Operation Night Strikers

The notion of picking up a collection featuring three light gun shooters and a relatively obscure Super Scaler-style game might be a little too esoteric for some Switch owners, but hardcore Taito fans will have a blast (no pun intended) with Operation Night Strikers. The emulation is perfect, the control methods are decent, and there's plenty of customisation on offer, making this another highly recommended M2 offering.Longevity is going to be an issue for some - even with the online leaderboards in place - and some of the included home ports are a little rough around the edges, but players of a certain age will find a lot to like here, given the legendary status of Operation Wolf and the quality of the other titles included.

It’s somewhat of a high pricetag for four simple arcade experiences that you can burn through in a couple of hours. That’s often the nature of arcade ports, though. However, all four of these games are worth playing, two of them allow you to rope a friend in, and they’re all readily replayable. Personally, I think Space Gun alone makes it all worth it. It helps that most of these are relatively obscure. Except Operation: Wolf. Everyone’s heard of Operation: Wolf.

Although most of the games in Operation Night Strikers are quite basic, they're still a great deal of fun to play, especially if you have nostalgia for classic arcade light gun games. With its wealth of control options, I don't think you could ask for a better implemented collection. 🔫

The four games included feel more complete than ever, thanks to helpful manuals, eye-opening gadgets, multiple control and display options, several regional variants, remixed "easy" modes, and the ability to save and upload play data at your convenience. And while some of the original warts remain — Operation Wolf is imbalanced, Operation Thunderbolt is too hectic, and Night Strikers is insufficiently complex — they're less problematic than before.

It’s just a shame the overall package doesn’t have as much of the M2 charm as some of their other collections did, and is ever so slightly buggy in a way their other sets are not.

Overall, Operation Night Strikers is an excellent collection of shmups from Taito’s glory days in the arcades. It’s a shame that the console ports are an additional DLC pack, but the core collection of games is still handled excellently by the retro game masters at M2.

Operation Night Strikers contains four classic Taito arcade shooters with smooth emulation, solid controls, and plenty of variety. It’s missing extras, and the home console versions are sold separately as DLC, but the core collection still offers a fun way to enjoy authentic arcade action at home.