SD Gundam: Psyco Salamander no Kyoui

 

Some random Gundam arcade game I used to play as a kid, one I recently rediscovered. This particular title from Banpresto turns out to be far more interesting than it first appears, especially for an early ’90s Gundam game.

SD Gundam: Psyco Salamander no Kyoui is a run-and-gun arcade shooter featuring the Gundam series in SD art style. It’s a two-player game starring the RX-78-2 Gundam and RXF-78-1, and it essentially serves as a crash course through the Universal Century timeline—from the One Year War all the way to Char's Counterattack.

Gameplay-wise, think Metal Slug but with Gundams. In fact, there’s a good argument that Metal Slug took cues from games like this. One clear similarity is how your mobile suit automatically switches to melee when enemies get too close, keeping the pace frantic and reactive.

Like most arcade games of its era, Psyco Salamander is a ruthless coin-eater. Still, it has a surprising amount of personality. It features a generous selection of MSV-era mecha, and the customization is wild for its time, you can have the RX-78-2 deploying Nu Gundam's Fin Funnel while wielding Double Zeta's Hyper Mega Cannon.

What really cements this game’s place in Gundam oddities is its final boss: the Psyco Salamander itself. The design is striking, arguably ahead of its time and you can almost see echoes of Sinanju in it, like a distant prototype or an alternate take on Neo Zeong.

If you’re a Gundam fan especially a younger one this game can be a genuinely eye-opening experience. I’ll wrap this up by leaving you with the Psyco Salamander lineart, see for yourself whether you can spot the Sinanju resemblance.

Kaiju Rampage - World of Monster Eye

I don’t play much at arcade centers these days, but a recent encounter led me to a particular shooter game by IGS. As a Taiwanese game developer, IGS certainly has come a long way, surviving the 2D era and transitioning into theatrical 3D games. Their products surprisingly boast impressive visuals, even if they sometimes fall short in other areas. The game I stumbled upon is Kaiju Rampage, also known as Monster Eye 3.

Kaiju Rampage is a rail shooter, reminiscent of Let’s Go Jungle with elements from Jurassic Park Arcade. Players face oversized mutant monsters that relentlessly hunt them down. The story is pure nonsense—a young couple is dragged into chaotic misadventures by a shady travel guide—but that’s not really the point. The game’s selling point is the action-thriller experience, not the narrative.

Like many of its peers, Kaiju Rampage is a coin guzzler: I needed 15–20 tries to see everything the game offers. Even so, it managed to spark my interest in the Monster Eye series, even if it doesn’t quite scratch the same itch as its rail shooter predecessors from the early 2000s.

Primeval Hunt

Arcade scenes were no longer thriving by the late 2000s, but that didn’t stop Sega from releasing quality titles for the platform. One example is Primeval Hunt, released in 2008, where you play as a dinosaur hunter in a safari-style environment—think Cabela’s Hunting, but with dinosaurs. In the game, players are tasked with hunting a set number of specific dinosaurs while freely exploring the map using a touchscreen monitor, a novelty at the time that are still unique to this day.

Given Sega’s experience with the Jurassic Park series, it’s no surprise that Primeval Hunt delivers a solid dinosaur-themed shooting experience. Unlike typical lightgun games, it introduces an extra layer of challenge through limited ammunition in each stage. Players must not only contend with attacks from creatures like T-Rexes but also manage their bullets carefully to ensure they meet their hunting targets. Success requires precision, strategy, and quick thinking.

For fans of arcade games, Primeval Hunt offers a memorable and distinctive experience that stands out even in the late-era arcade scene. Its combination of exploration, hunting strategy, and dinosaur action leaves a lasting impression.

The Ocean Hunter

 

Back in the ’90s, Sega no doubt reigned supreme in the arcade scene, boasting a plethora of quality titles across multiple genres. Railshooter games were a key part of their repertoire. While titles like The Lost World, Virtua Cop, and The House of the Dead are among Sega’s most well-known railshooters, one game that captivated me for years is an underwater-themed railshooter called The Ocean Hunter.

The Ocean Hunter lets players explore the seven seas, hunting gigantic sea creatures that wreak havoc across the ocean, from classic Krakens and Megalodons to Lovecraftian mermen inspired by Judaic myth. True to the railshooter formula, the game leans toward the harder end of the spectrum. Designed as a coin-guzzler, some stages and boss fights are unforgiving, rewarding precision and persistence.

For a late ’90s arcade game, The Ocean Hunter really stood out for its graphical quality, which was remarkably ahead of its time. Its unique aesthetic design drew me back to the game after nearly two decades. Perhaps it was my past inability to complete the game, combined with its distinctive style, that compelled me to revisit it through emulation. Interestingly, the latest iteration of the Yakuza series, Pirates in Hawaii, includes The Ocean Hunter as a playable Easter egg, perfect alternative for those who want to experience the game while directly supporting Sega.

Police 911 The Keisatsukan 2

One of the light gun arcade games I played as a teen left a lasting impression on me because of its unique gameplay experience. Fast forward 20 years, on a random whim, I decided to look it up—and that search ultimately led me to Police 911 – The Keisatsukan(ザ・警察官).

It turns out this light shooter is part of a series made by Konami in the early 2000s, spanning three main entries and even receiving some PS2 ports. The installment that left the deepest impression on me was Keisatsukan 2. In this game, you play as one of four law enforcement characters traveling across various Japanese crime scenes to take down gang leaders.

What made Keisatsukan stand out was its motion cover system, which tracked the player’s body movements to take cover. At the time, this was a remarkably sophisticated feature that I haven’t seen replicated since.

My personal favorite character in Keisatsukan 2 is the Incognito Police, who sports a groovy afro, stylish attire, and a versatile firearms loadout with balanced stats. There’s also a SWAT member with a high-fire-rate SMG, but its slow reload speed makes the Incognito Police my go-to choice for most missions.

While I really doubt I will ever encounter this arcade game anymore, I will definitely give the game a try as my way to pay respect for the experience it gave me as a kid.

Steel Gunner 1 & 2

Wrapping up my series of light-gun articles for this month, I’m returning to the roots of this blog: Mecha. And to do that, I’m highlighting a long-forgotten Namco arcade shooter: Steel Gunner.

In the mid-to-late ’90s, Namco became famous for its wildly successful Time Crisis series. But a few years earlier, back in the early ’90s, the company experimented with a futuristic, mecha-flavored rail shooter that has since slipped into obscurity: Steel Gunner.

Steel Gunner features a buddy-cop storyline set in a near-future city where the protagonists don power armor to combat terrorist threats. The series produced two games before vanishing entirely, for reasons that remain unclear. My memories of the story are fuzzy, but the first game involved rescuing kidnapped scientists from terrorists wielding a giant “Metal Gear–style” robot, while Steel Gunner 2 had the heroes facing off against what I can only describe as a kind of robot wizard as the big bad.

To be honest, both games were classic arcade coin-guzzlers; punishing, flashy, and designed to drain your pockets as quickly as possible. But despite that, what made Steel Gunner stick in my mind was its mechanical design, especially the police power armor worn by the protagonists. The suits are peak late-’80s mecha aesthetics, and it still surprises me that Namco never revisited or reused these designs in later titles.

You’d think Bandai Namco might eventually re-release Steel Gunner as part of their classic arcade library if only to make some quick bucks. But decades later, it remains untouched. It makes me wonder whether licensing issues or internal red tape have buried this series for good.

While not a direct successor, Namco’s Lucky & Wild carries a bit of that same buddy-cop energy, and is worth trying if you’re curious about earlier Namco shooter experiments.

Crypt Killer (Henry Explorers)

Konami had a solid presence in the arcade scene, though they were never as strongly associated with shooter games as companies like Sega or Namco. Still, in the mid-90s they released a surprisingly memorable horror light-gun game: Crypt Killer (known as Henry Explorers in Japan). The arcade cabinet supported up to three players, casting them as shotgun-wielding treasure hunters exploring ruins and remote locations around the world, all infested with grotesque monsters.

By today’s standards, the graphics haven’t aged gracefully, but Crypt Killer still stands out as one of the better non-Sega horror shooters when it comes to atmosphere and vibe. The game throws a full buffet of monsters at you: mermen, gargoyles, living skeletons, mummies, and more along with six bosses to battle. Its atmosphere is surprisingly effective: you really feel like a fragile human wandering into dangerous, monster-filled places where one wrong move could mean a gruesome end.

Crypt Killer also offers solid replay value. The branching paths and multiple endings—including joke endings and bad endings, giving players plenty of reasons to revisit its strange little world.

I played Crypt Killer both in arcades and later on the PlayStation. With arcades now practically extinct, the PSX version remains the most accessible way to experience the game today, even if it lacks some of the full features of the original cabinet. I still remember playing it with my cousins during my teenage years.

Jurassic Park (1994) Sega Arcade

The Jurassic Park movie in the early ’90s was undeniably a blockbuster success for Spielberg and Hollywood. Naturally, it spawned a wave of media adaptations, including video games and arcade titles. Among them, Sega released a rail shooter in 1994, simply called Jurassic Park. I played this game as a kid but never managed to clear it. Decades later, I finally experienced it again through emulation.

Sega’s shooter is pure action-movie chaos, loosely tied to the movie’s plot. Players embark on an over-the-top dinosaur adventure, blasting hordes of creatures, including the iconic T-Rex. The game’s design seems inspired by Sega’s earlier Rail Chase (1991), a solid rail shooter that established many of the mechanics used in Jurassic Park.

That said, the 1994 Jurassic Park arcade game shows its rushed development. It’s poorly balanced and clearly intended as a coin-guzzler—most players, no matter how skilled, cannot survive certain unavoidable damage sections, particularly during T-Rex boss encounters. Yet, in its heyday, the game served its purpose well as a mainstream arcade attraction. The thrill of the shaking seat and being chased by a relentless T-Rex is an experience that emulation simply cannot replicate.

Viewed through a modern lens, however, Jurassic Park (1994) hasn’t aged gracefully. Compared to Rail Chase, its design priorities; making quick money over player enjoyment are painfully obvious. Sega would eventually redeem themselves with 1997’s The Lost World, a much more polished and satisfying Jurassic Park shooter.

Gokujou Parodius

 
 During my childhood, I got my share of exposure of Shmup games and of all many Shmup games, Parodius is one of the most influential to me. Parodius series is the most responsible to shape my matter personal taste for Shmup games which are either Full Mecha Scifi or colorful fantasy. My personal favorite game for Parodius series also happen to be my gateway which is Gokujou Parodius which was released in Arcade back in 1994.

Parodius is a spin off version of Konami Horizontal shooter games essentially Parody version of the game. Parodius features assorted comical character as playable shooters ranging from classic Gradius Vic Viper to human doodle on paper plane or even an Angelic pig. In this game I used Twinbee and Penguin character as my mainstay adventuring through very colorful stages which really will lighten up anyone's childhood and fought bosses like Panda Ballerina or Mermaid princess with ship hat. Other later Parodius series are awesome as well but I always find my way back to Gokujou due to its strong attachment with my childhood.

Personally I think best means to access Gokujou Parodius apart from the MAME emulator is through PSP port of the Parodius Portable which feature one stop for complete Parodius experience and the high value of the second copy of the PSP UMD really reflect the merit of this compiled series. Apparently Gokujou Parodius also received SNES port back then which I might give a visit in near future.

Art of Fighting 3: The Path of Warrior

 Discussing about KOF recently make me reminisce with particular SNK Fighting game title in arcade which I played as a kid called Art of Fighting 3: Path of Warrior. Art of Fighting or Ryuko no Ken in Japan was one of those spin-off Fighting games that SNK made during the heyday of Arcade era before they went all-in with King of Fighters. Art of Fighting series featured Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia as the main character throughout all of its 3 installments and added depth to the characters which was initially considered a clone character from Street Fighter series, ultimately succeeded granting the dignity that these characters deserved.

As a fighting game, Art of Fighting 3 might not make much of its mark in Arcade game scene being intended as experimentation subject by SNK. But what makes Art of Fighting 3 stood out among its predecessors and other fighting games was its unbelievably high-quality graphics for a 2D Fighting game. For a 1996 Fighting game, Art of Fighting 3 Sprites Quality was way ahead of its time whether it is the characters fluid animation or vibrant stages. The overall presentation quality of Art of Fighting 3 is top notch for sure easily able to last for a decade in this department, which is why I can still remember this game even if I was never good at fighting game as a Kid and I still remembered had hard time fighting Sinclair with her weapon cheat.

Art of Fighting 3: Path of Warrior might not offer particularly special fighting game experience but this game served as a perfect time capsule of Japanese Arcade game golden era where Developers were still able to put their utmost to bring a quality product in the bygone era.

Zero Team

 With Capcom dominating the Arcade Scene in the 90s it is very easy to overlook other beat em up games which actually can be hidden gem. I have been looking for this particular game called Zero Team for a long time already ever since i got my hand on MAME only until recently that i managed to find it. Considering when i was a kid i only know this cool game from the main characters being red and blue Ninjas shooting up lightnings but my persistence paid it off!

My Top 5 Capcom Beat'em Ups

 For some reason i just feel like to write down the topic about this, Capcom in early 90s made lots of quality Arcade Games but i remembered them most for their Beat'em ups. They made lots of Quality titles on this genre which establish themselves as one of the dominant Game Devs at that time. This is my top 5 favorite beat'em ups out of dozens of choice based on my personal choice which is definitely subjective so you does not need to agree with my list.

Jurassic Park(1993 Arcade)

I have been fiddling with my Mame again after leaving it on dust for a while and i have been playing lots of Beat em ups and Rail shooter. I wonder why i picked Jurassic Park out of all the games to discuss but this is one of the games that i played in arcade even though not as much as Shadow over Mystara or other games. My impression when i was a kid about this game, it is terrible hard especially the first part! No matter what you do the T-Rex will always reduce your HP to half at very least. While my impression remains unchanged, i feel that game design is terrible because your skill affects the game only in slightest but the shaking seats and being chased by two T-Rex will always give a good thrill. While i hate this game for having bad game challenge design, Sega did better with their Rail Chase and Aliens 3 and even made better shooting game for this series which most of you know as The Lost World. But in terms of coin guzzling it is still acceptable since it took like 7 credits to finish the playthrough still better than Terminator 2 which is just too horrible.

Dungeons and Dragons: Shadow over Mystara

In early 90s Capcom are well known in Arcade World as they dominates the beat em up genre with solid titles release after releases and some of them are quite well known for using Western IP licenses. Out of all these Beat em Games the best one in my opinion is the Dungeons and Dragons: Shadow of Mystara which is one of the last beat em up titles that Capcom made before they migrate to home consoles. I find this game display some finest points of Beat em Ups genre based on Capcom's culmination of experience on the genre and offer really enjoyable experience even if you are not following DnD series.

Denjin Makai 2 / Guardians

One of the great hidden gems of Arcade Beat em Ups!

Shadow Force

Obscure but pretty fun Beat em Up

Knights of the Round

Excalibur, Ho!

Brave Blade

Anyone playing this game?