I don’t know much about City Hunter, only a very vague and fleeting bit of knowledge. I know it was/is a popular manga, I remember the Jackie Chan film, and I know that it was a game released in 1990. Well, that game has been “remade” for a modern audience, thanks to Sunsoft, Clouded Leopard Entertainment and Red Art Games.

“Released on March 2, 1990 as the only official home-console game of its kind, this legendary title returns 35 years later—now launching worldwide simultaneously with all the excitement of its original debut. This game is more than just a remake—it’s a fusion of nostalgia and newness. With multi-language localization, both long-time fans and new players can enjoy the experience without a language barrier.”

Aside from the fact that 1990 to 2026 is 36 years and not 35, the first thing I want to address is the “This game is more than just a remake” claim. This is not a remake, it’s the original game with some tweaks. For the first time, City Hunter has officially been fully translated into English (and many other languages). As with similar re-releases like this, you get all the usual stuff too. You can adjust the size of the screen, add CTR scanlines, there are save/load states, and you can rewind the action at the tap of a button. Other than that, this is the original PC Engine version, not a remake at all.

You play as Ryo Saeba, a “sweeper” also known as City Hunter. Called in to “clean” the scum of the city, you get four different missions (three selectable in any order, the fourth unlocks when you finish the first three) of side-scrolling, shooting action. The stages are semi-open, in that you are free to run around, shoot bad guys, and explore at will. But we are talking of a game from 1990, so the “openness” is still quite restrictive. There are three levels of difficulty to play, original, hard and “enhanced”. This “enhanced” mode is said to improve enemy behaviour and more… I don’t know what the “more” is, and the game doesn’t actually explain. But they’re very slight as they’re hard to spot when playing.

I did play on all three settings, and the only major difference I noticed is the enemy strength and numbers. The “enhanced” mode is really just easy mode with not much more going on than that, I think maybe the camera had been slightly improved and some slight tweaks to the controls. Outside of the game, you do get a handful of bonuses. There’s a gallery where you can view some artwork, a jukebox to play any of the in-game music, and you can even open a digital version of the original game box. You can look at the game cart and even flick through the manual, in Japanese. These are nice and all, but still a lack of overall worthy content. No history of City Hunter as a franchise? No info on the development of the game or those who made it?

City Hunter is an enjoyable slice of retro gaming… but it’s not a remake (which would indicate a complete rebuild from the ground up with HD graphics, new missions, weapons and mechanics) as it’s being marketed. It’s a slightly enhanced version of the original. You can’t remap the controls, which is really annoying as the buttons as set are finicky. You have to press the left trigger to bring up the menu. I wanted to change the shoot button, because it just didn’t feel natural where it was, nor did the button to swap weapons. Just adding button mapping would be an improvement. Available now for PC and all the consoles, City Hunter comes with a price tag of £20. I think deciding to buy this one will boil down to two simple questions. Did you love the game in 1990, and are you that desperate to play it again that you’d pay £20?