Hamster Corporation will release Xevious 3D/G through its Arcade Archives 2 line on September 24, Video Games Chronicle reported. The 1996 shoot 'em up is the latest of Namco's early polygonal arcade titles to reach modern hardware.
Xevious 3D/G is the eighth entry in Namco's Xevious series of scrolling shoot 'em ups, and the first in the series to move from sprite-based graphics to polygonal ones. Players take control of the Solvalou spacecraft and shoot down oncoming Xevious enemies to stop them taking over the human race.
The game ran on Namco's System 11 arcade board, which shared some similarities with the original PlayStation hardware. That produced a PS1 port in 1997. Video Games Chronicle noted that the Arcade Archives 2 release marks the first time the arcade version itself has been made available on home systems.
A System 11 door already open
Hamster has spent recent releases working through Namco's System 22 and Super System 22 boards, the hardware on which the company made the jump to polygonal games, and issuing the results through its Arcade Archives series. In June the publisher indicated its plans for Namco's arcade titles went beyond System 22 when it added the original Tekken as an Arcade Archives 2 title. Tekken ran on the System 11 board, and its release potentially opened the door to further System 11 games such as Tekken 2, Soul Edge and Pocket Racer.
Hamster tends to issue new games under both its Arcade Archives and Arcade Archives 2 series, but Xevious 3D/G appears to be one of the few getting an Arcade Archives 2 release only. That limits it to PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Switch 2, rather than Switch or PS4.
Every Arcade Archives game carries Original Mode, High Score Mode, in which play continues until Game Over, and Caravan Mode, which asks for the highest score within a set time. Arcade Archives 2 versions add a Time Attack Mode that tasks players with finishing the full game as quickly as possible, along with VRR support that Hamster describes as a "more accurate reproduction of the original arcade game’s experience".
The release is the 11th polygonal Namco arcade game to appear through Arcade Archives. The others currently available are the System 22 titles Ridge Racer, Air Combat 22, Aqua Jet, Tokyo Wars, Rave Racer, Cyber Commando, Ace Driver, Armadillo Racing and Cyber Cycles, plus the System 11 release of Tekken.
