Hiroshi Iuchi's statement re: Ubusuna https://www.vgmaterials.com/ 🇯🇵 the tldr is that Ubusuna's not dead (despite the impression that might've been given by M2's statement): Iuchi owns the game system, which they're confident holds up, & several collaborators are rallying to not only finish it...

Double Dragon Revive got a ver1.5 patch, adding a guard counter mechanic, various system changes, a ton of boss/stage tweaks etc https://www.arcsystemworks.jp/portal/post-31294/ 🇯🇵what's curious is Yukes is no longer working on it, they've handed it off to Unite Plus (fka A Plus, longtime Kunio devs)

NSO's first tate-compatible games, right on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p24Lbz7Nckg

new trailers for these, with full game reveals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQushfdp0HI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSVREsAwWuM the publisher locked the website but it's also coming to PS5 & Switch, including physicals (in Japan, anyway) https://jaleco-ac.com/v1/

oh neat, someone reverse-engineered the password system from the original arcade version of Mushihimesama in order to recreate a version of the old online leaderboards (now with the ability include screenshots, replay links, etc) https://mushihimesama.cavedb.com/

Yuukyuu Gensoukyoku 2nd Album Revival's dated, it'll be out March 18; the SE includes a remaster of the second fan disc https://www.taito.co.jp/mob/topics/47315 🇯🇵 Taito's back on their promo bullshit, too: a port of the OG '98 ver of 2nd Album is exclusive to Amazon orders placed between July 10~13

Konami just released “Ganbare Goemon Dai Shugo” collection as part of the series’ 40th anniversary! www.konami.com/games/goemon/ … Out of unbelievable fortune, I did the main menu & credits music. Gotta say, as a Fil-Am, repping the most quintessentially Japanese game series is quite the honor🌸🎌🪈🥭

ahead of the Japanese reissue of Parasol Stars, Famitsu spoke to some of the original devs https://www.famitsu.com/article/202607/80192 🇯🇵 more accurately, Taito had them translate an interview they did for Retro Gamer a few years ago... is this a first?

new Dodonpachi Resurrection Reignite trailer, with more of a glimpse at the new stage (which looks like it's recycling an Ibara background... teaser, narrative gimmick or simple asset reuse?)

huh, Aksys picked up Pixel's Bounty Sisters for intl release https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qirh3tZjhoE the tl;dr is that this was borne from the ashes of an undelivered crowdfunded game helmed by an ex-Konami guy who scammed the devs, & a bunch of other ex-Konami folks pitched in out of solidarity

another, shorter Goemon Daishuugo interview https://www.gamespark.jp/article/2026/07/03/168790.html don't have time to go over this one (& it's largely similar to other interviews) but Ueno does mention feeling bad whenever he posts on SNS & intl folk show up asking for a global release

out now on Switch: the fine-motor-control game Heavy Machinery vs. Shumai, originally made for the '14 Ahoge Game Jam & best-remembered for its con exhibitions which let ppl play with full-scale, excavator-style dual levers https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/heavy-machinery-vs-shumai-switch/

from last night's Arcade Archivers stream: creator Kazutoshi Ueda solved the mystery behind the big ol dinosaur buried in Lady Bug's ROM—he was geared up to make a game called Dinosaur next & intended to include a stinger/ad in Lady Bug's ending, but that project ultimately didn't come together

following the sudden upload of songs from the infamously awful PS RPG Ancient Roman to streaming services, composer Tatsuya Matsumoto has formally launched One Note Records & published an interview explaining the dev circumstances, its current life as meme material & more https://onenoterec.com/ 🇯🇵

born into greatness

And finally, last week we featured a delightful Treasure Hunter G interview from 1996! The discussion covers the core concept, character design, the 3D modeling process, and the music. shmuplations.com/treasurehunt...

Next up, we translated a rare interview for the Sega Saturn cult classic Shinrei Jusatsushi Taromaru. It turns out Hiroshi Iuchi from Treasure had a much larger role than the staff credits suggest. shmuplations.com/taromaru/

This Earthbound interview from 1994 with writer-developers Shigesato Itoi and Hajime Kimura (Metal Max) looks at questions of perspective, immersion, and what it means to be a game designer. shmuplations.com/earthbound/

thinking about the weirdest (& final, iirc) PS Archives release: 2019's Hydlide Special, ported from FC what's weird about it is that it was never available standalone on PS—it was semi-hidden inside a romance RPG called Sonata, & the Archives release dummies out the entirety of the actual game

I figure anyone who cares about the Goemon comp already knows this but ya never know, so: Good-Feel, the studio behind the HD Yoshi games, is essentially the classic Goemon devs gone independent, and they made their own 3D successor game titled BAKERU which was loc'd for Switch+PC last year

off the top, I wanna say these are the leftovers: the OG arcade game GB Mononoke N64 games x3 PS games x2 GBA Oedo Daikaiten DS (forget the subtitle) plus the reboot/alt-universe games which were PS/GBA/PS2, but idk that there's much demand for any one of em, except from Vic Irelend

the Steam & JP Switch 2 pages are up for Cotton Rock With You, the brand-new sequel to Cotton Rock'n'Roll, out August 6 in Japan (PS5 too) https://store-jp.nintendo.com/item/software/D70010000112653 🇯🇵 this one hit arcades via APM3 a few months back, so there's plenty of full-run footage out there

one last surprise: Ganbare Goemon Daishuugo!, the M2-dev'd Ganbare Goemon (Legend of the Mystical Ninja) comp released for Switch/PS5/PC today in Japan, contains an extra bonus game: Crisis Force, the first-ever reissue of Konami's late-era Famicom STG, is hidden somewhere behind a certain code...

Gambler Jiko Chuushinha's returning to (non-mini) consoles for the first time in almost 30yrs: Gambler Jiko Chuushinha: Drump Teikoku wo Wakaresero!, out on Switch this fall, digital-only 🇯🇵 it's being co-dev'd by Game Arts co-founder Yoichi Miyaji—GA made all the classic & best-received Jiko games

coming to Switch 1+2 on October 8: Boku to Tsuri Nikki, an Imagineer-published slow-life fishing game with a Japanese folklore setting https://bokutotsurinikki.imgs.jp/ 🇯🇵 it's being dev'd by Bokujou Monogatari creator Yasuhiro Wada's studio Toybox, whose most relevant recent work was on Natsu-Mon!

coming to Switch on July 30: Dungeon Antiqua, a port of a commercial retro RPG borne from the free game FINARDRY, which very literally married classic Wizardry mechanics to Famicom-era Final Fantasy aesthetic https://store-jp.nintendo.com/item/software/D70010000124036 🇯🇵(includes EN loc)

another more console-leaning addition to EGG Console next week: Hydefos (MSX2), a 1989 hori STG by Psycho World devs Hertz that—on a technical level, at least—rivals Konami's own MSX productions it was also the debut of composer Keishi Yonao (Mad Stalker, Asuka 120%, Strania & many more)

every time Sony shuts down a digital store I get ask for a last-minute shopping list and I gotta tell ya, it's real short: just steal that shit, all of it—those old stores were virtually non-functional while they were current and under no circumstances should you waste time trying to wrangle em now

this week's Console Archives title: Sunsoft's goofy melee-heavy Resident Evil-like, T.R.A.G. - Mission of Mercy (Hard Edge), originally released for Playstation in '98 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=731x_XCwvHc and yes, they're actually offering the EN version outside of Japan for a change

another Universal game on Arcade Archives this week: the 1981 maze game Lady Bug, best known by many by its Colecovision port https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BL2WCuHWyMU

a delightful tidbit from this JP survey of 400+ creative/marketing folk: ~60% are using a|, and 70%+ of those people are not disclosing it ¯\________(ツ)________/¯https://gamebiz.jp/news/428698 🇯🇵

the online patch dropped a few days ago: ranked + room matches, crossplay, balance changes etc https://store-jp.nintendo.com/item/software/D70010000113699 🇯🇵 look forward to 95% bot matches again, the PC version's geolocked & both versions are JP-language-only

most of the first-round selections have been published, congrats to upstart indies Koei-Tecmo, Sanrio, Sega, Bandai-Namco, Square-Enix, Konami, Arcsys, Game8, etc etc https://www.meti.go.jp/policy/mono_info_service/contents/2026/saitaku/list.html 🇯🇵

idly checked for news on that Tumblepop remake and I see CRT Games has quietly announced yet another remake: B-WINGS MARK II, a remake of Data East's 1984 arcade STG B-Wings that'll include the arcade original + Famicom port https://crtgames.co.kr/ 🇰🇷

Dokapon 3-2-1 Super Collection's out now on PC (and again, it's not loc'd & doesn't have netplay beyond remote play) https://store.steampowered.com/app/4217740/DOKAPON_321_Super_Collection/

Dengeki spoke to Konami's Ryosuke Ueno & M2's Naoki Horii, "Senor" Kawakita & Takaaki Hashimoto on the Ganbare Goemon 40th Daishuugo!! collection (PS5/Switch/PC), out this week 🇯🇵 one tidbit: most of the hype was for the SFC-era games, so Horii consciously wanted younger ppl heading up production

Entergram announced they're remaking the hit Saturn-era romance sim Sentimental Graffiti in addition to 16:9 overhaul, system/UI tweaks, touched-up visuals etc, they're also redoing the open-audition casting gimmick for 6 of the 12 heroines https://www.entergram.co.jp/2026-cv.html 🇯🇵

thoughts: Cave just took Reignite, try again to rebalance AOF3 &/or to "fix" the roster is to miss the point do yall trust a studio already caught abusing a| to ethically manufacture new sprites? (esp. ones meant to fit next to rotoscoped weirdos?) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ-PIR5_wvE

R-Type Dimensions III patch # 2's out on PC (scroll to bottom)—lotta tweaks to port accuracy, on top of many more technical fixes https://iningames.com/blogs/news/r-type-dimensions-iii-statement-from-inin-games

from last night's ACA stream: Hamster mentioned that Tekken's exclusive for ACA2 for technical reasons, and that future System 11 releases will also be exclusive to ACA2 in general terms, they intend to keep releasing ACA versions for PS4+Switch for as long as possible, but it's inevitable...

they finally announced the winners for this contest last night https://youtu.be/Uw4imdYD9ZY?t=11833 (from 3:17:30) no actual prizes nor any way for other people to play them, it's all for funsies

another year, another "our elderly president won a national judo tournament" Steam sale from Success https://www.success-corp.co.jp/sale/20260626/ dude's 77yo, for those keeping count

PSA for anyone on a Star Fox kick atm: the series' OG character designer & steward Takaya Imamura recently wrote, drew & directed a retro sci-fi adventure game called OMEGA 6 (PC+Switch), & it's currently extremely cheap https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/omega-6-the-triangle-stars-switch/

tonight's Zuntata stream (19:00 Japan time) is Master System-themed, with guest appearances from Sega's Yosuke Okunari & M2's Naoki Horii they're promoting it as promo for the upcoming Rainbow Islands CS comp but ofc ppl are speculating about Master System Mini announcements or whatever else

Rushing Beat X has been updated to add a (free, local-only) versus mode: six arenas, same seven player-characters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-Nw5Qk6er0 you'd think they might've prioritised a standard solo mode that isn't nineteen hours long, but who am I to question their judgment

next week is now https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/eggconsole-first-queen-iv-pc-9801-switch/

idle question for anyone paying more attention than none at all to the Starfox 64 remake: has anyone involved shared anything about who ran point on the rewrite, the loc process, etc? the tone of the JP version makes me think it might've been a rewrite of the EN script a la Metroid Prime 4

out today—there's a demo with save transfer, too, but only for the Kuwagata version https://store-jp.nintendo.com/item/software/D70010000104376 🇯🇵 they brought in a couple of renowned analogue card game designers to work on this one, so there might be something to it

the JP eShop listing's up for Aretha Collection 1993-1995, the Edia-produced three-pack of Super Famicom Aretha games, out July 30 (¥8580, or ¥3080 each) typical Edia feature suite (art/music/docs/trailer galleries, etc), as well as pre-prepared save states for scene select, but no EN locs atm

this week's Console Archives title: the 1985 Famicom conversion of Rashou's influential, contest-winning RPG-esque real-time strategy game Bokosuka Wars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2IbDfv1ePQ iirc this is the first intl-facing release of any version of the OG