 years and features enough visual and design differences from the final product to be considered its own game) and Salamander 2 (with the unreleased international version Life Force 2, which amounts to little more than a title swap, available via the options), alongside the brand-new, M2-developed Salamander III. Also included in this collection, but hidden behind the Konami Code, is the Nintendo Vs. System arcade conversion Vs. Gradius, and "Salamander (Power Capsule Version)", an official mod that essentially reskins the Japanese version of Life Force back into Salamander.

Why should I care? Some might be tempted to dismiss this collection in the face of other recent reissues of some of the featured games, or for only covering a relative small number of the many Gradius-family games released across arcades, consoles, computers and handhelds, but I'd urge those people to give this collection another shot: not only does it contain the most painstakingly accurate and thoughtful versions of some of the most important and influential arcade games ever made, now equipped with every feature one could possibly want or need in order to not only clear them but understand and tame them, but it also represents the apotheosis of M2's own efforts to venerate classic shooting games, offering some of the most fanatically specific options I've ever seen implemented in any arcade reissue, at a fraction of the price that they'd have charged for a self-published reissue of a single game, and you get a new game on top (and I can attest that it's a good one). I should also re-emphasize the significance of the inclusion of the AM Show build of Gradius III, long considered a holy grail of lost media to a certain generation of arcade-goers — it's clearly raw and not intended to be played seriously, and ultimately harder than the final version, as unfathomable as that may seem, but both unearthing and reconstructing this version was a feat long deemed impossible.

Helpful tip: Enter the Konami Code (O/X for B/A on PS controls, off the top of my head) on Gradius' version select screen to unlock Vs. Gradius, and do the same on Salamander;s version-select stage to unlock Salamander (Power Capsule version). Additionally, the Konami Code's been implemented within some of the other games to function as a quick power-up.

Heretic + Hexen

  • Platform: PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PC via Steam (worldwide)
  • Price: $14.99 or equivalent
  • Publisher: id Software

What's this? A remastered two-pack of Raven Software's first-person medieval fantasy shooters Heretic and Hexen, developed using id Software's Doom 2 engine and released for PC in 1994 and 1995, respectively; these Night Dive Studio-developed remasters include the two original games, their official expansion packs and two brand-new episodes and reproduce each game at upto 4K/120FPS, with support for cross-platform online deathmatch/co-op for upto 16 players and local split-screen play for upto 8 players, mod support, an optional arranged soundtrack by Andrew Hulshult, a gallery of developer documents and unused assets and much more.

Why should I care? "Slightly-more-annoying Doom" still beats a hell of a lot of the alternatives, and this particular remasters optional "rebalance" allegedly redesigns the maps to drastically reduce the amount of obtuse switch-hunting and other "exploratory" monotony that made Hexen, in particular, such a chore.

Helpful tip: As with Night Dive's previous id remasters, owners of the previous version/s on Steam can update to the remaster for free, and will retain access to the original DOS builds.

Operation Night Strikers

  • Platform: Nintendo Switch, PC via Steam (worldwide)
  • Price: $24.99 or equivalent (base game), $22.49 or equivalent ("CS Pack" DLC), $59.99 or equivalent (English physical)
  • Publisher: Taito

What's this? An emulated collection containing the arcade versions of Taito's cult-in-Japan sprite-scaling large-cabinet shooting/racing game Night Striker and a trio of globally-popular mounted-gun crosshair shooters: Operation Wolf, the sequel Operation Thunderbolt and the sci-fi Space Gun. Once again handled by M2, these versions offer specially-prepared easy versions of each title alongside save states, online leaderboards and replay sharing, side-of-screen gadgets that display useful/hidden info, a brand-new optional arrange soundtrack for Night Striker and support for a wide array of controller and peripheral configs that'll let people best replicate the many control methods seen in the original game, including gyro aiming and USB mouse support on Switch and mouse, trackball and USB Cyber Stick support on PC. Additionally, they've added an assortment of home console versions of each title as paid DLC, which are included on the physical Switch card as standard.

Which games are included? This collection contains Night Striker (Japan, NA and world versions), Operation Wolf (Japanese and NA versions), Operation Thunderbolt (standard and mini-cabinet Japanese versions, standard and mini-cabinet NA versions) and Space Gun (Japanese and NA versions), with the latter three game also offering new "Easy" versions of every variant. The "CS Pack" DLC, included as standard with the physical version, includes the Mega-CD version of Night Striker, the Famicom, NES and Sega Master System versions of Operation Wolf, the SNES version of Operation Thunderbolt and the Sega Master System version of Space Gun, complete with peripheral support to replicate lightguns, analogue peripherals and every other option originally supported by those ports. (Taito did also offer the PC Engine version of Operation Wolf to Japanese customers as a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Amazon Prime Day bonus, so look forward to that hitting the eShop in a few years.)

Why should I care? Operation Wolf and Night Striker are not the most natural pairing, and my presumption is that they've only been bundled because someone at Taito learned that the reverance hardcore Japanese players have for Night Striker is virtually non-existent elsewhere, and therefore figured they had to throw in some globally-popular games in order to get international players to invest. All that said, Night Striker is certainly a game that I suspect a great many people would love once they're exposed to it, and this version seeks to recreate both the game itself and the splendor of the cabinet as faithfully as possible, so perhaps it'll present the gateway you need to enjoy one of Taito's more stylish arcade titles. Who knows, it might also get me to enjoy playing Operation Wolf!

Helpful tip: Bundled with the Japanese Switch special edition is an early-access code for Night Striker Gear, a brand-new sequel to Night Striker developed by M2; as far as I'm aware, these codes are not being offered with the physical versions just put up for order by Limited Run Games and Clear River Games, but M2 themselves will be selling Night Striker Gear separately later this year, on both the Switch eShop and Steam.

The House of the Dead 2: REMAKE

  • Platform: Nintendo Switch, PC via Steam (worldwide)
  • Price: $24.99 or equivalent
  • Publisher: Forever Entertainment

What's this? A Forever Entertainment-developed/published remake of Sega's beloved 1998 arcade zombie lightgun shooter, The House of the Dead 2, which originally made it home via the Sega Dreamcast, Windows PC, Xbox (as an unlockable within the House of the Dead III) and Nintendo Wii, as well as serving as the foundation for the arcade/PC keyboard game Typing of the Dead and the Japan-only Nintendo DS title English of the Dead. As with Forever's remake of the original HOD from a few years back, this version aims to recreate the original game with all-new modern visuals, redone voice acting, rearranged music, approximations of the home versions' extra modes and more.

Why should I care? This remake's hideous, flaccid, buggy and somehow contains worse voice acting than the original, but it does look to at least include versions of the original music, which was bafflingly absent from their remake of the first game.

Word of warning: This remake is queued up for PlayStation 5/4 and Xbox, too, but it's not dated as of now.

FREED FROM RETAILER PROMO PRISON

R-Gear

This scrapped, unfinished 2D would-be sequel to Taito's classic '90s vertical shooter RayForce was recently dredged up (all one stage of it, at least) and made available to the public by Taito via two very inconvenient means: first, as a limited-window Amazon Prime Day digital bonus to the Ray'z Arcade Chronology in Japan, and again as a pack-in with certain versions of Strictly Limited Games' international Ray'z release... which, after roughly three years in the queue, has still yet to ship for the vast majority of people still waiting on the copy they paid for. However you may have missed it, you can now grab it directly from Japanese PSN/eShop if you so desire. (Due to boring publisher-related reasons, it probably won't ever be made available on the international storefronts.)

UPDATES UPDATES UPDATES

Capcom Fighting Collection 2 (PC/PS/XB/Switch) free title update

Capcom's free update to the recently-released Capcom Fighting Collection 2 offers a significant and unexpected bonus: in addition to some new art/sound gallery content and the restoration of the combo routes in Plasma Sword's training mode, they've somehow managed to take Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX (PSP) bonus characters Maki, Eagle, Yun and Ingrid and back-port them to the NAOMI version of Alpha 3 Upper, dragging that particular version ever so slightly further away from redundancy. Again, how?