Hamster just dropped Geki-Oh Shienryu on Switch 2 and PS5

HAMSTER Corporation has released the 1999 vertical shoot 'em up Geki-Oh Shienryu for the PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2. The launch arrives alongside the news that Hamster has acquired all intellectual property rights to the game's original developer, Warashi.

The game is available today as the latest entry in the Console Archives series. This label focuses entirely on home console ports and original releases. This separates it from Hamster's long-running Arcade Archives project.

Yes, the one with the laugh track

Shienryu originally hit arcades in 1997 on Sega's ST-V hardware. The plot involves a deep-space search for a new Earth. A human colony ship discovers a suitable planet, only to find it already conquered by an alien regime commanded by the mysterious Shienryu entity. You pilot a ship to destroy their fortresses and take back the planet.

It is a straightforward vertical shooter with a clever weapon system. Players rely on colored item drops to switch between three attack types. Grabbing a red item equips a wide vulcan cannon, blue provides a concentrated laser, and yellow equips homing missiles. The strength of your current weapon also dictates your ship's movement speed. A fully powered laser makes your ship crawl, which is useful for micro-dodging through dense bullet patterns.

When Warashi ported the game to the PlayStation two years later, they changed the title to Geki-Oh Shienryu and packed the disc with a handful of bizarre bonus modes.

These extras include a Pocket Mode that mimics the blocky visuals of a PocketStation and a Slow Mode paired with horror-themed sound effects. There is also a Comical Mode that replaces standard combat audio with applause and canned laughter. Why you would want your spaceship explosions to sound like a 90s sitcom is between you and your god, but the option is there.

The modern wrapper

This new release uses that specific 1999 PlayStation build. Hamster has wrapped the original ROM in its standard emulation shell. The package includes customizable button layouts, rapid-fire settings, multiple save slots, and a rewind function.

Players can also adjust the screen layout and apply CRT filters to replicate older television displays. These features are standard across the Console Archives line, which launched in February 2026 with titles like Cool Boarders and Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos. Hamster CEO Satoshi Hamada recently stated the company intends to release hundreds of games under this new banner. He hopes to eventually surpass the massive library of Arcade Archives.

The Warashi catalog

The bigger business news behind this drop is Hamster's outright purchase of the Warashi IP. Warashi operated from the mid-90s through the late 2000s. They developed several other shooters during their run, most notably the 2006 arcade release TriggerHeart EXELICA and the PlayStation 2 sequel Shienryu Explosion.

Hamster has a long history of buying up defunct game studios. The company previously acquired the rights to catalogs from Nichibutsu, UPL, NMK, Video System, Allumer, and Athena. These acquisitions usually result in a steady drip of re-releases across their various emulation labels.

Hamster has not outlined its exact plans for the rest of the Warashi library. Owning the rights means we will likely see more of the studio's output resurface on modern hardware over the next few years.