This week’s reissues span arcade shooters, NES action and a late-1990s PC shooter. Among them are a new look at Namco’s polygonal Xevious 3D/G, the first reissue of NES favorite Shatterhand and an extensive remaster of SiN.

Xevious 3D/G

Namco’s polygonal spin on its influential vertically scrolling shooter series first appeared in arcades in 1996. The game later reached PlayStation alongside earlier arcade entries as Xevious 3D/G+ in 1997. Players battle the Gamp using the series’ familiar air-shot and ground-bomb attacks, now joined by weapon power-ups, discrete stages, a rank system and occasional FMV sequences.

The game arrived during a competitive period for arcade shooters and was often judged against stronger rivals. This reissue adds on-screen readouts for hidden information and a manual that explains some of the game’s systems, with screenshots pointing out concealed items. Revisiting the arcade version may also reveal a more deliberate visual style than the rougher-looking home port suggests.

Those polygonal visuals aim to reinterpret the original Xevious aesthetic, not simply reproduce it.

One arcade secret lets players select Tekken characters as ships. To play as Heihachi, Player 1 moves the cursor to their side and holds left, bomb, shot and start until the first stage loads. For Paul Phoenix, Player 2 moves the cursor to their side and holds right, bomb, shot and start. The ships are available in the original arcade game, not just the PlayStation port.

• Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X

• Price: $17.99 / €14.99 / £11.99

• Publisher: Hamster / Bandai-Namco

Trailer:

Karate Champ

Data East’s Karate Champ began as an arcade one-on-one martial arts game, followed by Apple II and Commodore 64 conversions. The NES version, originally published in 1986, brings back the competitive two-player mode associated with the Vs. Karate Champ revision, alongside a single-player bout format.

Its most significant change is the control scheme: the arcade game’s dual joysticks are reworked for a D-pad and two face buttons. The game also has an odd piece of box-art history: the original NES packaging showed an ox fight that never appears in the game.

That missing ox fight is on the box. It’s not in the game.

• Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5

• Price: $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29

• Publisher: Hamster / Data East

Trailer:

Shatterhand

Developed by Natsume and published by Jaleco, Shatterhand is a side-scrolling action game starring a hero with a cybernetic arm. The NES release appeared in North America and Europe in 1991 and 1992, alongside a Famicom reworking loosely connected to the tokusatsu series Super Rescue Solbrain.

This emulated reissue includes save states, rewind, border options, a speedrun mode, art and manual galleries, and a subtitle guide with Japanese translations overlaid on the game’s text. It also bundles design documents in their original and translated forms, plus two optional modes.

• One mode lets players heal their satellite robot by punching projectiles.

• Another awards a power-up for assembling the satellite robot combination shown on the screen borders.

Shatterhand is the first reissue of a late-era NES showcase and a longtime recommendation for fans of compact, action-focused games. The re-release also retains the old cheat code and displays a timer showing how long it took to enter.

Shatterhand didn’t need a makeover to stand among the NES action greats—but this edition adds a generous archive of material around it.

• Platform: Nintendo Switch

• Price: $9.99 or equivalent

• Publisher: City Connection

Trailer:

SiN Reloaded

Ritual Entertainment’s anime-inspired PC shooter SiN debuted in 1998. After the 2020 SiN Gold refactor and compilation, this is the game’s second remaster. Powered by the Kex Engine, SiN Reloaded makes substantial changes to weapons, level design and environmental details, while incorporating features from the Wages of SiN expansion into the main game.

The remaster also restores unused content, reworks cinematics, adds a new lighting renderer and selectively updates textures and character models. It brings a high-definition interface and newly designed controller support, with resolutions up to 4K and frame rates up to 120 FPS depending on platform.

A shooter from the pre-Half-Life era

SiN combined the interactive, quasi-realistic environments associated with Duke Nukem 3D with a more character-driven focus and a cyberpunk anime sensibility. Its blend of ambitious 3D action and set-piece design captures a short-lived branch of late-1990s first-person shooters. The remaster does not reproduce every original stage layout exactly, however; its level designs are liberal reinterpretations.

SiN Reloaded revisits a distinctive pre-Half-Life shooter, while reshaping parts of the original experience.

• Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PC via Steam

• Price: $29.99 or equivalent

• Publisher: Nightdive Studios / Atari

• Upgrade: Nintendo Switch to Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade is free; no specific upgrade or discount from SiN Gold is listed.

Trailer:

Technical note: the Kex Engine

Nightdive’s Kex Engine is used to modernize classic games for current hardware. In SiN Reloaded, it supports the new renderer, updated presentation and high-resolution output, while the remaster also revises gameplay and level details rather than simply increasing image clarity.

Source: Retronauts