Back Story
Previously, I've reviewed two releases this year of Namco's System 22 arcade board; Ridge Racer and Air Combat 22. You can read my review of those titles here. As well as a little insight into the actual hardware, giving some context to the technology it was pushing back in the early 1990's.
Luckily, for those fond of classic arcade hardware, Hamster Corporation have released two more Namco System 22 titles for their AKA Arcade Archives series! Further expanding its library and finally bringing titles which never were ported to home consoles to the living room! In addition, unlike the home ports of the 90's, these are arcade perfect with their smooth 60fps and 3D detail intact .
In common, these ports have online leaderboards spread across a four main modes courtesy of their Arcade Archives release; Original Mode: just the regular arcade game, Hi Score Mode: set the you best highscore within the difficulties of the game, Caravan Mode: play all missions/racetracks/difficulties consecutively and Time Attack Mode: a timer on five minutes is set to do your best within it.
They offer some display options too; some basic scanline and crude CRT effects, which I wish were a little more advanced. Otherwise, running them without effects looks fine although considering their early 3D origins they look a little raw, for lack of a better word. Completely without aliasing, resulting in a rough image with jagged edges. I prefer scanlines added to compensate; closer to how the old CRTs displayed them back in the day.
While Ridge Racer would famously become a major PlayStation title and Air Combat 22 would inspire the Ace Combat series on the same platform, Aqua Jet and perhaps the more famous title Tokyo Wars, at least in Japan, would never receive fame outside the arcades.
Let's take a look at each one!
Review
Played on: Xbox Series X
Released: 2025
Original release: 1996 (Arcade)
Jet ski games are perhaps a thing of the past, with the most famous of the genre being Wave Race 64 on the Nintendo 64. In a visually similar package, think sun drenched palm beaches and clear blue water, Aqua Jet was a 1996 release by Namco on their System 22 arcade hardware. With Aqua Jet, Jet Wave from Konami and WaveRunner from Sega all releasing the same year, in addition to Wave Race 64, you could say that jet skiing and tropical vibes were certainly popular at the time!
The Aqua Jet arcade cabinet featured a whole jet ski to stand on, just like Jet Wave and WaveRunner, with the handlebars to hold on to, but leaning the whole jet ski to steer. Pulling the handlebars back and forth adjusted the way your jet ski tips in the air. It's a cool cabinet for sure, replicating the actual jet ski and I vaguely remember seeing one back in the 90's, but never played it.
It's the tiling of the jet ski which makes the gameplay kind of unique; allowing for the player to dive into the water after a jump and to get airborne off the top of jumps and waves. There's a fair bit of variation the racetrack too; massive waterfalls, waves and even a jumping competition on the long version.
It features two racetracks; one short and one long, representing difficulty and sharing a large segment of their route. In addition, each racetrack can be raced in mirrored versions. There are no alternate jet skis or characters to choose from and there's only one viewing angle, intended for the player standing on the cabinet. This first-person angle gave players a cool immersion and intensity in the arcades, with only the tip of the jet ski showing on the screen.
Visually, it's a neat and colourful release for 1996, it easily knocks out home versions of water racers, running at a smooth 60fps with this level of detail. Sporting a long draw distance and impressively wide racetrack with large environments surrounding it. With the palm beach aesthetic, it's a charming title to look at, although it doesn't have the racetrack variation and shiny, rounded waves which Wave Race 64 impressively depicted. However, the sensation of paving through water is very much present and heightened by the feature of diving beneath the surface!
There are some memorable environmental areas worth mentioning; like a massive drop down a waterfall and a speedy section through an atmospheric woodland with sun beams breaking through the branches. It has that classic 3D arcade aesthetic from the 90's, much like Sega's 3D titles also had; pushing for impressive effects and colourful visuals on a huge screen back in the day.
It's up there with Ridge Racer in terms of environments and detail. The lack of variation is obvious though, just like Ridge Racer; it's basically the same, similar looking, racetrack in two different lengths.
In comparison to Wave Race 64, it doesn't have the same advanced moving water physics, so it looks flatter than Wave Race 64's dynamically moving waves. It's more about hitting obvious straight waves with the right timing and landing, rather than navigating currents and movement in the water. Even though both just use visual tricks to make an impression of moving water. On the other hand, Aqua Jet compensates with far more advanced textures and raw polygon count though, it's running on an advanced arcade board after all.
Overall, it's an enjoyable affair for a couple of hours if you dedicate yourself to getting better times, longer jumps and highscores spread across the common AKA Arcade Archives modes on offer. That said, be aware that if you're just going to play it once in each mode, it's over in half an hour.
Although it features racing, Aqua Jet doesn't quite have the lasting appeal of repeated races Ridge Racer does. It's more about a timed sensation, where passing other jet skis is an indication of well your lap times are, rather than going neck to neck with others. Sure, Ridge Racer has predictable AI which follow a set racing line, but it at least feels a little more like a proper race. If water is more your thing versus racing cars though, this is absolutely your choice.
It's a largely forgotten title, finding information about it online is scarce, but it's fantastic to see it deservedly receive a port making it available on modern systems for many years ahead. Fans of the Wave Race titles, water sport games or just arcade racers in general from the 90's; it's worth checking out!
Review
Played on: Xbox Series X
Released: 2025
Original release: 1996
I've only heard about Tokyo Wars from gaming magazines back in the 90's but never played or saw the arcade cabinet myself. From what I'm gathering it was mostly popular in Japan, gaining attention as an original and iconic title over there. Its appeal was multiple arcade cabinets connected for multiplayer battles. A pricy investment for small arcade halls, which probably limited its appeal of being imported to the West.
What's neat is that this new release features a splitscreen mode, allowing you to recreate the intensity of playing this game against a friend! Maybe we'll finally see the multiplayer version of Ridge Racer, called Ridge Racer 2, featuring a similar splitscreen option? The splitscreen basically runs two instances of the game, so don't worry about any downgrades.
You can perfectly fine play this game on your own too but be aware that it's purely a deathmatch styled shooter identical to the multiplayer. AI is a bit of hit and miss; they seem to know exactly where you are most of the time, unless engaged in a fight with another AI. At which point you can score a lot of hits on them without even engaging you. I found the maps too small to properly use any advanced tactics and it made it hard to keep out of enemy fire.
There are two teams to choose from: white or green camouflage tanks, which look a bit like the Leopard 2, and two maps to choose from; Bay Area and Downtown. The bay map is a seaport, with storehouses in the background, a shipping crane and some containers. A visually bland map to be honest. This map features no buildings blocking the view, so you can easily spot enemies all over the place, probably the best place to start for beginners.
Downtown is visually more exciting and what made Tokyo Wars iconic; featuring a small Tokyo city segment, a parking lot and a raised highway. The tall buildings hide the tanks around corners, making it a far more interesting map to play on. The streets are quite detailed, think advertisement clad high-rises, considering this is a title from 1996.
I could imagine it being impressive being able to drive anywhere you like in the streets, complete with destructible environment objects like cars and containers to crush or shoot! Downtown is by far the preferred map when I played it.
Gameplay is simple; each team has four tanks which all spawn at opposite corners of the map. This locked spawn point makes me think it could be unfairly misused by veteran players. Controlling the tank is simplified, as turning past a certain point with gun barrel, will also start turning the tank. As such, it doesn't have the more complicated control method of commanding the actual tank and gun turret separately. It's all about the quick and easy appeal of jumping into an arcade cabinet and instantly being able to play the game.
Shooting down other tanks requires three hits, allowing for some tactics of firing then reversing behind a building while reloading a new shot. It's a faster and simpler gameplay to what I imagined, and as such feels a little shallow. Gun fights often end up being a win of who began hitting first of the three shots needed to blow up another tank.
The clue to racking up more kills before dying and respawning is to pick up the shield item a destroyed tank leaves behind. This will restore some of the tank's health, allowing you to continue fighting.
Perhaps veterans of the arcade had better tactics, but I found it a bit lacking in building any advanced skills. It's far from a deathmatch in a shooter like Quake from the same year, but back in the day it wasn't exactly many titles to choose from with a similar experience driving tanks, I guess.
In context, I can understand the appeal of this title which made top spot as some of 1997's biggest arcade hits in Japan. After all the downtown map was set in Tokyo and how many games allowed for multiplayer tank battles back then anyhow? It would inspire similar tank and mech titles for home consoles.
That said, its limited gameplay breaks the appeal of replaying it many times. I basically went for the achievement and let it be. It's just felt like at kill, die, kill, die repetitive affair, allowing little room for being tactical with its simplified tank control. I can understand the retro appeal, especially for fans back when it was popular in arcades, but these days games like World of Tanks is a far more entertaining alternative.
