Shatterhand punches its way back onto Switch with a surprisingly lavish JALECOlle release

City Connection revives NES cult action classic Shatterhand digitally on Nintendo Switch under the JALECOlle label, packing rewind, speedrun timers, and unreleased dev archives.

One of the NES era's tougher cult favourites has returned today, and City Connection has resisted the temptation to simply wrap an emulator around it and call it a day. JALECOlle Famicom Ver. SHATTERHAND is now available digitally for Nintendo Switch, resurrecting the 1991 action game in which cybernetically enhanced policeman Steve Herman solves the world's machine-army problem through the sophisticated diplomatic technique of punching absolutely everything.

The new release keeps the original game intact while bolting on an unusually generous set of conveniences and extras. There is rewind, quick save and load, display filters, wallpapers, a speedrun-friendly timer and 30 achievements. More interesting for preservation-minded players is a gallery containing original packaging and previously unseen development material, including English-edited versions of some documents.

City Connection has also added optional special rules, including the ability to punch bullets for benefits linked to Shatterhand's satellite robots, while purists can turn the additions off and play in classic style. It is exactly the sort of rerelease retro games deserve: leave the old game alone where it matters, but make the surrounding package substantially better than digging a dusty cartridge out of a cupboard and discovering your television has forgotten what an RF socket is.