It's always good news when a publisher brings its games to new platforms, especially when that publisher has lots of cool games to offer. German publisher ININ is known to publish a lot of great Japanese games on modern consoles, and they've just released a whopping six of their titles on Xbox. To celebrate, we're giving out four copies each of four of ININ's Xbox releases - that's 16 prizes in total! Update: The contest has ended! See winners at the bottom of this page.

Way back in January of 2022, German publisher ININ Games announced that it would be releasing Clockwork Aquario on Xbox. 23 months then passed with no release in sight, so we thought the game had been quietly canceled. Amazingly, though, Clockwork Aquario is actually coming out on December 7! What's more, ININ is also releasing Pocky & Rocky Reshrined (also co-op), Cotton 100%, Panorama Cotton, Ultracore, and Irem Collection Vol. 1 on Xbox on the same date!

The first Taito Milestones collection bundled 10 classic Taito arcade games in a low-frills package. One year later, Taito and ININ Games have returned with Taito Milestones 2. This installment once again bundles 10 Taito classics into one compilation, but the games lineup is slightly more modern and exciting this time around. We’re talking a...

Taito’s “Ray” series of vertically-scrolling shoot ‘em ups hasn’t seen nearly as many entries as their Darius series, but it retains a devoted following among fans of the genre. Comprised of RayForce, RayStorm, and RayCrisis, the Ray games are known for their lock-on mechanics that allow players to fire upon enemies in...

Few spin-off series have been as successful as Taito’s Puzzle Bobble. The 1994 arcade game successfully used characters from the Bubble Bobble series of platformers in a brand-new puzzle game. It would go on to spawn dozens of sequels and ports (not to mention clones), most recently with Puzzle Bobble 3D for PlayStation and Oculus/Meta Quest....

Welcome back to Beyond Co-Op Reviews, our critical look at games that don't feature co-op modes....

Things have been great for cooperative beat ‘em ups lately, with games like TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, River City Girls 2, Final Vendetta, and Kung Fury: Street Rage – Ultimate Edition all entertaining audiences with their unique approaches to the genre. Jitsu Squad from Tanuki Creative Studio and ININ Games has its own distinct st...

The venerable Puzzle Bobble series (a puzzle game spin-off of Bubble Bobble) has seen many iterations over the years, including the pretty decent Puzzle Bobble 3D. That game wasn’t quite as refined as we'd prefer, but the newly announced Puzzle Bobble Everybubble looks like a return to form. It will feature traditional 2D Puzzle Bobble graphics and gameplay, plus four player local co-op! Everybubble is due out exclusively on Nintendo Switch in 2023.

In 1993, Natsume licensed the rights to create sequels to Taito’s single-player Kiki Kaikai arcade game. While the sequels retain the Kiki KaiKai name in Japan, they go by Pocky & Rocky in English markets. The first Pocky & Rocky for Super Nintendo added 2-player co-op, a feature retained in the recently released Pocky & Rocky Res...

It seems like the wait for Pocky & Rocky Reshrined, the latest game in Natsume's Pocky & Rocky series, has been a long one. First announced for a Spring release, the game did come out within that time period - in Japan. Everybody else will soon have a chance to play too, though. ININ Games will publish Pocky & Rocky Reshrined for PlayStation and Switch on June 24. The game looks like a challenging and gorgeous sequel, so this is good news indeed. Let the celebratory wand waving begin!

Since the debut of the original game in 1978, Space Invaders has remained one of Taito’s most beloved franchises. The series has seen numerous sequels and collections, including Space Invaders Invincible Collection for Nintendo Switch. That compilation is a Switch exclusive, but PlayStation players haven’t been left entirely high and dr...

Xbox has always been a great platform, and many gamers favor the Xbox Series X in this console generation. That said, Xbox consoles have always suffered from weaker support from Japanese developers when compared to PlayStation and Nintendo systems. That's one reason that ININ Games' upcoming Xbox and Steam port of Clockwork Aquario is so exciting. The classic-style arcade platformer features 2-player local co-op and will be ININ's first Xbox release on Xbox.