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Japanese publisher Hamster Corporation has become known over the years for reviving classic video games and adding modern touches to each one. Its recent focus on Nintendo’s retro library for the Switch eShop has been well-received so far.

In an interview with Famitsu, Arcade Archives series’ Producer Satoshi Hamada revealed how Nintendo’s cooperation and shared philosophy made it happen:

I’ve always wanted to release a collection of famous Nintendo arcade titles via the ‘Arcade Archives’ series. With that wish and also Nintendo’s cooperation, we were finally able to make that a reality. When it was finally decided we would do it, I think I was more surprised than anyone.

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The ‘Arcade Archives’ series was established with the aim of looking back into the past and restoring classic arcade games. This is just my guess, but I think a common ethos is one reason we succeeded.

I think being allowed to port Nintendo’s titles [also] has a lot to do with a history we share… on the Wii U we released games on the Virtual Console.

Hamada went on to explain how generally the older the game is, the harder it is when trying to negotiate a deal and republish it. There are also often issues when the data has not been preserved:

In those cases we acquire the original circuit boards and work from there. But honestly there are also plenty of cases where we can’t acquire those circuit boards and so can’t republish the game at all.

Are you a fan of Hamster’s Arcade Archives series? Have you bought any of the Nintendo releases so far? Tell us below.

[source nintendoeverything.com]