Namco’s cult 1996 tank battle arcade game Tokyo Wars gets its first home release this week
The current-gen version includes split-screen multiplayer
Retro specialist Hamster Corporation is giving yet another polygonal Namco arcade game its first ever home release.
Hamster, which has has been releasing retro arcade games under its Arcade Archives series for the past decade, launched its Arcade Archives 2 series in June, along with the first ever home re-release of the original arcade version of Ridge Racer.
It’s since followed this up with home debuts for other polygonal Namco arcade games including dogfighting game Air Combat 22 and jet ski racing game Aqua Jet, and now it’s turned its attention to Tokyo Wars, which is released later today.
Released in 1996, Tokyo Wars is a tank shooter where players to fight for either the Green or White forces and try to destroy their enemies in either the streets of downtown Tokyo or its docks.
Bandai Namco‘s Wii U game Tank! Tank! Tank! is considered a spiritual successor to Tokyo Wars
The game – which used the same Super System 22 arcade board as Ridge Racer, Air Combat 22 and Aqua Jet – was popular for its deluxe cabinet, which featured pneumatic haptic feedback which emulated the recoil from firing a tank gun.
Naturally, the new Arcade Archives port doesn’t offer this, but it should otherwise offer a perfect recreation of the arcade game.
While Tokyo Wars allowed up to four machines to be joined together for either co-op or competitive play, it’s also possible to play the game solo against AI opponents.
The Arcade Archives version of the game, is available on Switch and PS4, and is single-player only. It features Original Mode (the standard game), Hi Score Mode (where you have to score as much as possible with a single credit) and Caravan Mode (where you have a 10-minute limit), with online rankings for each.
The Arcade Archives 2 versions, which are available on Switch 2, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, add more features including split-screen multiplayer, Time Attack Mode (where you have to finish the game as quickly as possible, regardless of score) and VRR support to ensure the game runs as accurately as possible.
To date there have been 384 games released in the Arcade Archives series, with a further 108 released in a separate series called ACA Neo Geo, bringing the current total to 492.
