KONAMI's 1987 Arcade Game Combat School Returns in Arcade Archives
The simultaneous five-platform release, including the new Arcade Archives 2 line with its Time Attack Mode and VRR support, shows Hamster is treating the 1987 KONAMI title as a test case for how it packages classic arcade games for current-generation hardware.
Key Facts
- Combat School, the 1987 KONAMI arcade action game, releases on August 6, 2026 across five platforms.
- Arcade Archives Combat School costs 838 yen on Nintendo Switch and 837 yen on PlayStation 4, tax included.
- Arcade Archives 2 Combat School costs 1,100 yen on Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, tax included.
- Owners of the Switch or PS4 version can buy the Switch 2 or PS5 version for 330 yen each, tax included.
- The Arcade Archiver YouTube program will stream a Combat School special at 19:00 on August 6, 2026.
Reporting from 3 sources: 4Gamer.net, Denfaminicogamer, ASCII.jp.
Hamster Corporation announced on August 5 that it will release KONAMI's 1987 arcade action game Combat School across five platforms on August 6. The game will be available as Arcade Archives Combat School for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, and as Arcade Archives 2 Combat School for Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Prices are 838 yen for the Switch version, 837 yen for the PS4 version, and 1,100 yen for each Arcade Archives 2 title, all including tax. Players who own the Switch or PS4 version can purchase the Switch 2 or PS5 version at a discounted owner's price of 330 yen. Combat School casts the player as a trainee at a prestigious military academy, facing shooting and hand-to-hand combat training under a strict instructor, with graduation leading to new battles. The Arcade Archives series includes difficulty settings, rewind, rapid fire, save slots, and online rankings. Arcade Archives 2 adds a Time Attack Mode, where players compete for clear times, and supports VRR for behavior closer to the original arcade version. The official program Arcade Archiver will stream a Combat School special on YouTube at 19:00 on August 6.
The Combat School release marks a rare simultaneous launch across both the standard Arcade Archives and the newer Arcade Archives 2 series, which Hamster positions as a more faithful reproduction of the original arcade experience. The Arcade Archives 2 version supports variable refresh rate, which the company says brings behavior closer to the original arcade game than previous releases in the series.
Combat School puts the player in the role of a cadet at a military academy, working through shooting and combat drills under an instructor described in the press materials as feared like a demon. The game supports one to two players. Hamster's weekly YouTube program Arcade Archiver will dedicate its August 6 broadcast to the title, featuring gameplay and development talk.
The owner discount program, which lets buyers of the Switch or PS4 version upgrade to the Switch 2 or PS5 version for 330 yen, is a standard part of Hamster's cross-generation release strategy for the series. All three Japanese outlets covering the announcement reported identical pricing and platform details, with no discrepancies in the release date or feature set.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 3 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.