Hamster Aims to Top 800 Ports With Console Archives

Hamster plans to grow its Console Archives catalog beyond 800 ports, CEO and founder Satoshi Hamada announced. The company previously set an 800-title target for Arcade Archives and has released more than 500 restored arcade games.

“Arcade Archives had a target of 800, and we’ve already done over 500. For Console Archives we want to beat that. Actually, now we feel like 800 titles should just be a point we pass along the way. Just in terms of the number of titles, there are a lot more home console games than arcade games, so we want to make a series where we can go further,” Hamada said.

The Console Archives series will apply the same restoration and porting work to games that originally ran on home consoles. Hamster plans to use accurate emulation to preserve original gameplay and make titles available on current platforms.

Arcade Archives focused on reproducing classic arcade titles, releasing restored and updated versions of older games. Console Archives is intended to expand the publisher’s long-term release pipeline and increase its catalog of re-releases.

Hamada added that home consoles offer a larger pool of candidate games than arcades and that the company views 800 as a milestone to pass on the way to a larger catalog.