Retro Re-release Roundup: August 4, 2017

What's new in old games this week.
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What's new in old games? Every week, GSK rounds up the latest classic reissues on current consoles. In the future, you'll be able to sort through the weekly archives as well!

Aero Fighters 2

  • Platform: Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
  • Price: $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29 (Switch) / £5.79 (PS4)
  • Publisher: Hamster

What's this? Arguably the most beloved entry in Video System's flagship series of goofy vertical shooters, and a Neo Geo staple that has somehow gone without being re-released since the Neo Geo CD port was released way back in 1994.

Why should I care? In addition to frantic shooting action, Aero Fighters 2 features a bizarre cast of characters and a multitude of endings, including co-op endings for every possible character pairing. Don't ever underestimate the power of dolphin!

Useless fact: Aero Fighters 2 is a favorite non-SNK Neo Geo game of King of Fighters XIV producer and SNK veteran Yasayuki Oda, alongside the inimitable Karnov's Revenge. Sorry, Windjammers fans.

Super Sidekicks 

  • Platform: Playstation 4 (Europe)
  • Price: €6.99 / £5.79 
  • Publisher: Konami

What's this? The inaugural Neo Geo soccer release and the beginning of a four-and-change-entry series; many of the tactical elements from subsequent games are not present but the simple immediacy of the original game is fun in its own way.

Why should I care? Old-school arcade soccer games are a rarity even among legacy re-releases and Super Sidekicks is the current pick of the crop.

Useless fact: You can manipulate the CPU AI with the second controller during free kicks: tap A to make them take a short kick, hold A to make them take a longer kick.

Strikers 1945

  • Platform: Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
  • Price: $6.99 / €6.99 / £5.99 
  • Publisher: Zerodiv

What's this? The first entry in Psikyo's series of ultra-orthodox hard-military shooting games; released to arcades in 1995 and intermittently re-released since, this is the first home release since the Strikers 1945 1 & 2 compilation for PlayStation 2 and includes an option for vertical "tate" play.

Why should I care? You'd like to play a high-quality shooting game but don't have a taste for bullet hell or arcane scoring systems or saccharine Japanese cuteness. Shoot, dodge, bomb, grab the gold, destroy things as quickly as possible and try not to die, it's that simple... not easy, mind you, but simple.

Useless fact: By beating the game under certain conditions, the player can unlock pictures of their selected pilot in various states of undress that might charitably be described as a homage to the wartime pin-up girls of the '40s. These pictures were removed from previous ports but, given that this is an emulation-based release, they're presumably present here. (I say "presumably" because I'd need to clear the game on one credit with all gold medals to see them and that's not going to happen with less than a day's practice.)

Gunbarich

  • Platform: Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
  • Price: $6.99 / €6.99 / £5.99 
  • Publisher: Zerodiv

What's this? A hybrid shooting/pinball/brick-breaking game, set in the universe of Psikyo's Gunbird series. This is the first time Gunbarich has been re-released for any system since the original 2001 arcade release and it came entirely without warning.

Why should I care? How many shooting/pinball/brick-breaker hybrids have you played in your life?

Useless fact: This was the final action game released for Psikyo's SH2-based arcade hardware and their second-to-last action game overall, the final being the Sega NAOMI-based multi-directional shooter Zero Gunner 2.

VIRTUAL CONSOLE

Air Zonk (Turbografx-16)

  • Platform: Wii U (Europe)
  • Price: €5.99 / £5.39 
  • Publisher: Konami

What's this? A side-scrolling shooter very loosely set in the cartoony cyber-future of Hudson's Bonk series; it was released on the Japanese Wii U eShop some three years ago and has just now reached the west. (The connection makes a little more sense in Japan: PC Genjin, caveman and ambassador of the PC Engine, was succeeded by PC Denjin, the "electric man". Puns all the way down!)

Why should I care? Air Zonk was the final HuCard shooter released by Hudson and features lot of large, well-animated sprites and other visual feats like multi-layer parallax that were uncommon on stock hardware, as well as a large variety of weapons, transformations and helper buddies. It's also on the easier side, so you'll be able to experience the entire game without a lot of practice.

Useless fact: Many of the more tasteless gags from the original PC Engine version were censored for the Turbografx-16 release, most notably the cow-fusion transformation that gave Zonk lipstick and armed him with suspiciously breast-like "milk bottles".

Bonk III: Bonk's Big Adventure (Turbografx-16)

  • Platform: Wii U (Europe)
  • Price: €5.99 / £5.39 
  • Publisher: Konami

What's this? The third and final TG16 platformer starring Hudson's head-butting caveman; this entry centers around making Bonk shrink or grow in order to navigate each level, a gimmick that has yet to appear in any other platformer and will probably never appear in any game ever again.

Why should I care? Bonk III is one of the few TG16 side-scrollers to feature two-player co-op, and possibly the only one that isn't a Shubibinman game.

Useless fact: Bonk's kawaii-eyed cavewoman form was removed from the Turbografx-16 release and replaced with a more neanderthal-esque sprite based on his depiction from the original Bonk's Adventure.

SALES & MISCELLANEA

Kirby 25th Anniversary Sale

25% off every mainline Kirby game across Wii U and 3DS until August 8; Kirby's a staple Nintendo franchise and every one of these games is, at the least, pretty good. Standout picks: Kirby's Dream Land, 3D Kirby's Adventure, Kirby Super Star, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Kirby Planet Robobot.

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap

  • (physical PS4 release by Limited Run Games)

Lizardcube's fantastic HD remaster was released digitally on many platforms earlier this year to much fanfare, and now Limited Run Games is making it available to PlayStation 4 owners as a full retail package. There are two options available – a 5000-piece standard edition with a reversible sleeve and a 3000-piece collector's edition box that includes a poster, soundtrack CD and other trinkets – and they both go on sale on August 4 at 10 a.m.Eastern.