I tried playing Sega's Desert Tank. I tried playing Sega's Alien Front Online, I tried playing Virtual on and VOOT, and other games. However I learned something: there is no replacement for what you really want. In this case, I want a tank game called Tokyo Wars that Namco left in the rotting arcades, never brought home to flurish. Just think about games like Soul Calibur. It was a semi-obscure unpopular sequel to Soul Edge/Blade in arcades. It was not until it got a major overhaul and released as a next-gen game on the then-new Dreamcast that Soul Calibur became a huge hit, spawning 3 more sequels.
What if Namco had released Tokyo Wars in beefed up form on PS2 ? It could've been a massive hit. Unlike Soul Calibur arcade, Tokyo Wars was ALREADY fairly popular in arcades. All it needed would be a modest graphical overhaul (it was already awesome looking) and some additional modes of play, CG intro/ending. It would've been a decent hit on PS2, probably enough to spawn at least 1 sequel for PS2/Xbox/Gamecube. It never happened. The same could've could've happened if Namco had left Soul Edge and Soul Calibur in arcades. neither game was popular there. Only when Namco brought those games to PlayStation and Dreamcast respectively, did they gain popularity.
Anyway, I'm frustrated. I can't play Toyko Wars anymore. There was a machine VERY close to me up until a few months ago at the Regal Cinema in Round Lake Beach, IL. It's gone, and there's no emulator that runs the game. It's not in MAME. even if it was, it probably wouldn't work. Although there is hope. Another game that runs on the same hardware, Prop Cycle, is in MAME and is actually playable. but that happened years ago, and there's no word on when Toyko Wars might be added.
My dream for the future is for Namco to make Ace Combat like flying game linkable with a ground war based game, like a next-gen Tokyo Wars.
Or at least just give us a straight port of the original for PSN and XBLA
What if Namco had released Tokyo Wars in beefed up form on PS2 ? It could've been a massive hit. Unlike Soul Calibur arcade, Tokyo Wars was ALREADY fairly popular in arcades. All it needed would be a modest graphical overhaul (it was already awesome looking) and some additional modes of play, CG intro/ending. It would've been a decent hit on PS2, probably enough to spawn at least 1 sequel for PS2/Xbox/Gamecube. It never happened. The same could've could've happened if Namco had left Soul Edge and Soul Calibur in arcades. neither game was popular there. Only when Namco brought those games to PlayStation and Dreamcast respectively, did they gain popularity.
Anyway, I'm frustrated. I can't play Toyko Wars anymore. There was a machine VERY close to me up until a few months ago at the Regal Cinema in Round Lake Beach, IL. It's gone, and there's no emulator that runs the game. It's not in MAME. even if it was, it probably wouldn't work. Although there is hope. Another game that runs on the same hardware, Prop Cycle, is in MAME and is actually playable. but that happened years ago, and there's no word on when Toyko Wars might be added.
My dream for the future is for Namco to make Ace Combat like flying game linkable with a ground war based game, like a next-gen Tokyo Wars.
Or at least just give us a straight port of the original for PSN and XBLA
