Retro Re-release Roundup, week of December 11, 2025
A little-played pixel art masterclass gets its first global release.
Between their games being re-re-reskinned into a state of unfamiliarity in their heyday and the large-scale reissue boom that seemed to kick off mere minutes after their implosion, there's something bittersweet about the Westone memoriam of the last several years, huh?
ARCADE ARCHIVES / ARCADE ARCHIVES 2
Roc'n Rope
- Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X (worldwide, ACA2) / Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 (worldwide, ACA)
- Price: $9.99 / €8.99 / £7.39 (ACA2), $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29 (ACA), $2.99 / €2.99 / £2.49 (ACA-to-ACA2 upgrade)
- Publisher: Hamster / Konami
What's this? A multi-stage, fixed-screen action game starring a mountaineering exporer in pursuit of a mythical phoenix-esque bird, originally developed and distributed in arcades by Konami in 1983, with contemporary conversions Colecovision and Atari 2600 and more direct reissues on Konami arcade compilations for PlayStation and Nintendo DS. Players are tasked with climbing to the roosting bird at the top of each stage, which is achieved by firing slightly-angled ropes into higher platforms and climbing hand-over-hand to higher elevations, whilst also dodging enemies that are capable of following the player along placed ropes and disrupting their climb but can be stunned at close-quarters with the player's flashlight, as well as collecting feather score items and the invincibility-granting egg.
Why should I care? This is one of the most regularly-requested Arcade Archives games, week-in and week-out, since Konami joined the service way back when, and its chronic absense had some wondering if it was being deliberately witheld, so its appearance this week has sated a lot of people. It's not without good reason, either: Roc'n Rope is one of a small handful of early Konami arcade games that's held up by Japanese maniacs and overseas players as a bona fide classic, and it's one of the very few post-Donkey Kong arcade action games that not only matched but arguably elevated Nintendo's own format. That extremely Tezuka-ish phoenix is cute, too.
Useless fact: Retronauts regulars are probably aware that Roc'n Rope's chief creator, Tokuro Fujiwara, jumped ship to Capcom early in his career and took another crack at rope-y action with Bionic Commando/Top Secret, but it's worth acknowleding that Konami themselves more directly iterated on Roc'n Rope's specific rope mechanic via the 1986 Famicom Disk System platformer Arumana no Kiseki.
EGG CONSOLE
Super Laydock Mission Striker (MSX)
- Platform: Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
- Price: $7.19 / ¥990
- Publisher: D4 Enterprise / T&E Soft
What's this? A revision of sorts of T&E Soft's RPG-tinged sci-fi shooting game, originally released for MSX2, FF77 and MZ-2500 computers in 1986 and converted for MSX and X1 the following year; in addition to preserving the signature action, leveling-based weapon system and two-player docking gimmick to the greatest extent possible on weaker hardware, this version also boasts additional music and cinematics and alterations to the moment-to-moment game balance and both the performance of and access to the game's array of additional weaponry.
Why should I care? Even at the time, the many changes implemented for this "super" version were seen as an obvious bandaid for the fact that the MSX simply could not replicate the per-pixel scrolling that T&E boasted about providing with the original games, but it cannot be said that they didn't do their damnedest to retain the feel of the original, no matter how much jerky background-layer shenanigans they were forced to employ. It's also worth acknowledging that this game's "RPG" elements are coherent and straightforward, unlike basically every other RPG/shooter hybrid of this era.
Language barrier? All the crucial text is in English, and there's even an English-spoken voice sample on the title screen (performed by a pre-Tetris-fame Henk Rogers, if memory serves).
NINTENDO SWITCH ONLINE EXPANSION PASS
December '25 update: Wario World (GameCube)
What's this? The sole 3D outing for Nintendo's gluttonous antihero Wario, originally developed by ardcore action game veterans Treasure and published by Nintendo in North America and Europe in 2003 and Japan in 2004; dragged into a bizarre world by the effects of a cursed gem, players guide Wario through a modest selection of linear 3D stages, within which one will not only perform acrobatic platforming feats but pummel multitudes of enemies with an array of thuggish attacks, take on outlandish bosses and scour (well, not scour, really) each stage for collectibles and higher-difficulty challenge rooms.
Why should I care? The Nintendo-published GameCube library is packed with a great many games whose weaknesses as retail games serve as strengths as NSO titles — this game was dragged in its day for being extremely lacking in volume and somewhat basic when compared to the expectations fostered by it being both a 3D Mario-adjacent game succeeding Mario 64 and Sunshine and a long-awaited step into fuller 3D action gaming by Treasure, but I expect a great many people are going to now rediscover its value as both a hypercondensed action-platformer that could and should've been the template for many sequels and, perhaps more crucially, the last truly weird Wario game.
Helpful tip: Those who've already exhausted everything the English version has to offer might want to try the Japanese version: in addition to a bevy of little fixes and stage-specific tweaks, it notably augments the final boss with a second, much more elaborate phase that unambiguously improves the game and allows it to end on a note more befitting of a Wario game.
OTHER
- Platform: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PC via Steam (worldwide)
- Price: $5.99 or equivalent
- Publisher: Shinyuden / Edia
What's this? An emulated reissue of Wolf Team's dinosaur-themed digital pinball game Dino Land, originally developed for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and published in Japan and North America in 1992; presented here via Rataliaka's ever-present emulation wrapper, this version offers save states, rewind, various screen filters, basic cheat options and package and music galleries.
Why should I care? Look, if Hudson's not going to let Alien Crush and Devil Crush out of the vault, some of us might have to make do with the also-rans.
Helpful tip: For this game, Wolf Team sought the compositions of the acclaimed pop/funk songwriter and session guitarist Ichiro Hada, and I specifically point this out because I've seen the PR for this game misspell his game multiple ways and I feel the correct spelling deserves to be stated somewhere.
- Platform: Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox, PC via Steam (worldwide)
- Price: $14.99 or equivalent
- Publisher: XSEED Games
What's this? the first-ever reissue and global release of Milano no Arbeit Collection, a "cozy" minigame-centric independence sim starring the home-alone 11-year-old Milano, originally developed for Sony PlayStation by Wonder Boy/Monster World creators Westone and published in Japan by Victor Interactive in 1999; emulated here by Implicit Conversions and newly localized by now-pro fan translation group Hilltop Works, this version offers a full English text and audio localization, with the option of switching to the original Japanese voices with subtitles, and also offers improved load times and de riguer emulation features like save states and rewind.
Why should I care? Firstly, it represents a step into the commercial realm for a very consistent fan translation outfit, so props to them; secondly, it represents a long-awaited peek into the very deep vault of Marvelous/Victor/XSEED-owned games that might now finally escape the purgatory of being owned by a company that doesn't seem to care for them; and thirdly, the original disc costs roughly nineteen billion dollars, which is a little much for a game that doesn't amount to much more than a tourist attraction for some admittedly gorgeous pixel art.
Useless fact: While it's not entirely unfair to attribute this game's charm to art director/character designer/llustrator Maki Ohzora, I'd like to give special praise to "dottinger" Hideo Nakajima, who was responsible for a large bulk of the pixel art, including being the sole pixel artist on Milano herself.
The Elder Scrolls V - Skyrim: Anniversary Edition
- Platform: Nintendo Switch 2(worldwide)
- Price: $59.99 or equivalent
- Publisher: Bethesda
What's this? the zillionth port of Bethesda's eternal first-person fantasy sandbox RPG Skyrim, now on Switch 2 with improved load times, joycon mouse support higher-resolution visuals with added post-processing effects.
Why should I care? You're willing to take it on faith that Bethesda will patch this port to remove what I'm told is a massively debilitating amount of extra input lag.
Upgrade path? Switch Anniversary Edition owners can upgrade for free; Switch owners of vanilla Skyrim will have to buy the $20 Anniversary Edition upgrade.
CARTRIDGES FOR A CAUSE
Xcavator 2025 (NES) cartridge release by iam8bit, Mega Cat Studios & Video Game History Foundation
- Price: $100 + shipping
- ETA: Q2 2026
Reconstructed from original source code found in the archives of the late programmer Chris Oberth, this unreleased 1991 NES game was graciously donated to the Video Game History Foundation by rights holders Incredible Technologies and has been refurbished to a release-worthy state using contemporary NES development tools and pressed to cartridge, finally realizing an authentic commercial release for this never-before-seen game. What's more, publishers iam8bit are donating 100% of the profits to the VGHF, meaning your purchase will help to bolster the discovery, archival and historical study of more noteworthy and unsung games like this one.
