Retro Re-release Roundup, week of June 4, 2026
Lanky Kong and friends escape Virtual Console purgatory.
A quick notice, tying into The Tetris Company's silly made-up Tetris "anniversary" on June 6: Tetris The Grand Master 4: Absolute Eye, the latest entry in Arika's long-running and traditionally Japan-only series of arcade Tetris games optimized for pure, elite-level play, has just released on Switch (and received a price cut on PC, if you'd prefer); no, it's technically not a classic game, but it did take them almost twenty years to secure a release due to interminable brand politics, so tell me that doesn't count.
ARCADE ARCHIVES / ARCADE ARCHIVES 2
Cameltry
- 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 / Taito
What's this? A speedy rotating-maze action game, originally developed and distributed in arcades by Taito in 1990, with home versions produced for SNES and Sharp X68000 and emulated reissues that include recent appearances on both the Egret II Mini and the recent Taito Milestones 4 compilation for Nintendo Switch. after selecting one of four courses, players are tasked with guiding their marble through a succession of stages as quickly as possible, with controls that simply require one to rotate the maze in either direction. (The original arcade cabinet used a rotary spinner to control the maze, and that can be approximated here via both USB mouse and Switch 2 joycon mouse functionaly.)
Why should I care? This isn't a game that requires a lot of explanation, really: Cameltry offers pure, intuitive, no cruft time-attack action, and it's survived the jump to a standard game pad more elegantly than some other peripheral-centric games.
Helpful tip: Hamster's USB mouse support does unofficially extend to various generic trackballs and other peripherals, so you may have something on hand that'll work, but the Egret II Mini peripherals are not among them.
CONSOLE ARCHIVES
Kanshaku Tamanage Kantaro no Tokaido Gojusan-tsugi (Firework Thrower Kantaro’s 53 Stations of the Tokaido, Famicom)
- Platform: Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5 (worldwide)
- Price: $11.99 / €10.99 / £9.89
- Publisher: Hamster / Sunsoft
What's this? A sidescrolling action game with an Edo-era Japan motif, originally developed and published for Famicom by Sunsoft in 1986 and reissued in Japan across various Virtual Console services, eventually making its global debut via the Sunsoft is Back! Retro Game Selection compilation in 2024. Players control apprentice fireworks maker Kantaro on a trek from Kyoto to Edo to visit his fiance, all the while fending off or otherwise avoiding the many hostile or otherwise annoying people that get in his way; Kentaro's attack consists of a thrown firework that travels in a very specific mid-distance arc, and can be used to both attack enemies and uncover money and items hidden at specific points in each stage. (As per usual, Hamster's using an English title but not providing an English translation.)
Why should I care? You're excited to try one of the games etched into the history of Game Center CX, and one that's inexplicably become a minor hit with global speedrunners in recent years, or you'd just like to dispel the kusoge accusations often thrown at this game by actually, y'know, playing it for yourself — it's hard and occasionally infuriating, but certainly not poorly made.
Helpful tip: The recent Sunsoft is Back! reissue of this game includes a new English localization, so between that perk and the fact that it's bundled with two other freshly-translated Sunsoft Famicom games for only marginally more than the price of this reissue (and quite frequently much less), you might be better served by that release. That said, the emulator used for that collection has some noticeable input lag, particularly on Switch, and I imagine it'll genuinely keep a lot of people from ever beating this particular game, so take heed.
EGG CONSOLE
Marchen Veil II (PC-98)
- Platform: Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
- Price: $7.16 / ¥990
- Publisher: D4 Enterprise / System Sacom
What's this? The PC98-exclusive sequel to 1985's multi-computer action-RPG Marchen Veil, originally developed and published by System Sacom in 1986; functioning as a direct continuation of the story established by the original, this new game enhances the original's overhead action with faster and more responsive combat, smoother scrolling and a larger map while maintaining the "novelware" format that punctuates the action with lengthy illustrated event scenes.
Why should I care? EGG's listing for this game notes that, owing to the sequel's exclusivity to the higher-end PC98, it was played by comparatively few people and that most of the fans of the original never got to experience the conclusion of the story... and I am among those people who've never touched the sequel, so I don't have any first-hand opinions to share, but I will say that it'd be very difficult to make something that didn't handle better than the original because woof.
Language barrier? That and a you-absolutely-need-to-have-played-and-completed-the-first-game barrier, but it does have kanji this time, if that helps.
G-MODE ARCHIVES+
Toudou Ryuunosuke Tantei Nikki vol.8: Kinsei no Torikago ~Ningyou Yashiki Renzoku Satsujin Jiken~
- Platform: Nintendo Switch (Japan)
- Price: ¥1200
- Publisher: G-MODE / Althi
What's this? The eigth entry in a Taisho-era detective mystery series originally developed by Japanese adventure game pioneers Riverhillsoft for Japanese microcomputers, and the sixth entry originally developed and released for Japanese feature phones in 2008 ; in this episode, Toudou goes undercover as a doll collector in order to search for the whereabouts of a client's ex-fiance, and in doing so, visits a mansion that is said to contain a dollhouse that fates those who pass it at dusk to be transformed into a doll...
Why should I care? Most of the adventure/mystery series being concurrently reissued by G-MODE have been edging towards somewhat modern design and user-friendliness, but this one stands apart by being almost defiantly classic in its approach, for better and worse. (It's also almost done, if you're someone who needs that extra push to catch up.)
Helpful tip: G-MODE's provided a comprehensive guide with varying degrees of spoilage on their website, should you require it.
NINTENDO SWITCH ONLINE EXPANSION PASS
June '26 update: Donkey Kong 64 (Nintendo 64)
What's this? Donkey Kong's first 3D outing, originally developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 (with mandatory RAM Expansion Pak) in 1999 and reissued via Wii Virtual Console in 2015; players control DK on a quest to rescue his kidnapped simian buddies from classic villain King K.Rool, which involves not only an interpretation of Donkey Kong Country-esque actions in 3D but also searching expansive levels for a wide array of collectibles, switching between DK's liberated partners in order to use their unique abilities and conquering various minigames.
Why should I care? You've been looking to redeem the legacy of a game that's historically been derided for representing the nadir of turn-of-the-century 3D collectathon overkill — like, yeah, it's excessive, but now that you can A/B it with Banjo-Tooie vfa this very service, I defy anyone to argue that DK64 hasn't been taking coconuts to the head that ought to have been aimed elsewhere.
Helpful tip: The emulation seems to be a lot more solid than the Wii U Virtual Console version — to be specific, they've made an effort to properly replicate the performance of the original hardware (ie the slowdown), the absence of which causes all sorts of animation errors and other unintended behavior.
UPDATES UPDATES UPDATES
System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster Switch-to-Switch 2 upgrade pack (free)
A surprise drop for Switch 2 owners, this upgrade brings the Switch version of Atari and Nightdive's recent System Shock 2 remaster to something approaching parity with the other console and PC versions, with enhancements that include improved performance and resolution, new higher-resolution assets, Joycon 2 mouse functionality and cross-play online multiplayer. (It also doesn't seem to be utterly non-functional, so it's already exceeded the previous console launch.)
TRY THE DEMO
Culdcept the First (PC) pre-repease demo
Omiya Soft's moderately-well-liked-in-Japan deckbuilding fantasy boardgame series Culdcept is gearing up for yet another revival via the imminent Culdcept Begins, and alongside that brand-new game is an emulated reissue — and first-ever localization — of the original Sega Saturn entry, now dubbed Culdcept the First, emulated by City Connection and due out on PC and consoles at the end of July. This demo lets you trial a portion of the single-player and versus mode, and save data will carry over to the full game. (Just turn off Steam Input before you boot it up.)
