Lroy

Just heard from a fellow member here that ZeroDiv's other recent release ZERO GUNNER 2 - has a welcome patch incoming. Great news.

On the wish list and will be bought soon. Really enjoyed STRIKERS 1945 and have bought all of the other ZeroDiv releases to date. Amazing to have so many arcade shooters on Switch within the first twelve months. I hope for plenty more as well as games representing other popular arcade genres in the months and years to come.

@darthstuey Yeah, I'm not strictly against mobile games coming over (give me PLANTS VS. ZOMBIES on the Switch and I'd be forever grateful) but I am surprised that Nintendo has given some of these mobile ports the greenlight. What benefit do Nintendo get from allowing cheap and low-quality product onto the eShop? There's plenty of classic arcade games and decent indies to attract consumers to download stuff as it is.

I'd like a pick up and play arcade style footie game for the Switch. As such I will wait to see reviews of this one but alas, initial impressions based only a screenshot mind aren't especially positive.

Hurry up Hamster and release SUPER SIDEKICKS 2 for Switch!!!

The much publicised narrative of Nintendo diligently curating the eShop and not just letting anything through ala the Apple App Store doesn't seem to gel with the proliferation of cheap games (albeit both in price and quality) clogging up the eShop.

Without wanting to generalise and admittedly this is merely my opinion. I think tat like this actually lessens the perception of quality I have for the Switch eShop. I'd rather have less but closer uniformity of quality across titles. Outside of that recent Earth Wars game for £4 which folk seem to like, are any of these sub £5 games any cop?

This game is terrific, very rewarding in terms of memorisation and navigation of the intricate levels. For those worried about the difficultly curve, that can be mitigated as desired using Hamster's usual settings or repeated use of the save data option (returning to title screen and 'reloading' the game upon dying). The score, oh man, just phenomenal. One of the best I've heard on the Neo-Geo. Anyone who ever enjoyed R-TYPE will get a lot out of PULSTAR. Really grateful to Hamster for affording me the opportunity to unearth this game and try it for myself.

@OorWullie Yeah. I did that. Cheers.

Yep, hopefully getting this day one funds permitting. Loved the last two Kirby games I completed (Epic Yarn and Rainbow Paintbrush). Also got Planet Robobot in the house to play (my son is playing it through first), that's three for three in terms of quality. Here's hoping Star Allies continues that trend.

@AWeirdGlacier I primarily use my mobile phone to peruse and comment on this site. Perhaps that's why I can't see any price listed? Either that or I am as blind as a bat 🦇

Actually, found the price by selecting overview from the menu at the top under the game title, publisher etc. £18 for this ouch 😉

I may be blind, do Nintendo Life include the price of games on their reviews? Might be worth considering in light of how significant a factor the price point is within this review. Imagine it could slot under territory or within brackets after the region etc.

Picked up ZERO GUNNER 2 - , the INVERSUS demo and actually SUPER MARIO BROS. VS as had been meaning to get that one since December. STRIKERS 1945 II will go on the wish list for a later date. Gives me an excuse to go back and put some more time into STRIKERS 1945 anyhow 👍

@meppi Thanks for the info. Cable length sounds longer than I expected which is a relief. I'd not be too keen to mod the stick myself in case I balls it up but I'd not completely rule it out if the benefits were there. Still not likely to get one just yet, hoping price goes to less than £100. Think it was £115 last time I checked and £150 at launch last year.

@sdelfin Sweet, sounds great.

@meppi Aware we've kind of derailed this thread but one more thing whilst I have your ear. Regarding the Hori arcade stick you have. I'm curious as to your set-up when using it. I read in a review it needs to be plugged into the dock itself for use? How long is the cable as I'd worry that would mean needing to sit far closer to the dock than would be ideal in terms of my living room set-up. I'd like to use the stick whilst sitting comfortably on the sofa rather than have to bring a chair into the middle of the room and hunch over (NES Mini style), lol!

@Shiryu I'm gonna be adding both the original Wild Guns and the Ninja Warriors sequel you've brought to my attention to my Snes library (via a modded Wii) in the near future. Would buy both on Switch in a heartbeat.

@meppi Thank you for such detailed and invaluable first hand experience with this game in its original and 'altered minus' state on Switch. Your comments and pointers have been nothing short of a public service for the community and I can't thank you enough for taking the trouble of clearing up a lot of the confusion surrounding this game. None of the written reviews I have read seem aware or qualified enough to go into this depth and are a lot less useful as guidance when considering to buy the game or not as a result.

With your technical breakdown and honest evaluation, I now feel far more informed about what I will be getting once I decide to hit 'buy' on the eShop.

Top man. Cheers 🍻

@meppi Ah I see, I'd forgotten Stern Pinball Arcade had a physical release. That's interesting to note then. If you have both the physical and digital versions of a game they appear as separate game icons, presumably separate save data too?

@Shiryu Are those Ninja Warriors clips from the Snes version of the game? I recall playing this on the arcade and Amiga but man. The graphics in the clips you have posted look incredible.

This is awesome news! Shot straight to the top of my most anticipated games for 2018 on Switch.

So what's coming on the horizon for Hamster and the Arcade Archive releases? I love to build up my anticipation by looking ahead. Does anyone know what is coming our way in the coming weeks and months?

Titles I know are coming next week and beyond are Samourai Shodown II and Baseball 2020. But other than that, no clue.

@HauntedNostril Ha! Ha!

@meppi Ha! Ha! I thought you must really like Stern Pinball Arcade as it is listed twice (?) in your most recently played activity log on Switch, lol! What happened there? Can you even have two copies of the same game installed? 😉

@meppi I've very briefly tried Puzzle De Pon via emulation but never spent any real time with it. Lovely to hear your story and your personal connection with the game. I have a same fondness for many arcade games and it is amazing to be able to play them via official releases on Switch. I've said it before, the arcade games for Switch are the system's 'killer app' for me.

Hooray for Hamster. I agree improvements with the general menu and border (game art would be nice) presentation could be made but nevertheless, I'm grateful for these arcade releases on Switch. Happy to hear they are proving financially successful for the company. Like implied above, I do have access to hundreds of arcade games (Neo-Geo or otherwise) via emulation on RetroPie but I prefer to have these games on the Switch and am happy to pay for them.

@meppi Thanks so much for the clarification buddy and man, that pic is awesome. I hadn't realised these games were MVS only and not brought to AES or Neo-Geo CD. Very impressive you got actual home carts made from the arcade versions. Dedication buddy!

@Mr_Horizon Issues or not, I think I'm likely to still go ahead and buy ZERO GUNNER 2 - (minus) and STRIKERS 1945 II to show support as I want more arcade games on Switch. However, I really hope ZeroDiv can look into fixing stuff with a patch.

Also on the note of STRIKERS 1945 II. That game was actually on the Neo-Geo hardware correct? So would that mean Hamster could still release a version of this game based off their MVS or AES release? Or was STRIKERS 1945 II also on different arcade hardware back in the day (I think the game was ported to other consoles other than Neo-Geo too)? Presumably then the ZeroDiv version may be a port of another home system release, I've heard people say the other ZeroDiv Switch releaseses such as GUNBIRD are in fact ports based on Sega Saturn, PS1 or Dreamcast versions and not the original arcade games? All gets a little confusing, lol!

@Mr_Horizon Thanks for linking - those were some of the disheartening comments I'd seen. Also via that stream of tweets I also saw that another user who can read Japanese had translated a quote from Zerodiv president on the company blog. Apparently they have been honest that they had to remake Zero Gunner 2 from scratch. So this is not emulation of the original game but a port made from the ground up. As such the game supposedly has significant differences from the arcade original and some of these are being cited as glitches or bugs. So perhaps some things can be forgiven in light of the fact this Zero Gunner 2 (Minus) is not claiming to be an exact emulation of the original?! That said, deaths from invisible bullets as reported by some does seem endemic of a broken game? Here's hoping the game gets a patch to fix such issues.

@meppi Ah thanks man. If you own the Dreamcast version (outside of playing the game on an actual arcade cabinet) then you're ideally placed to tell it there are issues present or not. Will look out for your impressions here buddy. If I don't cave and just buy the game anyhow. Ha! Ha!

Anyone know what other Neo-Geo games are coming down the pipe for February? There are still plenty of interesting and fun titles on the system yet be brought to the Switch.

2020 Baseball is coming after this one but no idea what's next after that. Anyone?

I really want to give this one a try and have been anticipating its release. However, the criticism of this remade version I've read in regards bugs and glitches is very discouraging. I am hoping some other users on here who do pick up the game Day 1 can confirm or refute that these glitches and bugs are in the UK version? The Japanese version has been cited as the one played by folk encountering errors but I can only assume that these problems with the game - if they exist - will also be present in the European and other region releases?

Echo sentiments raised above. Original on Wii U was fantastic. Definitely be buying the long awaited sequel on Switch.

Terrible. Switch rewards that are actually meaningful can't come soon enough. Surely someone working within Nintendo can devise a far superior package for its customers than My Nintendo?!!

@OorWullie I know a lot of people complain about the slowdown present in DOUBLE DRAGON but I actually feel there are games already released on Switch with far worse slowdown such as BLAZING STAR and of course the METAL SLUG games have severe instances of it. I can live with it in those games and I can put up with it in DOUBLE DRAGON. I agree it would be nice to be given the option to choose to play an optimised version of the game but to some degree DOUBLE DRAGON seems to get beaten with this tag when other similarly affected games get a pass.

For me, downloads don't come much more essential than the arcade authentic DOUBLE DRAGON. A 6, pah! This game is a true classic of its genre and one the most iconic arcade games of the 1980s. Its age may show in some areas but it remains right up there with the best side-scrolling beat'em ups ever made. So many fond memories of this game and was wonderful to play it again on my Switch.

Double Dragon for me, plus any Switch demos (I grab them all) and if these comments about OxenFree being reduced are correct. I'll def bite as that one has been on the wish list for a while. I did notice it had a been on sale for 5 dollars in the US store and was hoping we'd get offered the same in the U.K. eShop. Time to boot up Switch and see.

The hugely inflated price is the only predictable thing about Nintendo's latest innovation. I can see the 'magic' and appeal for trying this out with my children. However, I agree with what others have said raising concerns about the actual longevity of the software associated with the kits and the durability of the cardboard constructs themselves. If this was cheaper, £30-£40 I'd bite. At £70 I'm gonna need a lot of convincing from hands-on previews and reviews.

Gotta love Nintendo, utterly bonkers is what they do. Who else could justify selling us cardboard for £70 😂

Will keep an eye out on the UK eShop. Not one I have personally played but only heard good things.

@meppi I really need to treat myself to one of those arcade sticks. I even thought about getting one of those amusing little assembly kits that create a mini cabinet in which to house the Switch for that fun nostalgia factor, ha! ha!

Can I add you as a friend on the Switch buddy? (No worries if not, just like having other arcade game fans as Switch buddies and seeing what games they've invested time in via the activity log).

@meppi Best response possible. Man after my own heart. I'm really happy Neo Geo games are on Switch. Building my own little collection of these and other arcade titles on Switch is one the most enjoyable aspects of owning the system.

@MotionMan In what region has GUNBIRD been pulled off the eShop? Out of the arcade shumps currently on Switch that ranks as one of the most enjoyable. Crazy fun.

Sweet! The eShop comes alive again with Arcade goodness: Strikers 1945 II, Zero Gunner 2 and Double Dragon all inbound. There goes the pennies I'd already saved for Kirby Star Allies 😉

@OorWullie This is a really good point. If Nintendo don't offer meaningful Switch rewards on My Nintendo by March and people's gold coins begin to expire based on purchases made for Switch software - the company deserves to be given harsh criticism. I love Nintendo but My Nintendo has been truly terrible.

@Nincompoop All aboard the hype-train! Got my curiosity piqued 😉

@Moroboshi876 Cabinet borders on Hamster arcade releases like the NAMCO MUSEUM for Switch would be ace. 👏

@rjejr Agreed! The My Nintendo Switch rewards need to come by March otherwise that whole thing is beyond a total joke. My Nintendo has been one notch above an utter load of nothing since launch. With Switch rewards that include meaningful discount offers on a broad range of games, Nintendo can at least justify the existence of this service. Honestly, My Nintendo has been one of my biggest disapppontments with the company in recent years. Such a wasted opportunity to actually do something meaningful and rewarding for your customers.

@masterLEON I believe MAGICIAN LORD has been ever-present on the UK 🇬🇧 eShop. Perhaps grab it from there?

Hooray! Been really looking forward to this one. A perennial favourite of mine and will make my first game purchase of 2018 (going to try and practice more restraint on that front this year, KIRBY STAR ALLIES was earmarked as my first '2018 Buy' but can't resist my cherished DOUBLE DRAGON).
Hopefully, Hamster will also release the sequel later in 2018. As for other arcade beat 'em ups I'd like - the entire Capcom and Konami back catalogue would be ideal.

The alternative theory I'd heard folks muttering was that they released this patch as a new separate game in order to once again be featured prominently on the eShop store? 😉

Got ARMS at Christmas having simply not had the spare cash to buy it at launch sandwiched as it was between MK8 DELUXE and SPLATOON 2 (both of which I bought). Really pleasant surprise so far as my son and I are loving being able to play through the Grand Prix mode as a team. We are both using motion controls as we play for fun and are clearly still learning the game. Glad to read so many positive comments about the game and hope that means there is a community for us to enjoy the game with online despite us being late to the party.