Nichibutsu Oddity DACHOLER Returns Through Arcade Archives 2

HAMSTER reissues Nichibutsu's 1983 arcade oddity DACHOLER alongside its alternate variant KICK BOY in Arcade Archives 2 for $9.99.

One of Nichibutsu's more obscure 1983 arcade games has returned, with HAMSTER releasing DACHOLER as part of its Arcade Archives 2 range. The action game is available digitally for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC through Xbox Play Anywhere, priced at $9.99. DACHOLER casts the player as an ostrich-like character whose principal attack involves kicking turtles into hostile animals. Players must also deal with hazards including creatures emerging from the river, resulting in the sort of unusual high-score-driven design associated with the experimental arcade market of the early 1980s. HAMSTER has made the release particularly interesting for preservation enthusiasts by including KICK BOY, a slightly modified alternative version of DACHOLER. Players can therefore compare differences in presentation and gameplay rather than receiving only a single ROM variant. The game supports one or two players. DACHOLER is unlikely to have the name recognition of Pac-Man, Donkey Kong or Bubble Bobble, but that is precisely what makes releases like this valuable. Arcade Archives increasingly serves not only as a catalogue of famous classics but as an accessible commercial archive for games that might otherwise remain known mainly through collectors, specialist emulation communities and surviving original boards.