Hamster Adds Another Namco Title To Arcade Archives On Nintendo Switch

I played Libble Rabble earlier this year and liked it alot. The scoring system is a bit odd, but the game is so bright and cheery. The controls are funky, involve ambidexterity, but can definitely be mastered. Also, the theme is a hit. Might end up getting it for Switch. With the split Joy Cons, it can make for a good Co-Op game too.

@Juga I don't think Hamster realizes that arcade games were ever developed outside of Japan, so I wouldn't hold your breath for that Atari Games classic to appear (Or for them to license anything from Warner Interactive or Atari SA).

Any opinions out there on that Black Heart shooter?

I'm interested in playing this, mainly because Toru Iwatani once said that this is his favorite video game, even more than Pac-Man.

@NinChocolate

Fun, slightly janky but fun

@Atariboy I believe Warner owns about every single non-Japanese released arcade game, including Marble Madness and those originally published by Atari Games.

@Sinton Much of America's arcade heritage is controlled by them (The Williams, Bally, Leland, Midway, and Atari Games videogame library). But there's quite a few exceptions, with the most notable being the Atari Inc library.

That went with Atari Corp when Jack Tramiel bought the home console and computer business in 1984 and is today controlled by Atari SA, the publisher of Atari Flashback Classics on the Nintendo Switch. They no longer own Battlezone (They sold it off to Rebellion a few years back), but the rest of the pre split arcade library like Asteroids and Tempest is owned by them.

Some other notable American names from classic era arcade gaming that spring to mind that haven't fallen under today's Warner Interactive umbrella are Cinematronics and Exidy.

Libble Rabble goes on the wishlist, because I'm a sucker for Japan-only releases.

I love a retro arcade game, and love all things Namco, but this one is not easy on the eye! I find the colours really off putting. That shooter is no looker either. I'm also rarely a fan of shmups with massive player ships/characters, so not sure it's one for me. Might end up trying Libble Rabble one day though because...well it's Namco, isn't it?

@Atariboy Yeah, the non-Atari Games arcade games are available through the Atari Flashback Classics, with Battlezone being one of the few exceptions (not sure who owns the rights to the licensed games, such as Star Wars and Tetris, but we'll probably never see those again anyway).

The Cinematronics games are also available on Switch already, through the Dragon Lair's Trilogy.

It would be interesting to see Exidy games getting the Hamster treatment, though!

@SpringDivorce good to hear it’s a fun one

“Players pilot a plane and take on enemy squadrons.” Planes? The screenshots look like creatures..

I hate to be the one to tell Hamster, but that’s not a plane.

@Sinton Cinematronics did a lot more than those laserdiscs games. Classics like Rip Off and Tail Gunner to name two of the bigger ones.

Oh man, Libble Rabble! Toru Iwatani's second game after PacMan! He wouldn't design anything for a little over 2 decades when he designed PacMan Championship Edition! If people don't quite get what's going on in the picture, it's a little bit like Qix, but you steer two arrows that are connected together with a rope, and you move them around wooden posts to then capture the enemy monsters inside. There are invisible treasure chests in each level where if you capture them too with the monsters you get bonus points. I remember hearing about this game but in the nineties when Nintendo Magazine System wrote an import review for the Super Famicom port of the game that came with a piece of plastic that you put over the face buttons to turn them into another dpad.

I just downloaded it. Cute game, but the controls are definitely going to take time to get used to.

@Atariboy I've never heard of those before, but looking at the list of released games on Game Spot's GameFAQs, I see they also released Star Castle which I know of (though I've never tried it).

It's strange how all these games aren't readily available to paying customers: the games themselves have already been made! Fix it now and you can keep selling it for the next 50 years instead of letting it rot on a harddisc.