Disclaimer: I am legally obliged to inform you that one of the games profiled in today's update, the otherwise excellent Space Invaders Extreme, does not and will not fit Retronauts' designated "retro" classification for another week or so, and for that I humbly beg forgiveness. That Secret of Mana remake, though? Timeless.

ARCADE ARCHIVES NEO GEO

Fatal Fury 3: Road to the Final Victory

• Platform: Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
• Price: $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29
• Publisher: Hamster

What's this? The fourth entry in SNK's flagship fighting game series, originally released in March 1995; this entry features brand-new graphics and a cast largely comprised of newcomers, including immediate fan favourites Blue Mary and Ryuji Yamazaki, as well as a shift to a three-plane "oversway" system that allows players to attack or evade attacks from the background and foreground of every stage.

Why should I care? You want to experience a far less intuitive take on the systems seen in Real Bout Fatal Fury later that year, and you want to make your friends hate you by performing Terry's extremely simple "crouching jab > crack shoot" infinite combo.

Helpful tip: Fatal Fury 3's powerful "hidden desperation moves" cannot be performed unless they are manually unlocked at the beginning of a round; to do this, press all four buttons and start as soon as the word "GO!" appears on screen.

The Last Blade

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

What's this? The first in a two-game series of weapons-based fighting games, developed and released by SNK in 1997; set in the Bakumatsu era with relatively stylish character designs, The Last Blade was positioned by SNK as a 2D substitute for Samurai Shodown, which had temporarily shifted to SNK's ill-fated Hyper Neo Geo 64 hardware.

Why should I care? You're looking for something a little simpler and far less grim than Samurai Shodown.

Useless fact: Rurouni Kenshin mangaka Nobuhiro Watsuki was a noted arcade fan who slipped several references to Samurai Shodown into his work, so SNK responded in kind by including many homages to the manga in The Last Blade... but seeing as Watsuki was recently arrested for possession of child pornography, they probably aren't going to lean too hard on that connection anymore.

OTHER

Johnny Turbo's Arcade: Gate of Doom

• Platform: Nintendo Switch (North America)
• Price: $7.99
• Publisher: Flying Tiger Entertainment

What's this? An isometric co-op hack-and-slash action game with a dark fantasy motif, originally released in arcades by Data East in 1990 and presented here as the inaugural release from Flying Tiger Entertainment's new line of arcade re-releases. (Don't fret about the promo screenshot, you don't have to play with the game stretched to fill the screen.)

Why should I care? You're curious to experience a turn-of-the-'90s Data East game that isn't a farcical pastiche of American pop culture. (Word of advice: don't pick the knight.)

Useless fact: For the unaware, Johnny Turbo is a long-dormant and long-forgotten mascot character designed to promote NEC's TurboDuo console in American game magazines; his likeness was apparently based on and owned by Flying Tiger Entertainment owner Jonathan Brandstetter, hence his unlikely re-emergence.

Samurai Aces

• Platform: Nintendo Switch (worldwide)
• Price: $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29
• Publisher: Zerodiv

What's this? The very first game by shooting stalwarts Psikyo, originally released to arcades in 1993 and ported to Switch by Zerodiv; this "sengoku fantasy" game set the template for future Psikyo games with a large cast of playable pilots, uncomplicated system and crazy-fast enemy bullets.

Why should I care? You've somehow managed to clear both Strikers games and Gunbird in the few weeks since they dropped and you're hungry for more.

Useless fact: Psikyo was formed by former members of Video System, developers of the Aero Fighters series; as such, Samurai Aces bears an extremely strong resemblance to the first Aero Fighters game, to the point where many outlets at the time declared it a shameless ripoff.

Secret of Mana (2018)

• Platform: Playstation 4, Playstation Vita, PC via Steam (worldwide)
• Price: $39.99 (PS4, PC) / $29.99 (Vita)
• Publisher: Square-Enix.

What's this? A full polygonal remake of Square's much beloved SNES action-RPG, now featuring true 360-degree movement, voice acting in English and Japanese, an optional arranged soundtrack, a new translation, a new UI with minimap/hotkeys and several other tweaks and refinements.

Why should I care? Perhaps it shouldn't, if Jeremy's opinion is anything to go by.

Helpful tip: Uh... the Romancing SaGa 2 remake eventually turned out okay, at least? (Is this helpful? I think it's helpful.)

Space Invaders Extreme

• Platform: PC via Steam (worldwide)
• Price: $19.99 (10% off until February 20)
• Publisher: Degica

What's this? A contemporary club-influenced reimagining of Space Invaders, originally released for DS in commemoration of Space Invaders' 30th anniversary, remixed for PSP and XBLA and now remastered for PC in commemoration of pace Invaders' 40th anniversary; this port includes high-definition visuals and audio, support for ultra-high resolutions, online leaderboards and a smattering of new content (but no multiplayer of any kind, it seems).

Why should I care? Space Invaders Extreme marries a simple-yet-deep scoring system with an engrossing audiovisual assault and retro pixel chic — it's pocket Rez, essentially, only, 'yknow, no longer in your pocket. If any retro revival has come close to topping Pac-Man Championship Edition, it's this one (and the sequel's even better).

Helpful tip: The PC port is derived from the original DS game, meaning the original music and audio synchronisation is intact, with none of the alternative music from the other versions or the Jeff Minter eye-candy from the X360 port; there's also some extra new music corresponding to the exclusive new "E" route.

SALES & MISCELLANEA

Make War Not Love 5 Sega strategy game promotion (feat Revenge of Shinobi and Streets of Rage 2)

• Platform: PC via Steam (worldwide)
• Price: free upon sign-up
• Publisher: Sega

Sega's annual PC strategy game love-in is back for a fifth year and while none of these games come anywhere near the definition of retro, signing up to participate will get you free copies of the definitely-retro and definitely-fantastic Mega Drive games Revenge of Shinobi and Streets of Rage 2, free forever with no obligations. 

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap retail release

• Platform: Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4 (North America)
• Price: $39.99
• Publisher: Nicalis 

For those of you who missed the Limited Run Games pressing, don't want to import an Asian-language disc or simply want a cart version for Nintendo Switch, Lizardcube's superlative remake of the minor Master System classic is now available at retail across America, and it comes with a few extra goodies including a cellphone strap, soundtrack sampler CD and a reversible sleeve featuring a photo of the model used to promote the Japanese Game Gear release.