Earlier today, the Japanese studio Artdink announced a new 'Game Log' initiative to release some of its older titles on Nintendo Switch & PC (as spotted by Gematsu), with the first couple of reissues that were revealed being based on games created by Doshin the Giant creator Kazutoshi Iida.

While primarily associated in Japan with its work on the long-running A-Train series, Artdink arguably has one of the more eclectic back catalogs in gaming. Over the course of its 40-year history, it has done everything from original titles to work-for-hire projects and licensed adaptations of popular anime series, and has also worked across various gaming platforms spanning from early Japanese computers to several generations of PlayStation consoles.

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Shinichi "Touma" Higashi, the former Sega artist perhaps best known for creating the character Fang the Sniper in the Game Gear title Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble, has teamed up with Sega to create a bunch of new vinyl figures based on Sonic and friends.

Higashi, in case you're unfamiliar with his career, first joined Sega in 1993 and went on to contribute to a ton of Sonic games as an artist during his time at the company, including Sonic Chaos, Sonic Drift, Tails Adventure, Sonic 3D: Flickies' Island (the Saturn version), Sonic Jam, and Sonic Adventure; that's in addition to several notable non-Sonic-related projects like NiGHTS into Dreams, Burning Rangers, and Skies of Arcadia.

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Taito, one of the video game industry's most significant companies, is seeking assistance to locate a crucial piece of its history.

The item in question is the Crown 602 crane game machine, released 60 years ago in 1965. This mechanical device is ultimately what set Taito on its path as one of the formative figures in the world of arcade video games.

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Tokihiro Naito, the creator of the highly influential Japanese role-playing game Hydlide, recently opened up on his personal social media account about the difficulty of finding work in his 50s due to age discrimination in Japan.

As spotted by Automaton-Media, Naito shared on his Twitter/X account, on October 15th, that when he was facing unemployment in his 50s, he struggled to find work in the game industry, with most of the rejections specifically mentioning his age. Meanwhile, the few companies that did offer him an interview often did so simply for "a chance to meet Naito Tokihiro", rather than out of a legitimate desire to hire him for a role.

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The arcade industry has been on a slow but steady decline for some time now, and nowhere is this felt more keenly than in Japan, where several notable amusement centres have shut up shop in recent years.

We've sadly got another to add to that growing list; Sora News 24 reports that the Ikebukuro-based Adores Sunshine is closing after 40 years of service.

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McDonald's Japan has just teased some kind of Street Fighter collaboration via its social media accounts.

The post comes with the caption "Tomorrow's announcement, they're coming to meet."

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The Saturn is no stranger to expensive games; many of the console's best titles were only distributed in Japan, and those that did get a Western release were often subject to tiny print runs, which has driven up their value in recent years.

However, the console's rarest and most expensive video game is one you couldn't actually walk into a store and buy back in the day – and The Sega Guys have the full lowdown.

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As you may (or may not) be aware, Time Extension parent company Hookshot Media is based in the English East Midlands, close to the histroric city of Leicester – famous for The Elephant Man, Daniel Lambert, Showaddywaddy, Kasabian, 5000-to-1 Premier League winners Leicester City and – last but not least – the superb Leicester Vintage & Old Toy Shop, which we've previously highlighted as part of our Retail Therapy series.

The proprietor of the shop, Joseph Hand, has announced that a second store will soon be opening in the city, focusing on Japan-made goods and items – and that includes video games.

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Fans of old-school media formats, take note: Wayo Records has released the soundtracks for the first two entries in the Ys series on audio cassette.

The music is taken from the original PC-88 versions, and includes arranged tracks by Hiroyuki Namba (Ys - Ancient Ys Vanished) and Ryô Yonemitsu (Ys II - The Final Chapter).

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Video games have a long history of being adapted into musicals in Japan, and one of the most recent examples is "Castlevania" ~Awakening under the Moon~ by Takarazuka Revue.

The musical based on Konami's famous vampire-hunting series has been running for a little while now and has attracted rave reviews from attendees. However, it can now boast another very important recommendation – and one that comes from former producer of the series, no less.

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I don't know about you, but as I grow older, my reaction time appears to be getting worse, and I fear that one day, I'll suck at video games (well, more than I do already, anyway).

However, it has long been argued that interactive entertainment is an excellent way to keep the brain healthy in old age, and 100-year-old Japanese grandma Ushi Ando is certainly proof of that.

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The "rarest" game released for the Nintendo Family Computer has been picked up for just $12 in a US store, according to reports on social media.

As spotted by Retronauts (thanks, Alex Kraus), 囲碁名鑑, a Go game for Famicom which launched in 1990, was picked up by a Bluesky user called Brenden for the modest sum of $11.99. The game "routinely sells for hundreds or even thousands of dollars in Japan for a loose cart," according to Retronauts.

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A new collection celebrating the Ys series of action RPGs is set to be released this Winter for the X68000 Z, according to the Japanese publisher and retailer BEEP (thanks 4Gamer!).

Ys Legacy Collection ~Ys I&II&Ⅲ For X68000 Z, as the name suggests, will include versions of Ys I, Ys II, and Ys III: Wanderers from Ys. However, these versions of the games won't be based on the original X68000 ports from back in the day, but instead BEEP's 2021 version of Ys I & II for the X68000, and its 2022 release of Ys III: Wanderers from Ys — both of which were designed to be faithful ports of the PC-88SR originals.

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Later this week, Sega Fave (Sega's toy and amusement division) will release a new figure based on the Capcom character Mega Man, as part of its Luminasta series of video game and pop culture-inspired collectibles (thanks Siliconera for the spot).

The non-articulated figure, which was originally announced back in February 2025, will be available as prize in UFO machines across Japan starting on July 18th, but is also being offered as a pre-order on some US-based sites like Crunchyroll and BigBadToyStore, where it is currently priced between $24.99 and $27.99, with delivery dates ranging from October to December 2025.

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Yesterday, Genda GiGO Entertainment revealed in a press statement that it will be closing Akihabara GiGO 1 arcade, in Japan, at the end of next month (as reported by itmedia and IGN).

The famous location, which is situated just a short walk from Akihabara Station, was notably the former site of Sega's flagship arcade, and has had something of interesting history since first opening its doors back in 1992.

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While Wizardry was created by Andrew C. Greenberg and Robert Woodhead and is recognised as one of the foundational releases in the history of the RPG, the franchise has taken on a life of its own in Japan, where it was equally influential and spawned its own region-specific sub-series.

Back in 1991, it even got an anime adaptation thanks to TMS Entertainment. It has been confirmed that there's another one in development (thanks, st1ka), based on the Blade & Bastard series of light novels penned by Kumo Kagyu (Goblin Slayer) and illustrated by so-bin (Overlord).

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Given the rich history surrounding the Metal Gear series, it's no surprise that related pieces of merchandise are still being discovered and documented.

Seasoned video game journalist and researcher Bruno de Figueiredo has unearthed and preserved another piece of fascinating Metal Gear ephemera, this time related to the oft-maligned GameCube remake of the first Metal Gear Solid, Twin Snakes.

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Square Enix has just released a picture-book prequel to its beloved PlayStation RPG Final Fantasy IX in Japan, to mark the series's 25th anniversary (thanks Famitsu!).

The book, which is called Vivi and Grandpa On the Day of Departure, is the work of Final Fantasy IX's event designer Kazuhiko Aoki and the game's character designer Toshiyuki Itahana, with Aoki providing the story and Itahana handling the art. This is the pair's second Final Fantasy-based picture book, with the two previously collaborating on Chocobo and the Airship, which was originally published in 2021 in Japan (and later on in 2023 in other regions).

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BitSummit, Japan's premier indie game event, is back this year for its 13th offering, and it will be joined by some pretty famous names from the world of gaming.

Dubbed 'BitSummit The 13th: Summer of Yōkai', this year's festival will see the debut of Final Fantasy creator Nobuo Uematsu, who will be performing with his band, conTIKI.

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Sega has teased the imminent arrival of a new retail store in Japan's capital.

Like Nintendo, Sega is keen to leverage its brand beyond the realm of video games, and brick-and-mortar stores like this are part of that strategy.

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Yesterday, Edia, the developer and publisher of retro compilations like the Telenet Shooting Collection, the Cosmic Fantasy Collection 1 & 2, and the Cho Aniki Collection, announced it will be releasing the 1994 Super Famicom RPG Tenshi no Uta: Shiroki Tsubasa no Inori (often translated as Tenshi no Uta: Angel's Poem: Prayer of the White Wings) physically for the Nintendo Switch on September 18th in Japan.

And, more excitingly, it appears that an English translation is also in the works (thanks @keke_094 for the spot!)

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When you're talking about obscure video games, they don't come much more obscure than 1993's Cosmology of Kyoto, developed by Japanese studio SoftEdge. A nonlinear CD-ROM adventure, the game was lucky enough to get a Western release in 1994, and while it wasn't commercially successful, it has since gained a cult following online.

However, as leftfield as Cosmology of Kyoto undoubtedly is, its sequel is even more unknown—in fact, until very recently, it wasn't even known if it had actually been physically released. Entitled TRIPITAKA 玄奘三蔵求法の旅, the game sold on Yahoo Japan in 2023 for almost $300—and video game academic Bruno de Figueiredo has successfully managed to get it preserved online.

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You've probably never heard of Ai to Yūjou no Neko Monogatari: Jingle Cats - Love Para Daisakusen no Maki – we certainly hadn't until this week.

Released on Sony's console, Mac and Windows PC in 1998, this Japanese exclusive is based on novelty albums of the same name produced by Mike Spalla – Jingle Dogs and Jingle Babies are part of the same series.

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Starting yesterday, a new OutRun-themed pop-up shop has opened up in Japan, selling a bunch of new merchandise based on the classic Sega driving game.

The temporary store is located in Tokyo, Japan, on the 6th floor of the Shibuya Tsutaya (which is only a short walk from the world-famous Shibuya Crossing) and will be open from Monday, June 2nd to Monday, June 30th.

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A new collection of Darius minifigures is set to be released in Japanese stores tomorrow (Thursday, May 22nd), giving fans the chance to collect some of their favourite bosses from across Taito's popular shoot 'em up series.

The brand-new range is the work of Toys Cabin, a niche manufacturer of capsule toys based in Shizuoka, Japan, and is set to include four figures in total: King Fossil, King Fossil Clear, Iron Fossil, and Knight Fossil.

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