Arcade Archives’ Saboten Bombers got its first ever home release this week

Very silly fun from NMK

Hamster has decided to ramp up the silliness and the rarity when it comes to this week’s Arcade Archives release. Now available on PS4 and Nintendo Switch, NMK’s single-screen platformer Saboten Bombers has been made officially available for home consoles for the first time ever.

Released in Japanese arcades in 1992, Saboten Bombers sees 1-2 players control anthropomorphic cacti, running rampant through 50 levels of reckless, explosive-tossing chaos. The aim of the game is to take out each stage’s weird cast of enemies – including insects, killer fruit, plants, and giant boss characters – while ensuring our spiky friends stay a spine’s length from danger.

Oh, you also need to collect slices of cake for bonus points and extra lives. Sure, why not? And just in case things already sound a little too sensible for you, each stage takes place against the backdrop of a house interior… or a tropical paradise… or a picture of kittens. Incredibly silly stuff from a wonderful era of game development, where arcade designers – especially in Japan – often just threw anything at the wall to see what would stick.

Check out the fast-paced, infectiously dopey action in the video below, courtesy of YouTuber arronmunroe. Saboten Bombers is available to download now on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.