In the time before bullet hells, shoot 'em ups featured sharp level design and more deliberate gameplay. Konami's Gradius is undoubtedly one of the finest shoot 'em up series of the 1980s and 90s. Players will finally be able to enjoy many of those games on modern hardware thanks to GRADIUS ORIGINS. The upcoming compilation collects 7 arcade Gradius titles, most with multiple versions to choose from. What's more, four of them will support 2-player local co-op!

As loyal readers know, Earth Defense Force 6 is one of my very favorite games. My wife and I have collectively put hundreds of ours into it, mostly on the Steam Deck, Valve's portable gaming device. Many of those hours were spent in online co-op, a key selling point of the EDF series. Sadly, however, we can no longer play together fro...

The original Bee Simulator has some good buzz among bee enthusiasts, I'm told. Thus, it's no surprise that Untold Tales and VARSAV Game Studios have a follow-up in the works called Bee Simulator: The Hive. This one will combine the content of the original game with an all-new expansion called "The Hive." It will still support 2-player split-screen co-op, so we're ready to bee thrilled by it.

One of 2023's best Castlevania-style platformers was Gal Guardians: Demon Purge from PQUBE. As such, there's a good chance that the sequel, Gal Guardians: Servants of the Dark, will end up knocking our socks off this year too. We'll find out when the digital version comes along at the end of March. Physical collectors won't be left in the cold, however, because the physical PlayStation and Switch editions now have a firm June 12 release date.

While there won't be a Double Dragon game in Arc System Works' upcoming Super Technos World: River City & Technos Arcade Classics, the Japanese publisher does have something special in store for Double Dragon fans this year... Double Dragon Revive, the slick 3D reboot of the classic co-op beat 'em up, is due out in October. Preorders have opened up and include a free bonus game. To further hype up aficionados, Arc System Works is releasing a series of developer diaries with lots of behind-the-scenes details and images.

Long ago, Technos was one of the big Japanese developers, gifting the Double Dragon series and many other fine games to the world. Sadly, the studio closed its doors in 1996. Happily, however, Arc System Works bought the Technos name and library in 2015 and has produced several quality games since then. 2020's Double Dragon & Kunio-kun Retro Brawler Bundle compiled an impressive selection of Technos' NES games. This year, Arc System Works will follow up with Super Technos World: River City & Technos Arcade Classics.

Even though we haven't covered Killing Floor 3 all that much, please don't mistake that for a lack of enthusiasm. Killing Floor 2 is one of my all-time favorite co-op shooters, and I thought the Killing Floor 3 closed beta was pretty terrific. Some other players must've had a different impression, however, providing lots of constructive criticism to Tripwire, the series developer. Hence, Killing Floor 3 has been delayed from its original March 25 release date to a nebulous "later in 2025" release window. Darn it!