This came out about the same time as the Castlevania and Contra Collections Konami released in 2018. In fact collections of their old titles seems to all they do now sadly though I'm still looking forward to Suikoden and any others they decide to release.
Anyway I digress, much like other reviews of collections I've done I'm going to focus more on the collection itself rather than the quality of games on offer here (most of which I reviewed seperately). It comes with 8 classic arcade games from 1981 to 1988. It's an odd mix with 7 shoot 'em ups and 1 side scrolling platformer. They all seem to be their seperately released Arcade Archieve versions compiled in one package.
The collection itself has some basic features like scan lines, game borders, ratios and save states. It's missing rewind though, a staple feature most modern retro collections include to make working through these old and sometimes incredibly hard games a lot easier. Save states are fine but way more taxing to use when stuck over and over.
It's got some basic artwork, some cool concept art included in the extras but the parts I found interesting were the musical score sheet music and interviews with Gradius and Typhoon designer Kengo Nakamura and Gradius 2 and Salamander programmer Toshiaki Takatori. This interview gives insight into how Konami worked as a company and how the developers worked back then I found really interesting. For those interested it also features some of the games in their Japanese original, as there are some big differences between them, especially the difficulty.
You don't really have an excuse not to give this a play unless you're seriously anti-retro gaming. It's constantly on sale for the price of a supermarket sandwich deal and has some games that really helped define the shoot 'em up genre as it is today. Just a shame that it has no rewind feature.
+ Great collection of arcade classics.
+ Some nice bonus features like an interview, music sheets and artwork.
+ Cheap as chips to buy in sales.
- A shame it lacks the rewind feature most retro collections have now.
Anyway I digress, much like other reviews of collections I've done I'm going to focus more on the collection itself rather than the quality of games on offer here (most of which I reviewed seperately). It comes with 8 classic arcade games from 1981 to 1988. It's an odd mix with 7 shoot 'em ups and 1 side scrolling platformer. They all seem to be their seperately released Arcade Archieve versions compiled in one package.
The collection itself has some basic features like scan lines, game borders, ratios and save states. It's missing rewind though, a staple feature most modern retro collections include to make working through these old and sometimes incredibly hard games a lot easier. Save states are fine but way more taxing to use when stuck over and over.
It's got some basic artwork, some cool concept art included in the extras but the parts I found interesting were the musical score sheet music and interviews with Gradius and Typhoon designer Kengo Nakamura and Gradius 2 and Salamander programmer Toshiaki Takatori. This interview gives insight into how Konami worked as a company and how the developers worked back then I found really interesting. For those interested it also features some of the games in their Japanese original, as there are some big differences between them, especially the difficulty.
You don't really have an excuse not to give this a play unless you're seriously anti-retro gaming. It's constantly on sale for the price of a supermarket sandwich deal and has some games that really helped define the shoot 'em up genre as it is today. Just a shame that it has no rewind feature.
+ Great collection of arcade classics.
+ Some nice bonus features like an interview, music sheets and artwork.
+ Cheap as chips to buy in sales.
- A shame it lacks the rewind feature most retro collections have now.
2 Comments
I'm fine with remakes, collections, new games if they're good. The collections Konami have been putting out have been of great quality.
I am extremely skeptical about their Silent Hill stuff rumoured though and I don't trust them as a company any more.....
I am extremely skeptical about their Silent Hill stuff rumoured though and I don't trust them as a company any more.....
HylianBran
1 year ago
"Hey guys, look it's a new Castlevania! Actually, you won't get this if you don't buy some shitty remake you don't want so make sure to get that and you might get the game you actually want down the line even though you don't know if it'll be good or not."
they'd pull that kinda shit. Or they'd like inject microtransactions into shitty multiplayer vehicles with names like Gradius or Zone of the Enders pasted on. Imagine if they made like a shitty 3D Contra game with a dumb meme joke with a panda like it's fucking yiik or something, or if they made like a metal gear zombie game where you whack stuff with a stick while running out of stamina.
I take that back, they'd never do such blatantly shitty things with their IP...