Hamster is bringing classic home console games to Switch 2 and PS5 with Console Archves
The team behind Arcade Archives is finally moving into the living room with ports of Cool Boarders, Ninja Gaiden II, and rare licensed titles.
Hamster Corporation has announced the launch of "Console Archives," a new publishing label dedicated to bringing retro home console games to the Nintendo Switch 2 and PlayStation 5. According to the official announcement, the series will apply the company's standardized emulation wrapper to titles originally released for systems like the NES, PlayStation 1, and other legacy hardware.
This marks a significant pivot for the Japanese publisher. Since 2014, Hamster has focused almost exclusively on the coin-op market through its prolific Arcade Archives and ACA Neo Geo lines. Those series have resulted in over 400 releases on modern platforms, essentially turning the Nintendo eShop into a museum for 1980s arcade history. Now, the company is attempting to do the same for the home console market.
Cool Boarders (1996) is one of the launch titles for the new series.
The launch lineup
The initial wave of titles covers a wide spread of genres and hardware generations. The headliner for 32-bit enthusiasts is likely Cool Boarders, the 1996 snowboarding racer from UEP Systems. Before Tony Hawk's Pro Skater redefined extreme sports gaming, Cool Boarders was the go-to title for PlayStation owners looking to carve polygons down a mountain. It hasn't seen a significant re-release in years, largely due to the complex web of rights issues that often plagues early 3D titles.
On the 8-bit front, the series includes Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos (1990). While the original Ninja Gaiden is available on almost every platform with a screen, the sequel appears less frequently. It is known for refining the wall-climbing mechanics of the first game and introducing the "Shadow Clone" power-up, which created delayed ghost versions of the player character to double their attack range.
Perhaps the most surprising inclusion is Doraemon (1986) from Hudson Soft. Licensed games based on anime or manga properties are notoriously difficult to re-release due to split ownership between publishers, original creators, and animation studios. Seeing a Famicom-era licensed title make the jump suggests Hamster is willing to navigate the legal headaches that scare off other publishers.
Standardized features
The Console Archives series appears to use a modified version of the engine powering the Arcade Archives releases. Players can expect the standard suite of quality-of-life features that have become mandatory for retro re-releases. This includes save states, a rewind function, and customizable controller mapping. The wrapper also includes visual options, such as CRT filters intended to replicate the scanlines of older televisions.
The full list of announced partners and titles includes:
- UEP Systems: Cool Boarders
- Tecmo: Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, Monster Rancher Hop A Bout
- Hudson Soft: Doraemon
- Koei: Nobunaga's Ambition
- Video System: Sonic Wings Special
- Nippon Ichi Software: Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
- Athena: Dezaemon Plus
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