Hamster has revealed that the next entry in its long-running Arcade Archives series is Namco’s 1984 title Dragon Buster.
Notable for being one of the first arcade games to fuse RPG elements with the ability to select your level based on a world map, Dragon Buster followed in the footsteps of Namco’s similarly influential coin-op Tower of Druaga and includes many other innovations, such as the ability to dash and double-jump.
Because it was never ported to any systems in the west, Dragon Buster’s contribution to gaming is largely ignored outside of Japan. In its homeland, it got conversions to the NEC PC-8801, Sharp MSX2 and Nintendo Famicom – it didn’t arrive in the west officially until it was included in Namco Museum Volume 2 for the original PlayStation.
A Japan-only Famicom sequel called Dragon Buster II: Yami no Fūin was followed by the PlayStation remake Dragon Valor.
If you’re interested in digging into this slice of gaming history, then Dragon Buster launches tomorrow (9th December) for the usual price of $7.99 / €6.99 / £6.29. While you’re at it, you might also want to check out the exhaustive feature on the game over at Hardcore Gaming 101.
