My Arcade Archives Wishlist

Hamster is a wonderful company! They are in the business of bringing games to the Switch, and other systems, games that I not only saw in the arcades, but also in the corner of any gas station or some grocery stores. I have such fond memories of a lot of games, and not only is it Hamster, but Johnny Turbo and, to a small degree, Sega, are bringing back the classics at a reasonable price. But here is a list of games I'd love to see.

Keep in mind that some of these games will be gotten to, as two games I was originally going to list, Double Dragon II: The Revenge and Donkey Kong Jr., are now available.

Anyone who's grown up in the arcades and bowling alleys in the early 80s should know this one. Kangaroo had you as a mama kangaroo who has to rescue her joey from a horde of monkeys that thought kidnapping a baby kangaroo might be fun. It was a cornerstone of the Atari systems, but it didn't get much further. Atari published the game in the States, but Sunsoft programmed it. Since Hamster focuses on Japanese releases, this one might have a chance.

Taito released this Conan-wannabe back in the late 80s. When I first saw Rastan at a gas station during a trip, I was enthralled, and it was on my mind through the entire camping weekend I was on. This hack and slash platformer was quite legendary for its time, and it left a lasting impression on me. Rastan is available on a couple of Taito compilations, but here's hoping Hamster can get the rights from Square Enix, as they bought Taito out years ago.

Aside from Frogger, there's no better game to play on a date than Bubble Bobble. This cute game featuring dinosaurs that spit bubbles at their enemies has made more women swoon than Frank Sinatra. Again, this was a Taito entry, but if Arcade Archives has Puzzle Bobble, Bubble Bobble shouldn't be far behind.

Another Taito entry, though I think this one was outsourced, Pyros starred a wizard named Dover that was a pyromancer. While on a walk, an evil wizard tricks Dover and his girlfriend to follow him into a dark forest where the girl is changed into a crystal ball, and Dover has to rescue her from Wardner. It may look like a cutesy platformer, but the monsters that Dover has to fling his fire at are downright scary. It did get a Genesis port, but it slipped past my radar. It's my hope that Hamster delivers this underrated classic.

I'm sure this one is on its way, as Hamster entered into a deal with Nintendo to release their arcade classics, from the earlier games like Donkey Kong and Punch-Out!!, to the VS Series games like Excitebike and VS Super Mario Bros, and even obscure games like Sky Skipper. That being said, Donkey Kong 3 gets a bad rap for being more Galaga than Donkey Kong, hence the reason Mario was replaced by Stanley the Bugman, but still, it's got its own charm, like the way Stanley dances when he defeats Donkey Kong in one level, to Donkey Kong's expression when the empty beehives fall to the ground, and it even had the best player death sequence for its time. There's a better chance we'll get this one than our last entry...

It's almost guaranteed we won't see this one, as it requires some licensing. But Nintendo's Popeye arcade game was a brilliant game. Popeye had to run around the board, collecting everything Olive throws down to him, while dealing with Bluto, who wanders the screen, Seahag, who throws bottles and skulls, and Bernard, who swoops down at Popeye. Popeye's power up is, of course, a can of spinach. Nintendo let the license lapse, leading other companies to make Popeye games, and not as good as Nintendo's game.

Popeye almost came earlier, but Nintendo couldn't get the license in time, so Shigeru Miyamoto made the game, replacing Popeye with a carpenter, Bluto with a gorilla, and Olive with a generic lady, and named it... get ready... Donkey Kong! It was better this way, as if Popeye was made instead, there'd be no Mario, no Donkey Kong, and quite possibly, no Nintendo.

Let me know what you think of this list... @NFalkner77 on Twitter.

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