Retro Re-release Roundup, week of Karnovember 2, 2017
One shooter, two fighting games, three MacVentures.
Karnovember kicks off with a smorgasbord of legacy releases across a variety of genres, including adventure games, shooters and — gasp! — Neo Geo fighting games. (Yes, there's one conspicuous absence from today's roundup. No, I'd rather not talk about it.)
ARCADE ARCHIVES NEO GEO
- Platform: Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
- Price: $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29
- Publisher: Hamster
What's this? The final entry in SNK's Art of Fighting series of cinematic fighting games, released in arcades in 1996; this game is a side-story starring sidekick Robert Garcia and features a new motion-capture animation style and a near-total roster refresh.
Why should I care? Art of Fighting 3's peculiar interpretation of 3D fighting game systems and animation techniques with traditional 2D graphics stands alone among SNK fighting games, for better or worse.
Useless fact: The original arcade version featured a real-time clock system that would give characters overpowered buffs if you played on their birthday.
Karnov Kounter: 0
- Platform: Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
- Price: $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29
- Publisher: Hamster
What's this? The fourth entry in SNK's ever-popular all-star team-based fighting game series, and the conclusion of the "Orochi Saga" storyline that began with KOF95. This game features the debut of the New Faces team (Shermie, Chris and Yashiro) as well as the '97 Special Team, a trio of fan-favourite SNK characters (Blue Mary, Yamazaki and Billy Kane) determined by fan polls from three different Japanese gaming mags, in addition the option to choose between two modes based on the systems from KOF96 or KOF95.
Why should I care? KOF97 represented another big leap in quality from the already-great KOF96 and is considered one of the best KOF games ever made; it's especially popular in China and is still heavily played and spectated to this day.
Useless fact: The Orochi titles for Chris, Shermie and Yashiro are reference to vocal tunes from the anime Armored Trooper Votoms, Lupin the 3rd and Combat Mecha xabgunle, respectively.
Karnov Kounter: 0
M2 SHOTTRIGGERS
- Platform: Playstation 4 (Japan)
- Price: ¥3,700 plus tax
- Publisher: M2 / 8ing
What's this? The debut arcade game from all-star shooting game developer Raizing, originally released in 1993 and presented here as the third entry in M2's "ShotTriggers" label of boutique shooting game re-releases; this is the first time Mahou Daisakusen has been released on a home console and the package includes two brand-new play modes, a selection of three soundtracks including an all-new arrange mode and a bevy of display options and other configs, plus online leaderboards, replay sharing and an art gallery.
Why should I care? You're looking for a straightforward, pre-bullet-hell arcade shooter with a fun steampunk-fantasy-RPG aesthetic and a relatively moderate level of challenge, ported to an exacting standard
Useless fact: Mahou Daisakusen was developed by many former members of Compile whose previous works include the Sega Mega Drive shooter M.U.S.H.A. and the Spriggan series for PC Engine and they deliberately adhered to the systems from those games in the hopes that fans would realize the connection; if you liked those console games and want an upgraded arcade equivalent, this is the game for you.
Karnov Kounter: 0
OTHER
8-bit Adventure Anthology: Volume 1
- Platform: PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One
- Price: $7.99
- Publisher: Abstraction Games / General Arcade
What's this? A a no-frills compilation of three classic MacVenture point-and-click adventure games: Deja Vu, Uninvited and Shadowgate. This collection contains the NES ports of each game and adds achievements and a few optional (and ugly) screen filters.
Why should I care? This is a very to-the-point way to experience some very influential (and, frankly, very dated) adventure games. (A complete collection of the MacVenture games has been available on PC for some time, should you want to play them as originally designed.)
Confused query: This collection is labeled "Volume 1", implying future volumes, but there's only one other MacVenture left for them to re-release and it didn't get a NES port. What's up with that?
Karnov Kounter: 0
