HAMSTER Corporation, purveyors of the weekly Arcade Archives series and the slightly more irregular Console Archives, have added another publisher’s works to their catalogue.
Warashi Inc’s games will not only be coming to Arcade Archives and Console Archives, but can potentially gain outside releases through licensing. This means collections from other retro-focused publishers may be on the cards. One game not included in the deal, however, is the shooter Triggerheart Exelica which falls under the Cosmo Machina umbrella.
Warashi Inc. was established in 1995 and was active until the early noughties, developing titles for the Japanese market on formats such as the PS1, Saturn, and Nintendo handhelds. A few games did make it to Europe as budget releases, including the PS2 shooter Steel Dragon EX and the DS’ Beetle King.
The first game from the publisher’s back catalogue is due out tomorrow (28th May) on Switch 2 and PS5, being the PS1 shoot’em up Geki-Oh ShienRyu, aka Gekioh: Shooting King.
This week’s Arcade Archives release is also notable, as it’s another 3D Namco game: 1994’s Ace Driver, a beefier alternative to SEGA’s Virtua Racing. It’s coming to all formats. That’s not all, as the previously released 1989 shooter Tatakae! Big Fighter – which gives control of a robot that can change into a jet – is coming to PS5, Xbox Series and Switch 2 as an Arcade Archives 2 release. Owners of the PS4/Switch versions can gain a discounted upgrade.