It’s never too late to release your game on console, apparently. Nearly 30 years later, Namco’s Tokyo Wars is getting a PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and Xbox release. It’s almost as old as me! (Keep a straight face, Bertie, keep a straight face.)
Tokyo Wars is a tank-battling game that first arrived in arcades in 1996, complete with racing car-like cabinets for you to sit in and steer your tank from. The idea of the game was simple: drive around downtown Tokyo, in a tank, and blow things up – either computer-controlled enemies or tanks controlled by other players. You could rumble over cars and even collapse tunnels. It was impressive at the time!
The console release, which happens tomorrow – 6th November – arrives courtesy of a company called Hamster and its Arcade Archives range. This revival of Tokyo Wars comes in two variations, the biggest difference between the two being the addition of four-player split-screen multiplayer. You cannot access this on Switch 1 and PlayStation 4, but you can on Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and the Xbox Series consoles.
There’s more detailed Tokyo Wars information on the Arcade Archives website, should you want it. The game costs $15 or $17 depending on which version you want.
Bandai Namco produced a spiritual successor to Tokyo Wars in 2009, called Tank! Tank! Tank!, which Donlan reviewed and sadly didn’t think was very good. Sony’s online multiplayer game Hardware Rivals clearly took a hefty does of inspiration from the game, too, in 2016.
Arcade Archives has brought back games like the original Ridge Racer, King of Fighters ’98, Splatter House, Galaga and many, many more. There are pages of games listed on its website.
Incidentally, if you’re a fan of old games coming back to life, make sure you also check Digital Eclipse’s peerless recent documentary-slash-restoration work for Atari, Mortal Kombat, Jeff Minter, Karateka and more.
