Taito’s Rastan never reached great heights in the barbarian-crowded zeitgeist of the 1980s. Few remember that his first game received a sequel in Rastan Saga II, and even fewer (myself included) are aware that the Rastan series received a third installment in the early 90s. More than three decades later, publisher Hamster has finally brought Warrior Blade: Rastan Saga III
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Get your head out of the gutter, ya’ dink! In an example of remarkably good timing following Mike Tyson/Jake Paul fight last week, publisher Hamster has announced that Final Blow is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in arcades by Taito in 1989 and later ported to the Amiga,
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“More hateful still the miscreant who seeks, when caught, to make a virtue of a crime.” –Sophocles Publisher Hamster has announced that 2D action game Crime City is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in arcades by Taito in 1989, this is the first time that Crime City is
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I find it hard to believe that nobody could come up with a more interesting title for this game. Publisher Hamster has announced that The Ninja Kids is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally published in arcades by Taito in 1990, this is the first time that The Ninja Kids
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Don’t get too excited. It’s not that kind of football. It’s soccer-football. Publisher Hamster has announced that Football Champ is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in Japanese arcades by Taito in 1990, Football Champ was later ported to the Super Famicom and Amiga. M International versions of the
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It is with great pleasure that I present this review of Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III for the PlayStation 4!* You may be asking yourself, “Why would you care so much about reviewing a rerelease of some obscure TurboGrafx-16 (TG16) game that only five people have ever heard of?” You see, I am one of those five people, as I actually
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Publisher Hamster has announced that Rastan Saga II (aka Nastar Warrior) is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in Japanese arcades by Taito in 1988 and later ported to the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive and the PC Engine, this is the first official release of an arcade-perfect version of Rastan
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Conan He-Man Kull Rastan Publisher Hamster has announced that Rastan Saga is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in arcades by Taito in 1987 and later ported to the SEGA Master System, Commodore 64, Apple II and Amstrad CPC, Rastan Saga (aka Rastan) is a Conan-inspired action game with
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It’s German for “to be nursed by wolves.” Germans are friggin’ weird, man…” Publisher Hamster has announced that Volfied (ヴォルフィード) is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in Japanese arcades by Taito in 1989 and later ported to multiple platforms including the SEGA Genesis, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and
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Become a true master of weapon… not grammar. Publisher Hamster has announced that Master of Weapon is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in Japanese arcades by Taito in 1989 and later ported to the SEGA Mega Drive (Genesis) in Japan, this is the first time that Master of
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“I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come:
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If you were busy with Christmas holiday comings and goings last week (like we were), you may have missed that Hamster has released Solitary Fighter on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in Japanese arcades by Taito in 1991 Solitary Fighter the first one-on-one fighter where you can kick a bear in
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“…and that’s where the attack comes… not from the front… from the sides.” Publisher Hamster has announced that Dino Rex is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in Japanese arcades by Taito in 1992, this is the first time that Dino Rex is seeing an official release in the
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“Yes, the space fish one.” Publisher Hamster has announced that Darius II is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in arcades by Taito in 1989, Darius II received ports to several platforms since. This arcade-perfect version for PS4 and Switch keeps the original, wide aspect ratio intact, which is
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Ala-Cadash! Publisher Hamster has announced that Cadash is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in Japanese arcades by Taito in 1989 and later ported to the SEGA Genesis and TurboGrafx-16, Cadash is a side-scrolling action RPG set in a fantasy world. Players choose from one of four heroes (knight,
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The guy in the purple hat is about to have a splitting headache. Publisher Hamster has announced that Growl is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in arcades by Taito in 1990, this is the first time that Growl (aka Runark) is commercially available as an arcade-perfect home release
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No bubbles. No bobbles. Just umbrellas On Thursday, publisher ININ Games announced that Taito’s retro platformer Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III is coming to PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch and Xbox in late 2023. Originally released in 1991 for TurboGrafx-16 (PC Engine) and home computers, Parasol Stars is one of the lesser known installments of the Bubble Bobble
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Publisher ININ Games recently announced that both Ray’z Arcade Chronology and RayStorm x RayCrisis HD Collection will be coming to both Nintendo Switch and PS4 on 30 June. Both anthologies feature multiple titles from the classic RayStorm arcade space shooter series, and all of the games in each collection are being developed by M2 in cooperation with Taito (the original
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Publisher Hamster has announced that MEGABLAST is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in arcades by Taito in 1989, this is the first time that MEGABLAST has been commercially available on a home console. Set at the end of the 21st century, MEGABLAST is a horizontally scrolling space shooter
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How many Bubble Bobble fans do we have in the reading audience today? Alrighty then, so how many Puzzle Bobble fans are there? (*cough!* Bust-A-Move for us old-schoolers *cough!*) I feel like it’s been a long time since I played a Puzzle Bobble game. Let’s see… I think I had a demo for the Bust-A-Move Live… Sorry… Old habits die hard… PUZZLE BOBBLE Live back on the Xbox 360, and that came
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ININ Games recently announced some new details for Puzzle Bobble Everybubble!, the upcoming competitive puzzle game and latest installment in the Puzzle Bobble/Bust-A-Move series. These new features come in the form of “EXtra Difficult” EX stages and a “Memory Album” where players can unlock and collect a number of bonuses including character costumes, stage music, and more. For those unfamiliar
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Publisher Hamster has announced that Bonze Adventure is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released by Taito in 1988 for arcades, Bonze Adventure (地獄めぐり) is a 2D arcade action platformer somewhat in the vein of Ghouls ‘N Ghosts. Here’s the quick story synopsis from Hamster: Enma, king of the underworld,
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“Ain’t no trees in Botswana. Nuh-uh. I know. I’m a Botswanian lumberjack and I ain’t never had a job.” Publisher Hamster has announced that Don Doku Don is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in Japanese arcades by Taito in 1989 and later ported to the Nintendo Famicom and
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Undoubtedly in celebration of “Metal Black History Month”, City Connection has announced that Metal Black S-Tribute is now available on Xbone and Steam. This version of Metal Black is based on the SEGA Saturn version of the game. An arcade port of Metal Black is already available for the PS4 and Nintendo Switch via Hamster’s Arcade Archives series. This S-Tribute
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“Who likes to rock the party?” Publisher Hamster has announced that The NewZealand Story (aka The New Zealand Story) is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in arcades by Taito in 1988, The New Zealand Story is a 2D action game where players take control of Tiki, the chief
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Publisher Hamster has announced that Metal Black (or Tokidensho Angel Eyes) is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in arcades by Taito in 1991, Metal Black is a 2D, horizontal space shooter – or a “shmup”, as you young whippersnappers call it. The game received a SEGA Saturn port
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This week at the Tokyo Game Show, publisher Microids announced that a revival of the classic arcade game Operation Wolf is coming soon to both PC and consoles. Originally released in 1987 by Taito, Operation Wolf is an arcade game shooter complete with a gun (an uzi, if I remember right) mounted to the cabinet. The 80s were awesome. You
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Publisher Hamster has announced that Champion Wrestler is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in arcades by Taito in 1989, Champion Wrestler is a one or two player game that puts players in the boots of a professional wrestler. You can choose from eight different wrestlers, each with their
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Publisher Hamster has announced that vertical shooter Gun & Frontier is now available on Nintendo Switch and PS4 as part of the digital Arcade Archives series. Originally released in arcades by Taito in 1990, Gun & Frontier puts one or two players behind the stick of the Desperado, “earth’s latest fighter plane.” Your mission: strike and destroy the vicious cabal
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Welcome back to 80s August, The Splintering’s month-long celebration of the greatest decade since the chicken laid the first egg… or, wait… Today we’re going to look at Chack’ N Pop, an arcade puzzle platformer released by Taito in 1983. A horde of monsters has stolen all of Mr. and Mrs. Pac-Man Chack’n’s hearts, so now they don’t love each other, or something
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The Splintering 