Irem Collection Volume 2

After 1 comes 2, right?!

We are very happy to officially announce the Strictly Limited Games editions of the Irem Collection Volume 2! The second out of five volumes will be available for pre-order starting July 16th, 2023.

Included in the second volume of the IREM Collection will be:

Gun Force (Arcade, SNES)

 Included will be the SNES and the Arcade Version of this Run and Gun gem! Whether you played the original on your childhood SNES or crave the much-improved Arcade version – we got you covered!

Gun Force II (Arcade)

 The official sequel to GunForce never made it out of the arcades, which marks this release as its first official worldwide release on consoles!

Air Duel (Arcade)

 Another arcade exclusive game rounds out volume 2. Air Duel only ever released in Japanese arcades and also marks its first official worldwide release on consoles. In this classic shoot 'em up, you can switch your aircraft before every new stage, which was a first back in the days!

Why Irem Collection Volume 2 Is joining SLG 
 
Our focus for Volume 2 was to bring back Irem classics that have mostly not been released to Western audiences. Bringing back classics or long-forgotten retro games has always been a key focus for us at Strictly Limited Games. That is why the Irem Collection Volume 2 is the perfect fit for our portfolio.

GunForce is arguably the most famous out of the three included games. It was originally released on the Super Nintendo in the West and in the arcades in Japan. In this game, you must run and gun your way through hordes of aliens to stop a rogue CPU and restore freedom to the world. It can be seen as the initial baby steps that paved the way for the later-released Metal Slug series and its sequel, GunForce II (GeoStorm), both of which were highly acclaimed. GunForce is where it all began, after all!

On the other hand, GunForce II might not be as renowned to Western audiences as its prequel. Even though it improves upon GunForce in every way and is considered one of the last arcade games from Irem, GunForce II was never released outside of arcades, making its inclusion in the Irem Collection Vol. 2 its first-ever worldwide console release.

And last but certainly not least, we have Air Duel, which should delight every classic shoot 'em up fan! Air Duel is a 2D vertically scrolling shoot 'em up that was exclusively available in Japanese arcades and never made it to the West. Seven challenging stages are waiting to be mastered, either alone or with a friend in co-op.

Working with the legendary team from Irem to bring back their most beloved IPs in physical form and on modern hardware for everyone to enjoy has always been a dream for us! This dream has now come to fruition once again with the Irem Collection Volume 2.
 
We are immensely proud to be working with Irem to bring these amazing titles into the hands of avid collectors around the world.