Those delightful retro-enthusiasts at Hamster have brought something a little different to the table for this week's Arcade Archive re-releases. From the mid-90s, Twinkle Star Sprites is a very colourful and cute anime shmup that might appe...

After musing on a haul of old games the Treasure account was asked by yet another fan to bring Radiant Silvergun, one of its crown jewel shoot 'em ups (shmups) to the Switch. But instead of ignoring it or changing the subject it actually en...

Given that it's already out on pretty much every other platform, Ghost Blade HD coming to Switch makes sense. Developer Hucast Games has announced that it's going to be Switch-bound sometime in 2019, and teases the addition of Tate (ve...

Arc System Works has been busy. In addition to all the fighters they've been pumping out they're bringing the Psikyo Collections to Switch, propelling the shoot 'em up (shmup) genre back into the forefront. Just today they announced the thi...

Good news for shmup fans this weekend, as Japanese developer M2, under their new moniker of M2A, has announced that the old-school Aleste series is preparing to return to the skies with a new title in 2019.The Aleste series of vertically-sc...

For me, and many other older video game players, there are some enemies and bosses that are well-knit into the fabric of gaming memories. Creatures and characters that you saw persistently in magazine screenshots and print ads, repeatedly u...

As part of Hamster's never-ending pledge to bring classic retro titles to modern platforms, the publisher has re-released UPL's mini-mech - and fantastically-titled - shooter Atomic Robo-Kid on Nintendo Switch.Released in the arcades back i...

Retro PS3 collection R-Type Dimensions will be returning later this month on PC and Nintendo Switch as R-Type Dimensions EX. The title includes Irem's classic coin-ops R-Type and R-Type II, complete with some new features.All of the fast-fi...

Do you like shmups and shooters, but really suck at them? You're in for a treat, then, as Nintendo has added an easy version of Gradius for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers today. Similar to the easy version of The Legend of Zelda added l...

According to Irish folklore, Samhain is the day on the calendar when doorways between the land of the living and the land of the dead and other regions of the supernatural open at their widest. Over time, the day morphed into what we now ca...

This week, your retro friend and mine, Hamster, has pulled up another classic '80s arcade and given it a new lease of life on a modern platform, as SNK shmup Alpha Mission takes to the skies once more on Nintendo Switch.Released in arcades ...

The second offering from retro enthusiasts Hamster is a twitchy arcade classic. Fans of shmups can take to the skies once more in a great arcade release from the late '90s, Strikers 1945 Plus, available now on PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Sw...

A new console generation, a new Sega compilation. That seems to be the mantra Sega has adopted with its back catalog. Unlike Nintendo’s drip-feed approach to Virtual Console (RIP) or Sony’s refusal to even allow for backward com...

A lot of shoot 'em ups (shmups) come across my desk: like a lot. And I could be happier. There are a lot of genres out there that have been "dead" or "dying" for years, even decades. Folks don't see shmups in arcades anymore (hell they don'...

I'm going to be honest with you guys: I can barely keep track of games occurring on one screen, these days. Any time I have to pay attention to what's going on at two different places, I'm pretty much destined for failure. Multiply that for...

Retro game fans Hamster has once again pulled out an SNK blast from the past for re-release on modern platforms. This week saw the release of Ninja Commando, now available on PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.Released in the Global Hypercol...

Developer Tozai Games has announced that their remastered editions or Irem's classic shmups, R-Type and R-Type II, are headed to PC and Nintendo Switch this Winter, in the form of R-Type Dimensions.Originally launching on PS3 and Xbox 360 i...

This week, Hamster fly back into the mid-'80s to bring you an early entry in the vertically-scrolling shmup genre, Jaleco's Argus, available now on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.Launching in arcades in 1986, just as arcade gaming began to revive ...

Switch physical releases are all the rage, within the Switch community at least. Publishers aren't huge on them as indicated by many instances where they skipped over them entirely, or lamented on the "Switch tax," or the extra cost associa...

The rise of the digital era has had a tremendous impact on physical media. As more and more people buy games online some retailers are shrinking their shelf space, leading to many pundit's predicting that physical media will continue to dry...

The splendid run-and-gun game Cuphead continues to sell well and every time we hear about a new sales milestone, I feel reassured. It's wonderful to know that this type of game can be embraced at this level. The latest word: Cuphead has sur...

Thanks to the retro-gaming fans over at Hamster, Arcade fans have a chance to revisit one of the oddest shmups of the late '90s, as SNK's Prehistoric Isle 2 is now available to download on PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.Released in 1999,...

I'm happy to see 2008's Prince of Persia make it to Xbox One via backward compatibility. At the time, it was a departure for the series and that understandably led to divisiveness among Prince of Persia fans, but gosh dang if it isn't a ple...

Two legendary SNES shmups, R-Type III and Super R-Type, are getting a limited edition reproduction cart courtesy of Retro-Bit Publishing. Putting both games on a single cart, the $59.99 package comes with an embossed box, a full-color instr...

One of the reasons shmups were such a prevalent genre in the '80s arcade scene was the simplicity of creating an in-game universe. Just grab yourself a black screen to represent space, dot in some pixel stars, overlay your sprites and you'r...