Retro Re-release Roundup, week of March 19, 2026
Ludicolo Gaiden saunters onto Switch 2.
This week's customary retro-adjacent drop-before-the-drop: Rushing Beat X: Return of Brawl Brothers (PC/Switch 2/PlayStation 5/Xbox), a brand-new polygonal entry in the erstwhile Jaleco SNES brawler trilogy originally localized as Rival Turf, Brawl Brothers and The Peace Keepers, and one produced to capitalize on the post-Streets of Rage 4/TMNT Shredder's Revenge beat-em-up renaissance. Ya snooze, ya lose, Capcom.
ARCADE ARCHIVES / ARCADE ARCHIVES 2
Devastators
- Platform: Nintendo Switch 2, 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 pseudo-3D run-and-gun action game with a military theme, originally developed and distributed in arcades by Konami in 1998 and reissued just once, via the Xbox 360 Game Room service; one or two players are tasked with defending against an invading dictator, which is achieved by manually scrolling towards the background of each stage, dodging and/or taking cover from various infantry and vehicular enemies and attacking via a trusty machine gun or limited-use explosive weapons. (This release also includes the Japanese release, titled Garuka, and as with many Konami games of this era, it's far less punitive.)
Why should I care? This game seems to have been written off as a mere test run for the later, more bombastic and far more successful G.I.Joe arcade game, or dismissed as simply unexciting, but it's a game I'll go to bat for: sure, the 3D effect is severely diminished by putting the screen-scroll in the hands of the player, and there are many peculiarities to the system, 3D and not-3D, that don't quite gel with the typical rhythm of games in this format, but there's something to the Devastators' Space Harrier-sack-race gait that puts it on the favorable side of the "methodical" <> "plodding" divide. (Those who played the X360 version might also enjoy the game more now that it emulates correctly.)
Helpful tip: This game has some non-insignificant strobing effects in places, and Hamster's taken the unusual step of openly declaring that they explicitly did not modify any of the flashing effects in deference to maintaining the game as it originally released, which is certainly a choice.
CONSOLE ARCHIVES
Ninja-kun: Ashura no Shou (Famicom)
- Platform: Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5 (worldwide)
- Price: $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29 (ACA2)
- Publisher: Hamster / UPL
What's this? The Famicom port of the second game in the UPL ninja action series released in global arcades as Ninja-Kid; the original arcade version was released in 1987, and this Micronics-developed home port followed a year later, alongside a MSX2 conversion produced by Opera House. This sequel builds upon the enemy-clearing action of the original but greatly expands it with a wide variety of larger stages of various scrolling configurations, a more agile player-character, upgradeable weapons, a branching stage system and more.
Why should I care? Realistically, you should forego this release for the authentic arcade version, which has been available via Arcade Archives for several years now, but this port has to be commended for being extremely faithful to the arcade version in an era where arcade-to-Famicom ports were typically either heavily compromised or redesigned to the extent that they were no longer the same games (and for being an early instance of Micronics doing a halfway-decent job with a port).
Useless fact: This game was announced and heavily promoted for release on NES in North America under the title Ninja Taro, and there is a prototype NES build out there that has not been publicly dumped.
EGG CONSOLE
- Platform: Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
- Price: $7.16 / ¥880
- Publisher: D4 Enterprise / T&E Soft
What's this? The MSX2 conversion of T&E Soft's genre-pioneering action-RPG Hydlide, produced and published alongside the launch of the MSX2 in mid-1985; this version largely mirrors the crunched-down proportions of the prior conversion for the original MSX, but with enhanced color modes, including a 256-color mode for higher-RAM configs that's available via this reissue.
Why should I care? This is Hydlide EGG reissue #3, for those not counting, and I'm mostly inclined to celebrate it as a broad show of support for reissuing any and every version of a game that's available rather than arbitrary and unnecessary cherry-picking. That said, I wouldn't suggest going straight to this version: the PC-88 original's still the go-to, and the OG MSX version is, relative to its spec, a more thoughtful conversion, but I can't sit here and say more colors don't equal better, either.
Language barrier? There's very little text, and it's all in English.
Zanac EX (MSX2)
- Platform: PC via Steam (worldwide)
- Price: $9.99 or equivalent
- Publisher: D4 Enterprise / Compile
What's this? An enhanced version of Compile's company-defining vertically-scrolling shooting game Zanac, which originated on the standard MSX, was heavily arranged for Famicom Disk System and NES and converted for MSX2 across 1986; positioned as a sequel to the original MSX version, Zanac EX is essentially a back-port of the Nintendo version to MSX2, with near-identical content but certain visual and performance-related differences in accordance with the strengths and weakness of the MSX2.
Why should I care? You're aware that this is not the vastly more popular and more in-demand NES version, which has been MIA from the reissue circuit for many moons, and therefore presents differences and changes that you're eager to explore or not, which include Master System-esque PSG chiptunes and slowdown on top of choppier scrolling. In any event, this is a game that ought to have some wider international presence, and one has to imagine it'll serve as a stepping stone towards getting the NES version out of re-release limbo, if nothing else.
Language barrier? There's virtually no text in the game, and it's all in English.
NINTENDO SWITCH ONLINE EXPANSION PASS
March '26 update: Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness (GameCube)
What're these? The second and final game in the Pokemon Colosseum sub-series of linear, battle-focused 3D Pokemon RPGs, originally developed by Genius Sonority and published by Nintendo for the GameCube in 2005; set in the region of Orre, this game retains the core battle mechanics of the mainline handheld entries but distinguishes itself via a focus on the 2v2 doubles battle format and the "Shadow Pokemon" mechanic, which sees players stealing Pokemon from other trainers as a primary means of acquisition. (This NSO release does not maintain the ability to transfer Pokemon from other games: not from any of the modern games, not from the recent FireRed/LeafGreen reissues, and not via Pokemon HOME.)
Why should I care? Without the means to transfer 'mon to and/or from the other games, you're basically looking at a game that's not that far removed from the Pokemon Stadium N64 games — that is to say, a game that presumed simply offering battles in 3D was enough to placate people who wanted a full-fat, high-production Pokemon game for home consoles, years after that notion had ceased to be accurate — but the battles do have some bite to 'em that's missing from a great many mainline games, and Tsukasa Tawada's soundtrack remains an oft-cited fan favorite.
Helpful tip: Incidental to this drop is yet another update to the NSO GameCube emulator that, allegedly, makes further improvements to both input delay and the accuracy of the analog stick emulation. F-Zero GX might be halfway playable!
PLAYSTATION PREMIUM
March '25 update: Tekken: Dark Resurrection (PlayStation Portable)
What's this? The PlayStation Portable conversion of the "5.1" arcade revision of Namco's popular 2004 entry in their hit 3D fighting game series Tekken, originally ported by Eighting and published by Namco-Bandai in 2006 and later ported to PlayStation 3; this version reproduced all the characters and balance tweaks from the most current iteration of the game and came equipped with a variety of new short-session single-player modes optimised for handheld play, including a "Gold Rush" mode meant to allow players to quickly accrue in-game currency, a recreation of Tekken Tag Tournament's popular bowling minigame and more.
Why should I care? In keeping with PS Plus tradition, they've inexplicably chosen to reissue a version of a fighting game in a format that makes it impossible to play with other people (or to utilize the asynchronous ghost data functionality, even), but the port does have its historical merits: it was the first bona fide handheld Tekken conversion and set an extremely high bar for fighting game performance and fidelity on PS2, and I do think a lot of people might be surprised to learn just how close the visuals were to the earlier PS2 version.
Helpful tips: As is typical of Namco PS catalog drops, there are some caveats with this one: firstly, it's missing trophies, and secondly, the standalone $10 purchase option may not be available in your region, or at the time of this writing, or of the moon's in retrograde.
