Namco’s library of early polygonal arcade games continues to make its way over to modern hardware with the latest entry in the Arcade Archives series.
Japanese publisher Hamster Corporation has been working through the library of games released on Namco’s System 22 arcade board – which saw the company making the jump to polygonal games – as well as its more powerful Super System 22 board, and releasing them through its Arcade Archives series.
It also indicated in June that its plans for Namco’s arcade titles go beyond System 22 as it added the original Tekken as an Arcade Archives 2 title. This was released on Namco’s System 11 board, meaning its release on Arcade Archives potentially opened the door to more System 11 titles like Tekken 2, Soul Edge and Pocket Racer.
Now Hamster has announced that it will indeed be bringing another System 11 game to Arcade Archives, with its 1996 shoot ’em up Xevious 3D/G set to release on September 24.
Xevious 3D/G is the eight entry in Namco’s Xevious series of scrolling shoot ’em ups, and the first to move from sprite-based graphics to polygonal ones. Players take control of their Solvalou spacecraft and shoot down oncoming Xevious enemies to prevent them from taking over the human race.
Because the System 11 arcade board shared some similarities with the original PlayStation hardware, the game got a PS1 port in 1997. This marks the first time the actual arcade version has been made available on home systems, however.
While Hamster Corporation tends to release new games under both its Arcade Archives and Arcade Archives 2 series these days, Xevious 3D/G appears to be one of the few that will only be getting an Arcade Archives 2 release. This means it’ll be coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Switch 2, but not Switch or PS4.
Each Arcade Archives game features Original Mode, High Score Mode (where you keep playing until you get Game Over) and Caravan Mode (where you have to get the highest score within a certain time).
Arcade Archives 2 versions also add Time Attack Mode (where you try to beat the full game as quickly as possible), and VRR support for a “more accurate reproduction of the original arcade game’s experience”.
This is the 11th polygonal Namco arcade game to be released through Arcade Archives. The others currently available are System 22 titles Ridge Racer, Air Combat 22, Aqua Jet, Tokyo Wars, Rave Racer, Cyber Commando, Ace Driver, Armadillo Racing and Cyber Cycles, and System 11 title Tekken.
