First Play: Watch us play Aqua Jet, Arcade Archives’ latest Namco arcade re-release
The 1996 arcade racer got its first ever home release this week
In our latest First Play video, I finally tick off a childhood dream by playing Aqua Jet.
This arcade racer was released in 1996 and ran on Namco’s System 22 arcade board, the same one used for games like Ridge Racer.
It’s a jet ski racing game, and the original arcade cabinet had players standing on a giant jet ski and sliding it from side to side, while a fan blew air in their face.
The game featured on an episode of GamesMaster, where celebrity Samantha Fox played it, and it looked like fun so I always wanted to try it out.
Sadly, none of my local arcades ever had Aqua Jet, so I’ve never had the chance to properly play it… for now.
Aqua Jet is the third game in the Arcade Archives 2 series, released this week on Switch 2, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Retro specialist Hamster Corporation has been working its way through Namco’s System 22 library, releasing the arcade version of Ridge Racer in June followed by Air Combat 22 in July.
Aqua Jet is this month’s release, so in our latest First Play video you can see me finally playing the game I’ve wanted to try for nearly three decades.
Our First Play video can be seen embedded above, or on our YouTube channel.
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