Mario Kart? Forza? I’m Good With Armadillo Racing, Thanks

“Armadillo Racing,” a 1997 arcade oddity from Namco, is finally coming to home consoles this week through Hamster Corporation’s Arcade Archives initiative. The quirky racing game, which lets players control armadillos rolling through various stages, has never received a console release until now—nearly 30 years after its original arcade debut.

The arcade version originally featured a trackball controller, and the new console port maintains this option by supporting USB trackball peripherals while also making the game playable with standard controllers. The re-release is coming to PS5 and PS4 on July 23rd, 2026.

Ryoichi Kaku, a member of the original development team at Bandai Namco Research Institute, expressed that the re-release holds deep personal meaning for him as both a creator of the original game and someone instrumental in bringing it back to modern audiences.

Running on a System Super 22 arcade board—an improved version of the hardware used for Ridge Racer—Armadillo Racing represents an important piece of gaming history being preserved for new generations. The console release comes as part of broader momentum in the racing game genre in 2026, alongside major releases like Forza Horizon 6 and Star Wars: Galactic Racer.

Sources

• Mario Kart? Forza? I’m Good With Armadillo Racing, Thanks
• 30 years later, Namco’s weirdest racing game is finally coming to consoles
• Namco’s Arcade Oddity Armadillo Racing Makes Its Console Debut on PS5, with Trackball Support
• Rare Namco arcade racer Armadillo Racing is getting its first ever home port, and it supports USB trackballs