Re-Releases You Should Play Part 5

If you've played them before, play them again. If you haven't played them, take them out for a spin.

Arcade Archives DONKEY KONG (NS)

There have been tons upon tons of versions of Donkey Kong. Nintendo's 1981 classic has been on NES as well as the Commodore 64. The issue with a lot of home ports, however, is that often times, they were missing a stage or two. Even the NES version, the one most are probably familiar with, only has three stages, omitting 50cm. Most players that wanted to play the arcade version of Donkey Kong either had to fire up MAME or Donkey Kong 64. Those days are long gone as HAMSTER has at long last rolled out the arcade version of Donkey Kong on the Switch.

You want that opening cut scene of DK climbing up the construction site with Pauline? Present. The "How high can you get?" tagline that shows before each stage? Here. All four stages? You got 'em. You get the usual options of toggling the screen display so you can play with scan lines, the original arcade output or turn them off completely to get a nice, clean visual appearance. There are also three versions of Donkey Kong to play that change the game slightly such as mixing up the stage order or cutting the game in half, only containing the first and last level. Your usual high score and caravan modes are also here

As Donkey Kong is an old game, Mario doesn't have the super smooth movement he does in his games today. Heck, he can't even fall very far without dying. Even though this is the first game to star Mario, I'm surprised at how well it still holds up. Though his movements are stiff, controlling Mario still feels comfortable. It feel incredibly satisfying to jump over a barrel or crush a flame with a hammer. I've lost count of how many times I've beaten this game since purchasing it earlier this week. The first loop is easy but loop 2 is giving me trouble.  If you're looking for a way to legally enjoy the game that introduced two of the biggest names in gaming, Arcade Archives Donkey Kong is the way to go. Oh, and TATE mode, baby!

Also available on: ARC, N64

Ikaruga (NS)

In the early 2000s, I found a new favorite SHMUP in Ikaruga for the GameCube. A game that was originally in arcades and later ported on the Dreamcast in Japan, both the GCN and DC versions will run you a pretty penny these days. Ikaruga has since been re-released digitally on the 360, Steam and now, the Switch, a platform that is quickly becoming a SHMUP and arcade lover's paradise.

There are no power-ups to collect to strengthen your ship in Ikaruga. Instead you have the brilliant polarity system. What this does it let you change your ship's polarity to black or white with the press of a button. If you see white fire coming your way, turn your ship's polarity white and you'll absorb the fire. Do the same for black bullets coming in your direction. The kicker to this is that your ship is weak to whatever color is the opposite of it at that time. There will be times when you'll have to reverse your ship's polarity at just the right moment to avoid death. White enemies are weak to black bullets and the reverse applies to black enemies. Absorbing enemy fire not only nets you points but you can build up a full meter to release a barrage of bullets on the opposition.

Anyone that has heard of Ikaruga knows it is not an easy game. Even on the easiest setting it can be quite brutal. Thankfully, there free play can be selectable from the start but you can forget about saving those high scores if you choose to play this way. Online rankings are sure to inspire competition and even on the easy setting, I'm surprised at how far ahead I was above a lot of other players (I'm in the 1000s if you were wondering).

There are achievements to unlock as well as the awesome ability to play in TATE mode, which is one of the best things about Switch game on the arcade. The Switch version just might be the ideal way to play Treasure's classic shooter.

Also available on: ARC, DC, GCN, 360, PC