Hero image: Arcade Archives 2 Xevious 3D/G trailer. Image: HAMSTER Corporation, via YouTube
Hamster has two releases dated 24 September, and I would say they are about as different as a pair of old games can be – one is Namco’s 1996 attempt to drag Xevious into polygons, and the other is Data East’s 1986 Karate Champ in its 8-bit home console form, which is a strange double bill however you look at it. It could also be the most Hamster week imaginable. Xevious 3D/G arrives as an Arcade Archives 2 release on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch 2, and Hamster’s own description sells it as the classic “reborn in polygons”, with everything rendered in 3D, new weapons and enemies, and seven areas to clear, including (and I do love this detail) “the desert with the geoglyph and the space fortress”.
The part that I think matters most for anyone who cares about this stuff is which version it is. VGC points out the System 11 board shared enough with the original PlayStation that the game got a PS1 port in 1997, but this is the first time the actual arcade version has been made available on home systems. That is the whole reason the Arcade Archives line exists as far as I can tell. The Arcade Archives 2 treatment also adds a Time Attack Mode on top of the usual Original, Hi Score and Caravan modes, plus VRR support. Hamster pitches that as getting closer to the original arcade experience ( and I will admit I am curious how much that shows on a shooter this busy, ) though I’d want to see it running before saying more than that.
Karate Champ is the smaller of the two, a Console Archives release on PS5 and Switch 2, and the honest caveat is right there on Hamster’s page – the game includes only the English version, with all in-game text in English, while the menu and manual cover more languages. It’s a simple one, you fight using combinations of moves and big moves earn you big points, and the Console Archives wrapper adds button remapping, rapid-fire, multiple save points and CRT-style filters, which is really what you are paying for with these. Gematsu lists US$16.99 for Xevious 3D/G and US$7.99 for Karate Champ. I couldn’t find a confirmed Australian price on the stores yet, so check your platform’s store before you commit.
Source: HAMSTER – Arcade Archives 2 Xevious 3D/G, HAMSTER – Console Archives Karate Champ, Gematsu – Xevious 3D/G release, Gematsu – Karate Champ release, VGC – System 11 and the PS1 port