This Just In: June 18, 2026

This Just In: June 18, 2026

Far from standard fare.

If last week’s This Just In update was a post for normal folks, this is one for the exceptional in the audience. The special people. The ones who go above and beyond. The ones who demand more shelf space. Yes, it’s the Collector’s Edition update: three special edition packages that have arrived at LRG HQ and will be shipping to you soon.

Formation Z

As promised last time: here’s the lore behind Formation Z. The home port of Jaleco’s 1984 arcade shooter was one of the earliest releases for Nintendo Famicom console (the Japanese version of the NES, you know), and it arrived at the perfect time for it to rack up massive sales as the Famicom exploded in popularity but didn’t yet have a particularly large software library. In Formation Z, you played as a robot that could switch configurations into a jet, making this one of the very first games to feature a Transformers-type vehicle. It’s pretty fondly regarded, and that’s probably why Granzella (a studio led by former Irem staff) decided to remake it for modern systems with a new mission system and extensive mech customization. This package leans all the way into that legacy, shipping in a beautiful heavy-duty box with dust sleeve that houses the standard game, art cards, a CD soundtrack, and an unassembled model of the hero mech for players to assemble and paint. Deluxe indeed!

Hexen & Heretic

Like the Switch release of Wolfenstein II, this double-pack of Hexen & Heretic contains modern ports of the classic shooters... well, maybe shooters is the wrong word here, since the fantasy theme of the games involves more melee combat and spellcasting. But “deluxe” is certainly the word to describe this set, which contains not only the standard version of the game but also a steelcase, both of which slide into a sturdy dust jacket to help beautiful your shelves.

Montezuma’s Revenge

This game is not as rude as it sounds! Montezuma’s Revenge is about the original version of that phrase, which has nothing to do with indigestion and revolves around the folly of plundering cursed graves of ancient Meso-American rulers in search of treasure. The original game appeared in the early 1980s on Atari and Apple home computers before being ported to a variety of other systems... but never the NES. At least until now. This retro release of a new port of a classic game (whew) comes kitted with all the standard NES gear: box, manual, terrifyingly orange cartridge, and even a vinyl dust sleeve to help minimize the amount of blowing you have to do on the connector pins to get it to run on your original NES.