Taito's nearly forgotten Adventure Canoe is getting the Arcade Archives treatment

Hamster Corporation is releasing Taito's 1982 arcade game Adventure Canoe tomorrow, February 19, across Nintendo Switch, Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. It's the latest addition to the Arcade Archives lineup, and it drops on the same day as Console Archives Dezaemon. Two Hamster releases in one day. We're eating well.

Adventure Canoe is a top-down action game where you paddle a canoe through increasingly hostile river rapids. Driftwood, strong currents, crocodiles, and outlaws are all trying to stop you from reaching the finish line. It's a simple premise from the golden age of arcade cabinets, and it's the kind of deep cut that Hamster has built its reputation on.

So obscure that people weren't sure it existed

Here's the thing about Adventure Canoe: it's barely documented. Forum posts on the International Arcade Museum from collectors who swore they played it in the early '80s went years without confirmation. One player in New Zealand described the top-down river gameplay, the spear-throwing enemies, the rickety bridges, and nobody could find it in any Taito catalog or emulation database. Some speculated it was a bootleg. Hamster quietly confirming it as an official Taito release and putting it on modern hardware is the kind of low-key preservation work that flies under the radar.

$8 or $10, depending on your hardware

The pricing follows Hamster's new two-tier structure. The standard Arcade Archives version runs $7.99 on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. The Arcade Archives 2 version, which adds a Time Attack mode and variable refresh rate support, costs $9.99 on Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. If you buy the cheaper version first, you can upgrade to the next-gen release for $2.99.

Hamster has been on a tear lately. Between the Console Archives launch, the steady stream of Arcade Archives releases, and now two games dropping on the same day, there's no shortage of retro content to buy. The problem is that at $8 to $10 a pop, you can't realistically grab all of them. These aren't expensive games individually, but Hamster releases new titles almost weekly. A few bucks cheaper per release and they'd probably move a lot more units. As it stands, you have to pick your favorites and accept that the rest will sit in your wishlist.

Arcade Archives Adventure Canoe launches February 19 on all platforms.