Mini Review: Arcade Archives 2 TOKYO WARS (Switch 2) - Another Polished But Wafer Thin Hamster Port

I haven't picked this one up yet but I plan to, as I already have all the other 3D Namco titles. Aqua Jet's been my favorite so far, currently holding onto #1 on the leaderboard for expert difficulty.

After this they should add Rave Racer.

Do love these releases but i think they need to rethink their pricing. I got ridge racer, aqua jet and air combat but looking at what I pais Vs played I had fun but all 3 sit at "played for a little while" and I've spent over £40 collectively. I would like to give this a go but can't spend another £15 for like 30 mins of playtime. The previous £6.29 pricing was a lot more justifiable

@SlimeRyu I'm with you on the pricing, and hope for a bundle sometime down the line. However, your comment did get me thinking that it probably cost exactly $15 for 30 minutes when it was in the arcade! In the US it was easily $2 per play. Funny.

They could have made this really cool and had online multiplayer. It would take a lot more work, sure, but it would add a lot more value.

I can see the appeal of buying old games a la carte, but personally I’m a sucker for collections like the ones Capcom puts out. Feels like more of a value to get multiple games, especially when a lot of these older ones are barebones on content by today’s standards.

No haptic feed back? That’s almost a dealbreaker for me. I might put it on the “let’s see if the price goes down next year list.”

These are way too expensive.

(coming from someone whose first three lines of Switch game icons are various Arcade Archives )

Are Hamster sponsoring these reviews, strange to focus so much on old arcade roms, they are ridiculously over priced on Switch 2.

yes - pricing is a joke. within 2 hours I'd beaten all ridge racer had to offer. appalling value and so overpriced for a ROM dump

I'm waiting patiently for Outfoxies, the Smash Bros before Smash Bros. Mach Breakers, which used the same hardware, is already out on AA.

@HalfAWorldAway If I were sponsoring a review, I'd pay for more than a 6 lol

I think a lot of people here are interested in classic games, so I don't think this getting a mini review is really out of the ordinary. I feel like this recent batch of Arcade Archives is noteworthy since after all these years, Hamster has finally started doing 3D arcade games, so I'm sure people are interested in seeing how they hold up.

But I agree that they are over priced.

Far too expensive but would consider giving it a shot if it ever goes on sale half price because it looks like a a fun game.

I wouldn’t even pay £6.29 for the Neo Geo ports and those are games I love. I occasionally grab one whenever there is a rare discount on them.

I was one of the players who excitedly wrote Hamster asking for split-screen play on future titles, and I'm glad they implemented it. I'm less glad that it's only available on the latest-gen consoles. Doesn't it seem like they're shooting themselves in the foot, excluding their install base from a feature that's easily implementable?

I'd love to see them work with SEGA on getting all of those delicious games they have in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series out as proper releases. Daytona 2 (ahem, 'Sega Racing 2' would be very welcome!

One more thing about that replay value... the games they've released from Namco so far are ridiculously short on tracks, maps, etc. For later, more fleshed-out titles like Dirt Dash and Motocross Go, with multiplayer tacked on, I'd say $15-17 is a bit more fair. For the one track in Ridge Racer, it's preposterous.

I also agree with a lot of users here that playing games in a big pack adds a lot of novelty. Hopefully Hamster is aware of this and will start packaging the 3D entries together in due time... but I'm sure Bandai Namco has a say in that too. 🫤

Who buys these outside of people with hardcore nostalgia? Tbh its not that I don't think these arcade games look fun but you have to pay a lot of money for what can't be more than an hour of gameplay at most

Hamster is a small company and they do put work into ports mosf people won't buy so I think the price is fair

@MikeP for Ridge Racer it was ok remember it was the first textured 3D arcade racing game, and while having one track it has 2 two versions of it with 4 modes that work great for replay getting the best times, it's like Pacman which also only has one level/maze it's a classic but Tokyo Wars is bit of a hard sell, only two levels one mode this 1996, Ridge Racer was 1993.. not many even played it before and I think the lack of online multiplayer is it's biggest issue "considering it's designed to be played by groups of real players not ai bots" if M2 can add online multiplayer for Virtua Racing on Sega Ages Switch 1 then what was stopping hamster? It worries me for stuff like Rave Racer or Ridge Racer 2...has the same track and such as one, the reason it exists is to add multiplayer... Split screen isn't ideal and sucks you need a Switch 2 or PS5 to even do that...come on Hamster stop over charging people or start putting actual effort into these releases*another small thing would be nice if they included some history about the games your buying like Namco Museum used to do or like Atari 50 is doing*

It's very expensive for what it is and I think I'm done with System 22 games up to this point.

@Willo567 Nah it ain't it's just putting a rom into a emulator and just quickly explaining how to play it, no extras like the history behind the game like a flyer or a blurb explaining how the game was released, Mame did this for free since the 2010s or for a game like this online multiplayer *M2 did it for Virtua Racing and even Super Street Fighter 2 on Mega Drive for Wii's VC https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2011/11/japan_gets_super_street_fighter_ii_with_online_play_on_vc * as much I want to play this I can't justify the price when I could just play it on Mame for free.

@rushiosan Might of been better if they picked something like Dirt Dash or Rave Racer which offers more tracks and cars, and modes too again this could of been worth it if it has online multiplayer since it's meant to be played as a group of players not a sole game.

@SamSt565 Actually, that's a valid question, and you got me to thinking about why I'm such a dyed-in-the-wool nostalgic. The fact that "they don't make games like they used to" isn't a bad thing. But when I think about the last deathmatch games I really enjoyed being TimeSplitters Future Perfect and Star Wars Battlefront II (the first Battlefront II, mind), a light snack of a game like Tokyo Wars suddenly seems more appealing than a bunch of COD wannabes that use every damn button on a modern controller including L3 and R3. An obsessive learning curve is a dealbreaker for me, and older action games-- especially arcade games-- manage to avoid that.

Still not jumping out of my seat to buy Tokyo Wars. There are better games for 17 bucks.

@SamSt565 It depends on the game but the replayability comes from the high score modes. Many arcade games were built around score chasing, so there can be a lot of fun to be had. I have over 100 Arcade Archives games and feel like I've got my money's worth out of most of them.

While I’m glad Hamster is putting out more recent arcade games, $17 is just too much to ask. Even the Switch 1 version at $15. I’ll wait for a sale like I always do as rare as Hamster sales are. But I continue to applaud what Hamster is doing from Day 1. Outside of emulation, there’s really no way to play many of these games anymore! Keep em coming Hamster!

Battletanx my beloved....

@OorWullie thats good to hear you feel like you got a good value, I see it does depend on the specific player and really price doesn't matter as long as you're having fun but still I feel like I'd be more willing to try these classics out if it was a lil more affordable

Reviews like this make it apparent who grew up with and enjoyed the 90's arcade era and who didn't. Seems like some people simply don't understand the appeal and nature of classic arcade games. They were never meant to be games for you to sit down and play for hours on end, the appeal was always how quickly you could start playing them and how fun they were for a quick gaming session. The focus with most 90's arcade games was offering a variety of different experiences, like driving a tank, shooting guns, racing vehicles, playing sports, ect.

@joey302 Discounts seem to come from the IP owners. I’ve seen Namco and Taito games discounted. One time, some of the Nintendo titles. Like you said, though, many never get discounted.

I typically would like a collection too as some have said, but I enjoy the ACA experience. They do their premiere the day before, which is cool, and then the game releases. There's even a stream after the release each week (but I don't watch those). To me, it's a whole thing; I like the spotlighting of one game at a time.

More on topic, I think it's interesting how tank games had a moment in the 90s. In the midst of all the grungy futuristic stuff, we got that.

@DwaynesGames yup Taito & Namco games go on sale most frequently. Just about grabbed them all by now lol. But they do need to shake it up a little more with other IP owners.

Is this the same people from the same site who throw money at Nintendo and justify all of their pricing?

@JohnnyMind I’ve only seen the Nintendo ones once on sale and I regret not buying every one including urban champion.

I do think the Arcade Archives 2 games are way overpriced, but I’m a sucker for them and bought this one day one. It’s shallow as heck but very satisfying to play for a half hour at a time.

@topsekret i am not talking about this game in particular, just the focus on arcade archives since the release of the switch 2, whilst i am glad these titles are being made available, they are way overpriced, and thats where the lack of push back from NL is apparent.